Tesla did not have devices for free generation of energy. He claimed you could wirelessly transmit energy for free. And he never got his power station on Long Island working. He wouldn't have died poor if he did.
An AI summary
Tesla's Vision:
Tesla believed in a future where electricity could be transmitted wirelessly, using the Earth itself as a giant conductor, eliminating the need for wires.
Wardenclyffe Tower:
The Wardenclyffe Tower, built on Long Island, New York, was intended to demonstrate this wireless power transmission system.
Not "Free" Energy:
It's important to note that Tesla's system wasn't about creating energy from thin air. The energy would still need to be generated through conventional means, but the transmission would be wireless
Tesla said: "Electric power is everywhere present in unlimited quantities and can drive the world's machinery without the need of coal, oil, gas, or any other of the common fuels."
Money got pulled for Wardencliff by JP Morgan for political money reasons, not for technical reasons. So, doesn't matter when Tesla said it. Yes, still true. And Dunn's pyramid powerplant idea harnesses micro-motions in the pyramid (interestingly the same ones used recenyly with SAR doppler technique, though that's another conversation) through piezo electric effect.
Investment money reasons. Tesla was at that point nothing but a money pit, pursuing his rivalry with Marconi to be the first transmitter of a message. Nothing salable was forthcoming. And Tesla's idea was based on a false assumption that the air was conductive for electricity, so that would have been a show-stopper.
No, the US government said that if Chrysler wanted a loan to save it from bankruptcy it had to cut costs.
Turbines did end up in military vehicles but they were not Chrysler Turbines.
Lycoming Engines makes them.
In the 45 years since no other company has decided to put turbine engines in consumer cars cuz it's a terrible idea.
Turbines are best when operating at maximum power. Which is nowhere close to how most people drive.
They are really inefficient in start and stop traffic. They respond really slowly when accelerating and decelerating. Like wait two seconds after you hit the pedal. Their output is hot enough to melt the paint on the car behind you.
We don't have turbines in cars because they're not a good idea and inefficient
A couple companies tried turbines in buses, but I'm not sure they are still in business.
A new thing now is to use a micro turbine to power an electrical vehicle.
Edison and Westinghouse had to ruin Tesla because they saw the massive profit potential of putting a meter on everyone that needed this "new" electricity commodity.
Edison's power transmission technology was specifically designed to cover up Tesla's findings, namely, that energy (and messages) could be broadcast from any point to any point on earth, without wires or metering.
Edison's "power transmission technology" was direct-current power lines. They lost out in competition with Westinghouse's alternating-current system devised by Tesla and still in use today. Long-distance message transmission was first achieved by Marconi (to Tesla's chagrin). Long-distance broadcast power, no way. Bad idea. Tremendously dangerous. I worked on "megawatt-class" laser transmission, and it was a weapon. Civilian power transmission systems start at much higher power levels. You really need to do your research.
You are still assuming Tesla tech was transmitting energy using waves in the ether, instead of transmitting directly through the ether. It is difficult to leave the “matrix” of fake science we’ve lived in our whole lives. Tesla did, and they bankrupted him for his troubles.
Westinghouse paid Tesla quite a bunch of money. Which Tesla happily spent. Tesla was not successful as a business man and lived in fancy hotels, this why he was why he was in debt so much.
He was a great showman but he ultimately didn't deliver. The myth of Tesla doesn't live up to the reality.
Well, there was also the point where he granted Westinghouse free use of his patents, as Westinghouse was in a financial struggle to stay afloat. That easily stripped Tesla of income---but he realized there was no profit in killing the milk cow, and he was desirous that his technology prevail and be accepted.
They didn't have to lift a finger. Tesla was pursuing a phantom, in this case. You tell me how meterless power could ever be produced by a free market. "Something for nothing" seldom occurs. Who would bear the cost of producing the power or constructing the distribution scheme? (Tesla had already won the competition with Edison over whether alternating current or direct current would be a basis for power distribution.)
You ever see the videos of people high on a mountain top when it's breezy? As the air molecules rush by you, static builds and wants to discharge someplace. An electrical "Aura" will develop that is visible to your naked eye.
