From: wung@eecom.gatech.edu (Peter Wung)
Subject: Re: The Tesla Unit
Reply-To: wung@eecom.gatech.edu
Organization: School of EE, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 19:00:19 GMT

In article 22117@wuecl.wustl.edu, flan@froggy.wustl.edu (Ian Flanigan) writes:
>|In article <C1IEqp.KEE@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk> dam@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (David Morning) writes:
>|>cannon@scs.unt.edu (Dustin Cannon (Lab 3460)) writes:
>|>>	Hi everyone,
>|>
>|>>	I have a question (my normal mental state).  I recently read a 
>|>>biography on Nikola Tesla (Man Out of Time, Margret Cheney) and being a 
>|>>physics major I know about the unit Tesla.  So here is the question: What 
>|>>did Tesla do in magnetism that was so amazing that they named the unit 
>|>>after him?
>|>>        Does anyone know?  SHe didn't mention it in the book and I couldn't 
>|>>find it in the library (not suprising)
>|>
>|
>|Basically he was the inventor of AC current, all kinds of generators
>|and the Tesla Coil.  His dream was wireless energy.  And he was

Well, he didn't actually "invent" AC.  He developed it, I know, nitpicky.
He also developed the induction motor, he was instrumental in introducing the
alternating current concept to the world.  Story is, George Westinghouse
bought the rights to Tesla's ideas on AC transmission with an unbelievable 
contract.  Something like a percentage of the profits from all the electricity
sold.  But that didn't work out, so Tesla took a flat fee for his transmission 
system.  He later got fuunding to work on an energy transmitter that never worked.
He died a pauper in New York City.

>|working on a system where you could plug appliances directly into the
>|ground--a system which he never really perfected.
>|
>|Tesla came over from Gradz and went to work for Thomas Eddison.  And
>|Eddison couldn't stand Tesla for several reasons.  And one was that
>|Tesla showed up for work everyday in formal dress--morning coat,
>|spats, top hat and gloves and this just wasn't the American way at the
>|time.  Eddision also hated Tesla because Tesla invented so many things
>|while wearing these clothes.
>|
>|Tesla also invented the generators that converted Niagra Falls into
>|the cleaner and more efficient AC current.
>|
Well, under the existing technology, a DC generator would have to be a every street corner in order to supply everyone.  The voltage dropped too quickly under
low voltage DC, whereas AC can be transformed in high voltage by use of a transformer.

>|Eddison did his best to prevent conversion to AC and did everything he
>|could to discredit it.  In his later years, Eddison was sort of a
>|showman and he went around on the Chatauqua circuit in upstate New
>|York giving demonstractions of the evil effects of AC current.  And he
>|always brought a dog with him.  And he'd get up on stage and say,
>|"Ladies and Gentalmen.  I will now demonstrate the effects of AC
>|current on this dog."  And he took two bare wires and attached them to
>|the dog's head and the dog was dead in under thirty seconds.
>|

I would like to see him try the same thing under DC.  The dog would be dead too, and 
the body would be cooked.

>|
>| -- Laurie Anderson, from "The Dance of Electricity"
>|
>|(all typos are mine)
>|
>|-- 
>|Ian Flanigan
>|
>|Project Zeus
>|Washington University in St. Louis	"You can never have too many napkins."
>|flan@starling.wustl.edu



---
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*Peter Wung			Email:wung@ee.gatech.edu	   * 
*Electric Power Laboratory	Snail mail: 33787 Ga. Tech Station * 
*School of Electrical Engineering	    Atlanta, GA 30332      *
*Georgia Institute of Technology			    	   *
*Atlanta, Georgia						   *
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*  	Well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad for a short, fat guy. 	   *
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