My hypothesis initially was that fluorescent tubes would be resulting in the Tesla Coil using the highest amount of energy. I believed this because I thought the fluorescent tube was the least energy efficient.    

I now know that  certain light bulbs did not light up because of the gasses inside the bulbs. After some reading, I realized this explains why some bulbs that I tested didn’t light up. According to multiple sources, noble gases inside the bulbs ionize to light up without damaging the bulbs themselves.    

Transformer: Increases the voltage so the energy can fill up the capacitor Capacitor: fills up with energy as if it were a balloon and then lets go of that energy Spark Gap: As energy is travling it reaches the spark gap. When energy crosses the gap the energy discharges.  Primary Coil:one of the two coils in a Tesla Coil, and this coil is thicker than the other coil and this coil generates a magnetic field. Secondary Coil: This coil has a thinner wire and has more turns and bends in it. This coil increases the voltage before its final step. Top Load: the amount of voltage from the secondary coil will make the air ionize and the or volts spark onto the air and that is what you see. Later I realized that there is also a different type of Tesla Coil called a Slayer exciter

How the Tesla  Coil Works- the slayer exciter

The Tesla coil was invented by scientist Nikola Tesla. It is a device that is used for creating high frequency high voltage at very low current. The credit for inventing remote control, alternating current, neon bulb and induction motor also goes to Nikola Tesla. In simple words Tesla Coil is an electrical resonant transformer that can produce super high voltages in the output. It was the first ever device that created hope for wireless electricity all around the world. The high frequency electromagnetic waves around the Tesla Coil can easily excite the gas present inside fluorescent lamps and neon bulbs. A slayer exciter is a simplest version of a Tesla Coil that can be made using only a few components. It converts small dc voltage to high Ac voltage . (point)

1. Turn on Tesla Coil
2. Test Incandescent light bulb
3. Record results - both visual and electrical
4. Test LED light bulb
5. Record results- both visual and electrical 
6. Tesla fluorescent tube/lamp
7. Record results- both visual and electrical
8. Test plasma ball
9. Record results- both visual and electrical
10. Repeat 

Visual Observations:

Incandescent light bulb-   When I tested the incandescent bulb, The spark coming from the grounding pin went from frayed to standing straight up. I think this is because it was the most efficient path to ground.**

LED bulbs- they all light up, no visual observations to make

Fluorescent Lamp- it lit up, no visual observations to make

Plasma ball (is basically a second Tesla coil.) When placed next to the Tesla Coil, there is one big plasma filament going to the Tesla Coil (point) that was white and normally the plasma filaments are blue. I think this happened because my plasma ball is not very strong and I believe if I had a higher wattage plasma ball, I would get a different outcome.

Electrical experiment observations:

The voltage varied too greatly to get meaningful results. So then I switched to measuring wattage for more meaningful results.    The average demand  of the Tesla Coil was 41- 43 watts.

Incandescent bulb**: I held the incandescent bulb next to the Tesla Coil and the voltage stayed the same and I got a wattage of approximately 48.**

LED bulb: voltage stayed the same.   Wattage increases with each bulb added

Fluorescent Lamp**: voltage stayed the same and the wattage was approximately 44.5 watts.

Plasma Ball- Voltage stayed the same, and wattage went up but it was within the tolerance of 41 - 43 watts. I measured the power supply cable feeding the plasma ball, and the plasma ball by itself, I measured 2 milli-volts and then when the plasma ball was as close as it could get to the Tesla Coil I measured nothing. Because the plasma ball has its own power supply it is difficult to measure the effect on the power consumed by the Tesla Coil and is an unfair comparison to the other electrical consumers I have Tested.

After my first test we realized that my results did not make sense. I was not getting similar or the same results after multiple tests. I figured the voltage meter was too close to the Tesla coil so I moved the voltage meter further away and got better results. The reason I had to move the meter farther away was because the electrons produced by the Tesla Coil were being picked up by the voltage meter and that was affecting my results.

The voltage was not changing in any significant way as the voltage draw of the Tesla Coil was far higher than any of the consumers that I was using. So I decided to get a wattage meter to get better/measurable results.  These results male sense after trialling some of the voltage consumers. So I decided to record my results.

From these results I got a little change in wattage which is not much.  I was not expecting these results as for I was expecting for more wattage changes 

My hypothesis was that the fluorescent lamp would have the most effects on the Tesla Coil, I predicted that because the fluorescent tube is less energy efficient than the other electrical consumers. This hypothesis was mostly made based on my own knowledge because there were not many websites on this topic. I made this hypothesis based on mainly incorrect assumptions. My hypothesis was incorrect. Based on my results, the LED bulb resulted in the  lowest power usage because, whereas the fluorescent lamp had the next lowest power usage, and finally, the incandescent had the most power usage. 

I think I got these results because, from previous experiments I knew that everything was going to light up. But for all my results I expected the wattage and voltage to go down instead of up. But it makes sense the wattage went up because the power source has to supply the Tesla Coil with more energy to support the electrical consumers. The wattage never went up by a lot and only went up by around 1-3 watts. From this data though I can make the conclusion that the Tesla Coil consumes more power and has the most effect and the electrical consumers I tested. 

My experiment gave me clear results by not a clear answer to my scientific question. 

In theory, a larger scale model could provide wireless power to a whole house. No wires, no pug inns. This sounds great. I feel it would be inconvenient  having a massive Tesla Coil inside or outside, if not many small ones would have to be everywhere. I believe it is impossible to make this a reality. 

The massive Tesla Coil (or the small Tesla Coils) would causing massive power consumption and would be a massive power consumer to the house or neighbourhood .

I did not keep the electrical consumers at the same distance from the Tesla Coil 

Everything was not the exact same wattage. For example, 1 of my 6 LED bulbs was 0.7 watts and that means 6 of them would be 4.2 watts which is not near close to my goal of 20 watts. 

It was impossible to have my Tesla Coil be at the same wattage each time I was testing so my answers were not exact. 

What could I have done differently?

I could have had my electrical consumers be a different or greater wattage so there would be more of an effect. This would help me get more accurate results. 

I could have had a bigger plasma ball. My plasma ball was small and not as powerful as other ones. I should have got a bigger one to have a better effect than my current plasma ball.    

https://www.enginediy.com/en-ca/blogs/enginediy-blog-news-for-rc-engine/how-does-the-tesla-coil-work?srsltid=AfmBOopWwHIgcvMIbGq8PBEluGc59YVK8ZCC8W1YoNIy7gU1gv7Mp8SV 

https://wonders.physics.wisc.edu/tesla-coil/   https://alabamaphysics.com/how-does-a-plasma-ball-work-fun-and-simple-science-for-kids/   https://revolveled.com/blogs/shop-talk/led-vs-fluorescent-lights?srsltid=AfmBOoqTfCPQiO5wp-qA-IjUBUTM0YaVZBaBZzLjaMoQnmjkod3H0sKs 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AehL3BodduE&t=1s

https://freakengineer.com/mini-tesla-coil/#google_vignette  

Firstly I would like to thank my teacher, Mr. Baillie for facilitating space during lunch breaks to allow me to work on my project. He also informed me of the opportunity to participate and reminded me of the deadlines. A special thanks to my parents for their encouragement and support, especially when I felt discouraged and disappointed with my experimental results. Their enthusiasm and guidance has gave me the confidence to get to the finish line.