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

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:57:50 +0800
From: Peter Terren <pterren@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Tesla myths corrected - Best text? (fwd)

Matt, I think you summarised the whole Tesla legend very well and the 
difficulties facing those after the facts.

Without specific readings my educated guesses are:
It seems Tesla has reasonably photo documented sparks of 22 feet or so. (not 
130ft)
Almost certainly less than 1MV. (not 100MV)
Should be able to light some light bulbs perhaps 100 feet away with a 
resonant coil setup.
Lighting 200 bulbs to full brightness would need to almost be in range of 
the sparks to get 10kW transfer to such an unmatched impedance. (not 40 
miles)

Anyone care to significantly differ (by a magnitude or at least)?

Peter
http://tesladownunder.com


> ---------- 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.
>
> ---------- 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