Documental - Corriente Directa vs Corriente Alterna, la Historia

The power of electricity is the power of life and death. At the end of the 19th century, liberating this force from nature is as tempting as it is dangerous. It is not proven or proven. It is uncontrollable. Enough fortunes and brilliant minds will face each other in a battle without a barracks to take advantage of the power of electricity.

Thomas Edison. Nikolas Tesla. They are two inventors with opposite visions in a course of collision between themselves and history. Gentlemen, I present to you the future of electricity. It is an epic war to electrify the world. Edison vs. Tesla. Brilliant minds. A team of young engineers

is under pressure to find a solution to a challenging challenge how many attempts are there? I don't know, 100 maybe persistence, patience, perseverance when something doesn't work there's always another solution with only 31 years of age Thomas Edison is the most famous inventor on the planet

already delivered to the world an amazing invention the phonograph and won the nickname of the magician of menlo park edison represents for many people the essence of the engineer yankee was brilliant was perspicacious but it is the same as extraordinarily stubborn practical and pragmatic as a businessman

su éxito como inventor no tiene paralelo pero ahora Edison intenta hacer algo que nadie ha hecho jamás crear una fuente de luz segura y barata que pueda reemplazar las lámparas de gas y que funcione con electricidad

has experienced more than 100 failed attempts but now in october 1879 edison is about to find the element that allows its electric bulb to light in a stable, safe and repeated way the carbon the use of carbonized filament is an advance

But the invention of the electric bulb is only half the battle. To replace the gas light with electricity, Edison will have to design and build a totally new industry.

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No lo sé.

In a university in Austria, an ambitious physicist came up with an idea for a new and radical way of generating electricity. His name is Nikola Tesla. Nikola Tesla had a vision, a vision of what would happen in the future. Tesla had huge dreams and he had the genius to make them come true.

A generator creates an electric current that naturally reverses its flow periodically. In the era of Tesla, the electric current is generated by channeling that current in one direction. It is called direct current. But Tesla conceives to use the naturally alternating current of a generator. The alternating current would have greater power and would be a more efficient way of producing electric current. But there is only one problem.

This will be the future of Edison Electric.

Thomas Edison is about to create a system that will allow him to bring his new electric bulb to homes as you can see here is the first generator this will be the second generator so that the two Edison promotes his concept of direct current as something safe simple and reliable to its investors wait to convince them that their system could be the new standard system to illuminate homes

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located in manhattan the pearl street station is the first generator plant of electricity in the world in a matter of two years edison builds 18 new generator plants but each one can only provide energy within a radius of just over 800 meters

One could only build generator plants in densely populated cities because otherwise they would not be economically feasible. So immediately the smallest and rural towns were excluded from that electric equation. More than 4,800 kilometers away, in one of Edison's factories on the outskirts of Paris, Nikola Tesla has a different idea.

during years tesla has tried to perfect his own invention an alternating current motor and now finally has a prototype that works but to test his idea nicolas tesla will have to travel to the united states and confront the scientist most famous in the world bright minds

Thomas Edison has initiated the process of wiring of the country and the world for a system called direct current. But his path is about to cross with that of Nikola Tesla, a man convinced that he knows a better way to bring electricity to the world.

But before Tesla can present his great idea of the alternating current to Edison...

Mr. Edison, sir, I have a letter from my supervisor. And what do you do, Mr. Tesla? I am an inventor. Good. And I fix things. Really? Yes, I fix anything.

Look at this. Do you have experience with generators? Yes. Excellent. Edison gives Tesla a difficult task. Fix a generator plagued with problems. It's the first of its kind ever installed on a ship. I think Edison would do that with many of the people he hired. He would assign them something that could seem very difficult or even impossible to see if they could take care of it. A short circuit burned some wire wires. It was easy to fix.

Tesla proved that it was capable of... It practically landed on a problem and devised an innovative solution. I think that's something that Edison really admired because that was part of his own genius. Edison Electric grows at an incredible rate. And now it provides electricity to the magnates of the American industry. But Edison's direct current system has its limits.

can only provide energy effectively within a radio of 800 meters of a generator station. Nikola Tesla believes that his alternating current can travel much further and bring electricity to the whole world. But the power of alternating current has a cost.

Both have their dangers and advantages for energy distribution, but in that particular moment in history, with the voltages that were operated and with their understanding of the system at that time, the high voltage alternating current seemed clearly more dangerous. Despite the dangers, Nikola Tesla is convinced that his system is superior. You have two minutes. Imagine a central generator station with a single generator.

What kind of generator? Alternative current. It can do the work of many direct current generators and... It's dangerous. You can't control it. You'll set the city on fire. If you want to impress me, improve the system we have. If you do it, you'll earn $50,000. Tesla takes seriously Edison's challenge and tries to come up with a way to make Edison's direct current more efficient.

