Tesla coil

American  

noun

Electricity.

1. an air-core transformer used to produce high voltages of high-frequency alternating currents.

---

tesla coil British  

noun

1. a step-up transformer with an air core, used for producing high voltages at high frequencies. The secondary circuit is tuned to resonate with the primary winding

---

tesla coil Scientific  

1. An electrical device that generates extremely high voltages, usually for the purpose of creating dramatic electric arcs and lightning effects or for producing x-rays. Tesla coils use step-up transformers to boost the voltage of a power supply and build up large charges in a capacitor. A spark gap periodically shorts out the capacitor, releasing its charge in huge current flows, that generate extremely high voltages (up to ten million volts) through an open-air transformer.

---

Etymology

Origin of Tesla coil

First recorded in 1900–05; named after its inventor, N. Tesla

Example Sentences

There’s a Tesla coil, and we will test out various electrical energy reactions.

From Los Angeles Times

The class had cobbled together a homemade Tesla coil, and wireless messages were sent from the basement to the school auditorium by students who, The Times adjudged, could “handle juice most familiarly.”

From Los Angeles Times

Yet the bells and whistles — like a massive Tesla coil that jolted Dr. Frankenstein’s creation to life — went off without a hitch.

From New York Times

While still in high school, Markham and a friend, Tom Sheally, built a Tesla coil that could make lightning 3 or 4 feet long.

From Washington Times

Jean Katambayi used a Tesla coil to zap into life a car-shaped carapace of copper wire, a comment on how sleek electric vehicles rely on Congolese lithium and labor.

From New York Times