Thomas Edison Electrocuted an Elephant with "evil" AC voltage

[Rusty Heap]

Wild.


at the start of the electrical AC or DC voltage to the public,

Edison vs Tesla vs Westinghouse.



Edison wanted DC powered cities
Tesla was promoting AC power.


So, Edison KILLED an elephant by execution on film, to show the dangers of his Competitors Alternating Current AC voltage.

smoking feet.....

https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/how-thomas-edison-used-a-fake-electric-chair-execution-1829652181

[GH85Carrera]

I am not watching that.

I have heard about that long ago. It was typical of a battle of egos. Edison just knew DC was the right way, since that was his way. He wanted to prove the dangers of AC. And AC has indeed killed many people and animals in the century since Edison lost the battle. No doubt, AC is the right choice.

[Geronimo '74]

Edison was a bit of a douche.
Different times of course.

[Arizona_928]

DC batteries used to power a.c. Motors in a vehicle named Tesla...

DC is the way of the future... Just not how Edison saw it.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by AZ_porschekid

DC batteries used to power a.c. Motors in a vehicle named Tesla...

DC is the way of the future... Just not how Edison saw it.

Yea, charge on the grid from AC current.

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Yea, charge on the grid from AC current.

Not my argument.
I'm talking more tech

[asphaltgambler]

Apparently Edison at some point knew that Tesla had everything locked up and resorted to all kinds of public defamation against him personally and professionally. Not only did he electrocute the elephant in the above film, prior to that he electrocuted other animals including a dog.........publically.

[Aerkuld]

Originally Posted by AZ_porschekid

DC batteries used to power a.c. Motors in a vehicle named Tesla...

DC is the way of the future... Just not how Edison saw it.

Kind-of difficult to have an AC battery in the conventional sense. As being that EV's need a portable source of electricity storage, the best we have for that right now is a conventional battery. It then needs an inverter to change DC to AC to power the more efficient AC motors, and rectifiers to change AC to DC to charge the battery from the grid.

I think, at the time the grid was created, AC made more sense to transmit over long distances. More recent technology would probably make DC more efficient, except the system is already geared around AC.

I bet, if it were possible to do the whole thing from scratch now with no existing infrastructure, the grid would be DC. This would be especially true given the move toward renewable energy. Solar panels are DC output for example.

Anyway, the future is micro-grids.

[flipper35]

You would still have a lot of small substations if we did the grid in DC. Then again, with wind and solar each house could be its own source for most of it. If Lockheed comes through on the small nuke we wouldn't need much of a grid.

[Tobra]

Thomas Edison was not a nice guy at all.

[dad911]

There is a reason for AC. Transformers.

High voltage transmission lines are smaller diameter (cheaper) and less loss(lower current)

Transformers lower the voltage to something usable.

[Rusty Heap]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMbN9nb3qyk


I've been in the Turbine Pits inside columbia river dams.


main bus wire is 1" x 6" copper bar.


600KV main outputs. sometimes you gotta bring them off/on the live wire sine wave to synch them up.

they use air to insulate the contactor "points"




I'd PAY to see and hear this crackle.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMbN9nb3qyk

[Tobra]

See, hear, and smell

[widebody911]

[GH85Carrera]

My FIL worked for the local power company. He was on call on weekend, and got the call. A local nitrogen plant (fertilizer) had lost one leg of the electricity. He asked if I wanted to go with him and watch. The most ridiculous thing he every told me was to be sure "to not touch anything" inside the substation. Yea, I can hear the buzz of electricity, I am not gonna touch anything even without prompting. The plant had three totally separate substations, One for each leg of the electricity, and they sucked up a lot of juice.

Anyway, a fuse that was 4 feet long, and as big as my arm had blown to bits. He met another old grey out at the site. The two guys were both alike, no unnecessary words. No chit chat. They set about the task, then would go inside the little building and call down to headquarters. They had a supervisor at the home office confirm each step and had a log book of each step, and a code number that was that step in the process. Within 20 minutes, they were back online and making fertilizer. I did not see where the new fuse was stored, but it was on site. Pieces of the old fuse were 100 feet away outside the substation.

The two men finished up, called headquarters, said they were done, and they locked the gate behind them. They nodded to each other and did not speak at all. Just the nod as a goodby. They had been co-workers for 35 years, and did not have anything else to talk about.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

Not only did he electrocute the elephant in the above film, prior to that he electrocuted other animals including a dog.........publically.

Many dogs. He had a regular road show electrocuting dogs to sell his dc system.