Halloween has come and gone, but we’re still finding some awesome costume ideas. MIT Student Tyler Christiansen built a Tesla coil hat that uses electricity to play songs.
We’ve seen musical Tesla coils before, but this might be the first one that has actually been wearable. It’s also something to put on the “do not try this at home” list. Even its inventor admits the project is “a really bad idea.”
Whatever the Tesla coil hat lacks in safety more than makes up with in sheer coolness. In the above video, Christiansen plays the theme from Mortal Kombat as he walks down the street, before switching to the theme from “Harry Potter.” It’s a truly flawless victory, though it’s a miracle he didn’t cause any fatalities with the electric arcs.
For anyone smart/crazy enough to duplicate this feat, the schematics are available on his blog post. Unfortunately, the device “blew up” before Halloween, but at least Christiansen managed to get these sweet images, both on still and on video. The possibility of a Tesla coil with dangerous voltages blowing up while one one’s head should serve as a warning that people should definitely not try this at home, even as cool as this is. In addition to the danger of electric shock, you’ll get funny looks on the bus.
If you enjoyed this post, you’ll also want to look at our recent list of MIT hacks and pranks (there must be something in the water in Cambridge). If you just can’t get enough of Tesla coils playing music with several thousand volts, check out a rendition of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face”, as well as a Tesla coil guitar playing Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man.” (Unfortunately, the original video to that one’s been removed, but here’s another one.) It doesn’t get any more metal than this!
