I Give You Mr. Tom Vales

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Mr. Tom Vales.

The other day the class was visited by Mr. Vales, the laboratory coordiantor at Suffolk. He gave us a little presentation on how alternative energy is employed by a variety of motors, then to all our amusement he demonstrated his homemade Tesla Coil.

I have to say, his presentation was very engaging and informative. Because of him I now want to own a Mendocino motor and put it on my windowsill.

 

Tom showed us three different kinds of motors, each one employing a different kind of energy source. Here, I will mention the two that stood out to me. The hot air engine was perhaps the only one that has been applied on a greater scale. With only a cup of hot wanter he was able to power the engine and turn the fan, and it was spinning surprisingly fast. This technology is simple, yet its application is very useful, especially for submarines who want to move quietly through the water.

 

 

The other motor that I found very interesting was the Mendocino motor. While he described the motor as having little, if any, real-world uses, its educational purposes and entertainment value are great. Floating in midair due to magnets, whenever sunlight hits the solar cells the motor starts to spin quickly. So by putting this on your windowsill you have an amusing trinket that floats in midair and spins whenever it’s sunny.

Then of course he demonstrated what I consider to be his climactic show, the Tesla Coil. He explained how it was invented as an effort to wirelessly power lightbulbs, but now it serves mostly for demonstration purposes of energy and electricity (as well as his annual Tesla convention). Below are some videos of his impressive display.

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4 Responses to I Give You Mr. Tom Vales

  1. amb13 says:

    Great post – good call on taking video. Multimedia integration is key, especially for demos!

  2. caclarke says:

    Great in-the-action shots, it paired well with your narrative entry. It was also awesome to see the video of the experiment as well.

  3. edva says:

    I enjoyed this blog! great shots

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