Wireless Electricity

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Nikola Tesla wanted to everyone to have access to electricity without all of the wires. In 1891, Tesla created the Tesla coil. A basic Tesla coil is comprised of a power supply, a large capacitor, and main and secondary coil, and adjustable spark-gap electrodes.

The first coil, typically copper, is connected to the power source and charges the capacitor. Once charged, current is able to flow out of the capacitor, down the first coil, and create a magnetic field. When the magnetic field collapses, it creates an electric current in the second coil. As the second capacitor charges, sparks are created in the air between the two coils. Once the second capacitor is charged, it releases a burst of electrical current that can illuminate florescent bulbs without any wires.

Unfortunately, Tesla's dream of free, wireless electricity never came to fruition. However, "in the early decades of radio, most practicable radios utilized Tesla coils in their transmission antennas. Tesla himself used larger or smaller versions of his invention to investigate fluorescence, x-rays, radio, wireless power, biological effects, and even the electromagnetic nature of the earth and its atmosphere." (pbs.org)