AC discovery history. Nikola Tesla. One who talks to electricity. On the road to electricity

Nikola Tesla is an engineer, physicist, the greatest inventor and scientist of the 20th century. His discoveries forever changed the world, and his life and biography are filled with amazing events. Tesla gained worldwide fame as the creator of the electric motor, generator, multi-phase systems and devices operating on alternating current, which became the main milestones of the second stage of the industrial revolution and the amazing facts of his biography.

Nikola Tesla is also known as one of those who believed in the existence of the free energy of the ether. He conducted a large number of experiments and experiments confirming its existence and the possibility of using ethereal technologies. He is called a psychic who predicted the modern world, others call him a charlatan and schizophrenic, others call him a great inventor and scientist.

Childhood

The father of the famous scientist Milutin Tesla was a clergyman, mother Georgina Tesla raised children and helped her husband in the church. Nikola had three sisters and a brother who died in childhood falling from a horse. The family lived 6 km from the town of Gospic in the Serbian village of Smiljany. Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856.

Today, the homeland of the scientist is in Croatia, at that time it was the territory of Austria-Hungary. The boy finishes the first grade of school in the village. Despite the cramped conditions and the lack of teachers, he really liked it there.

Therefore, the news of the move to Gospic upset him. The reason for this change was the promotion of his father in dignity. Nikola finishes her junior school in Gospić.

After graduation, she attends a three-year gymnasium. From childhood, he learns to be independent. Parents work hard, are rarely at home, relatives look after the boy. Helps to manage the household, later gets a job at a factory to earn pocket money. In the autumn of 1870 he went to Karlovac and entered the Higher Real School.

Disease

In 1873, Nikola Tesla receives a matriculation certificate, reflects on his destiny. The parents wanted their son to continue their work, to become a priest. The young man had other interests not related to the church. Finding himself at a crossroads, he longingly reflects on the future. Not wanting to disobey his parents, Nicola decides to study spiritual sciences.

Fate decreed otherwise. In Gospić, a cholera epidemic broke out, wiping out a tenth of the townspeople. The whole Tesla family was sick, so Nicola was strictly forbidden to return home. He goes to his parents and soon falls ill. Nine months of illness, complicated by other diseases, became a difficult test for him.

The situation was hopeless, the doctors could not help. On one of the difficult days of the crisis, a conversation took place with my father. The father, trying to cheer up the young man, said that everything would be fine and he would get better. Nicola replied that he would get through if his father allowed him to devote his life to engineering. The father promised his dying son that he would study at the most prestigious university in Europe.

Perhaps this was the reason for Nicola's recovery. He himself gratefully recalls the sorceress, who ended up in the priest's house when no one hoped for anything. Elderly woman watered the sick man with a decoction of beans, which turned out to be a miraculous drug that put the young man on his feet. After recovering, Nicola hid in the mountains for three years from military service, as he had not yet fully recovered from his illness.

After a painful illness, Tesla developed a manic fear of the possibility of catching the infection again. He washed his hands often. Noticing a fly crawling on the table, he demanded a change of dishes. The second oddity that he acquired after his illness was strong flashes of light appearing to him, hiding real objects and replacing thoughts.

Subsequently, this feature manifested itself in the fact that, along with flashes, visions of his future inventions arose. An unusual gift was expressed in the fact that the scientist imagined a device or device, mentally tested it and put it into reality, getting a product ready for use. His abilities would be the envy of a modern computer.

Studies

In 1875, Nikola Tesla became a student at the Higher Technical School in Graz (now the Graz Technical University), studying electrical engineering. In the first year, while watching the machine, Gramma concludes that the constant current of the engine interferes with its full-fledged work. The teacher sharply criticized him, saying that the machine would not work at all on alternating current.

In his third year, he became addicted to gambling, losing a lot of money. Recalling this period of his life, he writes that card games were not entertainment for him, but a desire to escape from failures.

He distributed the sums he won to the losers - for this he was called an eccentric. Enthusiasm gambling ended in a big loss, after which the mother had to borrow money from a friend in order to pay off a gambling debt.

A student who solves the most difficult problems in his mind, oddly enough, did not pass his final exams, so he did not graduate from college. In 1879, his father dies. To help the family, Nikola gets a job as a teacher at the gymnasium in Gospic. The following year, funded by his uncles, he becomes a student at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Prague. After the first semester, he drops out of school and leaves for Hungary.

Work in Europe

In 1881 he moved to Budapest, worked in the engineering department of the Central Telegraph as a designer and draftsman. Here he has access to the study of progressive inventions, the opportunity to experiment and implement his own ideas. The main task of this period was the invention of the alternating current electric motor.

In less than two months of intensive work, he creates all single-phase and multi-phase motors, all modifications of the system associated with his name. The innovation of Tesla's work was that thanks to them it became possible to transmit energy over long distances, powering lighting fixtures, factory machines and household appliances.

