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Broadcast Power? Wireless Energy?

Posted by Cliff on from the science-fiction-becoming-science-fact? dept.

Todd asks: "Today I was thinking about all the new wireless networks that are being offered out there (Apple's Airport, whatever the Dell thing is called, etc.). But, do any of these toys really do much good? If you afford to have power chords going all over the place, why not a phone or ethernet cable? My question is this... Is there a way to have wireless power sources? A base station could be set up in a person's house or place of business and then it would beam energy to the receiving source. I couldn't think of any laws that would allow this, but, then again, I'm not majoring in physics. I have no idea of how something like this could be done, but I do remember reading an article that said NASA plans on putting a huge solar collector in space that would beam energy to a plant on earth that would convert that energy to usable energy, so it got me thinking. Anyone know anything about something like this?" This has been a staple of a lot of sci-fi for as long as I can remember. How close are we to making this a reality? What dangers might such technologies create (as we are only now looking into the dangers created by cell-phones)?

30 comments

  1. It has been done by JohnG · · Score: 2
    This has been done as far back as 1899 by a man called Nikola Tesla. You might have heard of a Tesla Coil, well one of the strange properties of a Tesla Coil is it's ability to use air as a conductor. If you get a vacuum tube near a tesla coil it will light. If you put another tesla coil near it, then that tesla coil will fire up.
    Tesla had in fact began development on a large 200 foot tall Tesla coil (actually a tesla magnifier) that he said would provide wireless energy to the whole world using the earth as his conducter. Documented experiments show that he could successfully cause the earth to conduct, whether or not he could cause the whole earth to conduct is another story, but Tesla is the man who invented AC Current, Radio (Marconi violated 14 Tesla patents when he invented the conventional radio and some think he ruined the coarse of broadcast power by limiting it to voice), Pioneering work on Radar and X-Rays, Electrical Transformers. There is almost literally nothing in your day to day life that Tesla didn't invent or make possible.
    I have been doing lots of research on this in the past few days and have many ideas on how to make something like this work. One of Tesla's easiest to prove theories is his apparatus for the utilization of radiant energy. He said that all energy is present in the air at all times and that we could "grab" it for use. The way to do that is to cover a large conductor(sheet of metal) with and insulator. Connect a wire from this antennae to one end of a capacitor. Electricity will slowly charge the capacitor. Very slowly. The concep though can be prove with a TV set and a coin. Take a quarter and use some masking tape to tape the probe of an electrical meter to it. I just used one layer of tape. Ground the other probe then put the quarter up to a tv set. The voltage will go on, very very small voltage. Turn off the TV to cause the cathode rays to surge, I have gotten an instant of 1.5 volts from this using a Quarter! Not very many amps though, but power can be transmitted from one device to another with this theory using a cathode ray tube or ion propulsion or any such electrical charging substance. The basic theory is that the insulator (the tape) won't stop the cathode rays from going in, but will stop the electricity generated from coming back out.
    It is so ironic that this question was posted now, as I have been very active in searching through Tesla's ideas and looking for ways to bring them into reality in the modern age. I am learning alot and plan on begining experiments that could see this type of technology developed. Tesla himself though eventually realized the opposition he would face in the power companies, there would be no real way to meter the power being used, so they couldn't charge all that money for it anymore. They off course wouldn't like this even if it would mean that cell phones and laptops and stuff would work anyhwere without worry of batteries. But in todays day and age it would still be good for each person to have an in-home power transmitter.
    As I said I plan to begin experiments soon and hope to find some way of raising funds for such an endeavor, I would pretty much have to start almost from ground zero though as all Tesla's data is in his head. I might put up a website for either fund raising purposes or purely informational. I'll try to post the news to Slashdot, but it seems to be as though real tech news doesn't seem to make it onto /.'s pages anymore. :(

    PS: If anyone has a few million dollars to through my way for research I would be much obliged. hehe)

