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EMP HDD Launcher, [HD Video]

Electro Magnetic Spike Generator:

This is my EMP generator I designed and built using a cheap camera flash, £14 worth of 400V capacitors and some junk I had laying around. It demonstrates electro-magnetic induction by kicking an aluminium disk in the air. When the device is powered it charges 20 X 100uf capacitors to 400 V.

This equates to 160 joules of energy stored
Energy in (watts X second) = 0.5 X 2000x10^-6F X 400V = 160 J

When this energy is released into a coil, a huge magnetic field is generated and induces a current in to the aluminuim disk. Now you might be thinking, "how will the disk be repelled if it is aluminium and is therefore not magentic". Well this current induced in the disk, creates an opposing magnetic field which boots it about 10 foot into the air.

In the 10mS it takes to discharge, about 400A flows from the capacitor bank.
This is enough to KILL YOU

This the old video:

18 comments

Jul 22, 2011. 12:14 AM

.Unknown. says:

Is there an equation or something that you used to figure out that 750A flowed in the 10ms pulse? Could you tell me what it is?

Sep 8, 2011. 12:34 PM

eXtremeSomething (author) says:

After many wrong calculations the actual value for current is only: 40A

Sep 9, 2011. 5:10 AMHorstel-1980 says:

the current is voltage divided by resistance. when your capacitors have an inner resistance of 0,1 ohm the current will be I = 400V / 0,1 Ohm = 4000A. (caps can dump their energy at once and are just limited by the inner resistance.)

Sep 9, 2011. 7:52 AM

eXtremeSomething (author) says:

I give up

Jul 22, 2011. 4:21 AM

eXtremeSomething (author) says:

(removed by author or community request)

Jul 22, 2011. 7:00 PM

.Unknown. says:

I see, thanks.
Great instructable by the way

Sep 8, 2011. 8:05 AMHorstel-1980 says:

Hey! Nice instructable! How did you do the coil?
By the way: 20 X 100uF caps are 2000uf so the capbank has 0,5 x 0,002F x 400^2 = 160j = 160Ws

Sep 8, 2011. 12:28 PM

eXtremeSomething (author) says:

great scotts, MARTY! Yeah your right, I will now change it. To make the coil I twisted it around a 4" pipe and then held it in place with tape.

Jul 22, 2011. 6:22 AMdasimpson1981 says:

would realy hate to see this as a coil gun

Jul 22, 2011. 8:35 AM

eXtremeSomething (author) says:

Its funny you should say that. Ive made an addon that plugs into the output to make it a coil gun.

Jul 22, 2011. 9:35 AMdasimpson1981 says:

now that you should show a vid of what it can do i made one pure by accident was ment to be a pulse motor but insted fired the welding rods i was using at the core was copeing the cam flash would give it an extra kick it did to much lol

Jul 22, 2011. 3:30 AMbrendonl says:

How did you charge the caps too 400v?

Jul 22, 2011. 4:14 AM

eXtremeSomething (author) says:

The camera flash circuit charges the capacitor bank up to 400V. Most disposable cameras have one but they only go up to 270 ~ 360 V. I used a proper hotshoe camera flash (external) as they are more powerful.

Jul 22, 2011. 7:24 AMbrendonl says:

Clever thinking man! I wonder what would happen if you hooked it up to some external wires wrapped around the ferrite core of a flyback that might do some crazy s**t.

Jul 22, 2011. 3:50 AMbrendonl says:

Did you use a camera flash or something?