In 1882 he moved to Paris, settled in the Edison Continental Company. The company was working on the construction of a power plant for the railway station in Strasbourg. Tesla was sent there to solve work issues. IN free time the scientist is working on an asynchronous electric motor, in 1883 he demonstrates his work in the Strasbourg city hall.

Work in America

In 1884 he returned to Paris, where he was denied the promised bonus. Insulted, Tesla quits and decides to go to America. July 6 arrives in New York. Gets a job at Edison Machine Works as a repair engineer for electric motors and DC generators.

Tesla hopes to devote himself to his favorite job - the creation of new machines, but the creative ideas of the inventor annoy Edison. There was an argument between them. The emigrant in case of losing the opponent was supposed to receive almost a million US dollars. Tesla won the argument by presenting 24 variations of Edison's invention. Referring to the fact that the dispute was a joke, he did not give money.

The inventor quits and becomes unemployed. To somehow live, he digs ditches and accepts donations. During this period, he met the engineer Brown, with whose light hand the interested people learn about the ideas of the scientist. On Fifth Avenue, Nikola rents a laboratory that later becomes the Tesla Arc Light Company, which produces arc lamps for street lighting.

In the summer of 1888, Tesla begins cooperation with the American George Westinghouse. An industrialist buys several patents and a batch of arc lamps from an inventor. Realizing that he is a genius, he buys almost all the patents and invites him to work in the laboratory of his own company. Tesla refuses, realizing that this will limit freedom.

In 1888-1895, the most fruitful years, the scientist explores high-frequency magnetic fields. The American Institute of Electrical Engineers invites him to give a lecture. The performance in front of electrical engineers was an unprecedented success.

On March 13, 1895, the Fifth Avenue laboratory burned to the ground. The fire also destroyed his latest inventions. The scientist said that he was ready to restore everything from memory. The Niagara Falls Company provided $100,000 in financial support. Tesla was able to start working in the new laboratory already in the fall.

Discoveries and inventions

What did he invent? Nikola Tesla had many inventions, but the most important discoveries for science were:

An amplifying transformer for excitation of the Earth, acting in the transmission of electricity in a similar way to a telescope in astronomical observations.
A way to save and transmit light;
Field theory (rotating magnetic field);
Alternating current;
AC motor;
Tesla coil;

Radio;
X-rays;
Amplifying transmitter;
Turbine of Nikola Tesla;
Shadow photography;
neon lamps;
Adams Hydroelectric Transformer Substation;
Teleautomatic;
Asynchronous motor;
Electrodynamic induction lamp.
Remote control;
Electric submarine;

Robotics;
Tesla's ozone generator;
Cold Fire.
Wireless communications and unlimited free energy;
Laser.
Plasma ball.
Installation for the production of ball lightning.

The mystery surrounding Tesla's personality gave rise to myths and legends. Modern researchers doubt his attitude to the Philadelphia ship experiment, to the Tunguska meteorite, the creation of an electric car, death rays and some other unconfirmed sensational discoveries. Tesla believed in the universal mind, the Akashic Records, the energy of the Earth and that it is a living being.

Personal life

Tesla was distinguished by an extravagant character and strange habits. Many women fell in love with him, but he did not reciprocate and was not married. He held the belief that family life, the birth of children is incompatible with scientific work. Shortly before his death, the scientist admits that the rejection of his personal life was an unjustified sacrifice.

Tesla, after he left his parents' house, did not have his own home. Lived in a laboratory or hotel rooms. I slept two hours a day, and once spent 84 hours at work without feeling tired. At one time he drank whiskey daily, believing that it would prolong his life. At the same time, he suffered from neurosis and obsessive-compulsive disorders.

He was a supporter of Eugenics - selection of people and birth control.

A monument to the great inventor and scientist for his merits and discoveries was erected in Silicon Valley in 2013 with voluntary donations from fans.

The funds were raised through the Kickstarter service. At the base of the statue is a capsule that will be opened in 2043. The monument is a free point wireless access in Internet.

"The Man Who Invented the 20th Century!" - so Tesla is called by modern biographers, and they do it without any exaggeration. He gained his fame thanks to progressive views and the ability to prove their worth. Tesla carried out the most dangerous experiments in the name of science, and in some circles is considered a figure associated with mysticism. In the latter case, most likely, we are dealing with speculation, but what is known for sure is that the inventions of Nikola Tesla contributed to progress throughout the world.

Legacy of Nikola Tesla

First, consider inventions that are important from a scientific point of view, but rarely found in the daily life of a modern person.

It will be about one of the most famous and spectacular inventions of Nikola. The Tesla coil is a type of resonant transformer circuit. Used this fixture to produce high voltage high frequency.

