DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

INVESTIGATORY
PROJECT ON WIRELESS
ELECTRICITY THROUGH
TESLA COIL

Vivekananda Vision Senior Secondary School

(Affliated to CBSE, 1930712)

Guided By: Mr. Ganesh S (PGT – Physics)

Submitted by
Name: PURTHIRAJ
Class: XII – A
Roll No:

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 CERTIFICATE
I hereby certify that this is a bona-fide report of project work, done by PURTHIRAJ

BHOL of XII, Vivekananda Vision Senior Secondary School, Katchur, Thiruvallur

District, Tamil Nadu under my supervision during the academic year 2024 – 2025.

Place: Ganesh. S
PGT – Physics
Date: Vivekananda Vision Senior
Secondary School,
Katchur.

This is to certify that, PURTHIRAJ BHOL Roll. No: has submitted this

project for practical examination of SSCE 2024 – 2025.

Date:

Teacher’s Signature: Examiner’s Signature:

Principal’s Signature: School Stamp

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I received a lot of help from several people to complete this project.

I would like to thank everyone who helped with this project. I want

to thank my Principal Mrs. Revathy E as well as my Vice-Principal

Mr. Suresh and my mentor Mr. Ganesh, who taught me a lot about

this project. His suggestions and remarks were helpful in finishing

this job. I am appreciative that the school administration gave me

such a huge opportunity. I certify that this project is authentic and

that I am solely responsible for its creation. Finally, I’d want to

thank my parents and friends for their insightful criticism and

support while I completed this project.

PURTHIRAJ
BHOL
XII – Bio/Cs

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 INDEX

S.no CONTENT Pg.no

1 Certificate 2

2 Acknowledgement 3

3 Index 4

4
Abstract 5
5
Introduction 6
6
Working principle 8
7
Materials and methods 12A
8
Apparatus 12B
9
Circuit diagram 16
10
Methods 17
11
Results and discussions 21
12
Advantages and Disadvantages 22
13
Application 23
14 Conclusion 24

15 Bibliography 25

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 ABSTRACT

 In 1891, inventor Nikola Tesla created the first system to

wirelessly transmit electricity known as the Tesla coil. Tesla was
dreaming of spreading wireless electricity across the world
through the invention. The Tesla coil functions through the
principle of electromagnetic induction in which a conductor is
placed in a changing magnetic field and produces voltage across
the conductor.

 The invention by Tesla is one of the most important inventions in

the history of physics, which later pushed away due to its
disadvantages, though having various advantages.

 Miniature forms of these Tesla Coils are made as projects for

study with the help of locally available materials such as coil,
wire, battery, etc.

 Lets check about the various methods of making it, its principle
and some of its uses.

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 INTRODUCTION

 A mini Tesla coil is a miniature version of the Tesla coil which is

an electrical resonant transformer circuit designed by inventor
Nikola Tesla in 1891.It is used to produce high-voltage, low-
current, high frequency alternating-current electricity. Nikola
Tesla put forward a possible way of transmission of electricity
wirelessly through air.
 Tesla Coils, or resonant transformers of high frequency and high
potential have been used in many commercial applications.
Although not all commercial applications for Tesla coils are still in
use for some historical and modern day applications including:

o Spark Gap Radio Transmitter

o Induction and dielectric heating
o Induction Coils
o Medical X-Ray devices
o Quack medical devices
o Ozone generators
o Particle accelerators
o Electrical stage shows and entertainment

 The first system that could wirelessly transmit electricity, the

Tesla coil was a truly revolutionary invention. Early radio
antennas and telegraphy used the invention, but variations of the
coil can also do things that are just plain cool — like shoot
lightning bolts, send electric currents through the body and create
electron winds.
 The concept behind the coil is actually fairly simple and makes

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use of electromagnetic force and resonance.
 The power source is hooked up to the primary coil. The primary
coil's capacitor acts like a sponge and soaks up the charge. The
primary coil itself must be able to withstand the massive charge
and huge surges of current, so the coil is usually made out of
copper, a good conductor of electricity. Eventually, the capacitor
builds up so much charge that it breaks down the air resistance in
the spark gap. Then, similar to squeezing out a soaked sponge, the
current flows out of the capacitor down the primary coil and
creates a magnetic field.
 The massive amount of energy makes the magnetic field collapse
quickly, and generates an electric current in the secondary coil.
The voltage zipping through the air between the two coils creates
sparks in the spark gap. The energy sloshes back and forth
between the two coils several hundred times per second, and
builds up in the secondary

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 coil and capacitor. Eventually, the charge in the secondary
capacitor gets so high that itbreaks free in a spectacular burst
of electric current.
o The resulting high-frequency voltage can illuminate fluorescent
bulbs several feet away with no electrical wire connection.

o Early radio antennas and telegraphs used the technology and

although the Tesla coil is not widely used today, the
revolutionary invention introduced and demonstrated the
wireless application of electricity. By building your own Tesla
coil, you will be able to produce an oscillating radio frequency
to generate a high enough voltage to illuminate a light bulb all
by itself.

