Tom Vales came to one of the classes last week  and he had some interesting facts to say about Tesla Coil and Thomas Edison. He explained most of the devices in our homes use infrared. Infrared is a heat or thermal radiation, which is produced by the movements of atoms and molecules. He later described Nikola Tesla came from Serbia and fixed a generator for Thomas Edison. However, they did not have a great friendship with each other. Tesla had over 7,000 patents for transmissions and applications of electric power. Nikola Tesla had encountered George Westinghouse because he was asked to create breaks for trains. Later on, George helped him licensed his patents for AC (alternating current) motor. Alternating current is more effective than direct current because it uses transformers to change the voltage. It is likely favored by companies because they can transmit power of high voltages over long distances. On the other hand, Thomas Edison created the direct current that are used today for solar cells, fuel cells, and batteries. It cannot send power in long distances.  Tom explained the Tesla Coil has 100,000,000 volts and it’s a wireless transmission of energy. It can light up fluorescent lights up to 50 feet away!  In my opinion, Tesla isn’t known that much as Thomas Edison since all his notes were destroyed in a fire, but his inventions helped the growth of electricity.

References:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/electricity8.htm

http://www.teslasociety.com/teslacoil.htm

http://www.history.com/topics/inventions/nikola-tesla