6 Badass Tricks You Can (But Shouldn't) Do With Electricity
As some of you know, Cracked has undertaken a project to show you all sorts of awesome yet deadly experiments people have done at home, specifically so you won't feel the need to do them yourselves. Please, enjoy the fruits of their labor and don't start taking apart your own microwave to see if you can build a railgun out of it.
After all, these bold-slash-insane experimenters risked serious injury or death to bring you...
#6.
Plasma Speakers
You know what sucks about speakers? They rarely, if ever, kill anyone. So what if you wanted to blast your music and risk a horribly violent yet quick death? Some enterprising folks on YouTube have done that exact thing.
How?
The guys building these online use PVC, some electronics and an MP3 player. Basic soldering skills and a knowledge of electronics also help, but when it comes to making horribly dangerous knick-knacks in the home, any kind of pertinent knowledge base can only hinder your success.
No Shit?
It turns out that taking the electrical signal that would normally be used by a speaker and arcing it through the air not only produces sound, but makes it clearer than conventional speakers. The discharge moves air molecules, just like a traditional magnetic speaker. Only if you bump into it, you may never grow nut-hair again. So there's that.
#5.
Make a (Deadly) Pickle Lamp
"Hey, a pickle! Wonder if there's some way I can turn that into a light bulb," is something you've probably wondered while stoned out of your mind. Well, we have good news: If you were planning to use pickles to provide mood lighting for your next party, the Internet is here for you.
How?
You need a pickle, some wire, a power source, something with which to impale the pickle on both ends and preferably a frame to hold it. You could use your hand, but that will lead to less pickle glowing and more you dying. Once that's set, you plug it all together, and if you did it right, the pickle glows. Turn off the lights and put on some Barry White to get the full effect.
No Shit?
As explained here, the electricity dries out the ends of the pickle (much like time will do to your dong) and then arcs through the briny pickle center (which may not happen to your dong), turning it into a tasty sodium vapor lamp. Although you may be tempted to try and eat a dried out, electrified pickle, we highly recommend unplugging it before doing so. Apparently, the plugged in pickle can kill you.
It's just like mom always said, "A plugged in pickle can kill you." And, in case you weren't sure of it already, apparently glowing pickles prove Christianity is the one true religion.
Behold, sinners, the salty Cucumis Sativus. Ye, it glows and foretells thy doom. -Rev. 19:22
#4.
Make Levitation a Reality
If we said you could build your own levitating ion drive, you would probably call us dirty, lying bastards. However, thanks to YouTube, we can assure you it's quite possible and it's relatively easy--although somewhat of a let down if you were imagining turning your car into a landspeeder from Star Wars.
How?
Surprisingly, all you need is a power source, some wires, a light frame and some foil. Wikipedia actually explains how to build one, and a trip to the hobby store should cost you less than 20 bucks. Imagine the chicks that will line up to see your awesome levitating foil (of death. More on that in a bit)
No Shit?
The design of the ionocraft, as they are called by people who rarely touch boobs, causes an electric field that ionizes the air around it, and pushes it downward, lifting the frame. Remember the death mentioned above? Well, believe it or not, this is more dangerous than the pickle.
It's like magic! And kind of dorky.
Not only is there omnipresent risk of being electrocuted to death, but you don't want to breathe too much around your little anti-gravity device. The ionic discharge that lifts the craft is ozone, which can fuck up your day. There is also the apparent risk of an arc at any given moment, which will turn your little flying machine into an unpredictable, floating Tesla coil. Which will then kill you.
"When enough electricity, say the amount used to restart a human heart." although i hate to be "that guy" a Defibrillator does not "Re-start" the human heart, it stops it so that that it may restart on it's own at a more stable rate.
Replyfloating Tesla coil? HOLY SHIT! THAT SOUNDS LIKE A f*****g AWESOME WAY TO KILL SOMEONE!
ReplyThe plasma ball video reminded me of a series on youtube called "Is It A Good Idea To Microwave That?" A bunch of college guys made dozens of videos microwaving stuff. They went through a lot of microwaves.
