Nikola Tesla: Alternating Currents
Born July 10, 1856 in Croatia to a priest and a household appliance inventor, he originally wanted to specialize in physics and mathematics. However he instead got very interested in electricity. In 1881 he became an electrical engineer for a telephone company in Budapest. In 1883 he built a prototype to the induction motor and ran it successfully.
His childhood dream was to come to America and harness the power of Niagara Falls. It was in America where the argument between Tesla and Edison first began about which is better, alternating currents or direct currents. Tesla pointed out the inefficiency of Edison’s direct currents that have been built all over the Atlantic seaboard. Direct current could not travel more than two miles because it could not step up to high voltage levels for long distance traveling.
In 1882 Tesla discovered the rotating magnetic field and adapted this to be used in the alternating induction motor and the polyphase system for the generation, transmission, distribution and use electrical power. Tesla amazed the world at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
Alternating current became standard power during the twentieth century. In 1895 he accomplished his childhood dream by designing the first hydroelectric power plant in Niagara Falls.
In 1891 Tesla invented the Tesla Coil and became a United States citizen. The Tesla Coil is used in many things such as the radio and televisions. Tesla’s alternating current induction motor is considered one of the ten greatest discoveries of all-time.
Tesla built an experimental station in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1899, in order to experiment with high voltage, high frequency and several other phenomena. It was here that he made one of his most important discoveries, terrestrial stationary waves. This proved that the Earth could be used as a conductor and this is what he used to light two hundred lamps from over twenty miles away. He also created man-made lightning.
Tesla built the Wardenclyffe laboratory and its famous transmitting tower in Shoreham, Long Island between 1901 and 1905. This huge landmark was 187 feet high, capped by a 68-foot copper dome which housed the magnifying transmitter. It was planned to be the first broadcast system, transmitting both signals and power without wires to any point on the globe. However because of a disagreement it was never completed and destroyed in 1917 for wartime security.
Born July 10, 1856 in Croatia to a priest and a household appliance inventor, he originally wanted to specialize in physics and mathematics. However he instead got very interested in electricity. In 1881 he became an electrical engineer for a telephone company in Budapest. In 1883 he built a prototype to the induction motor and ran it successfully.
His childhood dream was to come to America and harness the power of Niagara Falls. It was in America where the argument between Tesla and Edison first began about which is better, alternating currents or direct currents. Tesla pointed out the inefficiency of Edison’s direct currents that have been built all over the Atlantic seaboard. Direct current could not travel more than two miles because it could not step up to high voltage levels for long distance traveling.
In 1882 Tesla discovered the rotating magnetic field and adapted this to be used in the alternating induction motor and the polyphase system for the generation, transmission, distribution and use electrical power. Tesla amazed the world at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
Alternating current became standard power during the twentieth century. In 1895 he accomplished his childhood dream by designing the first hydroelectric power plant in Niagara Falls.
In 1891 Tesla invented the Tesla Coil and became a United States citizen. The Tesla Coil is used in many things such as the radio and televisions. Tesla’s alternating current induction motor is considered one of the ten greatest discoveries of all-time.
Tesla built an experimental station in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1899, in order to experiment with high voltage, high frequency and several other phenomena. It was here that he made one of his most important discoveries, terrestrial stationary waves. This proved that the Earth could be used as a conductor and this is what he used to light two hundred lamps from over twenty miles away. He also created man-made lightning.
Tesla built the Wardenclyffe laboratory and its famous transmitting tower in Shoreham, Long Island between 1901 and 1905. This huge landmark was 187 feet high, capped by a 68-foot copper dome which housed the magnifying transmitter. It was planned to be the first broadcast system, transmitting both signals and power without wires to any point on the globe. However because of a disagreement it was never completed and destroyed in 1917 for wartime security.