Lots of neat electrical phenomena in the air. Corona discharge (St. Elmo's Fire) is one of them, but I haven't had the pleasure of witnessing it. There is, of course, lightning, built up by the same mechanism. Airplanes are built with electrical "wicks" to stream off any surplus charge.
Something deep in the earth's core is producing enough electrical charge to cause non-stop electricity to pass through miles of barely conductive dirt, rock, and soil, and then arc across miles of barely conductive atmosphere and cause the production of ozone high above our heads. This same power source is constantly deflecting the solar wind miles and miles above the surface of the planet.
If you were a clever ant standing atop a running dynamo, you might notice that there is a gradient of electrical charge, going from deeply negative way down beneath your feet, to high positive way above your head.
The earth is a dynamo and relative to it, we are much smaller than ants. What if there were certain points on the earth's surface where the charge differential between deep down beneath us and way high above us could be used to generate power?
I shake my head. The ozone is produced by the ultraviolet radiation from the Sun, not by any nonexistent, undetectable terrestrial power source.
Dynamos are not supposed to have significant external electrical fields or they would short out. Regardless of dynamos, there is a terrestrial electric field gradient. But that's not the same thing as electric power. It is also very weak. The greater likelihood is that it is the result of static electricity produced by the friction of winds across the surface of the Earth. The brainy ones among us have proposed windmills to harvest this wind power. A more expensive, inefficient, and massively wasteful method is yet to be devised.
Tesla was also under the impression that electric power could be conducted by air. But air is an insulator, so that was not bound to happen. If you could ionize the air, that might be a different story, but then you would be dealing with sustained lightning bolts. Not good for anything in the way, and wasteful of power through radiant emission.
That would be the effect of inverse-square spreading of undirected radiation. The answer is to channel it. We do that with electric power lines, easily, and have for many decades. People think we can do that with laser beams, and we can, but the consequences of a mishap are severe. And there are power losses from absorption and scattering. Such systems are inherently weapons. But you are not wrong about needing great amounts of energy, though the objective would be not to lose much of it in the transmission process. I think the transmission efficiency of our power grid is about 90% (I'm not sure if that includes transformer efficiency to step voltage up and down).
His theory was that electric power could be conducted by the ether, and that air was no barrier to power being transmitted in this fashion. And great amounts of power are being transmitted through the rock and dirt beneath your feet, through your body, through the air all around and above us, miles and miles up into space. Enough of this power is transmitted, without electrical arcing, to deflect solar wind from the entire planet.
Well, it turns out that air is a barrier for electric power, which was the technology he was working with. At this point, so far as we know, there is no "ether." What we can do is radiate radio waves, like microwave beams or cell phone transmissions. There are no frequency assignments available for gigawatt-levels of microwave radiations. I would regard that as an incredibly dangerous method of power distribution.
No power is being transmitted through the Earth, or it would be measurable. You are confusing the energy of an established magnetic field with power. They are not the same thing. I have potential energy in the clothes on my top closet shelf, but they are not radiating any power. (There is geothermal power, but it is hard to extract and is basically heat seepage. It can be useful in places where it is prominent, like Iceland.)
Air is no barrier for the electromagnetic field generated in earth’s core and that repels the solar wind. It is transmitted through the ether and is not affected by air. The amount of energy needed to shield the entire earth is mind bending, and yet none of the negative effects you suppose must attend such a massive transmission of power are present.
The earth’s magnetic field is not in the nature of an established magnetic field, it is in the nature of an electromagnet. Its generation is the source of lightning and the constant electrical charge differential between the earth and the rest of the solar system.
Tesla did not have devices for free generation of energy. He claimed you could wirelessly transmit energy for free. And he never got his power station on Long Island working. He wouldn't have died poor if he did.
An AI summary
Tesla's Vision: Tesla believed in a future where electricity could be transmitted wirelessly, using the Earth itself as a giant conductor, eliminating the need for wires.
Wardenclyffe Tower: The Wardenclyffe Tower, built on Long Island, New York, was intended to demonstrate this wireless power transmission system.
