No Right Answer: Tesla vs Edison

[D.Strormer]

Tesla might have lost the debate, but Dan won with the comment that Edison = Biff. That's just, amazing!

 

[hermes]

In my mind, it is simple:

Tesla = John Carmack: good inventor and technician but poor business man and PR. Tends to fix problems for the knack of it and then make the solutions public.
Edison = Steve Jobs: mediocre in the technical side, but pretty good at PR, business and self-promotion. Tends to acquire technology other people invented, refurbish it and sell them as his own.

 

[Lightknight]

Yep, Edison was a cruel but successful business man. The first to produce an industrial research facility.

But you guys should have defined the parameters of the argument. What defines "better" here? If it's financial success then yeah, dick-hole Edison won. If it is influence on the world then Tesla's inventions impacted more people. If it's deserving of reverence? Edison's industrial facility only pumped out products faster. Had he not existed then the actual inventors would have eventually been able to do it themselves. Instead, some of them died penniless and Edison reaped all of the rewards because he could afford lawyers.

This is like declaring any mob boss who died of old age to be the winner compared a highly respected individual who didn't make as much money. Um, sure...

Eh, basically here's how I see it.

If anyone disagrees let me know, this is just my general impression of each man.

Edison was basically a total dick. So I'd have Tesla higher on kindness and Edison much lower.

I mean, Edison flat out stole products from other countries and cheated employees out of promised wages. He killed animals and generally fought against ideas he knew full well to be better for society just to turn a higher buck.

Other than that, your impression is pretty spot on.

Work Ethics? Edison? HA! That guy had people stealing "A Trip To The Moon", one of the most important movies of cinema history, to sell it himself in the US and keep the money rather than having, you know, the director and his team, who invented most of the special effects for the next forty years, getting the credit and the badly-needed cash.

It's like if someone stole copies of Star Wars in 1977 to sell them in Europe and Canada under their own name and ruined Lucas.

If you view his business as basically ripping off other people's ideas and then mass producing them then yeah, he had an excellent work ethic. Some thieves work really hard and becomes successful because of it.

 

[Jeroenr]

They got a fact wrong here. Alternating Current (AC) created by Tesla was more dangerous than Edison's Direct Current (DC). To demonstrate the dangers of AC electricity Edison invented the electric chair used for executions. AC won in the end because it was far more efficient and required less copper to transmit electricity. Although DC makes our daily lives and this post possible and electronics exclusively use DC power.

Yes and no.

AC is dangerous because when exposed you muscles (including your heard) will contract on the frequency (50 or 60 Hz depending were you live).
If i recall my safety course right, for AC 40V is whats considered save (100V for DC)

DC is far more prone to arc, and can more easily maintain that arc.
this makes it a big fire hazard at higher currents.
AC's voltage goes up and down between +230V and -230V so any arc formed at the + or - peak will die out near 0V
And don't start that easily again.

 

[Pyrian]

If i recall my safety course right, for AC 40V is whats considered save (100V for DC)

Safe as in "unlikely to actually kill you", maybe, but I shocked myself once with a mere 9V AC (literally a 9V battery plugged into an alternator) and it's surprisingly nasty. Certainly not something you'd want to have happen to you while operating heavy equipment.

 

[Jeroenr]

If i recall my safety course right, for AC 40V is whats considered save (100V for DC)

Safe as in "unlikely to actually kill you", maybe, but I shocked myself once with a mere 9V AC (literally a 9V battery plugged into an alternator) and it's surprisingly nasty. Certainly not something you'd want to have happen to you while operating heavy equipment.

well yes, that is exactly how they determent that.

And getting a shock from 9V AC is not so much about the Volts but more about the Amps.

 

[Jeroenr]

sorry something whet wrong here

 

[Pyrian]

And getting a shock from 9V AC is not so much about the Volts but more about the Amps.

We're discussing power sources (as opposed to static electricity, which can run up huge voltages but still discharge very few amps). Amps are more or less a given, with a 9V battery being distinctly on the "less" end.

Put another way, if you're claiming that <40V AC is safe, and what you really mean is that <40V AC is safe if you've got a really good GFCI in the circuit, then I don't really think you got the point across.

 

[Jeroenr]

And getting a shock from 9V AC is not so much about the Volts but more about the Amps.

We're discussing power sources (as opposed to static electricity, which can run up huge voltages but still discharge very few amps). Amps are more or less a given, with a 9V battery being distinctly on the "less" end.

Put another way, if you're claiming that <40V AC is safe, and what you really mean is that <40V AC is safe if you've got a really good GFCI in the circuit, then I don't really think you got the point across.

The course (basic savety, VCA) literally said no fatality has ever bin reported at these levels. so it's considered "save"

But with" Certainly not something you'd want to have happen to you while operating heavy equipment" you do make a good point.

The biggest risk often isn't electrocution it self, but the accident you might have after it.
If you stand on a ladder changing a light bulb any shock will be enough to make you fall.
this is true for AC as well as DC
The course did cover this as well.

 

[SilverStuddedSquirre]

Kawabunga Chris
Way to get it on!
You reptiled against electrical rennaisance!
You brought hysterical technique thad made yo
foe laugh hard and drop offa his feet!

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Tesla won ...

Alternating current alone made late-modern civilization. Electricity would be thousands of times more expensive if it wasn't for Tesla. Tesla's work is the lifeblood of every nation on Earth.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

I genuninely believe that this the BEST take on the Edison vs. Tesla argument I've yet seen.

They highlighted each man's strengths and shortcomings, each man's contributions to the world of technology in their own ways, and didn't pull any punches on Tesla's lack-of-real-world-practicality or Edison's...being a dick.

Well done.

CAPTCHA: real mccoy

How appropriate.