How Lightning Becomes Music with Tesla Coils

How can lightning make music? Educator Lauren from the Museum of Science, Boston, breaks it down using two giant Tesla coils—machines that create sparks like lightning. In a storm, thunder is the sound of one big spark. But Tesla coils can create hundreds of sparks per second. When those sparks happen too quickly to hear individually, they blend into a steady sound—just like thunder. By changing how many sparks happen per second, we can change the pitch of that sound—and play music with lightning.