Note that there are two Tesla coils that flank the Van de Graaff generator in the picture. It's all part of the show!
Posted on 07/06/2006 7:02:41 PM PDT by eleni121
The Nikola Tesla Monument within Queen Victoria Park, Niagara Falls (Canadian Side) will be unveiled on July 9, 2006 at 12 noon celebrating the 150th birthday of Nikola Tesla.
(Excerpt) Read more at teslasociety.com ...
The current is determined by the resistance.
I appreciate your post. You have answered lots of questions about Tesla's genius.
Or is that just a legend?
No, that's the truth. He died in 1943, right in the middle of WWII. The FBI took all of his note books and research papers thinking their could have been implications for national security in them. After the war, the materials were turned over to the Yugoslav government where Tesla was and still is a national hero.
Uhhhhhggggg
Not true. Edison did screw him out of money which is why Tesla quit working for him. George Westinghouse made Tesla a very wealthy man and gave him credit for all of his work. Tesla respected and admired Westinghouse and called him the only man in the world who could have taken his inventions and turned them into reality against the power of Edison who tried to prevent AC from becoming the standard.
Westinghouse is actually the guy who gets far too little credit. Tesla's inventions were critical, but they amounted to about 20% of what was necessary for a practical AC system. The other 80% was developed either by or under the direction of George Westinghouse.
What Tesla understood and Edison (and many others) did not was at high frequencies, the current travels on the surface (skin effect) of a conductor be it a wire or a human appendage.
Building many Tesla coils in my life time able to generate X thousands of volts and sparks up to 10" (my best) I have had numerous occasions (planned and OH SH#@) to have experienced the skin effect.
If I had a conductor in my hand there was no problem but if not the HEAT from the spark hurt not the high voltage induced current.
Note that there are two Tesla coils that flank the Van de Graaff generator in the picture. It's all part of the show!
If you listen to the radio, watch TV, or use a cell phone, thank Tesla, not Marconi. The US Supreme court agrees.
There are others trying to rediscover some failed theories of his, namely geting "free enery from the vaccum" (Tom Bearden types) But the trouble is they all violate the law of conservation, the lens laws, And the laws of thermodynamics.
They also think Aliens are taking over the world,and the Soviets have powerful "woodpecker" signals that can destroy the world, and the CIA has powerful mind altering weapons that control your every thought and mood. (tin hat crowd) Tom beardens' "theories" and boogey men
Tesla's memory will live on long after folks have forgotten about Edison...
In science fiction books maybe.
Oh, so Telsa is responsible for that energy wasting device? AC is NOT the best way to deliver electricity, in fact most devices in your home are converted to DC. AC is only a good way to distribute power within a city, but from the power dam to the city, it's all (mostly) HVDC transmission, then converted to AC for inner city delivery. If your home recieved DC from the pole, you'd be able to make better use of DC power generating cells, like solar cells and battery backup to reduce your dependance on the power company. Most ALL household appliances can run on lower volt DC power (they do anyway- AC power is converted to DC). A 12 volt car battery can light your entire house with efficient LED or florecent lights. During the day you could store enough DC power to meet almost all your power requirments.
The problem with that theory, is that the earth and atmosphere are NOT oppositely charged. The contain both negative and positively charged particles, electrons, photons etc.
When we see a static imbalance, we see lightning. Static charges are easy enough to create, but the problem is they don't carry much current. Or if they do the duration is brief. many, many many people have tried turning it into a controlable, usable charge.
The problem is when you try get WORK out of it. When you apply a LOAD, A static charge will pick a less resistant path.
The web is full of failed experiments, there are millions of useless patents out there. Anyone can patent a useless concept. Check them out here:
http://ep.espacenet.com/search97cgi/s97_cgi.exe?Action=FormGen&Template=ep/EN/home.hts
And this is a good site to look at all the "free energy" attempts over the years.
http://freeenergynews.com/
You can spend a long time looking at this stuff, but in the end you will find that there are basic laws of physics that apply.
cool. Thanks for the links!
Indeed. It has been many years since I've been there. Naturally the first thing that came to mind was the Van De Graaff.
Well, it's no wonder. The VdG is an impressive sight to witness. BANG! BANG! The Tesla coils are well above the typical high-school physics project sized coil, but they are dwarfed by the VdG.
You left voltage out of the picture. The basic power formula states P=IV. High current coupled with a moderatly high voltage can cause great damage. I work with with 480vac circuits and pay them great respect.
I understand skin effect but my original point in this thread is at sixty hertz A.C. can be lethal at relatively low voltages as opposed to D.C.
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