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The Best Way To Cook Hot Dogs: by Tesla Coil
Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 7:59 PM on May 6, 2008
The most exiting way to cook hot dogs: connect a chain of 12 hotdogs up and send bolts of multi-thousand volt electricity through them. Awesome, and all thanks to the Nevada Lightning Lab and their 10-foot Tesla coil at Maker Faire '08. And amazingly, the coil they used is just a prototype for a 122-foot version they want to build for lightning experiments. Imagine the light show and cookability you'd get from that! [Lightning Lab via Oh Gizmo]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
OMG! Ponies!
Posted 8:51 PM 6/5/08
I foresee a bold new future. A future where all hot dog vendors sell hot dogs cooked via Tesla coil.
Imagine - New York City with a giant Tesla coil on every corner, cooking hot dogs. Perhaps with a robot paint gun that shoots mustard onto the hot dogs.
And why limit ourselves to hot dogs. Perhaps the shishkabob "cat-on-a-stick" could be cooked via Tesla coil.
Atomic Mr. Softee trucks that can go for eons playing the jingle thanks to mankind's taming of the atom.
Giant shwarma skewers, powered by electricity, giving direct current goodness to our city's fair citizens while zeppelins pass over head.
Tomorrow's street food - today.
OMG! Ponies!
strider_mt2k
Posted 8:35 PM 6/5/08
@FreemanGman:
If you don't do crazy shit like that you don't get Bowie playing you in films.
Now hand me that electrode...
strider_mt2k
scarbrtj
Posted 8:34 PM 6/5/08
Electrons are cool. They're a little negative; but still, pretty cool.
scarbrtj
FreemanGman
Posted 8:30 PM 6/5/08
There are stories of Tesla standing between two coils letting current pass through him. Pretty crazy.
FreemanGman
strider_mt2k
Posted 8:29 PM 6/5/08
Wow!
Talk about current events!
I know I wouldn't be able to resist her!
strider_mt2k
Bitstuff
Posted 9:13 PM 6/5/08
You can make your own tesla coil, you know. Google it.
Bitstuff
strider_mt2k
Posted 8:58 PM 6/5/08
@Stacky Botrus:
Pfft.
Cooking with light is for gurlz!
strider_mt2k
Stacky Botrus
Posted 8:54 PM 6/5/08
+ Watch video
Stacky Botrus
Stacky Botrus
Posted 8:53 PM 6/5/08
I didn't see any friggin hotdogs.
Do one better - look up hot dog FRESNEL on youtube.
Stacky Botrus
bms
Posted 10:07 PM 6/5/08
Works alright, but too much uneven cooking for me.
bms
daspoint
Posted 9:48 PM 6/5/08
I'm thinking, FRANKENFURTER.... It's ALIVE !!!
I made a parabola using a sodapop can to cook a hotdog --- You just have to not be in a hurry to eat ( Slowwww Cooking, maybe the can wasn't shiney enough- It did work though) This looks like it's a lot more fun.
Inductive thinking and Capacitive forthought = Tesla
The guy had a magnetic personality.
daspoint
Git Em SteveDave
Posted 10:24 PM 6/5/08
Use pickles. I learned from Mr. Wizard and Omni magazine they glow when electrocuted. I may have also read it in a Penn&Teller book, but I'm supposed to blame the first two.
Git Em SteveDave
fastmike
Posted 10:48 PM 6/5/08
My George Forman grill does that after washing it in the sink lol
fastmike
TheCyberBob
Posted 11:34 PM 6/5/08
@scarbrtj: Wow that was a nerdy pun. lol
TheCyberBob
Airport_Whiskey
Posted 11:15 PM 6/5/08
Why use the power of one toaster oven when you could have the equivalent of hundreds, nay... thousands of them!
Doing the buns might be a little hit-or-miss however.
Airport_Whiskey
Joseph
Posted 11:09 PM 6/5/08
Looks like the issue of wireless power is solved. Now they just need a version so that I can go truly wireless without a battery and still run my laptop.
Joseph
Rabid Penguin
Posted 11:48 PM 6/5/08
Tesla was an amazing genius. To bad a lot of his ideas were never realized. He was truly a man before his time.
Rabid Penguin
Git Em SteveDave
Posted 12:11 AM 7/5/08
@Rabid Penguin: And I have been cursed by being a man after my time.
Git Em SteveDave
atomx
Posted 12:43 AM 7/5/08
Mmmmm, lightningy!
atomx
TOWken22
Posted 1:35 AM 7/5/08
Tesla coils are always cool, but I think I was expecting something a bit more dramatic from this video. I was waiting for a Prestige-esque lightning show with a huge bolt streaming across the room cooking the wieners as they thundered across air.
TOWken22
tnkgrl
Posted 2:18 AM 7/5/08
Here's my Qik video of the same thing: [qik.com]
tnkgrl
reenignE_esreveR
Posted 5:24 AM 7/5/08
@Git Em SteveDave: My physics teacher did that demonstration back in high school with a pickle then a hot dog. They conduct electricity for a few seconds, then the contacts char and smoke. The smell was horrific. It cleared the room pretty quickly.
reenignE_esreveR
Bokusatsu_Tenshi
Posted 7:06 AM 7/5/08
The taste was SHOCKING!
Bokusatsu_Tenshi
joer14
Posted 11:04 AM 7/5/08
I was there. It was so loud!
joer14
scarbrtj
Posted 12:58 PM 7/5/08
@joer14: WHAT?
scarbrtj
Mr.Wilson
Posted 1:41 PM 8/5/08
Reminds me of the way Doc Brown made ice tea in Back to the Future Part III for some reason.
And the whole hot dog vendor idea had me wisecracking to myself the protagonist of the future Grand Theft Auto games is going to have a hell of a time learning staying on the road's healthier for him and the car!
Mr.Wilson