Why would Tesla want free enrgy for everyone?

[mapa]

Why we Tesla want to give away free energy when he knew he could make money off
of it?

 

[Superstring]

Humanitarian reasons? Not really a physics question...

 

[russ_watters]

I don't know...are you suggesting you believe Tesla wanted free energy? Did he ever actually say that?

...moving to GD.

 

[mapa]

I am not trying to suggest anything, I was curious if there was a logical reason.

 

[magpies]

Have you asked him about it lol? How are we suppost to know what he wanted?

I mean from what I know he made claims that he could split the Earth in two and had been in communications with aliens so...

Also I read something about him that I really don't like it involved one of his early devices.

 

[zomgwtf]

Also I read something about him that I really don't like it involved one of his early devices.

Continue... I'm interested

@OP. Do you have a source where Tesla claims he specifically wanted to provide the world with free energy? Or maybe a source to cite him actually attempting to follow through with the plan?

I would assume he might have commented on doing such a thing but I highly doubt it was more than just a 'propaganda tool' in order to attempt to sway public opinion his direction. We use 'Tesla's concept' of energy... (AC) and it's far from free.

 

[TubbaBlubba]

Well, if he DID want it, provided it was possible to produce enough of it, I don't see what's so strange about it. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone is mainly concerned with increasing their personal assets as much as possible.

 

[magpies]

I wouldn't have been amazed if tesla did want to give the world free energy as he was born into wealth and never really had to work for anything in the way most people do. He was more the type to just invent and let someone else figure out how to market it.

 

[Ali Inam]

How can you provide FREE ENERGY even if you are richest person of the planet ? !

The point is that, he might have decided to try out his new inventions and different works for free to common people just to check the popularity of his ideas, ESPECIALLY WHEN EDISON WAS ON THE OTHER SIDE !

 

[TubbaBlubba]

How can you provide FREE ENERGY even if you are richest person of the planet ? !

The point is that, he might have decided to try out his new inventions and different works for free to common people just to check the popularity of his ideas, ESPECIALLY WHEN EDISON WAS ON THE OTHER SIDE !

You mean especially when Edison was lying hidden behind a bush with a detonator linked to an explosive in order to sabotage Tesla's progress in every imaginable way?

 

[magpies]

Well first off I think the concept of free energy is stupid because even it was "free" the responsiblity you would need when using it would make it less then free imo.

As to zomgwtf the invention I was talking about is something I would consider animal cruelty if that gives you any ideas... If you really want to know what it is I suggest you pick up a book about his life I am sure you can find one at the library.

To ali inam I don't really want to say how he was going to get his "free energy" because I don't want to give anyone any ideas but let's just say it was probably the worst way to get energy I can think of. If you look into the history of that huge tower he was building you can probably figure it out.

 

[Ali Inam]

You mean especially when Edison was lying hidden behind a bush with a detonator linked to an explosive in order to sabotage Tesla's progress in every imaginable way?

I meant that it was all AC and DC going on around at that time

Two different thing proposed by two different scientists !

 

[TubbaBlubba]

I meant that it was all AC and DC going on around at that time

Two different thing proposed by two different scientists !

Yep, and one of them (Hint: Edison) devoting a majority of his time to smearing the other.

 

[magpies]

I don't think edison devoted a majority of his time to smearing him but he was however a much better salesman.

 

[Galteeth]

Edison was certainly the better business man; and seemingly much more concerned with financial success then Tesla.

 

[Galteeth]

Why we Tesla want to give away free energy when he knew he could make money off
of it?

So we could all live in star trek world?

 

[xxChrisxx]

I don't think edison devoted a majority of his time to smearing him but he was however a much better salesman.

Oh he did. Interstingly enough Edison invented the electric chair, to show 'just how dangerous Tesla's AC was'. When his own DC devices were overheating and killing quite a few people.

Tesla was by far the better scientist. Edison buteforced the work not using logical steps, then proceeded to sue everyone left right and centre.

 

[magpies]

I'm not sure about that tesla might have had a better mind for coming up with new ideas but edison was far better at being rigorous. It's sort of like the tortoise< and the hare imo.

 

[Ali Inam]

Well, whoever was successful,


We have both scientists to thank for, don't we ? !

 

[Ali Inam]

Tortoise can be a little harsh for the soul of Mr Nikola Tesla !

 

[mheslep]

Why we Tesla want to give away free energy when he knew he could make money off
of it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader"

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

From what I remember reading Tesla certainly wanted to be capable of providing free/low cost energy to the world if at all possible, and I am fairly sure he believed it was. I can not cite quotes but it is a fact that Tesla forgave his contract with Westinghouse and took no further money from them when they realized that they could not continue to pay him royalties and remain competitive with Edison. Tesla himself also had little consideration for the amounts of money he spent. His actual work was far more important to him and only cared about money in so far as it was necessary to continue it. He died [relatively] poor and in massive debt.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Tesla worked for years on a way to transmit electric power through the Earth and air. Anyone anywhere would be able to have power by simply tapping into the ground and having an antenna for the other side of the circuit. This was his high voltage, high frequency AC. The ground was "hot" the air was the neutral.

He got the system up and running in Colorado. For about 10 minutes. It caused a dynamo meltdown in the local power station supplying the juice. While it was running, sparks started flying from the ground to any and all conductors above ground. People in the vicinity had sparks flying from the ground to the nails in the soles of their shoes. It was chaotic and disturbing. But insanely magnificent. The local power company, however, refused to power him up again.

