HOT SPRINGS -- At some birthday parties, a clown or a magician is hired to entertain guests. When it is inventor Nikola Tesla's birthday there are more electrifying ways to wow a crowd.
About 1.5 million volts of electricity shooting from the world's most powerful conical Tesla coil elicited oohs and aahs from families July 9 at the Mid-America Science Museum's Tesla Fest. The daylong event was in celebration of inventor Tesla's 160th birthday on July 10. About two and a half tons of steel caged the coil, certified as the strongest by the Guinness World Records, grounding the electricity and protecting guests.
Tesla himself (as played by the museum's Randy Dye) led the two fun and educational programs in the Tesla Theater, which included inviting volunteers on stage to help with experiments. Afterward, guests were invited onstage to interact with a plasma globe, also invented by Tesla.
Special activities included making electromagnets in the tinkering studio using copper wire, nails and batteries, and a demonstration by Doug Herbert, the museum's education director, of an Oudin coil, similar to the Tesla coil but on a smaller scale. Those brave enough could feel the electrical current from the device once used in electrotherapy.
It's not a birthday party without sweets, so cupcakes and ice cream were served to the first 160 guests at the museum's Creek Walk Cafe. About 1,200 guests attended throughout the day.
-- Story and photos by Cary Jenkins
High Profile on 07/17/2016