You can look, but don't touch! These arcs of plasma are lethal enough to kill on contact! In this project We're using an old Microwave Oven Transformer (MOT) to extract some traveling electric arcs
You probably shouldn't try this at home. This project is extremely dangerous and should not be attempted without adult supervision and adequate training. Misuse, or careless use, of tools or projects may result in severe electric shock, cardiac arrest, serious injury, permanent damage to equipment and property, and/or death. Use of this video content is at your own risk.
PLEASE NOTE: If you attempt to duplicate this project, I suggest wearing THICK INSULATED RUBBER GLOVES, and using a piece of PVC TUBING for your chicken/safety stick. The gloves I wore, as well as the wooden safety stick, are poor insulators and I used them only because they were what I had on hand, and I was aware and comfortable with the risks, but I cannot recommend they will protect from electric shock. In any case, always keep one hand behind your back when dealing with HV to reduce the risk of an electrical current from traveling through your heart and sending you into cardiac arrest.
By tapping into the secondary coil of an unmodified Microwave Oven Transformer (MOT), and hooking up to a makeshift diverging spark-gap, it's possible to extract a visible short circuit!
These high voltage arcs are probably over an amp in current, and at over 1,000 volts, can be instantly fatal if touched.
As the arc is formed, the surrounding air is ionized and heated, causing the arc to rise. It will travel up the diverging spark gap, sometimes called a "Jacob's ladder" until the arc is so weak it breaks.
This project is dangerous and isn't of much practical use as far as I can tell, but was a way to visibly see electricity in plasma form.
Because the MOT is unballasted, you can expect the current draw to get so high that the breaker will trip every-time if allowed to continue for an extended period of time.