The Tesla coil was one of the tools for studying nature. electric current and possibilities of its use

Tesla used coils during innovative experiments in the field of:

electric lighting;
phosphorescence;
x-ray generation;
high frequency alternating current;
electrotherapy;
radio engineering;
transmission of electrical energy without wires.

By the way, Nikola Tesla was one of those people who predicted the emergence of the Internet and modern gadgets.

The Tesla coil is an early precursor (along with the induction coil) to a more modern device called a flyback transformer. It provides the voltage needed to power the cathode ray tube of televisions and computer monitors. Versions of this coil are widely used today in radio, television and other electronic equipment.

In all its glory, the coil can be seen in science museums or at special shows.

The Tesla Coil in action is always a sight to behold:

This structure, also known as the Tesla Tower, was built to implement wireless telecommunications and demonstrate the possibility of transmitting electricity without wires.

As conceived by Tesla, the Wardenclyffe Tower was to be a step towards the creation World Wireless System. His plans were to install several dozen receiving and transmitting stations around the world. Thus, there would be no need to use high-voltage power lines. That is, in fact, we would have received one worldwide power plant. By the way, Tesla managed to transfer electricity "through the air" from one coil to another, so his ambitions were not unfounded.

Today Vordencliff is a closed facility

The Wardenclyffe project required a large capital investment and early stages received the support of influential investors. However, when work on the construction of the tower was almost completed, Tesla lost funding and was on the verge of bankruptcy. This was because Wardenclyffe could be a prerequisite for free electricity supplies around the world, and this could bankrupt some investors whose business was tied to the sale of electricity.

Fans of various conspiracy theories link the fall of the Tunguska meteorite in Siberia and Tesla's experiments with the Tower.

X-rays

Wilhelm Roentgen on November 8, 1895 officially discovered the radiation named after him. But in fact, this phenomenon was first observed by Nikola Tesla. As early as 1887, he began to conduct research using vacuum tubes. During the experiments, Tesla recorded "special rays" that could "shine through" objects.. At first, the scientist did not pay much attention to this phenomenon, given that prolonged exposure to X-rays is dangerous for humans.

Nikola Tesla was the first to draw attention to the danger of x-rays

However, Tesla continued research in this direction and even carried out several experiments before the discovery of Wilhem Roentgen, including photographing the bones of his hand.

Unfortunately, in March 1895, a fire broke out in Tesla's laboratory, and the records of these studies were lost. After discovering X-ray, Nicola took a picture of his leg using a vacuum tube device and sent it to a colleague along with congratulations. Roentgen praised Tesla for the quality photography.

The same shot of a foot in a boot

Contrary to popular belief, Wilhem Roentgen was not familiar with the works of Tesla and came to his discovery on his own, which cannot be said about Guglielmo Marconi ...

Radio and remote control

Engineers different countries worked on radio technology, while the studies were independent of each other. The most striking example is the Soviet physicist Alexander Popov and the Italian engineer Guglielmo Marconi, who are considered the inventors of the radio in their countries. However, Marconi gained great worldwide fame, having first established radio communication between the two continents (1901) and received a patent for the invention (1905). Therefore, it is believed that he made the greatest contribution to the development of radio communications. But what about Tesla?

Radio waves are everywhere today

As it turned out, it was he who was the first to reveal the nature of radio signals. in 1897 he patented a transmitter and receiver. Marconi took Tesla's technology as a basis and made his famous demonstration in 1901. Already in 1904, the Patent Office revokes the patent for the radio to Nikola, and a year later awards it to Marconi. Apparently, this was not without the financial influence of Thomas Edison and Andrew Carnegie, who were in a confrontation with Tesla.

In 1943, after the death of Nikola Tesla, the US Supreme Court sorted out the situation and recognized the more significant contribution of this scientist as the inventor of radio technology.

Let's rewind a little. In 1898, at an electrical exhibition in Madison Square Garden, Tesla demonstrated an invention that he called "teleautomatics". In fact it was boat model, the movement of which can be controlled remotely via the remote control.

This is what Tesla's radio-controlled boat looked like

Nikola Tesla actually showed the possibilities of using radio wave transmission technology. Today, remote control is all around, from the TV remote control to flying drones.

Tesla induction motor and electric car

In 1888, Tesla received a patent for an electric machine in which rotation is created under the influence of an alternating current.

Let's not go into technical features operation of an induction motor - those who are interested can read the relevant material on Wikipedia. What you need to know is that the engine has a simple design, does not require high manufacturing costs and is reliable in operation.

Tesla intended to use his invention as an alternative to internal combustion engines.. But it just so happened that during this period no one was interested in such innovations, and the financial situation of the scientist himself did not allow him to roam too much.

