Introduction
Last Friday, we learned several things from Tom Vales demo about some topics that we studied in class. Tom Vales showed us some different experiments with Tesla coil, stirling engine, mendocino motor, quack medical devices, etc. I already knew how the Tesla coil works when I did a research for a previous blog. However, it did not know about stirling engine or quack medical devices in the previous time. That is why I felt excited while learning for those new experiments. In this blog, I will discuss about Tesla Coil, stirling engine, and quack medical devices.
Tesla Coil Experiment
First, Tom Vales set up a Tesla coil which has three prongs on the top to collect the energy. The coil is big and vertical. In this experiment, there are three glass tubes that were used to collect the electricity from the coil. The first glass tube is a general tube that we are using in our house for lighting. He did not put the tube directly on the coil, but it still lighted up as what you can see on the video below.
Second, he used a tube which has a bulb at the middle. Also, there is a prong on the top of it. At this time, he put the prong on the tube near the prong on the Tesla Coil. We could see a line of lightening went through the prong to the bulb and made it lighting up. Also, it created a noise between the lighting and prongs.
Next, he used a clear tube and put it close to the prongs on the coil. As you can see on the picture below, there was a line of bluish-white lightening that came down the tube and toward his hand. I could see clearly the white lightening through the clear glass.
Finally, he used a tube with different color inside. He used it to shows that how we can have a same gas in a whole tube. However, it is a smaller diameter on one part compared to the other part, the color will be changed. Again, he put it near the coil and it shows that the color turned pink on skinny side and blue on the thick side.
Stirling Engine
There are three kind of Stirling Engine, Alpha, Beta and Gamma. Last Friday, Tom Vales showed us the last kind of stirling engine, gamma. Gamma stirling engine as known as Low temperature differential engine that works by using a temperature difference between two mental plates. There are five main objects in this stirling engine, bottom plate (hot), displacer, top plate (cold), piston, and flywheel.
First, Tome Vales poured hot water into a cup, and put the stirling engine on the top of it. The bottom plat was heated by hot water while the top plate was still cold. There was a temperature difference exist between both plates. The displacer kept moving up and down between both plates and the piston also. Additionally, the flywheel began to run revolve at the same time.
Quack Medical Devices.
Quack Medical Devices used to produced electricity that traveled down various shaped wands. He said that we can use them to relieve the pain such as hurting or sore throat. The machine came with a set of attachments, and these attachments were suited to different parts of the body. The first one is look like a rake that he used to brush his hair. When he turned on the machine, the attachment become purple because of electricity inside. It also made a noise as what he did with Tesla Coin. It seems like we can use it to massage our head. The second attachment is skin electrode which has a flat part at the end to move around the skin (see video below). The last attachment is look like a crescent moon which can fit your throat. He said that we can use it to relieve that pain from sore throat. Also, he said that they were only about $8.00 in the previous time and everyone could buy them at the store.
Conclusion
It was a great opportunity for us to see the real experiments which we only knew about by reading and writing blogs. I enjoyed when I saw different colors from the last tube in Tesla Coil experiment. Also, I learned more about stirling engine that I did not know anything about. I want to say thanks to Tome Vales for this wonderful lesson in my life.
