Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!fluke!strong
From: strong@tc.fluke.COM (Norm Strong)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: How Do I Build "Electric Shocker"
Message-ID: <3389@fluke.COM>
Date: 12 Apr 88 16:50:37 GMT
References: <8287@oberon.USC.EDU>
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Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc., Everett, WA
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In article <8287@oberon.USC.EDU> garcia@skat.usc.edu () writes:
>
>What I don't understand is how a DC current can work with a
>transformer.  I understood that you need an AC current to work with a
>transformer, thus there is something I am missing something here.

The "something" that you are missing is a chopper, or some means of
interrupting the flow of current on a periodic basis.  When I was young we
used to play around with Model T spark coils.  They had a mechanical buzzer on
the coil to perform that function.  Nowadays, we use transistors to chop the
current through the xfmr; when the current drops to zero, the collapsing field
around the xfmr generates a back emf that rises until something stops it--like
arcover.  


-- 

Norm   (strong@tc.fluke.com)