Interesting fact! A monument to the great inventor has been erected in Silicon Valley. It is symbolic that he distributes free Wi-Fi.

It is impossible not to mention the shrouded in mystery Tesla's electric car. It is precisely because of the doubtfulness of this story that we will not display it as a separate item. Moreover, it could not do without an electric motor.

1931, New York. Nikola Tesla held a demonstration of the operation of a car in which supposedly instead of an internal combustion engine, an 80 hp AC engine was installed. The scientist traveled on it for about a week, accelerating to 150 km / h. And the catch is this: the engine was running with no visible power source, and for recharging the car supposedly never set. The only thing the motor was connected to was a box assembled from light bulbs and transistors, which Tesla bought from a nearby electronics store.

A 1931 Pierce Arrow car was used for the demonstration.

To all questions, Nikola answered that the energy is taken from the ether. Newspaper skeptics began to accuse him of almost black magic, and the annoyed genius, having taken his box, refused to comment or explain anything at all.

A similar event in Tesla's biography does take place, but still experts question that he found a way to get energy for a car from "air". Firstly, there is no hint of an ether-powered engine in the scientist’s notes, and secondly, there are suggestions that Nikola fooled the public in this way in order to draw attention to the very idea of \u200b\u200belectric cars. And directly for the movement of this prototype, either a hidden battery or an internal combustion engine with an upgraded exhaust system could be used.

Nowadays, the advantages of alternating current seem more than obvious, but in the 80s of the XIX century, a sharp confrontation erupted over the question of which current is better and how it is more profitable to transmit electrical energy. The main defendants in this serious battle were two competing firms - Edison Electric Light and Westinghouse Electric Corporation. In 1878, the brilliant American inventor Thomas Alva Edison founded his own company, which was supposed to solve the problem of electric lighting in everyday life. The task was simple: to displace the gas burner, but for this, electric light had to become cheaper, brighter and more accessible to everyone.

Anticipating his future discoveries, Edison wrote: "We will make electric lighting so cheap that only the rich will burn candles." At first, the scientist developed a plan for a central power plant, drew diagrams for connecting power lines to houses and factories. At that time, electricity was obtained using dynamos driven by steam. Then Edison began to improve electric light bulbs, trying to extend their action from the then available 12 hours. After going through more than 6 thousand different samples for the filament, Edison finally settled on bamboo. His future colleague Nikola Tesla ironically noted: “If Edison had to find a needle in a haystack, he would not waste time trying to determine its more likely location. On the contrary, he would immediately, with the feverish diligence of a bee, begin to examine straw after straw until he found what he was looking for. On January 27, 1880, Edison received a patent for his lamp, the life of which was truly fantastic - 1200 hours. A little later, the scientist patented the entire system for the production and distribution of electricity in New York.

Edison. (Pinterest)

In the same year that Edison took up lighting the American metropolis, Nikola Tesla entered the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Prague, but studied there for only one semester - there was not enough money for further education. He then entered the Graz Higher Technical School, where he began to study electrical engineering and began to think about the imperfections of DC motors. In 1882, Edison launched two DC power plants - in London and New York, setting up the production of dynamos, cables, light bulbs and lighting fixtures. Two years later, the American inventor creates a new corporation - Edison General Electric Company, which includes dozens of Edison companies scattered throughout America and Europe.

In the same year, Tesla figured out how to use the phenomenon of a rotating electromagnetic field, which means he could try to design an AC motor. With this idea, the scientist went to the Paris office of the Continental Edison Company, but at that moment the company was busy fulfilling a large order - the construction of a power plant for the Strasbourg railway station, during which numerous errors arose. Tesla was sent to rescue the situation, and the power plant was completed within the required time frame. The Serbian scientist went to Paris to receive the promised $25,000 bonus, but the company refused to pay the money. Insulted, Tesla decided to no longer have anything to do with Edison's businesses. At first, he even wanted to go to St. Petersburg, because Russia was famous at that time for its scientific discoveries in the field of electrical engineering, in particular, the inventions of Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov and Dmitry Aleksandrovich Lachinov. However, one of the employees of the Continental Company persuaded Tesla to go to the USA and gave him a letter of recommendation to Edison: “It would be an unforgivable mistake to allow such a talent to go to Russia. I know two great people: one of them is you, the other is this young man.”

Edison General Electric Company. (Pinterest)

Arriving in New York in 1884, Tesla began work at the Edison Machine Works as a repair engineer for DC motors. Tesla immediately shared his thoughts on alternating current with Edison, but the American scientist was not inspired by the ideas of his Serbian colleague - he responded very disapprovingly and advised Tesla to engage in purely professional matters at work, and not personal research. A year later, Edison offers Tesla to constructively improve DC machines and promises a $50,000 bonus for this. Tesla immediately set to work and very soon provided 24 variants of new Edison machines, as well as a new switch and regulator. Edison approved the work, but refused to pay money, joking at the same time that the emigrant did not understand American humor well. From that moment on, Edison and Tesla became irreconcilable enemies.

