SCIFI RAZOR

Frankenstien Lab

Somehow or another I hit upon the notion I would like to make a spark machine like I saw in the Frankenstein movies. So while searching the World Book Encyclopedia I came across an article about the induction coil.

I remember reading that it took a low voltage and stepped it up to a much higher voltage. At the time I had no idea what this meant but it sounded like I was on the right track. Readingon I discovered it was also known as an ignition coil and was used to step up the 12 volts to from the car battery to produce the 20,000 volts spark for the spark plugs. Eureka! I had found it.

It just so happened that an uncle had gave me a 24 volt battery to play with. That alone should give you some idea what kind of child I was. My mind was spinning with the possibilities, “I should be able to get 40,000 volts.” It was time to visit another uncle who just happened to be a mechanic. The uncle was an easy sell and gave me an old ignition coil.

With coil in had and some old wire from an extension cord I wired up the coil to the battery. With the wire from the center tap I began touching everything I could reach trying to make a spark. Nothing! So I grabbed the bare end of the wire to see if I could feel anything.

After I woke up I was pretty sure the last thing I remember was grabbing the end of the wire. What I needed was a test subject. I invited my best friend at the time over and cajoled him into touching the end of the wire. After it knocked him out I decided my suspicions were confirmed. So back to the world book to see there was anything that I missed.

I reread the article and saw that an ignition coil requires AC voltage. Flipping over to AC voltage I discovered that it stood for alternating current and a typical wall outlet in a house was 120 volts AC. Now my mind really was spinning 200,000 volts!

Since I decide that this would be the final product I built a wooden box to house my device. On completion I carried it into the kitchen and sat it near the sink. I adjusted the center tap wire so it was near the faucet, about three inches.

I started to plug it in and for once a cautious thought entered my head. The top row of outlets near the sink could be turned on and off by a light switch. I turned the switch off and then plugged in my spark machine and then returned to the switch near the door.

I turned on the switch. To say the results were interesting would be a gross understatement. The box was dancing about the counter top humming like some pestilent from hell and the chrome on the faucet was being burnt off by an incredibly bright blue arc of electricity. When the box began to smoke I decided it was time to dive behind the door for cover. This is when the explosion occurred.

Looking from my hiding place I saw the coil that was in the ignition coil shoot across the room like some fiendish slinky and ricochet off the ceiling and walls. I flipped off the switch and surveyed the damage.

There was not an inch of that kitchen that didn’t have black burnt transformer oil on it. The smoke and smell was terrible. I knew I was dead.

Fortunately we were going to paint the kitchen top to bottom that weekend so the means to correct this was at hand. I called my three aunts and told them what I had done. When they came over and saw the kitchen the most uttered phrased was, “My God!” They helped me clean the kitchen and paint everything. This was not the first time they had conspired to keep me alive. Working at feverish pace we managed to get everything done before my mother came home from work.

When my mother came home she stopped in the kitchen and got a puzzled look on her face.

“What has happened here,” she asked?

“I didn’t have anything to do so I got my aunts to help me paint the kitchen for you,” I replied.

“How sweet for that I’ll make you your favorite pie,” she said.

“What happened to the faucet,” she asked?

“Don’t know the chrome just started comming off,” I replied.

Hmmm! Coconut Cream it was great.

Tags: electricity, frankenstien, Science, scientist, spark