John T. and all of the electric knowledgeable folks

Logan in S.E. Texas · Jan 8, 2018

Watching the series about Nicola Tesla on the science channel. I'm not seeing much that I didn't already know. My question to the group is; where would we be without him??? A/C power is so important to our daily lives and now it's not even thought about because it's been around so long.

Wheres Waldo · Jan 8, 2018

In Des Moines (Iowa) we had a 'powerhouse' with DC generators along US HWY 69 for the Interurban railway. Iowa, with their 'tax everything' attitude caused the Railroad (Fort Dodge, Des Moines and Southern) to demolish the building along with the huge generator. (Improved Property, don't cha know) IPALCO, (Iowa Power and Light) shut down their last DC Generator in the 1980's as it was supplying escalators and elevators in Younker's Department Store when they closed up. IPALCO was the supplier to our privately owned Bus system and when it went bankrupt, the only user was Younkers.

Goose · Jan 8, 2018

I first heard about Tesla when I was in an avionics class in the Marine Corps in 1958. One instructor was reading a book, "Prodigal Genius", and passed info along to the class. I wound up reading the book myself.

Janicholson · Jan 8, 2018

Most new high voltage distribution lines (Million Volt category) are now DC. Much less loss! Jim

old · Jan 8, 2018

Well is Tesla had not come up with AC current and many of the other things he figured out we would have many power plants all over the place and most homes would be likely to have battery bank some place to store power. DC current cannot be transformed like AC can so it can not travel long distances with out loosing amp/volt. Many thing Tesla figure out could have made him very rich but many took advantage of him and his thinking. Back when I was in High school I did a few term papers on him and a number of others who though up radio, radar, vacuum tubes etc. Had one teacher question if what I wrote was something I already knew or is I really did the work to read and learn what I had written

David G · Jan 8, 2018

AC transmission is slowly becoming a thing of the past now that high voltage semiconductors allow for transforming DC voltages.

David G · Jan 8, 2018

DC Generators are much more cumbersome than alternators due to the current having to travel through the brushes, generate the AC, then let semiconductors convert it back to DC.

John T · Jan 8, 2018

I consider him as a genius and years ago I joined the "Tesla Society" for some time. Back in the day the competitors were Edison and Tesla and Westinghouse and from what I read Tesla became so eccentric he lost favor and never got credit for his work.

In the day the huge expensive cooper DC transmission lines lost out due to inefficiency (I squared R heat energy loses) and they weren't transmitting high voltage while AC transmitted at HV then used step down transformers at homes etc.

As Jim pointed out nowadays they use DC for long HV transmission instead of AC which has all the inductive and capacitance losses.

Somewhere on You Tube or PBS there is a good documentary about Tesla

John T

dr sportster · Jan 8, 2018

I kind of wrote off that show when they spoke about Tesla being murdered. Pretty sure in any Tesla book I read he lived to be old and was not murdered. How things would have evolved without him I don't know. Interestingly enough we are now transmitting high voltage lines at DC .

dr sportster · Jan 8, 2018

Another thing { I briefly watched it for a few minutes] they spoke of tunnels around the tower on Long Island. What they were calling tunnels I'm sure were much smaller raceways used for the grounding grid. Why would Tesla store paperwork in an underground raceway . Made up TV drama.

Charles in Aus. · Jan 8, 2018

Tesla didn't want to use copper cables , he well understood the costs and loss of efficiency and in his words '' the unsightliness ''. His ' Holy Grail ' was the transmission of electrical power through the air in much the same way as Marconi's radio frequencies .

CH(upstate,NY) · Jan 8, 2018

Tesla was on to something, sort of. Scientists are working on collecting energy in orbiting receptors and beaming it to earth via microwaves. Then converting it and putting it on the grid.

Steve@Advance · Jan 8, 2018

I haven't been watching, but seems I remember some murder theories.

Wasn't he working for the government at one time on a secret "death ray" machine for anti aircraft purposes?