Figure 1: A mini Tesla Coil lighting a CFL lamp

WORKING PRINCILPLE

 Faraday’s Law of Magnetic Induction :

 “The induced electromotive force in any closed circuit is equal to

the negative of the time rate of change of the magnetic flux
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enclosed by the circuit.”
 Which means that,when a conductor is placed under a varying
magnetic field, a small current will be induced inside the
conductor. For a Tesla coil, this conductor will be called as the
secondary coil and the varying magnetic field will be produced by
the primary coil by passing an oscillating current through the
primary coil.

 Magnetic Flux : It is the number of magnetic field lines

passing through a closed surfaces such as the conducting coil.

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 o The power of the Tesla coil lies in a process called
electromagnetic induction, i.e., a changing magnetic field
creates an electric potential that compels current to flow.
 Conversely, flowing electric current generates a magnetic field.
When electricity flows through a wound up coil of wire, it
generates a magnetic field that fills the area around the coil in a
particular pattern, shown with lines below:

Figure 2 : Magnetic Field around the coil

 When huge amount of energy is transmitted through the coil,

the magnetic fieldis exploited resulting in the release of electric
power.

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 Electrical current is the flow of electrons, while the difference in
electric potential(voltage) between two places is what pushes that
current. Current is like water, and voltage is like a hill. A large
voltage is a steep hill, down which a stream of electrons willflow.
A small voltage is like a near-flat plain with almost no water
flow.

 The electric potential (“hill”) generated in a coil of wire by a

magnetic field through its center increases with the number of
turns of wire. A changing magnetic field within a coil of 50
turns will generate ten times the voltage of a coil of just five
turns. (However, less current can actually flow through the
higher potential, to conserveenergy.)

 With the release of electric power, current is produced and

a lamp broughtnear can be lighten up.

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 MATERIALS AND METHODS

APPARATUS

 Resistor

 A resistor is a component that opposes a flowing current. Every

conductor has a specific resistance, if one applies a voltage or
potential difference V at the terminals of the resistor, then the
current I passing through is given by Ohm’s Law.

 Here, a resistor of resistance 27k is used .27k is a high resistance

which is equal to 27000 ohms which results in less current hence
producing less heat which will be safe forthe circuit.
I = V/ R


 A 22k resistor can also be used

instead of a 27k one.

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 Transistor

The transistor helps to make the frequency of AC equal to resonant

frequency to
the coil by a feedback mechanism. You need not have to manually
'tune' the primary andsecondary coil it is the transistor that 'auto
tunes' the mini tesla.

A high current high frequency transistor like 2N2222 is used

to supply currentthrough the primary coil.

 Copper Wire

Enameled copper wire or magnetic wire is coated with a thin layer

of insulation. It is used in transformers, motors, speakers, almost
all the electrical appliances. Some require tight coils of the wire.

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 An aluminium wire must have 1.6 times the cross sectional
area as a copper wireto achieve comparable DC resistance.

Figure 6: A Copper Coil

 Connecting Wires

Connecting wires allows an electrical current to travel from one

point on a circuitto another because electricity needs a medium
through which it can move. Most of the connecting wires are
made up of copper or aluminum , bounded with plastic.

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 Battery

An electric battery is a device consisting one or more

electrochemical cells thatconvert stored chemical energy into
electrical energy. Each cell contains a positive terminal and a
negative terminal. Electrolytes inside allow the ions to move
between the terminals, which allows the current to flow oyt of
the battery to perform work.

Here a 9V battery is used.

 Switch

ON/OFF switch is used to turn on or off the power supply in

the circuit as andwhen required.

