Engineer builds hand-held Tesla cannon that fires arcs of electricity through the air

YouTube's Destin Sandlin, host of the site's channel Smarter Every Day, followed through on his urge to learn more about Tesla's wireless electricity.  Let's be glad he did because he took his super slo-mo camera along with him when he met with Cameron Prince, the developer of the hand-held Tesla cannon.

Upon arrival at Prince's house, Sandlin was introduced to a 9-foot standing coil.  He excitedly explored the machine but it was Prince's hand-held device that really set Sandlin off.

As Prince reveals, he must be grounded in rubber boots when operating the machine.

After an afternoon of action, Sandlin tries the weapon out for himself.

As if that wasn't enough, Sandlin allows himself to be struck by the lightning.

“The primary coil on a Tesla coil circuit [is] fatal, no questions asked," says Sandlin, "but on the secondary coil the output is in microamps which is generally accepted to be safe but some people still say it’s dangerous.

“Here’s the deal," he warns.  "Do not do this."

This thing is incredible.  Here's Sandlin's entire video on the trial