I'm doing a 7 page report on Nikola Tesla, and just thought I'd share...
He basically invented our way of life today. He invented the idea of alternating current, and the system to make it possible. Without it, we'd still be using Edison's direct current.
"Well Ryan, wtf would that mean to me??"
I'll tell you. We'd have power plants every 5 blocks to power about a hundred houses. Imagine the pollution all THOSE would make! Plus, instead of the typical thin power wires you see today, they'd be as thick as your arm.
But that's not all, Johnny! He also invented fluorescent lighting, and RADIO. Yes, that's right. He, not Marconi, is responsible for the invention of radio and wireless communications.
As a side note... He is also responsible for something interesting..... A "Death ray". Something copied from his designs is being used right this very minute in Alaska (watch out Boondiggity!) It is known as project HAARP, High Frequency Active Auroral Research Project. What does it do? Basically, it microwaves the atmosphere. Now think about this for a minute...
Why can't meteorologists predict the weather a week from now? Why can't we predict whether it will rain or snow in SEVEN days? The short answer is because of something similar to the 'butterfly effect'. Basically, if a farmer decides to plow his field in idaho, it could plow under yellowed corn stalks (which reflect light), and produces a dirt-brown field (which absorbs light). Well now this field is actively heating the atmosphere, and might change the atmospheric surface temperatures by one degree. And that causes it to gather momentum like a snowball down a hill, and you've got a deluge of rain in new york.
Now if a butterfly flapping it's wings in california can cause a tsunami in Japan, imagine what 'nuking' the atmosphere with 3.6 Megawatts - 1 gigawatt of power could do! (Reports vary on how much power it can actually transmit)
[This message has been edited by ryan.hess (edited 12-03-2004).]
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12:03 AM
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OKflyboy Member
Posts: 6607 From: Not too far from Mexico Registered: Nov 2004
The problem with Tesla (as you no doubt have learned in your research) is that most of what we know of his "inventions" is speculation.
IIRC, Legend has it that he started his inventing while working for Edison. Part of his contract stated that any intelectual property concieved while 'on the clock' became the property of Edison himself. When Edison called Tesla on this, and 'stole' a design or two, Tesla did two things. 1) quit. 2) stoped writing down his inventions for fear that they might be 'stolen' again. Unfortunately, this means that when Telsa died, he took the secret of his many inventions to the grave with him. Most of what we know of Telsa's 'inventions' have come from the speculation of a few Reverse Engineers throughout the years...
Originally posted by OKflyboy: The problem with Tesla (as you no doubt have learned in your research) is that most of what we know of his "inventions" is speculation.
Speculation? We have 100+ of his patents. Granted, we don't have all of his research papers due to a mishap with the government borrowing all of them to copy them onto microfiche, and losing some of them. But we do have most of them.
btw- the "bladeless turbine" was brilliant. Simply brilliant. Efficiencies approaching 60+%, compared to the typical 20-30% for the turbines we typically think of.
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12:26 AM
OKflyboy Member
Posts: 6607 From: Not too far from Mexico Registered: Nov 2004
Hmm, I'd like to see these patents. My guess would be that they are patents of specific LRUs (military term. Line Replaceable Unit. ie: smaller replacable parts of the bigger whole) and not of significant importance. But then, I could be wrong. It's been a while since we discussed him in my Physics class. Hence the "IIRC"...
Originally posted by FieroRumor: remember what he did to that field of trees up in Alaska?
Did I miss something?
another interesting topic... He put a mechanical oscillator on one of his lab's steel support trusses, and caused the building to oscillate at it's resonant frequency. This caused all the windows in the adjacent buildings to explode, and basically cause a mini earthquake with his labs as the center. The police even showed up, and he was like, "you missed the show"
oh, let us not forget he invented X-rays
[This message has been edited by ryan.hess (edited 12-03-2004).]
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12:41 AM
Fastback 86 Member
Posts: 7849 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Sep 2003
As I recall, when he died, his notes and what not were seized by the Government and returned to his home country of Yugoslavia, where they are on display at the Nikola Tesla museum. I'm sure they've been thoroughly studied.
Anyone ever hear the story of him turning on a light from 5 miles away with no wires? Far as I know, it was a real experiment and no one has ever figured it out. The man was a genius, but like you said, he stopped writting it all down. The worlds loss, unfortunately.
Also, Tesla Coils are lots of fun!
And, I'll be seeing Tesla in concert with the Scorpions and Keith Emmerson tomarrow night! Woo hoo!
The band Tesla got me interested in the man Tesla. I read a few books on him bak in high school and was amazed at the genius of his ideas. From what I can recall Edison hated him for making AC the preferred power source over DC. The radio was finally credited to him in like the 40's, way after his death, but to this day people still spout about Marconi and radio.
It would be cool to get 60 minutes with this guy and try and pick his brain.
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08:09 AM
shop_rat45 Member
Posts: 3271 From: Lapeer, Michigan Registered: Mar 2004
I remember playing with a Tesla coil back in high school. The air was so ionized around it, you could place a flourescent lamp near it and it would light up. Also, if you actually got an arc going to your body, it would carry through your body and whoever you touch would get the shock. I had an arc going thru me and then grabbed my friends nipple. He screamed like a girl. Have youe seen pictures of his super huge Tesla coil? He did actually build it, right?? Very interesting man!!!
Kris
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08:42 AM
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Steve Normington Member
Posts: 7663 From: Mesa, AZ, USA Registered: Apr 2001
He was a brilliant man...inventor of many many things.....remember what he did to that field of trees up in Alaska?
zzzzap!
it was siberia my friend.
ive read alot about this guy.
he did actually build a tesla coil. when he had that thing going, it was pumping so much electricity into the ground that people in the nearby town were receiving electric shocks as they walked. it did actually toast the power plant that he was getting power from (he had a friend at the plant that was hooking him up). set it on fire from a loooooong ways away. There might have been one other small side effect. At almost exactly the same time that this experiment was taking place, a mysterious explosion rocked a remote section of Siberia, to the tune of about a 15-megaton blast (40 years before the first Atomic Bomb test).
ha, then theres his car. Supported by the Pierce-Arrow Co. and General Electric in 1931, he took the gasoline engine from a new Pierce-Arrow and replaced it with an 80-horsepower alternating-current electric motor with no external power source. At a local radio shop he bought 12 vacuum tubes, some wires and assorted resistors, and assembled them in a circuit box 24 inches long, 12 inches wide and 6 inches high, with a pair of 3-inch rods sticking out. Getting into the car with the circuit box in the front seat beside him, he pushed the rods in, announced, "We now have power," and proceeded to test drive the car for a week, often at speeds of up to 90 mph.
this guy was awesome.
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01:22 PM
ryan.hess Member
Posts: 20784 From: Orlando, FL Registered: Dec 2002
Originally posted by ShaddowGt: At almost exactly the same time that this experiment was taking place, a mysterious explosion rocked a remote section of Siberia, to the tune of about a 15-megaton blast (40 years before the first Atomic Bomb test).
Ohh.. You mean Tunguska(sp?)? I thought we were in agreement it was a meteor?
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01:41 PM
pokeyfiero Member
Posts: 16189 From: Free America! Registered: Dec 2003
People that rate at the drop of a hat can kiss my lily white azz and If you don't like it I'd be proud to sport a negative from you.
And folks always remember to eat before driving on the coast.If you fly off the cliff and no one finds you the only thing worse than knowing you are going to bleed to death alone is to do it hungry. PLAY HARD-DIE FAST
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02:15 PM
intlcutlass Member
Posts: 1431 From: Cleveland,Oh.44067 Registered: Nov 2002