Not "Free" Energy: It's important to note that Tesla's system wasn't about creating energy from thin air. The energy would still need to be generated through conventional means, but the transmission would be wireless
Tesla said: "Electric power is everywhere present in unlimited quantities and can drive the world's machinery without the need of coal, oil, gas, or any other of the common fuels."
But is it true?
I think he also said that in the '30s decades after he built his Tower in Long Island
Money got pulled for Wardencliff by JP Morgan for political money reasons, not for technical reasons. So, doesn't matter when Tesla said it. Yes, still true. And Dunn's pyramid powerplant idea harnesses micro-motions in the pyramid (interestingly the same ones used recenyly with SAR doppler technique, though that's another conversation) through piezo electric effect.
We now know way more about electromagnetism than Tesla did in his day.
If what he was proposing was technically successful, it would be built by now and companies would be using it the world over.
Tesla was a great showman and he's a great story, but he wasn't infallible
Investment money reasons. Tesla was at that point nothing but a money pit, pursuing his rivalry with Marconi to be the first transmitter of a message. Nothing salable was forthcoming. And Tesla's idea was based on a false assumption that the air was conductive for electricity, so that would have been a show-stopper.
J.P. Morgan pulled the plug as soon as he realized there would be no way to monetize the tech.
JP Morgan isn't the real issue.
If what Tesla was proposing was technically feasible, it could be done by now. Sciences for has advanced far beyond where Tesla was back in his day.
It's not just the money.
The US government prevented Lee Iacocca from putting turbine engines in personal vehicles. The technology later wound up in military vehicles.
This is how they do.
No, the US government said that if Chrysler wanted a loan to save it from bankruptcy it had to cut costs.
Turbines did end up in military vehicles but they were not Chrysler Turbines.
Lycoming Engines makes them.
In the 45 years since no other company has decided to put turbine engines in consumer cars cuz it's a terrible idea.
Turbines are best when operating at maximum power. Which is nowhere close to how most people drive.
They are really inefficient in start and stop traffic. They respond really slowly when accelerating and decelerating. Like wait two seconds after you hit the pedal. Their output is hot enough to melt the paint on the car behind you.
We don't have turbines in cars because they're not a good idea and inefficient
A couple companies tried turbines in buses, but I'm not sure they are still in business.
A new thing now is to use a micro turbine to power an electrical vehicle.
Edison and Westinghouse had to ruin Tesla because they saw the massive profit potential of putting a meter on everyone that needed this "new" electricity commodity.
The more you learn about Edison, the more you realize what a scumbag he was. I think Alexander Graham Bell was similar if my memory is correct.
Edison's power transmission technology was specifically designed to cover up Tesla's findings, namely, that energy (and messages) could be broadcast from any point to any point on earth, without wires or metering.
Edison's "power transmission technology" was direct-current power lines. They lost out in competition with Westinghouse's alternating-current system devised by Tesla and still in use today. Long-distance message transmission was first achieved by Marconi (to Tesla's chagrin). Long-distance broadcast power, no way. Bad idea. Tremendously dangerous. I worked on "megawatt-class" laser transmission, and it was a weapon. Civilian power transmission systems start at much higher power levels. You really need to do your research.
You are still assuming Tesla tech was transmitting energy using waves in the ether, instead of transmitting directly through the ether. It is difficult to leave the “matrix” of fake science we’ve lived in our whole lives. Tesla did, and they bankrupted him for his troubles.
Nope.
Westinghouse paid Tesla quite a bunch of money. Which Tesla happily spent. Tesla was not successful as a business man and lived in fancy hotels, this why he was why he was in debt so much.
He was a great showman but he ultimately didn't deliver. The myth of Tesla doesn't live up to the reality.
Well, there was also the point where he granted Westinghouse free use of his patents, as Westinghouse was in a financial struggle to stay afloat. That easily stripped Tesla of income---but he realized there was no profit in killing the milk cow, and he was desirous that his technology prevail and be accepted.
They didn't have to lift a finger. Tesla was pursuing a phantom, in this case. You tell me how meterless power could ever be produced by a free market. "Something for nothing" seldom occurs. Who would bear the cost of producing the power or constructing the distribution scheme? (Tesla had already won the competition with Edison over whether alternating current or direct current would be a basis for power distribution.)