    1. Re:It has been done by Pascal+Q.+Porcupine · · Score: 2
      Broadcast power is in use, in a very limited fashion. You know those crystal radio kits you get at Radio Shack for $6? Well, those, and other crystal radios, are powered off of broadcast power. I'm not a physics type, so I don't really understand the mechanism, but my impression is that the crystal (or diode, in the newer ones) converts the power from all the random radio stations out there into just enough power to power its incredibly-simple AM radio. If anything, that's proof that it's possible on a wide scale, and that Marconi's abuse of the possibility didn't lead to a complete loss of broadcast power. :)

      My main problem with broadcast power is that any usable levels of electricity in the air will make things difficult on our modern transistor-based way of life. It's already hard enough to keep CPUs from crashing from their own stray electrons. We'd need to start having properly-shielded computer cases if we're going to go to broadcast power on a nontrivial scale. Fortunately, I don't see a problem with having to actually shield the computer. :) The other problem which people are quick to point out is there's no way for this to be regulated; the only way I can see is that the tesla magnifiers would have to be government-subsidized, probably with a massive tax on broadcast-powered consumer goods or something, thus basically paying the power bills up front or something.

      But broadcast power coupled with cheap fusion could easily lead to utopia, if humans at large can get altruism through their thick skulls....
      ---
      "'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.

      --
      "'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
      Quine "quine?
    2. Re:It has been done by RobM · · Score: 1

      As I said, if someone knows more than me on the subject 'Nikola Tesla'... :-)

      One question on this subject: 'tapping' the broadcasted EM energy is no big issue: the old galena (Lead sulfide) radios did just this.

      But this is NOT the issue here: my cell phone at full power broadcasts 2 watt of power, for the joy of my brain that has to withstand that energy for every conversation. If I use the phone for more than a hour, my brain temperature could (will?) rise to dangerous levels.

      Tesla's coils, according to some sites I've read (...again, I don't have my bookmarks) should be able to transmit energy without using airborne electromagnetic waves (maybe ground based ones, as you say). The coin experiment you've done is a plain EM stuff.

      At this point, I'm asking myself why/how Tesla's theories works, since my school knowledge on these matters is at best scarce.... :)

      Ciao,
      Rob!

