You can think of this circuit as two separate Inductor-Capacitor circuits (LC). Circuit one is made up of a high voltage power source (in our case, a flyback transformer driven by a 2n3055 circuit), a capacitor bank, a spark gap and an inductor(which will be our primary coil). The second circuit is made up of another inductor (our secondary coil) and a top load which acts as a capacitor.  The two circuits are not actually connected but when in resonance the current is transferred from the primary to the secondary coil where it is then amplified and discharged into the air from the top load.

 

Once all the components are built, connecting them goes as follows:

• Connect one side of the flyback to your power source, and the other to both sides of the spark gap

• Connect one end of the spark gap to the bottom of the secondary coil

• Connect the other end of the spark gap to the capacitor bank

• The free end of the capacitor bank should be connected to whichever turn of the primary you decide to use (see step four for information)

• Make sure to strip the top bit of wire on the secondary coil and tape it to your top load

• Most importantly, connect your secondary coil at the bottom and your strike rail to ground! Ground could be a water pipe or the third prong on an electrical outlet. I personally chose the second option because it made it more portable. I cut a power cord on one end and stripped away the exterior to find which wire (there are three on the inside; two to connect to mains and one to ground) is connected to ground and wired the parts that should be grounded to that. This way my coil can be grounded using any outlet. BE CAREFUL when doing this and always have someone around to supervise.