I think the tesla coil is so cool and I hope we cover it in Physics. I am glad though that my knowledge of frequency and voltage has increased and so my understanding of the coil has as well.

Tesla > Edison

The Tesla coil is one of Nikola Tesla’s most famous inventions. It is essentially a high-frequency air-core transformer. It takes the output from a 120vAC to several kilovolt transformer & driver circuit and steps it up to an extremely high voltage. 

via leblogphysique

Stay Curious! Why Nikola Tesla Was The Greatest Geek Who Ever Lived

(Source: quantumlotus)

Nikola Tesla, “Radio Power Will Revolutionize the World” in Modern Mechanics and Inventions (July 1934)

(Source: crookedindifference, via dendroica)

Science Branding

explore-blog:

Ah, yes: Thomas Edison vs. Nikola Tesla, in a rap. Best thing since the Strunk and White rap.

(↬ Open Culture)

(Source: )

(Source: science-and-logic)

crookedindifference:

Nikola Tesla’s laboratory in Colorado Springs circa 1900

txchnologist:

by Matthew Van Dusen

Paleofuture blogger Matt Novak’s South by Southwest March 11 talk on the Edison versus Tesla debate and myth of the lone inventor went electric when web comic artist Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal, whose Tesla comic spurred the debate, showed up to defend his work.

“The goal with my comic wasn’t to write nonfiction, it was more to paint a portrait of Tesla’s character and why I admire that and why I admire geeks in general,”* Inman said when he emerged from the audience to ask a question at the end of the session. 

Novak had taken issue with Inman’s viral comic “Why Nikola Tesla was the greatest geek who ever lived” comic, saying that it fed the “Great Man Theory of History” and the myth of the lone inventor.

Read More

jtotheizzoe:

Did you see those amazing colorized portraits of Tesla, Einstein and Darwin the other day? Here’s a few more, featuring a more light-hearted shot of Al, my main man Richard Feynman, and Yuri Gagarin.

Mads Madsen, the artist behind those retouched historical photos (who is only 18 years old, by the way … you rock, dude), has a full gallery for your enjoyment here.

Trust me when I say “enter at your own risk” … from Civil War generals to presidents to movie stars, it’s a sure way to lose yourself for an hour or three.

jtotheizzoe:

All hail (my new) Tesla (bobblehead).

Nikola Tesla (via christiantheatheist)

(Source: christiantheatheist)

Nikola Tesla
“A Machine to End War” (Liberty, February, 1935)

(via thescienceofreality)

The History of Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla was born on July 10th 1856, in the territory of modern day Croatia to his two Serbian parents.

Tesla grew up into bright inquisitive, yet eccentric child, who found himself fascinated by the world around him.

Tesla once tried to fly by jumping off the roof of a barn while holding on to an umbrella. He devised a bug powered motor using Junebugs, but had to abort his experiment after a friend decided to eat some of the bugs (Tesla thought this was gross). He once attempted to generate electricity by rubbing two cats together, which resulted in two very mad cats and a scratched up Tesla.

On June 6th, 1884, Tesla arrived in the United States. He was hired by Thomas Edison to do basic electrical engineering, but moved up to re-designing the direct current generators that ran Edison’s business.

Edison offered Tesla $50,000, or about $1.1 million in today’s currency to make these improvements. After completing this assignment, Tesla asked about the payment for his work. Edison didn’t pay out the money. He claimed that he wasn’t serious about the payment, that Tesla didn’t “understand American humor”.

Tesla eventually left Edison’s company and partnered with George Westinghouse in 1888 to commercialize his system of alternating current (AC). The problem here is that alternating current competed with direct current, which Thomas Edison built his entire monopoly on. Thus begun the “War of the Currents”.

Edison started a massive smear campaign against Tesla and alternating current, trying to scare people into avoiding it’s use. He spread false information about deaths from alternating current, lobbied against it, and went so far as to electrocute a circus elephant in public.

Direct current had plenty of faults, it was the cause of death of countless children, and created numerous house fires. Also, the maximum reach of direct current was about two miles, which meant a substation had to be built to continue the current. They would still be building substations today if they were going to get electricity across the US.

Tesla’s alternating current could go for hundreds of miles. Lights running on alternating current were brighter, unlike the dull yellow lights running on direct current.

Eventually, Edison had to give into the demands of the people, and go with alternating current.

Tesla’s influence goes much further than electricity. He had over 700 patents, and came up with ideas such as

Robots
Spark Plugs
the Electric Arc Lamp
an Xray Device
Blade less turbines
Wireless communication
Electric motors
Laser technology
Neon Lights
Remote Controls
Cellular communication
The radio
An electrical bath to remove germs
RADAR
Wireless communication
And much more

Tesla died from heart failure in a room of the New Yorker Hotel, on January 7th 1943. Despite his fame and influence on the world, he died with significant debts, and all alone.

While Edison is known as the inventor of the century, Tesla is only acknowledged as a paragraph in today’s history books, forgotten, and unappreciated.