Tesla discovers that if it shortens the magnetic nuclei, it can triple the production of the generators. The solution is the start motor. It must redesign the units. Present your suggestions to my assistant. And about the bonus? The $ 50,000. He said that if he was successful in designing a direct current generator, he would give me a $ 50,000 bonus. It was a joke. How can it be a joke?

In place of working for Edison, Tesla will work against him, determined to prove he is right.

The war for the future of energy is about to begin. Brilliant minds. By 1885, Thomas Edison's direct current transforms the center of New York into a city of light. But his former employee, Nikola Tesla, believes that direct current is too limited and that its alternating current is the future of energy. Now he must try it.

Nikola Tesla leaves Edison's laboratory and for a while he is unemployed and has difficulties finding a job. There was not much work for experimental electricians at that time. Without another job perspective, Tesla is forced to look for work in the excavation of ditches. Ditches for Edison Electric's underground cables.

You can count on it.

He talks about it while he excavates the sandstone and one of the people who realizes he has this idea is the superintendent of the sandstone excavation project and he said, "You should come to meet my friend, a Wall Street financier who has invested and developed a whole series of companies." For Tesla, it is a unique opportunity in life, but simply explaining the alternating current to investors will not be enough.

Debe mostrarles exactamente lo que puede hacer. Esto no es para la conversión, pero hace uso de todo el voltaje posible. Sin conmutadores, ni cepillos, ni más piezas que se rompen, pero lo que es más importante. Sin fricción. Caballeros, si me permiten...

This is one of the characteristics of Tesla that is really important. It was fantastic to create simple demonstrations to show people the possibilities of the technology in which it worked. A magnetic field rotating. Alternate current. Gentlemen, the future of electricity. Tesla manages to show how an egg that rotates

Control by the electricity is analogous to a motor. The demonstration is a success and Tesla gets its first investors. Now he is ready to face the Edison's electric empire. Tesla's opportunity may have arrived at the right time. For 1888,

The Edison system has problems to meet the demand. But even so, it refuses to abandon the direct current. Five years of investment, both personal and bankers, like JP Morgan, to develop a direct current system. It will build central stations. People will invest in these central stations. They will make money with that. They know it will work.

By then Edison has competition. With the money of his investors, Tesla opens a laboratory not far from the Pearl Street station in Edison, determined to show the world what alternating current can do.

the idea of ​​tesla alternating current was a pretty populist idea were not a few large generator plants that would produce energy for large companies everyone could receive electricity but you still have to find a way to amplify the power of alternating current

The alternating current travels in waves with pauses between peaks. Tesla imagines a second signal out of sync with the first to fill those pauses. Tesla has a vision of the alternating current. He sees it as a kind of image and can see that this is the way to transmit electricity at great distances.

From that point on, he actually clung to that, and in the long run it is proven that he is right. As the alternating current approaches to be a reality, Thomas Edison's electric empire is about to face its greatest threat. Brilliant minds. The world's most famous inventor, Thomas Edison, is challenged by an unknown genius, Nikola Tesla.

But to break Edison's monopoly on electricity, Tesla must prove that alternating current can do more than just illuminate the world. It can also drive machines. Gentlemen, good afternoon. Five converters, two phases, a fifth of a horsepower. I present to you the future of electricity. Alternating current.

The Tesla system can drive an almost frictionless engine and can supply this energy in a more efficient way than Edison's. Finding an alternating current engine that could be used to help compete with direct current systems was important. The engines would be the future for the success of this industry. Now, alternating current not only lights the light at great distances.

Tesla's engine came and changed the game. Now that Tesla has perfected its idea, it's time to sell it.

The Tesla engine draws the attention of George Westinghouse, one of the richest men in the United States. Westinghouse was a railway magnate for many years. And he saw electricity as this market not exploited, as a way to earn a fortune. I will pay $5,000 for an option of 60 days. Then, contingent to the purchase,

Westinghouse accepts.

and pays the equivalent of almost 2 million dollars to ensure the rights of Tesla patents. Together, Tesla and Westinghouse will build an energy system to compete with Edison's. But there is a technical obstacle. The high voltage needed to send electricity at great distances and drive large machinery can be lethal.

To solve the problem, Tesla investigates a new device developed by European engineers, called Transformer.

You use a transformer for basically when those 100,000 volts reach a place that you want to use it. You can reduce it from 100,000 volts to 110 volts, which is a safe voltage to the home, because the transformer allows you to have that reduction function. The transformer will make alternating current not only possible, but also safe.