      --
      AniToolBox! An Open Source animation program!
    3. Re:It has been done by JohnG · · Score: 1
      I think EVERONE's school knowledge on Tesla's work is a bit scarce. It seems as though Tesla and guys like him set us up to go in one grand direction, but then we went off in a whole nother direction entirely. Even in his day most scientists accused him of "black magic" and all sorts of other stuff, which didn't help to make him share his knowledge. He didn't like keeping paper records and liked to keep it all in his head, what little papers he did keep on free/broadcasted energy were supposedly confiscated by the government. It was said however that his energy broadcast system could be used as a massive weapon, which sparked the rumor that he was behing the tung uh.. tusk.. hmm, I don't remember how to spell it but I am talking about the huge explosion near the north pole heard for a 600 mile radius that left no crator. The potential for use as a weapon might have scared the government.
      As far as the negative effects of the coil, I meant to mention this in the first post. I don't have the link, but when reading about his colorado experiment (the huge Tesla Magnifier that he used to charge a section of the earth and that was being replaced by the full scale coil on the Wardenclyffe sight in New York.) It stated that when he first fired it up, of course there was a blue glow around the area the coil was in caused by the lightning flying around, and off course like every small Tesla coil all the lights and vacuum tubes started glowing, except this huge coil caused it to happen in the town as well. There were reports of electricity arcing from fire hydrants and sign posts to metal objects. (in other words from metal connected to the earth to metal not connected to the earth) Can you imagine walking down the street and having a lightning bolt jump from the fire hydrant to your keys! After he got the thing tuned (as I said he was trying to tune it to the earths natural frequencies, see the object was to get the electricity to travel all the way around the earth, or through it, and he said that a single blast of energy would run out of power, but a pulsating energy working at the same pulse as the earth's natural pulses wouldn't be acted on by the earth's pulses and instead would go with the flow) Anyhow once he got it tuned I believe the wierd occurances stopped. So as you say if all the output of the coil is shot into the earth then only grounded objects would be affected. So I assume that this would prevent the wierd electrical disturbances that the coil causes. At least the ones in Colorado Springs seemed to have died down.
      The implications would be huge though as any metal object in the ground would automatically become a high voltage power supply. I am inclined to say however that it wouldn't be all that dangerous as one experiment with a Tesla coil is to hold a quarter near it and watch the sparks fly to your hand. (not sure if the same thing is safe on a big coil though) However the Colorado instance used a specialized Tesla Coil, with and added coil called a Tesla magnifier, so again I don't know if the same relative safetly can be assumed. I don't on the other hand think anyone got killed or injured during Tesla's tuning phase. After the tuning phase the wierdness supposedly stopped though, so maybe something else must be done after the device is tuned to get the energy from the earth than just putting a conductor down there, maybe a Tesla Coil reciever as I stated earlier?
      It should be noted that the machine also caused the greatest man-made power surge ever. When he finally tuned it and shot the output into the earth the lightning (supposedly) travelled to the other side of the earth and on its way back (end supposedly) a huge arc shot out 130 feet into the air, a crack of thunder was heard for 22 miles and the power company (that up until this point had been providing Tesla free energy) had its power generator catch fire.
      All of this phenomenon makes for a hairy experience for witnesses of the modern day tesla broadcasted energy, which may be one reason that such a large coil hasn't been built since. I think the more likely reason though is that science doesn't want to try what they call 'alternative' science. Luckily I live in the booneys so there are miles of farmland and not miles of people using cell phones and computers and other electronic equipment. My greatest hardship (aside from the price tag) would be scaring some passerby redneck with the images of flashing lights and lighting bolts coming from the ground. hehe. Either way, both finacially and practically I am limited to small experiments to begin with. I really think though that a modified tesla coil could act as a reciever instead of a transmitter. getting energy to travel through the ground I assume could be done on a small scale, even if it means filling an aquarium with dirt and making my own "earth"

    4. Re:It has been done by JohnG · · Score: 1
      My main problem with broadcast power is that any usable levels of electricity in the air will make things difficult on our modern transistor-based way of life. I think this is one reason why Tesla might have wanted to use the earth itself as his conductor. Even in his day Tesla coils had wierd effects on all sorts of things, by using the earth you would have to want to use the power. As I said in another reply, his experiments in colorado caused sparks to fly from metal objects in the ground such as fire hydrants, but after he got it tuned that supposedly stopped. A metal rod stuck into the earth though was supposed to be able to serve as a power supply. But unless I am mistaken the power output of a Tesla coil would have to be ran throught a transformer to be useful as the 250,000 volt arcs of a tesla coil has a low current. (When a tranformer doubles the volts, it half the amps. Tesla coils do far more that double the volts) That is why the extreme voltage is relatively safe. So it would take more than just a metal power to use the power.

    5. Re:It has been done by whitemr2 · · Score: 1

      I've done a fair amount of research into Tesla as well. Some books glamorized his theories and claims and should be viewed skeptically; I found one book that had a good scientific approach to viewing Tesla's life and work and highly recommend it: "Tesla, man out of time", by Margaret Cheney.

      Oh, and I remember reading about Tesla taking advantage of the Earth's natural frequency to help him transmit energy so far.

