A physics fanatic down under is having a very Tesla Christmas this year, creating a 30-foot electrifying display of yuletide cheer by attaching a rotating rod to the top of a Tesla coil, making for quite the colorful Christmas tree. Using such specialized science tools as a fishing rod and sinker, household power, and a Nikon D300, physician and Tesla buff Peter Terren manipulated 500,000 volts at a time to produce the images seen here.
Using what he calls "electrickery," Dr. Terren -- known for a few other Tesla coil adventures including an electro-colorful remake of Rodin's "Thinker" -- used a really long exposure on his camera, several different lens filters and his knowledge of physics to create the high-voltage scene, manipulating the rod to create different visual effects.
Nothing in the images is Photoshopped, but someone watching Dr. Terren create the images would see something quite different than the image itself. Rather than a fiery display of colorful plumage, a passerby would see two minutes of intense sparking at the coil while Dr. Terren scrambled about switching filters on the camera from green to yellow to red and so on while gradually raising the rod atop the Tesla coil. But when the camera shutter finally snaps shut 120 seconds later, what's captured is the bright white light, filtered into Christmas wavelengths.A Discovery Channel segment about Dr. Terren's tree is in the works, but you can catch more images in our accompanying gallery, and find pics of his creative process here.
Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.


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Hey Darpa...lightning problem solved
This is really awesome, but the link to the images says "ACCESS DENIED
You are not authorized to access this page."
Wasn't this article aready on popsci a few weeks ago?
Tesla did his break-through work a long time ago and its interesting how all of a sudden his discoveries are so amazing when they have been sitting there all along.
Dont confuse pop-sci with an actual scientific publication.
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and this is cool
It is cool. So is pop-sci, negative comments aside. And to those of us just becoming familiar with Tesla, it's new. Why spoil it?
Oh, yeah, almost forgot - I'm with uncleiroh13. Please ban wendydream and all spammers.
Yes! I'm with uncleiroh13 and observer, lets rise up against these spammers and BAN them from Popular Science.com. We should make an example of them and list their names in a section called "Banned! The wall of shame", for all to see and pay heed.
We can either sit idly by and let them do this, or we can unite together in a spirit of unity! I'm a peaceful God fearing man, but enough is enough!
any chance we can see a video of this? I tried to find it on the net with no luck... :(
Although this is beautiful, the waste og energy and talent is concerning. Time and personal energy would be better spent find solutions to our increasing energy crisis rather than encouraging further misuse. Our business relies of energy as a source, though increasingly our clients are asking for low energy consumed products. Where is it?
www.ldj-lights.co.uk
Great article and the comments make it all the more interesting. I too have many clients asking for low energy christmas lighting. Also some of the concerns are more to do with heat distribution rather than the energy used. Some of the cheap products are bordering on dangerous for ongoing use.
www.litecraft.co.uk