You ever see the videos of people high on a mountain top when it's breezy? As the air molecules rush by you, static builds and wants to discharge someplace. An electrical "Aura" will develop that is visible to your naked eye.
Here's a great example: Energy from the atmosphere.
Lots of neat electrical phenomena in the air. Corona discharge (St. Elmo's Fire) is one of them, but I haven't had the pleasure of witnessing it. There is, of course, lightning, built up by the same mechanism. Airplanes are built with electrical "wicks" to stream off any surplus charge.
Something deep in the earth's core is producing enough electrical charge to cause non-stop electricity to pass through miles of barely conductive dirt, rock, and soil, and then arc across miles of barely conductive atmosphere and cause the production of ozone high above our heads. This same power source is constantly deflecting the solar wind miles and miles above the surface of the planet.
If you were a clever ant standing atop a running dynamo, you might notice that there is a gradient of electrical charge, going from deeply negative way down beneath your feet, to high positive way above your head.
The earth is a dynamo and relative to it, we are much smaller than ants. What if there were certain points on the earth's surface where the charge differential between deep down beneath us and way high above us could be used to generate power?
I shake my head. The ozone is produced by the ultraviolet radiation from the Sun, not by any nonexistent, undetectable terrestrial power source.
Dynamos are not supposed to have significant external electrical fields or they would short out. Regardless of dynamos, there is a terrestrial electric field gradient. But that's not the same thing as electric power. It is also very weak. The greater likelihood is that it is the result of static electricity produced by the friction of winds across the surface of the Earth. The brainy ones among us have proposed windmills to harvest this wind power. A more expensive, inefficient, and massively wasteful method is yet to be devised.
You mean like the Antarctic area?
Tesla was also under the impression that electric power could be conducted by air. But air is an insulator, so that was not bound to happen. If you could ionize the air, that might be a different story, but then you would be dealing with sustained lightning bolts. Not good for anything in the way, and wasteful of power through radiant emission.
Even in space, I believe, you get less energy the more the distance traveled.
So to move energy great distances requires great amounts of energy
That would be the effect of inverse-square spreading of undirected radiation. The answer is to channel it. We do that with electric power lines, easily, and have for many decades. People think we can do that with laser beams, and we can, but the consequences of a mishap are severe. And there are power losses from absorption and scattering. Such systems are inherently weapons. But you are not wrong about needing great amounts of energy, though the objective would be not to lose much of it in the transmission process. I think the transmission efficiency of our power grid is about 90% (I'm not sure if that includes transformer efficiency to step voltage up and down).
His theory was that electric power could be conducted by the ether, and that air was no barrier to power being transmitted in this fashion. And great amounts of power are being transmitted through the rock and dirt beneath your feet, through your body, through the air all around and above us, miles and miles up into space. Enough of this power is transmitted, without electrical arcing, to deflect solar wind from the entire planet.
Well, it turns out that air is a barrier for electric power, which was the technology he was working with. At this point, so far as we know, there is no "ether." What we can do is radiate radio waves, like microwave beams or cell phone transmissions. There are no frequency assignments available for gigawatt-levels of microwave radiations. I would regard that as an incredibly dangerous method of power distribution.
No power is being transmitted through the Earth, or it would be measurable. You are confusing the energy of an established magnetic field with power. They are not the same thing. I have potential energy in the clothes on my top closet shelf, but they are not radiating any power. (There is geothermal power, but it is hard to extract and is basically heat seepage. It can be useful in places where it is prominent, like Iceland.)
Air is no barrier for the electromagnetic field generated in earth’s core and that repels the solar wind. It is transmitted through the ether and is not affected by air. The amount of energy needed to shield the entire earth is mind bending, and yet none of the negative effects you suppose must attend such a massive transmission of power are present.
The earth’s magnetic field is not in the nature of an established magnetic field, it is in the nature of an electromagnet. Its generation is the source of lightning and the constant electrical charge differential between the earth and the rest of the solar system.