    6. Re:It has been done by JohnG · · Score: 1
      Yeah I agree about skepticism in what the man could do. I believe that if he said he could do something then we should be inclined to believe that it is at least possible. Also alot of the stuff is documented fact by newspapers and such. I think it is the belief of the scientific community at the time that led to a sort of blowing out or proportions of Tesla's work. Also I think people mis-interpreted his explanations of what he could do.
      One example is when he was accused of that massive explosion at the T-word that I don't know how to spell in the north pole. He said his Wardenclyffe coil could transmit a weapon like blast anywhere in the world. Which was probably true. The number given in the article was 100 megatons. I don't know if that was Tesla's number or just the media's. Given the high power output of the coil if he could have concentrated it at one focal point and remotely (big IF there) lowered the frquency of the energy to a more low-level dangerous one, then it might indeed be possible. But I don't think the Wardenclyffe project was ever completed to a level that would be capable of firing such a blast as he ran out of funds before it's completion. So I know almost for a fact he didn't blow up the north pole (Poor Santa. hehe), and I think that in his mind he might have had the designs for turning the Wardenclyffe transmitter into a weapon of mass destruction, and those plans might have even been possible (the man did do the "impossible" on a regular basis), but I don't think that those mental plans had at this point made it into the material world.
      Tesla was also accused of blowing up the french ship, "Lena", I think was the name. He had by this time created the radio controlled torpedo. His claims of being able to use such a device to send a remote spark to a ships magazine led to theories that he had blew up the Lena. I belief his response was "If I did it there would have been a bigger explosion". Whether he was just playing with the press or not is unknown, he very well could have said it in a joking tone, but had it blown out of proportion by the media. We already know that the Tesla coil can use the atmosphere as a conductor, but I still don't think he had develped the technology to pinpoint an exact spot to send the blast. Electricity tends to want to go where it wants to and that huge body of water would seem like a far better choice to me than inside a specific room of a ship.
      Of course one can easily make electricity go where one wants it to go, to an extent but can one make it go there without ever having been aboard the ship? And an even better question: Why did I use the word one so much in that sentence. :)
      Perhaps the world will never know exactly what the man was capable off. But I can say one thing. This thread as well as the past few days of my intense interest prior to the thread can tell me that it won't be because I don't try I can tell you that.
      By the way it really is ironic that the thread appeared right at the peak of my interest in this. It's almost as if some force is just pushing me to study. I know it sounds rediculus but hey, whatever gets me motivated right?

  2. Nikola Tesla? by RobM · · Score: 1

    I've read on some not-so-trustworthy sites/books that one of the basic idea of Nikola Tesla was trasmission of energy without cables (sorry, I don't have my bookmarks at hand now).
    But I do NOT know if this is science fiction or factual reality. Certainly, some of Tesla's works shows that energy can be transmitted, using maybe ground, without electromagnetic waves emission (Tesla's coils). Anyone more informed than me?

    On a more 'real/official science' front, you can't trasmit energy from a source to another whithout using EM and harming living beings that are along the path: essentially, NASA plans on orbital solar stations were stopped because the downlink beam was nothing less than a giant open-air microwave oven, ready to cook everything that came under it.

    It would make a nice orbital weapon, however...

    Ciao,
    Rob!

    --
    AniToolBox! An Open Source animation program!
  3. Keep us posted! by nacho · · Score: 1

    I've been very interested in Teslas work for many years, and have reproduced some of his experiments (I think all hardcore geeks have built at least one tesla coil by the age of 16).

    But, the modern experimentation of his theories is a very fascinating idea. If you could post your email address or webpage address where we can find updates, I think many of us would appreciate it. We might even be able to offer some small funds to get things going.

    You also might want to check into any existing non-profit organizations that might already be doing this sort of thing. At the very least, you could probably join an amatuer research organization, and have other amatuers who already have experience join in. (of course, if you work for a think tank already, then thats better. ;)

    1. Re:Keep us posted! by JohnG · · Score: 1
      Oops, sorry I didn't realize that my email address wasn't posted My email address is jeg@visi.net for those that want to know. Spammers will be shot with a 100 megaton blast from my compeleted Tesla magnifier. hehe
      I will definetly be putting up a website soon. I will try to tell Slashdot about it so hopefully you will here about it. If not I have written down your email and will send the info to you.
      Thanks for the advice, I will check into some non-profit organizations and amatuer research clubs.

