The large facility in Shorham, NY, that was formally used by the world renowned
scientist Nicola Tesla, is well on its way to being saved. This piece of valuable historic property, on Tesla Street, will not see the bulldozer. The for Sale sign is still in place, but a group called "Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe" has been collecting donations that will be used to preserve this historic facility.
Who was Nicola Tesla? Well''' without Mr. Tesla, you would probably be using Kerosene lamps to light your house. The Electrical power distribution system, as originally set up by Thomas Edison, used Direct Current Generators. If you lived one mile from a 120 Volt , DC Generator, and connected your toaster to the power wires you would probably have 100 Volts available to operate your Toaster. OK...what happened to the 20 Volts? The 20 Volts was lost or dropped in the Transmission wires. OK my Toaster works fine! Now let us consider the neighbor who lives two miles from the DC Generating Station; when he connects his Toaster to the electrical wires he will only have 80 Volts available to power his toaster! Hum... Toasters do not work too well with only 80 Volts to power them. Now consider the person who lives Five miles from the DC Generating Station; he will have only 20 Volts available to operate his toaster. This is totally useless!
Nicola Tesla invented the Alternating Current Power Transmission System; his AC Transmission system worked because of a device called a transformer. A Transformer can increase or decrease AC Voltage, determined by the primary to secondary turns ratio. There is no need to fully understand the operation of a transformer; the concept is most important! If you have a Ten to One Transformer, and put 100 Volts AC into the primary winding, you will get 1000 Volts AC out of the Secondary winding. This also works backwards; if you put 1000 Volts AC into the secondary winding you will get 100 Volts AC out of the primary winding. Hummm...how would you apply this effect if you were designing a power system that was required to go across the country? OK... if wires drop voltage, I would use a transformer to increase the transmission line voltage to 10,000 Volts; at the receiving end we could use another transformer to step the voltage back down to 120 Volts AC. With this system, Toasters would work fine across the country! LOL Please do not attempt to design or operate your own Power distribution system; this is extremely dangerous and requires the services of a professional design engineer. All of the examples in this article are simply illustrations to facilitate understanding of the subject matter. All voltages specified are only nominal, to facilitate understanding of the subject.
The Alternating current principals used by Tesla led to the development of Radio communications as we know it today! without Tesla you would not have a Cell Phone, TV, or Radio. That's it folks "No text messaging!" LOL
Been to the Hospital lately? Had an MRI? Nicola Tesla's work was an integral part of this development. Did you have an X-ray taken? Yep!
Nicola again! LOL.
Do you like the motor in your washing machine? Without Nicola Tesla you would be using a Wash Board!
Nicola Tesla is a genius, that has had a profound effect on our quality of life; unfortunately Tesla has not received the credit that he deserves. Nicola Tesla died 1943; his legacy is 700 US Patents, and the Radio and Power Systems that we now enjoy.
You might want to watch the following YouTube videos.