Edison had 1093 patents on his account - no one else in the world had such a number of inventions. A tireless experimenter, he once spent 45 hours in the laboratory, not wanting to interrupt the experiment. Edison was also a very skilled entrepreneur: all his companies were profitable, although wealth as such was of little interest to him. Money was needed for work: “I don’t need the success of the rich. I don't need horses or yachts, I don't have time for all that. I need a workshop! However, in 1886, the Edison Corporation had a very powerful competitor - the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. George Westinghouse launched the first 500-volt AC power plant in 1886 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

So, Edison's monopoly came to an end, because the advantages of new power plants were obvious. Unlike the American amateur inventor, Westinghouse had a thorough knowledge of physics, so he perfectly understood the weak link of DC power plants. Everything changed when he became acquainted with Tesla and his inventions, granting a patent to a Serb for an alternating current meter and a polyphase electric motor. These were the same inventions that Tesla once applied to the Edison company in Paris. Now Westinghouse has bought a total of 40 patents from the Serbian scientist and paid the 32-year-old inventor $1 million.

Electric chair. (Pinterest)

In 1887, more than 100 DC power plants were already operating in the United States, but the prosperity of the Edison companies was about to come to an end. The inventor understood that he was on the verge of financial collapse, and therefore decided to sue Westinghouse Electric Corporation for patent infringement. However, the lawsuit was rejected, and then Edison launched an anti-propaganda campaign. His main trump card was the fact that alternating current is very dangerous for life. At first, Edison engaged in a public demonstration of killing animals with electric discharges, and then a very successful case turned up for him: the governor of New York wanted to find a humane method of execution, an alternative to hanging - Edison immediately declared that he considers death from alternating current to be the most humane. Although he personally advocated the abolition of the death penalty, he nevertheless managed to solve the problem.

To create the electric chair, Edison hired engineer Harold Brown, who adapted a Westinghouse alternator for punitive purposes. An ardent opponent of Edison was strongly opposed to the death penalty and refused to sell his equipment to prisons. Then Edison bought three generators through nominees. Westinghouse hired the best lawyers sentenced to death, one of the criminals was saved: death penalty he was commuted to life imprisonment. A journalist hired by Edison published a huge revealing article, blaming Westinghouse for the torment that the executed man endured.

Westinghouse Electric Corp. (Pinterest)

Edison's "black PR" has borne fruit: he managed to delay the defeat, though not for long. In 1893, Westinghouse and Tesla won an order to light the Chicago Fair - 200,000 light bulbs were powered by alternating current, and three years later, a tandem of scientists installed the first hydraulic system for continuous alternating current supply to the city of Buffalo on Niagara Falls. By the way, DC power plants were built in America for another 30 years, until the 1920s. Then their construction was stopped, but the operation continued until the beginning of the XXI century. Tesla and Westinghouse won the current war. And Edison reacted like this: “I have never failed. I just found 10,000 ways that don't work."

The confrontation between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison at the end of the 19th century could be called a real war, and it is not for nothing that their rivalry in whose technology of electrical energy transmission will become dominant in the world is still called the “War of Currents”.

The technology of Tesla's AC lines or Edison's DC lines is truly an epochal dispute, the point of which was put only at the end of 2007, with the final completion of the transition of New York to AC networks, in favor of Tesla.

The first electrical generators producing direct current allowed a simple connection to the line, and accordingly, to consumers, while alternating current generators required synchronization with the connected power system.

It is important that consumers designed for alternating current did not originally exist, and an effective modification of the induction motor, designed directly for alternating current, was invented only by 1888, that is, six years after Edison launched the first direct current power plant in London.

After Edison patented in 1880 his system for the production and distribution of direct current electrical energy, which included three wires - zero, plus 110 volts, and minus 110 volts, the great inventor of the light bulb was already confident that "he would make electric lighting so cheap that only The rich will use candles."

So, as mentioned above, the first DC power plant was launched by Edison in January 1882 in London, a few months later - in Manhattan, and by 1887 more than a hundred Edison DC power plants were operating in the United States. At this time, Tesla worked for Edison.

Despite the seemingly bright future of Edison DC systems, they had a very significant drawback. Wires were used to transmit electrical energy over a distance, and with an increase in the length of the wire, as you know, its resistance increases, and therefore inevitable heating losses take place. Thus, the problem required a solution - to reduce the resistance of the wires, making them thicker, or to raise the voltage in order to reduce the current strength.

At that time, there were no effective methods for increasing the DC voltage, and the voltage in the lines still did not exceed 200 volts, so it was possible to deliver any significant power only at a distance of no more than 1.5 km, and if you need to transfer electricity further, there is a high cost. large wires.