  4. NASAs done it in space already by nacho · · Score: 2

    I'm not sure when it was done, or what it was called (mid-90s I think), but this has been done in space.

    As far as I can remember, a satellite was sent up into LEO, and separated in two pieces. One piece with a solar collector and a high-powered microwave transmitter, and the other end with a microwave reciever and a downlink to good-ol' Terra.

    Essentially, they transmitted somewhere around 100kW of power, and about 86kW was recieved. So, it actually works, but anything caught in the path was fried like a mouse put in a microwave. They plan on using this technology on remote areas like Mars or something, where there are no biologicals that can be harmed by that.

    If its very _very_ *VERY* accurate, they could beam the power down to a converted off-shore oil-rig capable of recieving the power, then running it along a power cable to the shore, but I wouldn't trust the geo-stationary orbit of the transmitter...I wouldn't want the orbit to decay, and start transmitting right over my house. :-\

    1. Re:NASAs done it in space already by SEWilco · · Score: 2

      It's been done on Earth. Well over a decade ago I saw on TV (perhaps "NOVA") a bank of light bulbs on a tower being lit by power received from another tower. You don't need a pile of solar cells in orbit to test microwave transmission engineering.

  5. Solar Power Satellite (SPS) by SEWilco · · Score: 2
    The general consensus is that Tesla's idea may work, but only on a planet where you are not using metal in building structures, cars, machinery, telephone, cable TV, etc. Anything metal would have to be designed to not have random shapes be power antennas. And be careful of the design of your belt buckle.

    As for Solar Power Satellites, the concept still exists. Various designs exist. They await a way to get enough material cheaply enough into orbit without using a surface-launched Orion Drive.

    The term "Solar Power Satellites" or "Satellite Power Stations" comes up with a bunch of web pages. Browse.

  6. Its available now by hyptest · · Score: 2

    Its available and widely in use today(well, at least for calculators). Transmitter: Any lightbulb Receiver: Any solar cell Eric

    1. Re:Its available now by jfunk · · Score: 2

      Solar cells are horrendously inefficient. They are also extremely expensive.

      You'll notice that only the smallest of calculators have solar cells. I haven't seen a solar powered graphing calculator.

  7. cool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Tesla was a man long forgotten in this high tech world... hey your servers,computers, and lives would not run if he had not got around to scratching the idea for the ac motor in the dust of a US park... :) pard. the splling but it has been a had day at work and it is the least of my matters MytwoCents *g*

  8. about sparks & lightning... by Pegasus · · Score: 1

    I just wanted to say that all these "side" effects are completely harmless. We are dealing here with extremly high frequency current, which causes the so called skin effect. Such current does not penetrate skin, it looks like it bonces on it. On the other side, 50/60 Hz current used worldwide, doesn't have such nice properties and this is why it is able to kill people.
    But people are told constatnly that electricity is harmfull...

    Oh yes, JohnG, please keep us informed on your work and your ideas.

    1. Re:about sparks & lightning... by JohnG · · Score: 1
      Yeah, it's like I was telling my friend today that even though it is lots of voltage, it doesn't have the ability to really hurt anyone. But there would be mass panic if lightening shot out of every metal object.
      As I said before I will put up a website and try to have it posted by slashdot. If the news doesn't make it though I will he email you. (I guess your website will have your email address right?)

    2. Re:about sparks & lightning... by Medievalist · · Score: 1

      Don't be an idiot. Lightning hurts A LOT! (According to John Cahill of Harvard, Bob Peck of the Academy of Natural Sciences, and others who have been hit and survived. Not all survive.)
      If you think tesla coil output doesn't sting, I suggest you go grab hold of your car's ignition coil out lead while somebody cranks the ignition. This will probably change your mind. I'm an admirer of Tesla, and I believe in the Madison Square Garden submarine and Stanford White's tower, but even I admit that the picture of Tesla sitting in the big coil is at best misleading and at worst an outright double exposed fake.
      If truly massive amounts of energy pass through your body it will _hurt_you_ unless the frequency is quite precisely tuned. The tuning necessary changes as the density and composition of the media passing the energy changes - and you are not composed of a single uniform substance, so you will get hurt if you broadcast enough energy through your body to power a TV. Geez, how do you think microwave ovens work?