And his mental state toward the end a concern, as well as communication with foreign governments?

JDEM · Jan 8, 2018

AC current was already being used in Europe when Nicolas Tesla was born. He promoted i, did not discover its use. If Edison got his way and we used DC - I doubt anything would be any different today. We could later have changed if needed.

MarkB_MI · Jan 8, 2018

The main contributions of Tesla were polyphase power and the induction motor. It's reasonable to assume someone else would have figured these out in time, but the practical application of Tesla's technology by George Westinghouse came at a critical time in history. If Tesla's inventions had not come for another decade or two, it's likely that Edison's DC power system would have prevailed, and the power grid we have today would not exist. Westinghouse deserves credit for recognizing Tesla's talent, which in the end made him a lot richer than Tesla.

It's believed that Tesla was way ahead of his time in many areas of engineering and science, but he failed to capitalize on most of his discoveries. In particular Marconi and Roentgen received credit for discoveries Tesla made around the same time.

JMOR · Jan 8, 2018

(quoted from post at 19:26:30 01/08/18) I haven't been watching, but seems I remember some murder theories.

Wasn't he working for the government at one time on a secret "death ray" machine for anti aircraft purposes?

And his mental state toward the end a concern, as well as communication with foreign governments?

Assistant Medical Examiner H. W. Wembly was called to the scene and after examination of the body, gave his opinion that the cause of death had been coronary thrombosis and that there had been no suspicious circumstances."

kevinstuff · Jan 9, 2018

Nobody mentioned the Philadelphia
Experiment? the use of radio waves
to make a battleship invisible? There
is way more to Telsa story, and many
unexplained aviation stories , and read
up on Devil?s Triangle . How many WWII
vets remember or seen the Philadelphia
Experiment in the papers or news?

MarkB_MI · Jan 9, 2018

> Nobody mentioned the Philadelphia Experiment?

Tesla made a number of outlandish claims towards the end of his life. There's little evidence to support them, including his famous claim to have invented a "death ray". And I wouldn't conflate his very real accomplishments in AC power with nonsensical fables like the "Philadephia Experiment" and the "Bermuda Triangle".

How is it the so-called Philadelphia Experiment has remained a secret for over 70 years when it would have had to involved thousands of people? We see that a handful of liars can't keep a single meeting in New York secret for more than a few weeks; the idea that everybody with knowledge of a ship disappearing from a pier in broad daylight has kept their mouths shut for three-quarters of a century is preposterous.

As for the Bermuda Triangle, it's an arbitrary patch of the Atlantic Ocean that has a great deal of traffic and is subject to very severe weather. It's hardly surprising that a lot of boats, ships and aircraft disappear there.

buickanddeere · Jan 9, 2018

Some people claim there are occasional large releases of methane that bubble up from the ocean floor . Causing a loss of buoyancy for ship and an explosion hazard for anything that Could cause ignition.
Sounds a bit far fetched .

Bret4207 · Jan 9, 2018

Our local library has several older books on Tesla and his inventions. The guy was beyond a genius.

There are also a few books out there on the war between Tesla-Westinghouse and Edison. Edison wasn't a very nice guy!

dr sportster · Jan 9, 2018

No ww2 vets remember it because it did not become a hoax until the 1950s.

whereswaldo · Jan 10, 2018

Very interesting. In Iowa, the D.C. current was used for interurban and in town 'curb liners'(buses) until the 1970's. Only one store, Younkers, still used D.C. to power one elevator in their store. When the privately owned Interurban system went bankrupt, IPALCO (Iowa Power and Light) shut down their generator. The Interurban had powerhouses every few miles, one near me, that were no longer necessary. The company, Fort Dodge, Des Moines and Central Iowa Railway continued to use the trackage for commercial use as it was part of the 'guarantee of 100 years service' but as soon as that promise was met, they folded. There is still a spur going into the Firestone Tire plant near Des Moines.

John T. and all of the electric knowledgeable folks

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