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If Tesla's Wardenclyffe tower wasn't destroyed

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  • 08-01-2013 12:16am
    #1
    Arse Biscuits!
    Registered Users Posts: 81 ✭✭


    What would have happened? Have there been any predictions/discussions on what would have happened if what was being tested didn't have its funding cut, and the tower destroyed?

    I'm aware of Tesla's huge contributions to our modern understanding of the physics of electromagnetism and power generation etc etc, but I'm still fascinated by what he was trying to achieve at wardenclyffe, wireless transmission of electricity across huge distances is what I understand. Am I correct to say that he wanted a world where one could simply plug a device into the Earth and electricity would operate it? And if so, I know this is possible, but how did he aim to achieve this? (I believe through EMF but not certain, I know he demonstrated it and it is doable these days anyway but was he aiming for something more ambitious?).

    Just after discovering too that his secondary aim was global wireless communication, seemingly through the tower as a single relay point. Isn't this impossible due to the eliptical nature of the Earth? Surely he would have realised that some form of reflecting device (satellites or other towers) was necessary? Now correct me if I'm wrong but this man is my idol and I'm just trying to get more knowledge of what exactly this tower tried to achieve.
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    #2
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 91,621 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Every generation re-discovers VLF ground wave radio propagation

    yes you can send power out that way

    no you can't bill people for it

    no it's not all that efficient

    and yes the company were upset when it burned out most of the electrical appliances in the county and they had to shell out



    /off topic who was that engineer who wasn't paid for his work on a railway and ended up setting up a quarter wave stub dozens if not hundreds of miles long ?


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    #3
    nagirrac
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,019 ✭✭✭nagirrac


    Tesla, going on his quotations from 1905 -1908, was about a century ahead of his time.


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    #4
    Squeaky the Squirrel
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,190 ✭✭✭Squeaky the Squirrel


    http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla


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    #5
    im invisible
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,372 ✭✭✭im invisible


    [citation needed]


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    #6
    Squeaky the Squirrel
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,190 ✭✭✭Squeaky the Squirrel


    im invisible wrote: »
    [citation needed]
    :confused:


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    #7
    Arse Biscuits!
    Registered Users Posts: 81 ✭✭Arse Biscuits!


    Squeaky the Squirrel wrote: »
    http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

    Man, Edison was such a p*ick!


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    #8
    yubabill1
    Registered Users Posts: 1,301 ✭✭✭yubabill1


    Some of Tesla's work still classified in USA.

    Involved in research into EM, but don't know anything more about classified work, sorry.


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    #9
    Squeaky the Squirrel
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,190 ✭✭✭Squeaky the Squirrel


    Capt'n Midnight wrote: »
    yes you can send power out that way

    no you can't bill people for it

    no it's not all that efficient
    hard to know what to make of it when ya google around abit:confused:







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    #10
    yubabill1
    Registered Users Posts: 1,301 ✭✭✭yubabill1


    saw someone on linkedin trying to commercialise it.

    Good luck with that!


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    #11
    Lbeard
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 311 ✭✭Lbeard


    yubabill1 wrote: »
    Some of Tesla's work still classified in USA.

    Involved in research into EM, but don't know anything more about classified work, sorry.

    It's unlikely that Tesla found anything that wouldn't be in a good standard graduate level text book.

    I used to know how Wardenclyffe was supposed to work. I believe he was trying to harness telluric currents - electric eddy currents in the Earth's molten core. I think the basics of it, is using high voltages to get the currents to flow in the direction of the tower and then releasing the electricity somehow - I can't remember the details.


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    #12
    Dr Silly Bollox MD
    Site Banned Posts: 256 ✭✭Dr Silly Bollox MD


    Nikola Tesla’s Amazing Predictions for the 21st Century


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    #13
    TimeToShine
    Registered Users Posts: 4,881 ✭✭✭TimeToShine


    As huge as Tesla's contribution is to the modern world is(and believe me I know more than anyone how revolutionary his ideas were) his capabilities are being blown way out of proportion. He was definitely ahead of his time but the likelihood of there being a theory or concept he was aware of that we still don't recognize today is nearly non existent.

    As for the Wardenclyffe tower, I believe his eventual target was to use it to transmit power at levels which could power homes and other large scale operations. Radio at the time (and still is) extremely low power and very efficient wirelessly. High power level transmission is most definitely not, which is why we employ power grids to reduce losses. We now know the attenuation levels (losses) for this kind of transmission via the WC tower make it theoretically very difficult to achieve.


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