    3. Re:about sparks & lightning... by JohnG · · Score: 1
      You've obviously never seen a picture of even science fair coil technology. Do yourself a favor and look around, there are plenty pictures of people sticking coins up to a tesla coil and letting the arcs run across their fingers. Their is a small (very small if the coil is built right) chance of on of the arcs or streamers coming into contact with the primary coil and sending down the 60hz energy that can fry you but good. The output from the secondary coil is not however dangerous because it is HIGH FREQUENCY. Because there is a chance of danger I wouldn't recommend spending all day with lightening charging through you but you seem to be misinformed as to what a tesla coil does and how it works. Either that or you are just a troll, there have been countless numbers of people who come in contact with a coils energy.
      I could argue with this flamebait all day but I have a better way. I don't know the rules of slashdot as far as posting images is concerned, so just follow this link and take a look at this:

      tesla coil picture

      He doesn't seem to be in to much pain to me.

      Microwaves work on an entirely different principle. Please do some research before you tell me I am wrong. I seldom post wrong information.

  9. microwaves.. by Zurk · · Score: 1

    microwave energy can be transferred like this with minimal losses during the transfer (70 % efficiency on average). The problem is that anyone caught in the beam would have his brain fried by the directional microwave energy.

  10. Solar tangent on broadcast energy, and stuff. by billn · · Score: 2

    Browsing through the current discussion (which I'm happy to see if rife with content), my caffiene-induced long memory recalled an article posted to /. recently about artificial photosynthesis, using solar energy to fuel chemical reactions in the same manner that plants do it. I could see something like this applied to a small plate on the hood of my truck, keeping my battery charged. Or not, since I live in Arizona, and don't want my truck becoming self-aware.

    Back on topic.. As mentioned previously, the problem with broadcast power is the stuff that gets in between. Biomass tends to react poorly to the levels we'd need to power all our toys. Don't believe me? Call the people who live on Mercury, and their disgruntled neighbors on Venus. Broadcast energy, like microwave (as was mentioned in a previous post), has a side effect of particle excitation in the medium. Done in space, between non-terrestrial platforms, it wouldn't be much of a problem. Done on terra firma, you begin generating biological side effects caused by pumping extra heat into the immediate environment. Over time and in abundance, you contribute to trivial things like greenhouse effects, technicians hanging out on the roof and angling dishes at random birds, and (God forbid) roach mutation.

    Air by itself isn't a practical medium for transmission of high energy. The required power outputs are just to high, and the return isn't high enough. Old 'Star Wars' theory involving ground based lasers (for the purpose of courtesy polishing of enemy spy satellites to a glossy shine) postulates the leeching properties of 'thermal blooming' as heating air begins distorting the optical path and decreasing efficiency.

    But.

    Another article posted on /. back in May/99, discussed the use of an ultr aviolet laser emitting a stream of photons to perform optical path ionization to facilitate transmission of electricity (25ma, 100hz) to ranges of 100 meters! Granted, the use they purport is for tasers, and my immediate thoughts went back to cat experimentation (Hey, PETA, I want some 9v cells for Christmas), but the cross-over application possibilities exist.

    Combinations of the two concepts would probably result in marked increases in efficiency, but working in non-vacuum environments still leaves you open to transmission degradation due to something as simple as wholesale friction.