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CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

The main component in this circuit is the secondary coil, which is

made by winding a magnetic wire around a cylindrical object (any
non conductive object).
A high current high frequency transistor like 2N2222 is used to
supply current through the primary coil. The whole set up is
powered by a 9V battery as shown above. Whenever the transistor
conducts, current is flown through the primary coil. The LED
diode and one end of the secondary coil is also connected to base
of transistor to make the circuit oscillate, this way the transistor
will send a oscillating current into primary coil.

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 METHOD

1. Wind the copper wire (secondary coil) closely around the PVC
pipe (or a cylindrical nonconducting object) as close as
possible, without overlapping one another.

2. Attach a small ball wrapped in aluminium foil on the top end of

the pipe.

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3. Stick the cylinder on a proper base where the connections have to
be made.

4. Take a connecting wire (primary coil) and wind it around

the cylinder so that both theends of that wire is at the base.

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5. Connect the 27k resistor and lower end of the copper wire
to the base terminal of thetransistor.

6. Connect one end of the primary coil to the collecting terminal of

the transistor.
7. Take a small piece of another connecting wore and connect one
end to the resistor and theother to the other end of the primary
coil.
8. Take a battery snap and connect the negative terminal (black)
to the emmiter terminal ofthe transistor.
9. Connect the posiive terminal (red) of the snap to a switch.

`
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10. Connect the 9V battery to the battery snap.

11. Place a CFL lamp near the coil.

12. You can place a LED bulb in the circuit to check whether
the current is flowing, ifnecessary

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 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

RESULT

The CFL lamp brought near the Tesla Coil gets lighten up
due to the transmissionof electricity through air.

The lamp becomes dimmer when moved away from the coil.

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 ADVANTAGES

 Non radiative energy transfer is safe for people and animals.

 Wastage of Power is less.
 Provides high efficiency over large distance.
 Does not interfere with radio-waves.
 With widespread use, it could eliminate costly batteries.
 Mini tesla coils can be used as household ,ie, can be used
at the time of power cutsand for emergencies.

DISADVANTAGES

The tesla coil in its wider use requires a higher version

of it which Have disadvantages.

 It's deeply inefficient. Power you can receive drops

off exponentially as youmove further away.
 It's impractical. The magnetic field generated by such a
device would cause all sortsof noise in any unshielded
electronic device.
 It's impractical. The cost of such a system would
be immense, and the cost forpowering it would be
exponentially more than a direct power line.
 The Tesla coil operates at a high enough frequency that the
current from the output does not penetrate the skin. So you
won't be shocked by it. But for a large
Tesla coil there is enough current that it can burn the skin. It has
both high voltage andhigh current.

Due to all these disadvantages and harmful effects of it,

the idea of tesla coils are rarely used nowadays. But the
students still consider this as a good applicationof physics
and often study and research about it.
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 APPLICATIONS

Today, small Tesla coils are used as leak detectors in scientific

high vacuum systemsand igniters in arc welders.
Tesla coils are displayed as attractions at science museums and
electronics fairs, and are used to demonstrate principles of high
frequency electricity in science classes in schoolsand colleges.
Low-power Tesla coils are also sometimes used as a
high- voltage source forKirlian photography.

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 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

A Tesla Coil is a simple coil that creates a high voltage electric

field in the air when a small input power (9V) is provided, this
electric filed is strong enough to glow small light bulbs. This
principle was invented by the Nicola Tesla, who also holds the
credit for inventing Induction Motors, AC current, neon bulbs,
Remote controls, etc.
The Tesla coil works with the principle of Electromagnetic
Induction. According to which, when a conductor is placed under
a varying magnetic field, a small current will be induced inside
the conductor. For a Tesla coil this conductor will be called as
the secondary coil and the varying magnetic field will be produced
by the primary coil bypassing an oscillating current through the
primary coil. The current transmitted out can be thus light a CFL
lamp placed close to it, which means , the concept wireless
electricityfound by Tesla was true.

CONCLUSION

 Generates high voltage with high frequency.

 Transmits electrical power wirelessly upto a certain
distance depending upon its ratings.
 Principle of Electromagnetic Induction is verified.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_coil
https://www.slideshare.net/rahulchhatrapati/report-on-mini-tesla-coil
https://circuitdigest.com/electronic-circuits/how-to-make-a-mini-tesla-coil-
9v https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SF4KPqNK4c
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/m9hze/drawbacks_of_the_
tesla_coil/
https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2014/01/29/how_tesla_coils_wo
rk_108474.ht ml

https://www.quora.com/How-does-a-mini-Tesla-
coil-workshttps://www.quora.com/How-does-a-
Tesla-coil-light-a-bulb

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