But despite the advantages of the energy of the alternating current, Edison is committed to building his empire with direct current. Edison's great weakness is his ability to change his thinking. As the industry changes, as the market changes, it would not allow the unbelievers to prove that he was wrong. He solved the problem. He had invested as much money as his personal reputation.

If Tesla and Westinghouse want a power war, Edison is willing to fight. Brilliant minds. The battle lines are marked in the war by electricity. Thomas Edison's strategy is to prove that alternating current is lethal. How do you know it's so dangerous? It's not proven or verified. It's uncontrollable.

is

to prove their point edison's team decides to move on to the negative edison's managers went with him and told him we are willing to carry this campaign alternating current has so much at risk that he is willing to do that dirty campaign

They carry out experiments with dogs. They make demonstrations for newspapers and the public, where they show that larger animals could also electrocute themselves. To close his case against the alternating current, Edison must go beyond the animals. It's time. They ask Edison to advise the state of New York about a new way to execute criminals. For the first electric chair,

Edison recommends the system of his rival.

A thousand volts cross the convicted killer William Kimmler, but it's not an instant death. It turns out to be a pretty scary execution, which serves Edison's purposes, because that's what he wants to show. He wants to show very dramatically that the alternating current is what he calls the current of death. They should have killed him with an ax. So that's how they will judge the alternating current.

As the battle for energy gets ugly, Westinghouse needs an important public victory for the alternating current. Current wars are about to have the maximum duel. Brilliant minds. How do you know it's so dangerous? It's not proven or verified. It's uncontrollable. Thomas Edison delivers an implacable battle to defend his direct current system.

against Nikola Tesla and his sponsor Westinghouse Electric. The final confrontation will take place in one of the largest natural electricity sources in North America: the Niagara Falls. The Niagara Falls Electric Company seeks a way to take advantage of the almost 6,400 cubic meters of water flowing through the falls every second.

and generate electricity equivalent to more than one million tons of coal per year. Edison meets with his board to present his plan for the cataracts to generate electricity from direct current. Gentlemen, we have a proposal that we will present

To the Niagara Commission. Edison Electric has already made a proposal. Edison Electric will become something new. General Electric. Behind Edison's back, the board decided that alternating current was the best option. And they know that Edison will never consent to this. So they eliminate him from all actions. I built this company. It would be nothing without me.

And you are destroying it. It's time to get profits. You count in cents. You can't see beyond your accounting books. Leave us. The business. Edison lost the trust of his board and the control of his empire. Edison is bitter. He is the brain behind the company. Technically, he is the reason why this exists. They only care about getting a profit.

Edison will be forced to watch the battle by Niagara from the barriers. While Nikola Tesla presents the Westinghouse proposal. Gentlemen, Mr. Nikola Tesla. It's a pleasure. 10 generators. 2,250 volts each, producing 37,000 kilowatts. Here...

the current increases to 22,000 volts for its transmission how far will it go Albany New York Chicago this will revolutionize the industry as we know it the niagara contract is granted to westinghouse and the Tesla alternating current wins the most crucial battle of the current war

But for Westinghouse, it could have come too late. Paying Tesla's licenses is not being crushed. The endless legal battles with Edison and the payments he owes to Tesla lead Westinghouse Electric to the edge of the broken bank. To keep Westinghouse afloat and save his vision of alternating current electricity, Tesla decides to give up millions of dollars in licenses to those he has the right to.

It's a decision that costs him his personal fortune. People don't realize it, but Tesla suffered from a mental illness. Today we call it TOC, obsessive compulsive disorder. But at that time, nothing was known about this. And it's because of this obsession that he had that he damaged his job when he was older.

When he was supposed to be enjoying the fruits of his businesses, other people exploited his patents, other people earned money with his work without giving him the credit he deserved, and he suffered from a mental illness. Tesla will live his last years in a hotel in New York. In 1943, he dies alone and dispossessed. His rival, Thomas Edison, is awarded more than a thousand patents in his career, more than any other inventor.

But losing the current war against Tesla could mark the most bitter defeat of his career. In the battle for electricity, one sees Edison, probably in his most human facet, allows his ego to take control. Edison believed a little in his own myth, he loved to be the magician of Menlo Park, he loved to be the genius publicly acclaimed.

and the idea of losing an important battle in electricity is something that I simply did not want to face. Tesla's alternating current would supply energy to the United States during the next century and beyond. The battle between Edison's direct current and the alternating current in the end was won by Tesla.

Currently, 99.99% of all electricity in this country is generated and distributed through alternating current. And that comes from the ideas and vision that Tesla had at the end of the 1880s. Tesla was clearly the winner in the battle of alternating current against direct current. This program includes dramatizations inspired by history. Some events were altered for dramatic purposes.