    Current limitations aside, other recent developments in miniaturization opens a door to using low power broadcast technology to provide power to devices that don't need a lot (like that hokey 'smart dust' concept, that you can counter with in-born allergies and thermonuclear sneeze assaults). You've played Starcraft. The Protoss concept of short range power pylons lends itself well to this, albeit on a smaller scale.

    Relaying power between low-draw sensor clusters would be a good application, too. Weather monitoring, tracking HIGH LEVELS OF RF/EM RADIATION IN URBAN SETTINGS, and trivial biomass affecting things like that would be good, too.

    --
    - billn
  11. Heinlein by Tet · · Score: 2

    Read Robert Heinlein's "Waldo". Broadcast power is fine for certain specialised applications, but I'm very uneasy about it becoming commonplace.

    --
    "The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." -- Delos B. McKown
  12. Dutch farmers by Banpei · · Score: 1

    Here in Holland we had a major problem in the late 50s with smartass farmers who lived near Lopik.

    In Lopik we have our Dutch broadcast tower which had the range of 60% of Holland. So it had a major output of radio waves. The smartass farmers used antennas adjusted to the frequency of the radiowaves and got a few kWatts for free!

    --
    - Artificial Intelligence usually beats real stupidity -
  13. Another Super Simple Form In Use Now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can't believe anyone else hasn't brought up Radio. There is your broadcasting of electrical energy.. don't believe me? What about those old Oatmeal container radios people made? All you needed was some copper wire.. an round oatmeal can to wrap the wire around, an earphone.. that's it.. wrap the wire, connect one end of the wire to the earphone, the other end of the earphone wire you move over your copper wound until you pick something up. Granted the transmitting power and range of an AM station is weak, and sent in all directions, but it does infact exist as a "wireless electricity" and works. Even your TV pulls it off, but it needs extra power to amplify the weak signal and power the CRT (the signal its self isn't strong enough to pull that off) Unlike the solar power mentioned below, radio waves (and microwaves) are an invisable way of sending the power.. with radio waves not being quite as efficent as microwaves, but objects between the transmitter and receiver won't disable the signal as bad with radiowaves.

  14. your "T-word" :) by Pegasus · · Score: 1
    It's Tunguska. And scientists still didn't make their minds on what it really was.
    But what is really scary about all this is that explosions like that one back in 1908 are still going on. Read this (2, 3, 4, 5). (if these don't work, try somewhere else.) It is a good hour of reading, and source can be checked. I came upon this writnig after I read an article in the local tech magazine and was really impressed of what is going on. And if all the speculations in that "bright skies" article are at least 10% real, then our planet is not safe anymore to live on.

    I'm sure that Tesla himself didn't want to develop all his ideas to be then used for military purposes. I belive that whatever he told to the media was just a way of making journalists bussy guessing what the h*** is he doing, while in the mean time he had enough time to actualy do it. :) I belive it is a great loss for our civilisation that some of his ideas were not completed or even developed to their full potential by now.
    Or were they?

  15. Power Chords by unitron · · Score: 1
    The only way to get power chords all over the place is with an electric guitar, connected to an amplifier, which is connected to a wall socket with a power cord.
    But seriously, with regard to electricity and related stuff, the education of many of the posters here has been sorely neglected.

    --

    I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.

  16. Tesla by Nyarly · · Score: 1
    This may get Moderated as flamebait, but I'm really not trolling here. I personally am sick to death of reading and hearing about Nikola Tesla the misunderstood genius. From what I've seen as far as application, and from primary sources (published lectures) Tesla has always struck me as being enthralled by high voltage.

    That's it. High voltage is cool. Some neat applications, and it doesn't work like the rest of electronics, since Kirkov's Laws cease to apply ( as they do at high magnetic flux and high frequency (an interesting point to recall as you continue to overclock ) ). And Tesla was a genius at producing high voltage current. But...

    I find that too many people are too credulous when it comes to Tesla's claims of what he could make electricity do. I mean, the man claimed he could cure cancer with current.

