Re: Tesla myths corrected - Best text? (fwd)

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 22:48:22 EDT
From: Mddeming@xxxxxxx
To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Tesla myths corrected - Best text? (fwd)

 
Hi Peter,
 
        I don't think that there is  any specific authoritative text(s) on 
what Tesla really did and did not  accomplish. Most of the biographies really 
seem to be "gospels": posthumous,  anecdotal, non-eye-witness accounts, written 
down by people with little or no  scientific background, and often written for 
the promotion, glorification,  and/or deification of the subject person. (and 
the author)
 
    While Tesla invited many people to his in-lab  demonstrations, they 
tended to be writers, politicians, news reporters,  financiers, celebrities, etc., 
and he seems to have been very careful to exclude  any contemporaries with 
significant credible scientific credentials. To prevent  what would later come to 
be known as "industrial espionage", he was also careful  not to have such 
people other than his employees, present during any  experimental activity. The 
majority of reporters and many professional writers  in Tesla's time had little 
formal education beyond elementary school, and those  that did were almost 
never in technical subjects. (IMO, that hasn't changed  much)
 
    Tesla's "Colorado Springs Notes" is his only  scientific publication with 
any real "meat" in it known to still exist, and  that only covers about one 
year of his life. Even there, one must read carefully  to separate "the this I 
did" stuff from the "I know I can do" stuff. We know  from the texts of his 
patents that he developed many useful devices for the  generation, transmission, 
regulation and measurement of alternating currents. We  also know that some 
of the "wireless" patents were of the type:"I have done  enough experiments to 
feel confident that this system will work IF someone ever  figures out how to 
actually build it".(e.g. 645576, 649621, etc.) From his  own biographical 
articles, we also know that he considered the difference  between the conceiving 
of an idea and the production of a physical item to be a  "trivial difference"; 
more so as he got older. 
 
    Even in his lectures before engineering societies,  he had devices and 
photos of devices he had built, but the texts sometimes  wafted from the 
concrete to foggy hand-waving and back again, enough data to  lend credibility, but 
often not quite enough detail to verify or  duplicate. 
 
    To this we add that Tesla became a skilled  showman and fund-raiser. 
After Edison double-crossed him, claiming that Tesla  didn't understand American 
humor, Tesla may have concluded that "American  Humor" was based on "Take the 
gullible as far as you can, if it increases  your prestige and/or your 
finances." Not lying, but equivocating and letting  people draw the intended wrong 
conclusions. For example, when asked about  the rumors that he had contacted 
Mars, Tesla is reported to have replied merely,  "I have built devices with such 
capability". Thus, he strengthens the  rumor without actually affirming it. 
    
    I don't think Tesla ever wrote or uttered a word  for public consumption 
without consideration of how it would play to the masses  in meeting his 
objectives.   
 
    I don't envy you your task. Even if you find  authoritative sources, you 
will find that they don't play well in the tabloids.  It seems to me that each 
year people's Internet proficiency goes up while  their ability to filter out 
bull crap  goes down. I fear that you are  trying to debunk what many people 
WANT to believe, and what some have built  their fame and fortune on. 
Questioning Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Tooth  Fairies,  Guardian Angels, OR 
Tesla's infallibility Isn't going to  make you popular in some circles.
 
Good Luck,
 
Matt D.
 
 
 
 
 
    
 
 
 
In a message dated 10/15/07 12:40:01 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
tesla@xxxxxxxxxx writes:


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007  22:59:19 +0800
From: Peter Terren <pterren@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Tesla  list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Tesla myths corrected - Best  text?

I have had the need on several occasions now to correct myths  about Tesla 
but lack the knowledge base. Does anyone recommend a book that  will have 
this sort of information.

Things like
"Lit up 200  light globes at 40 miles."
Hard to conceive doing this even with a  wire.  Think about it in terms of 
wire resistance for DC particularly  if only conventional mains voltages.
Suppose light globes are 100V  50W  then 200 x 50W = 1kW. At 100V this is 
10A. Even 10 ohms will be  a major problem and would require very thick wire 
to get 0.25 ohms per  mile. 2 Two strands of 0 SWG = 9mm thick would do this. 
And this is just  one way.  It assumes a very good earth is available at both 
 
ends.  Use one strand of 9mm and you will light up the globes at 1/4  current 
and perhaps 1/10 brightness.
At current copper prices that is  something like $14,000. Not counting 
supports etc.
Using low frequency  AC allows voltage step up then the supports become 
important and you need  to run transformers at either end.  And using high 
frequency or even  Tesla output is out of the question due to corona, 
capacitative and  inductance issues.
To do that as a wireless setup even with a mile high  transmitter and 
receiver and resonant setup would seem far fetched to get  that sort of 
performance

I understand that this was press hyperbole  that has grown by word of mouth. 
I recall someone stating that the  original experiment was that he lit up 
some globes just outside the lab  earthed to a pipe.  I don't have the 
background for  that.

Similarly, Tunguska explosions, death rays, resonant vibrations  and 100MV 
sparks are all ludicrous.

Can anyone help direct  me?

Peter 








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