And so, in 1893, Nikola Tesla and his investor, entrepreneur George Westinghouse, received an order to illuminate the fair in Chicago with two hundred thousand light bulbs. It was a victory. Three years later, the first AC hydroelectric power station was built at Niagara Falls to transmit electrical power to the nearby city of Buffalo.

In other matters, by 1928, the United States had already stopped developing direct current systems, fully convinced of the advantages of alternating current. After another 70 years, their dismantling began, by 1998 in New York the number of DC consumers did not exceed 4600, and by 2007 there were none left, when the chief engineer of Consolidated Edison symbolically cut the cable, and the "War of Currents" was finished.

Switching to alternating current hit Edison hard in the pocket, and, feeling defeated, he began to sue for infringement of his patent rights, but the decisions of the judges were not in his favor. Edison did not stop, he began to arrange public demonstrations where he killed animals with alternating current, trying to convince everyone and everything about the dangers of using alternating current, and vice versa - about the safety of his direct current networks.

In the end, it got to the point that in 1887 Edison's partner, engineer Harold Brown, offered to execute criminals with deadly alternating current. Westinghouse and Tesla did not supply generators for this, and even hired a lawyer for the murderer of his wife, Kemmler, who was sentenced to death in the electric chair. But this did not save, and in 1890 Kemmler was executed by alternating current, and Edison made sure that the bribed journalist poured mud at Westinghouse for this in his newspaper.

Despite prolonged black PR from Edison, Tesla's AC system was doomed to success. AC voltage could be easily and efficiently increased by means of transformers, and transmitted over wires over distances of hundreds of kilometers without much loss. High-voltage lines did not require the use of thick wires, and lowering the voltage at transformer substations made it possible to deliver to the consumer low voltage to supply loads with alternating current.

It began with the fact that in 1885 Tesla retired from Edison, and together with Westinghouse acquired several Golar-Gibbs transformers, and an alternator manufactured by Siemens & Halske, after which, with the support of Westinghouse, he began his own experiments. As a result, a year after the start of the experiments, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, the first 500-volt alternating current hydroelectric power station began operation.

Then there were no motors suitable for effective nutrition alternating current, and already in 1882 Tesla invented a polyphase electric motor, for which he received a patent in 1888, the first alternating current meter appeared in the same year. The three-phase system was introduced in Frankfurt am Main at an exhibition in 1891, and in 1893 Westinghouse won a tender to build a power station at Niagara Falls. Tesla believed that the energy of this hydroelectric power plant would be enough for the entire United States.

To reconcile Tesla and Edison, the Niagara Power Company commissioned Edison to build a power line from the Niagara Falls station to the city of Buffalo. As a result, Edison's General Electric bought the Thomson-Houston company, which made AC machines, and began to manufacture them itself.

So, Edison again became with money, but black PR against alternating current did not stop - he made public and circulated in newspapers pictures of the execution of the elephant Topsy by alternating current, who trampled three New York Luna Park circus workers in 1903.

Direct and alternating current - advantages and disadvantages

Direct current, as it happened historically, has found wide application for powering electric motors with series excitation in transport. Such motors are good in that they develop a large torque at a low number of revolutions per minute, and this number of revolutions can be easily adjusted by simply changing the constant voltage applied to the motor excitation winding, or by means of a rheostat.

DC motors are able to almost instantly change the direction of their rotation when changing the polarity of the supply to the field winding. So, DC motors are widely used to this day on diesel locomotives, electric locomotives, trams, trolleybuses, on various lifts and cranes.

Direct current can easily power incandescent lamps, various devices for industrial electrolysis, electroplating, welding, and it is also successfully used to power complex medical equipment.

Of course, direct current is useful in electrical engineering, because the corresponding circuits are easily calculated and simply controlled, not in vain by 1887 in the United States there were more than a hundred direct current power plants, which were headed by Thomas Alva Edison's company. It is clear that direct current is convenient in the case when there is no need for conversion, i.e. increase or decrease in voltage, this is the main disadvantage of direct current.

Despite Edison's efforts to introduce direct current transmission systems, such systems also had a significant disadvantage - the need to use a large amount of materials and significant transmission losses.

The fact is that the voltage in the first direct current lines did not exceed 200 volts, and electricity could be transmitted at a distance not exceeding 1.5 km from the power plant, while a lot of energy was dissipated during transmission (remember).

If, nevertheless, it was required to transmit more power over a greater distance, thick heavy wires had to be used, and this was very expensive.

In 1893, Nikola Tesla began introducing his alternating current systems, which showed high efficiency due to the very essence of alternating current. Alternating current could be easily converted by means of transformers, increasing the voltage, and then it became possible to transmit electrical energy for many kilometers with minimal losses.