    He was enthusiastic, commendably so but a poor scientist. His presentation I was fortunate enough to read essentially ran "Lookit the cool spark!" He gushed about how high voltage was the solution to everything. And it really isn't. Tesla magnifiers terrifically clever, and make high voltage a reality in the garage. And there are defintely cool applications for them.

    A lot of what he was talking about was blowing smoke. He had a lot of unscientific, unuseful theories. Like the Earth's "natural vibrations."

    Pretty much he hit on some cool stuff and never accepted that it wasn't magic.

    On the other hand, try looking into Micheal Faraday, who was to electronics what Gauss was to math. Before Ohms, he was experimenting with electric dissociation of chemical compounds, and relating it to current. And where Tesla was slinging EM fields without really knowing much about them, Faraday developed means to shield them out, and quantified what it took to shield from differing fields. (Faraday Cages.) Liken them to a kid making gas bombs and a geek developing internal combustion.

    But that's plenty ranting today.

    --
    IP is just rude.
    Is there any torture so subl
    1. Re:Tesla by Medievalist · · Score: 1

      I've read a transcript of his speech to the Royal Society, and examined a number of his patent papers. Anybody else bothered? I thought not. Tesla was a nut, much like Edison but less of an evil bastard... in case you don't know, Edison was probably behind the electric chair (he figured he could discredit AC with this gruesomely inefficient engine of torture, but it turns out people like to torment those they execute so it didn't work) and in his later life he traveled around the country electrocuting people's dogs and holding seances (scout's honor, look it up!). Tesla was obsessive at least, probably manic-depressive as well, and one of his obssessions was high frequency. High voltage was just a consequence of that obsession, I think. He was a bona-fide genius as well as a fruitcake, and his insight into the great forces of the universe is amply demonstrated by his many technological feats (or hoaxes, if you prefer) that can not be duplicated today.
      Read Tad Wise's biography Tesla to get the lunatic-fringe view of Tesla's work. Wise swallows the death ray, Tunguska, etc. whole which you may not (I have my doubts) but he does paint a memorable picture of a great immigrant American headcase.

    2. Re:Tesla by JohnG · · Score: 1
      I am really getting sick of defending the man, but lets look at the facts:

      1) Without Tesla we would not have Alternating Current. I hate to tell you bud, but AC is what powers your house.

      2) Without Tesla we wouldn't have TV or Moniters. Tesla Coils are inside of TV's and Monitors

      3) Without Tesla we wouldn't have radio. Marconi violated 14 Tesla patents when he "invented" radio

      4) Without Tesla we wouldn't have radar, Tesla was a pioneer in Radar Technology

      5) Without Tesla we wouldn't have X-rays, Tesla was a pioneer in X-Ray technology.

      6) Tesla's work provided the basis for MRI, without Tesla lots of people with back problems would be far worse off.

      7) If you think Tesla thought to highly of electricity you are a moron. Many experimenters have duplicated his wireless energy experiments. (I will be one I hope) In fact it is a common school-age science fair project to remotely light a bulb with a Tesla coil.

      8) If you think Tesla thought to highly of electricity you are moron reason 2. Have you read the interview with Tesla when describing his Tesla Turbine (a purely mechanical and infinetly genius device)? In that interview he admits that he had been to engrossed in his work with electrictiy but realized that advances in steam and gas technology had yeilded a very valuable form of power.

      9) If you think Tesla thought to highly of electricity you are a moron reason 3. Tesla invented and patented a VTOL aircraft that has, even recently been built and flown. Why would a man that thinks electricity is the be all end all of technology re-invent flight without using electrictity?

      10) Tesla might be overated due to media hype. But just because you don't understand his work don't call the man a psycho. He did plenty of work that didn't revolve around electricity, and ALL of it was genius.

      There you have it the top ten reason why you are wrong. Before you say a man was too engrossed in one form of technology please next time due some research into what he actually accomplished with the technology (almost all of which was considered impossible) and what he has done with other forms of technology.