Heat, Thermal Dynamics and the magic of a wildly sparking Tesla coil

hmsmithide

 

Heat and Thermal Dynamics with scientist- Tom Vales

* How being green has always been pretty suave, and how sometimes the oldest inventions are the best inventions. Because, really, the new stuff sucks the soul out of you: Facebook= not that great, Tesla Coil= brilliant.*


On February 21st, Tom Vales came to our classroom to discuss and show the class what heat and thermal dynamics looked like.  It looked like it was illegal. And, boy! Did he show us! But, first he f

illed us in on some cool facts about old-school engines, and the historic battle of Nikola Tesla vs. Thomas Edison. Here are some factoids I picked up:

 

A long, long time ago there were some very green scientific developments:

–       200 years ago, the discovery of the Peltier device: a thermal cooling device that is now used to cool our beverages and such.

–       In 1834 a cool Stirling Engine was used to replace steam engines. They take no fuel to run, as it is a hot air engine.

–       A thang called a Mendocino motor came about, using magnets to run.

 


Look at the mini- replicas Tom Vales brought in!

 

Scientist Vales, began to discuss the glory of Nikola Tesla, and how his knowledge made living pretty damn easy! He also made sure to stress how genuine Tesla was with his intent to develop the little ole’ concept of: power distribution without wires! He was fascinated by this notion. He was gracious and a true man of science! Oh- and, Tesla created the power-grid. TESLA BELIEVED THAT ALTERNATING ELECTRICAL CURRENT WAS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL WAY TO PROVIDE ELECTRICITY.

 

Hey! You can thank me for the power-grid folks!

 

All the while, in bustling late 1800’s America, there was also man named Thomas Edison. Edison believed that DIRECT CURRENT WAS THE WAY TO GO.  This was not pleasant . Tesla had it right, and homeboy Edison had it wrong.

Edison is perplexed by this thing he is holding..... thinking about cash money

But, because Tesla was humble, and Serbian, he was talked over by Edison and company. (Those loud and confident early American macho men….)

 

Well I be damned! Look at the current!

 

 

After the brief illumination on the Tesla coil (circuit)… Tom Vales brought out his very own model. A homemade Tesla coil, which he held various glass tubes up to! Very calmly, I might add. Although, he did shake often, which he attributed to: too much caffeine. Definitely not the home made Tesla Coil that he was holding rods up to……

Well, takes all types! No, but in all seriousness, he couldn’t have been shaking from the rods and current because he had a wooden barrier between him and the glass bulbs that were lighting up in pinkish neon quite beautifully!