This happens because when the same power is supplied through the wires, the current can be reduced due to the increase in voltage, therefore, the transmission losses are smaller, and the required wire cross-section, respectively, decreases. That is why AC networks began to take root around the world.

Alternating current is used to power asynchronous motors in machines and machine tools, induction furnaces, it can also power simple incandescent lamps, and any other active load. Asynchronous motors and transformers have made a real revolution in electrical engineering thanks to alternating current.

If, however, direct current is needed for some purpose, for example, for charging batteries, then now it can always be obtained from alternating current using rectifiers.

Asking the question “who invented electricity?” not entirely correct. It is more correct to ask, who discovered electricity? It is definitely impossible to answer. The history of electricity is rooted in the depths of the centuries of the existence of human civilization.

Timeline of major discoveries and inventions

IN modern world every child at a conscious age comes across electricity in the house. The first mention of observations in nature of this physical phenomenon dates back to the 4th century BC. e. The great philosopher Aristotle studied the behavior of eels that struck their victims with electrical discharges.

The legendary scientist Thales of Miletus, who lived in Ancient Greece(V century BC), mentioned in his writings about such a phenomenon as electricity. He watched how amber, rubbed with a ball of wool, attracted various trifles to itself. Historians recognize the time of the description of the experiments as the period of the discovery of electricity.

Important! The term "electricity" comes from the word "electron", which means amber.

Only starting from the 17th century, a series of discoveries and inventions regarding electricity starts. Wikipedia tells about the history of electricity in sufficient detail. Here is a short list of the main milestones in the development of the science of electrical energy:

The Englishman William Gilbert at the beginning of the 17th century, studying magnetoelectric phenomena, introduced for the first time such a concept as electricity (amber).
Two years later, in 1663, the mayor of Magdeburg, Otto von Henrike, demonstrated an electrostatic device consisting of a sulfur ball mounted on a metal axis. On the surface of the sphere, as a result of friction against the palm, a static current charge accumulated, which attracted or repelled small objects with its magnetic field.

Almost 60 years later (1729), the English physicist Stephen Gray experimentally determined the ability to conduct current in various materials.
Four years later (1733), the French physicist Charles Dufay put forward a dubious version of the existence of two types of electricity, which are of glass and resin origin. He explained this by saying that he received an electric charge on the surface of a glass rod and a lump of resin by rubbing them against silk and wool, respectively.
In 1745, the Leyden jar was invented - the prototype of the modern capacitor. The author of the invention was the Dutch researcher Pieter van Mushenbroek.

At the same time, the outstanding Russian scientists Richman and Lomonosov in St. Petersburg are trying to obtain an artificial lightning discharge in the laboratory. During the next experiment, having received an electric shock, Richman dies.
The year 1785 was marked by the registration in London of the Coulomb Law bearing the name of its author. The scientist substantiated the magnitude of the interaction force of point charges depending on the length of the gap between them.
A few years later, in 1791, Galvani published a treatise in which he proved the electrical processes in the muscles of animals.
In the same country, Volta in 1800 demonstrates a galvanic cell - a source of direct current. The device was a vertical structure of silver and zinc disks, lined with paper soaked in saline.

Twenty years later, the Danish physicist Oersted discovered the existence of the electromagnetic effect. Opening the contacts of the electrical circuit, he noticed the fluctuations of the needle next to the laid compass.
A year later, the great French scientist Ampere in 1821 discovered a magnetic field around an alternating current conductor.
1831 - Faraday creates the world's first current generator. Moving a magnetized core inside a coil of metal wire, he recorded the manifestation of an electric charge in its coils. The scientist was one of those physicists who first created electricity in the laboratory. He also substantiated the theory of electromagnetic induction.

Note! With the accumulation of practice as a result of numerous experiments, the need for a theoretical justification of the phenomena and the emergence of a science related to electricity began to arise.

Stages of creating a theory

Each step in the construction of the electrical theory was built on the basis of the personal discoveries of outstanding physicists. Their surnames make up a list of names to whom the invention of electricity belongs. The theoretical scientific basis of electricity developed gradually, with the accumulation of experimental experience.

The emergence of the term

It has already been mentioned above that the concept of "electricity" was first introduced into use by William Gilbert in 1600. From that moment on, the date when electricity appeared was noted.

First electrostatic machine

The device demonstrated in 1663 by Magdeburg Mayor Otto von Henrike is considered the first electrostatic machine. It was a resin ball mounted on a metal rod.

In 1745, a significant event happened - the Dutch explorer Pieter van Muschenbroek created an electrostatic capacitor. The device was named after the city where the invention was made - the Leiden jar.

Two types of charges

Benjamin Franklin introduced the concept of charge polarity. Since then, it has been an axiom that any electrical potential has a negative and a positive pole.