Later, he got J.P. Morgan to back a similar tower in N.J. Tesla didn't get it running when he promised he would, so Morgan cut off funding. Tesla pestered him over and over for more, but once he'd missed the first promised deadline for results Morgan was over it, and didn't trust him. Morgan had been skeptical from the start, but decided to gambol something like $150,000 (much more in today's terms), because Tesla had, after all, made Westinghouse a success. Tesla said the transmitter could also be used to send radio signals anywhere on Earth at full strength, without distortion. That's the angle that interested Morgan, not the free power.

Tesla wanted to give people free power because then he'd be a hero. Thing is, his transmitter, even had it worked, still needed to be powered by conventional means. Someone would have had to foot the bill. All it did was eliminate the cost of wiring.

Most crackpot free energy inventors are basically just trying to be popular heros, sticking it to the system, as it were. The trouble is none of their inventions work.

By contrast, the patented ZooBonic Free Energy Machine, is guaranteed to provide a continuous source of energy for the lifetime of the device. For a mere $49.95*, you, yes you, can tap into Zoobonic energy right there in the comfort of your own home. The device is continuous! You heard me. Continuous, and guaranteed, for as long as it lasts.

Send your checks to:

Mr. Z. Shoe
Zoobie Brush Shelter
Tecolote Canyon
San Diego, Ca.

*Please include $179.00 for crating and shipping costs. Batteries sold separately.

 

[JaWiB]

Tesla is one of my favorite historical figures. I think he may have been a bit disconnected from reality, however. To quote:

Long before the next century dawns, systematic reforestation and the scientific management of natural resources will have made an end of all devastating droughts, forest fires, and floods. The universal utilization of water power and its long-distance transmission will supply every household with cheap power and will dispense with the necessity of burning fuel. The struggle for existence being lessened, there should be development along ideal rather than material lines.

Today the most civilized countries of the world spend a maximum of their income on war and a minimum on education. The twenty-first century will reverse this order. It will be more glorious to fight against ignorance than to die on the field of battle. The discovery of a new scientific truth will be more important than the squabbles of diplomats. Even the newspapers of our own day are beginning to treat scientific discoveries and the creation of fresh philosophical concepts as news. The newspapers of the twenty-first century will give a mere "stick" in the back pages to accounts of crime or political controversies, but will headline on the front pages the proclamation of a new scientific hypothesis.

 

[Proton Soup]

i'm still waiting for one of those John Galt static electricity antennas.

 

[mheslep]

Tesla is one of my favorite historical figures. I think he may have been a bit disconnected from reality, however. To quote:

BTW, where did Tesla say this?

I agree Tesla went a little nutty in the end, but I think these predictions are fairly forward thinking, if not exactly on the mark.

Long before the next century dawns, systematic reforestation and the scientific management of natural resources will have made an end of all devastating droughts, forest fires, and floods.

Well in the developed world, where Tesla's envisioned technology has taken hold, I assert a good bit of this is accurate. The US in the 21st century is remarkably reforested compared to the 19th century. It's said at one point that a log-gable tree couldn't be found within fifty miles of Boston. Natural resources clearly are scientifically managed now. And I wouldn't know for a fact, but I suspect droughts, fires and floods are not as calamitous to human life now as then (though they surely cost more today).

The universal utilization of water power and its long-distance transmission will supply every household with cheap power and will dispense with the necessity of burning fuel.

If we use the power requirements per person in Tesla's day, even with mild growth, today's US hydro electric power (~100 GWe) would indeed supply every houseshold and industry cheaply. The problem is that Tesla missed seeing that the growth per person would be explosive (air conditioning, refrigerators, industrial use - aluminum smelting, etc)

The struggle for existence being lessened, there should be development along ideal rather than material lines.

I'd say that's more true than not, 'war is coming for peak oil' doom sayers not withstanding. When have we last seen one developed democracy attack another?

 

[JaWiB]

http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1935-02-00.htm

I'll admit his predictions had a fair amount of truth to them, but I'd say he dramatically overestimated how much progress we'd make. I guess if he were alive today he'd still be ahead of his time.

 

[magpies]

lol thanks for the link you he was a nutcase.

 

[zoobyshoe]

lol thanks for the link you he was a nutcase.

That nutcase is coming out of your wall at 60hz as you read this. He had one or two sound ideas.

 

[xxChrisxx]

That nutcase is coming out of your wall at 60hz as you read this. He had one or two sound ideas.

Not only that, he was respected enough that an SI unit was named after him.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Not only that, he was respected enough that an SI unit was named after him.

That's true. Also a band, and a car.

 

[Proton Soup]

That nutcase is coming out of your wall at 60hz as you read this. He had one or two sound ideas.

ya, he was even playing with remote control boats at the time while letting credit for "radio" slip to marconi. the guy was completely brilliant, while edison was a hack who was probably mostly taking credit for the ideas of the guys working in his shop (one of whom was Tesla, briefly).

 

[Relay]

Tesla was a great scientist and a terrible business man. He helped the industrial revolution to proceed much faster than it could have without him.
If we look at his last years, the candle is out. He died poor, confused, and broken. He was hit by a taxi and tried to cure himself.
If I recall right, Henry Ford died in a similar way. A spring thaw flooded the river banks near his power house. He died in a dark, cold, wet home.
So don't burn your candle on both ends, it won't end well.

 

[RaDoonZ]

I believe Tesla would have made money off every tower that was built. There needed to be towers that created and projected the electrical power into the air. I think everyone would also need some way to harvest electric from the air and convert/clean it for household and business use. He would in fact make quite a bit of money from the patented tech every time one was sold and installed.

 

[alt]

Don't know about Tesla, but the notion of free energy for everyone is a bit of a, umm, pyrrhic one, I would say. Imagine, if there was boundless free energy. Rather than some utopia resulting, I think the consequences would be disastrous.