Replyi feel as if reanimating frog corpses and putting them at the mercy of the dregs of the internet is unethical somehow...pretty awesome in theory, but it still seems a bit distasteful. i feel for you, electrified frog.
ReplyNot to mention the Rule 34 implications.....
You used to be able to buy plasma tweeters, but they are also ozone emitters, so...
ReplyPlasma balls of death I love you cracked.
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ReplyI saw on a 1000 ways to Die The pickle killed a dude who grabbed it
ReplyThanks for giving me the idea of making my own army of zombie frogs.
ReplyJust don't be the easiest path to ground if something goes wrong and you should be fine. Maybe.
ReplyThat's pretty much how all speakers work, though not as dangerous or cool-looking.
ReplyYou never mentioned how number 1 is dangerous D:
ReplyFrog-zombie apocalypse. I really think that goes without saying.
You might get electrocuted.
I hope you're satisfied! Cracked now has blood on its hands! The blood of every "innocent" bystander I accidentally kill when I try every single one of these!
ReplyIt was supposed to be you.
oNcE YOU'VE READ THE.
Reply Hide All See All 7 RepliesFIRST WORD OF.
THIS YOU CANT GET OUT.
READ ON OR.
DIE TONIGHT AT 10:35...... P.M.9 years ago.
a person named Jerry got.
dared to sleep.
in a house that was belived.
haunted.The... next day his friends.
waited for him out.
side the house...................
They had
to go inside and search for.
him. They
went through every room.
exept the
attic.He wasn't supposed to.
sleep
there. He was supposed to.
sleep in the.
living room they went into.
the attic.
They saw Jerry's corpse and.
they just
left because they were.
scared. But that
night they all died because.
of their
friend. He killed them all.
for making him.
sleep in that house If you.
don't send
this to 11 comments you.
will die tonight.
by Jerry. Example 1: A man.
named
Stewart Read this and.
didn't believe it.
He shut off his computer.
and went
through his day. That night
while he
was in bed he heard.
something outside
of his door. He got up to.
look. And now
he's dead. Example 2: A Girl.
named
Haley Read this in the.
morning and she.
got scared but she didn't.
send it. She
wanted to know if it was.
true. She went
to school (She was only 13.
years old)
and that night she died. If
you don't
post this on 11 comments.
tonight Jerry
will 'visit' you.
i wish i could understand what people gain from posting stupid s**t like this
I read this at 10:45 pm, so your chain letter post has failed.
Jerry will smash my Enter key at random intervals?
Anybody else want to beat the f*****g s**t out of this guy?
I doubt grandma read cracked.
Woe betide the person who does not know how to copy and paste!
Read and didn't send. Jerry and I had a nice talk. He says he's sick of you constantly posting this, what with all the people he winds up having to visit. He's got other things to do, you know. Important things. Marilyn Monroe isn't going to hit on herself.
Aw Cracked! I thought you meant I could actually ride the little hovercraft. Now I'm disappointed.
ReplyYou missed perhaps the most badass of all. You can shrink coins (and mess with other metal objects) by sending kilomegafucktons of electricity through them. I believe it is at least an order of magnitude more deadly than the other things you had. And it's pretty cool.
ReplyI think someone didn't get the memo about Edison not inventing the light bulb.
ReplyAfter reading the comments I have learned so much more! Thanks for the ideas, fellow cracked readers.
ReplyWell, as an electronics student and hobbyist, I must say that these experiments are not THAT dangerous - I almost electrocuted me to death a few times with way less voltage. For a number of reasons (like Ohm's law), ''high voltage'' doesn't necessarily means ''deadly''. For example getting chocked on the 30 kV flyback of a CRT monitor do way less harm than the main 120V of your electrical outlet. Even my 30kV Tesla coil only tickles when I approach my hand. Still, when you're messing with HV, DON'T FREAKING TOUCH IT and PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU'RE DOING, and everything is gonna be fine (if you know what you're doing).
ReplyAlso, BTW, after finishing my autonomous saw wielding combat robot project (seriously) I'm gonna start a plasma speaker project. I like crazy projects.
OK, yes, the danger isn't worth the risk. So I'll just need to persuade the neighborhood kids to do these for me.
Reply