Benjamin Franklin

In 1747, American scientist Benjamin Franklin created his own theory of electricity. He presented the nature of electricity as an intangible liquid in the form of certain fluids.

From theory to exact science

The theoretical base, accumulated over the past few centuries, made it possible in the 20th century to reformat the acquired knowledge into an exact science. Fundamental discoveries and inventions appeared thanks to those scientists who discovered the nature of electric current. It is impossible to determine exactly in what year artificial electricity was invented. This happened mainly during the 18th and 19th centuries.

It is quite difficult to name the one who first invented the current. Most likely, this can be attributed to a number of great scientists mentioned above. Outstanding physicists from America, England, France, Italy, Russia and many other European countries had a hand in this.

Such inventors and theoreticians of electrical engineering as Edison and Tesla deserved undoubted immortal glory. The latter made a lot of efforts to theoretically substantiate the nature of magnetism and successfully put it into practice. Tesla is the creator of wireless electricity.

The law of interaction of charges

One of the fundamental tablets of the science of electricity is the law of the interaction of charges, known as Coulomb's law. It says that the force of interaction between two point charges is directly proportional to the product of the number of charges and inversely proportional to the squared distance between these points.

battery invention

The proposed device by the Italian scientist Alessandro Volta is considered documentary evidence of the invention of the electric battery. The device was called a voltaic column. It was a kind of whatnot, made of copper and zinc plates, arranged with pieces of felt moistened with a solution of sulfuric acid.

An electric potential was created at the top and bottom of the column, the discharge of which could be felt by applying the palms of the hands to the column. As a result of the interaction of metal atoms excited by the electrolyte, electricity accumulated inside the battery.

The inventor of galvanic electricity, Alessandro Volta, laid the foundation for what is today called batteries.

The emergence of the concept of current

The expression "current" arose simultaneously with the advent of electricity in the laboratory of the physicist William Gilbert in 1600. Current characterizes the direction of electrical energy. It can be both variable and constant.

Electric circuit law

An invaluable contribution to the development of the theory of electricity was made in the 19th century by the German physicist Kirchhoff. He was the author of terms such as branch, node, contour. Kirchhoff's laws became the basis for the construction of all electrical circuits of radio-electronic and radio-technical devices and devices.

The first law states: "The sum of electric charges going into a node during a certain time is equal to the sum of the charges leaving it during the same time."

The second position of Kirchhoff can be expressed as follows: “When currents pass through all branches of the circuit, the potential drops. When they return to the original node, the potential is completely restored and reaches its original value. That is, the leakage of energy within a closed electrical circuit is zero.”

Electromagnetic induction

The phenomenon of the occurrence of an electric current in a closed circuit of a conductor when an alternating magnetic field passes through it was described in 1831 by Faraday. The theory of electromagnetic induction made it possible to discover the subsequent laws of electrical engineering and to invent various models of generators, both direct and alternating current. These devices demonstrate how electricity appears and flows as a result of electromagnetic induction.

The use of electric lighting in Russia

Even from school, people remember the history of the appearance of electric light bulbs in Russia. The first experience in the creation of these devices was carried out by the Russian scientist Yablochkov. Their device was based on the occurrence of a spark between two kaolin electrodes.

In 1874, Yablochkov first introduced a lighting device using an electric arc. This year can be considered the starting point when light electricity first appeared in Russia. Subsequently, Yablochkov's candles were used as arc searchlights on steam locomotives.

Before the advent of Edison's incandescent lamps, Yablochkov's coal candles were used for a long time as the only source of electric lighting in Russia.

Production and practical use

From the advent of the first electricity to the mass production of electricity and its practical application many discoveries were to take place, and inventions were introduced in the field of generation and transmission of electrical energy.

Generation and transmission of electricity

Over time, they began to invent various ways generating electricity. With the advent of mobile, and subsequently giant power plants, the problem of transmitting electricity over long distances arose.

The scientific and technological revolution helped to solve this issue. As a result, huge power transmission networks were built, covering countries and entire continents.

Application

It is almost impossible to name the sphere of human activity, wherever electricity is involved. It is the main source of energy in many life-supporting areas of human activity.

Modern round of research

A grandiose breakthrough in the development of electrical engineering was made by the legendary scientist, physicist and inventor Nikola Tesla at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Many of Tesla's inventions are still waiting for a new round of research in the field of electrical engineering in order for them to be put into practice.

Currently underway research work on obtaining new superconducting materials, creating perfect components of electrical circuits with high efficiency.

Additional Information. The discovery of graphene and the production of new conductive materials from it predict grandiose changes in the use of electricity.

Science does not stand still. Every year, humanity is witnessing the emergence of more advanced sources of electricity, along with the creation of devices, machines and various units that consume environmentally friendly energy in the form of electric current.