File:Preacher shooting sparks from fingers 1938.jpg

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Summary

Description	English: Rev. Irwin Moon, a touring evangelist, in one of his "sermons from science" in 1938 shooting sparks from his fingertips. This spectacular special effect, which was also used by circus sideshow performers of the time, was accomplished by connecting a hidden Tesla coil to his body. The Tesla coil produces very high voltage, around several hundred thousand volts so it can create foot long sparks, but low current, and because it is alternating current with a high frequency (in the radio range, 100 kHz to 2 MHz) it does not cause the sensation of electric shock. The brush discharge sparks emanate from any pointed parts extending from his body, like his fingers. Although they don't cause a shock, the sparks would burn his fingers, so he uses metallic thimbles on the ends. The article says the equipment for this special effect cost $10,000. At this time it was thought that, due to skin effect, high frequency currents traveled along the surface of a person's body and didn't penetrate to vital organs, so Tesla currents couldn't cause shock and electrocution. However today it is known that this is false and Tesla currents do penetrate the body, and stunts like this are extremely dangerous and can cause electrocution. DON'T TRY THIS.
Date	September 1938
Source	Retrieved October 6, 2015 from Popular Science magazine, Popular Science Publishing Co., New York, Vol. 133, No. 3, September 1938, p. 33 on Google Books
Author	Unknown authorUnknown author
Other versions	This 1938 issue of Popular Science magazine would have the copyright renewed in 1966. Online page scans of the Catalog of Copyright Entries, published by the US Copyright Office can be found here. Search of the Renewals for Periodicals for 1965, 1966, and 1967 show no renewal entries for Popular Science. Therefore the copyright was not renewed and it is in the public domain.

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This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1929 and 1963, and although there may or may not have been a copyright notice, the copyright was not renewed. For further explanation, see Commons:Hirtle chart and the copyright renewal logs. Note that it may still be copyrighted in jurisdictions that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works (depending on the date of the author's death), such as Canada (70 years p.m.a.), Mainland China (50 years p.m.a., not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany (70 years p.m.a.), Mexico (100 years p.m.a.), Switzerland (70 years p.m.a.), and other countries with individual treaties.

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