TESLA V EDISON: WAR OF THE ELECTRICAL CURRENTSALTERNATING CURRENT V DIRECT CURRENT

THOMAS EDISON IS A PROPONENT OF DIRECT CURRENTWhen Edison perfected the light bulb he also figured to make a lot of money building DC generating plants to power the lights that he hoped would be in everyone’s homes(King,2011)

PROBLEMS WITH DC POWER

It was difficult to transmit DC electricity over long distancesDC power plants would have to be built every few milesSelf-contained generators installed in homes were too loud(King, 2011)

ALTERNATING CURRENT IS SEEN AS A SOLUTIONPromoted by Nicolai Tesla and George WestinghouseBy using a transformer to step down the current and increase the voltage, AC electricity could be sent hundreds of miles through very large power lines(King,2011)

EDISON TRIES TO DISCREDIT AC POWER BY SHOWING IT’S DANGERSHe secretly paid to have AC current used in an electric chair to put convicted criminals to deathThe first person put to death in an electric chair was named William Kemmler(King,2011)

HE ALSO HAD AN ELEPHANT EXECUTED WITH AC POWER

(King, 2011)

WESTINGHOUSE WAS AWARDED THE CONTRACT TO LIGHT THE ENTIRE 1893 WORLDS FAIROnce people saw the sea of lights at the worlds fair most electrical grids were set up to use AC Power(King, 2011)

HOWEVER NYC USED DC POWER SINCE IT WAS HEAVILY INVESTED IN EDISON’S POWER PLANTSIn 1927 New York city decided to start removing its DC facilities and replace them with AC facilities.This process was complete in 2007 (Tesla,2017) There are still items in NY that use DC power:

1) Subway system2) elevators on the lower east side

--They have their own rectifiers to convert AC power into DC electricity(Lee, 2014)

THE IRONY IS THAT MODERN SOCIETY MIGHT BE BETTER SERVED BY USING DC POWERHow is that possible?1) Rectifiers are used so DC power can be sent over long

distances even better and more efficiently than AC power2) Solar power creates DC power and as we use more solar this is

more efficient3) A lot of our modern devices use DC power (Tesla)

WHAT DEVICES USE DC POWER?

ComputersCell phonesTelevisionsLED lightbulbsCable boxesWireless routersAnything that uses a rechargeable battery(Tesla)

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY YOUR PHONE AND COMPUTER HAVE THESE WEIRD BOXES?

Those boxes (arrows) are rectifiers that convert AC powerfrom the outlet into DC power thatthe cell phones and computers canuse (Tesla)

YOU MAY ALSO NOTICE THAT EACH OF THOSE BOXES GET VERY WARM WHEN YOU ARE USING THEM

The heat created is wasted electricity

Just think how much energy we could save if the whole nation used DC power

(Tesla)

SO WHY DON’T WE CONVERT TO DC POWER?AC systems are everywhere and replacing them would cost a lot of money(Tesla)

HOWEVER, EMERGING ECONOMIES ARE BUILDING DC POWER PLANTSThis could have the effect of being able to produce goods cheaper than the US because they would have lower energy costsThis could definitely have an impact on world trade in the future(Tesla)

TO SUM UP:

Using alternating current (AC) might have been necessary in the early 1900s but using direct current (DC) might be the future.Tesla may have won the battle by getting AC to be the dominate method of electrical production in the beginning of the 20th centuryBut , Edison may have won the war since DC electricity is making a comeback(Tesla)

WORKS CITED:

• King, Gilbert. "Edison vs. Westinghouse: A Shocking Rivalry." Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution, n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2017.• Lee, Jennifer8. "Off Goes the Power Current Started by Thomas

Edison." City Room. New York Times, 14 Nov. 2007. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.• "Tesla vs Edison: The War of Currents." Tesla vs Edison: The War of

Currents. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2017.