Chicago The Great

Chicago was asked to hold the worlds fair, also known as the Columbian Exobition, when they went head to head with New York in the final decision.  They won in a 8 ballot final.  Many New Yorkers were very angry with this final but got over it.  To America this was their shot to get back at frae for the last worlds fair in which the French unveiled the eiffl tower.  Westinghouse was able to win the bid by taking half the price that edison was offering.  with this said Westinghouse made a brilliant move and was able to in th rights to light the fair, and with Telsa’a help made a marvel that had been never seen before, with attractions like the Columbus egg and others.  The egg demonstrated the magnetic fields surrounding electricity and alternationg currents.  The mass’ flocked to the fair, and when the switch was thrown, the entire 600 acre area the fair had was lit up in a brilliant whit light, less dim then the arc lights so one was able to see, but still a crisp clear white light that was able to illuminate everything.  People said it was brilliant, and were shown demonstrations, showing that electricity itself was not dangerous, as Tesla himself let it course through his body, and a marhing band in costumes of light bulbs marched through the major walkways, blazin in light.  People saw this magical display of power and genius, and realized the ability to use electricity would only further their way of life, and was not dangerous

D.C. = Danger

The Danger of D.C.

By Nicola Tesla. 

   The ideas behind the electric wars, was one with a great beginning.  The idea that the two separate and opposite ideas could exist together in the same realm was a great idea.  Which worked better, which was more popular with the general audience and what power choice is made by those with education in the matter?  These are the ways of America.  Where a man like me can come and become one of the most widely sought after person in all of the great New York City.  Yet great minds sometimes get clouded or muddy.  Ideas not only shift, but turn around completely.  The famed and great Thomas Edison is one man whose mind has gone from the great game of who is better to that of his demigod persona.  He believes himself the best in everything thing and his reasoning’s the clearest and most concise.  Edison’s ideas quickly turned to a Machiavellian style of the end justify the means.   His predisposed position of D.C. being solely better due to its stability steadily changed to the point where Edison never speaks of D.C. anymore, but bad mouths and speaks of the horrors of A.C. The battle of A.C. and D.C. started with a justifiable question.  Which would you rather use, an electric system with a long range or a local short range system?   The thought was D.C. with its local stations, was first to come out and Edison capitalized with his stations all throughout the south side of New York.  I myself actually worked for the famed Edison, who had paid for my passage over in exchange for my expertise with working in the D.C. system.  I worked for my time with Edison though he was a cheat and a liar.  I choose to work in the ditches burying his wires in the soil of my new home until a Mr. Westinghouse heard of me and saved me of a life of hardship and pain.  My idea for electricity came in the form of A.C. A power that was able to be sent great distances due to the high power, and then it b reconverted to be used in everyday electrical appliances.  My A.C. depends on the amount of voltage being sent, and the circular directional workings of the current as opposed to the straight line workings of D.C.  On the matter of safety I must protest the idea that A.C. is more dangerous to D.C.  Edison has given up on the professional battle between us and has turned to use his reputation in the attempt to undermine my work.  The wants of the people and the public yet seem to swing in the balance, with the worlds fair being won by no one other then myself.  What a blow this must have made to Edison’s immortal ego.  The more and more I replay the lighting of the fair in my mind, the more I am truly amazed at the brightness of the light bulbs that I made due to Edison’s bitterness at my win.  Edison is like a little jealous child, if events aren’t to his liking then he throws a fit.  His fit took shape in a horrendous slandering of A.C.  The use of many different animals in tests to see if it could kill seemed quite gruesome.  It even came to the point where a human life was a testing ground for Edison and his attempt to sully the clean and prestigious reputation of my beloved A.C.  Edison took the stand saying that the use of A.C. would be a certain technique in killing, it could cause carbonization and mummification.  Edison took the stage as an expert in the case of whether or not electrifying was an inhumane way to kill someone.  Edison abused his right as a respected member of the scientific society, by using his status to get electrification approved and sully the name of A.C.  In the end, it was I who got the last laugh.  Though people heard Edison say that he had told the doctors to do something different, it seems that the public, at least some, saw the true face of their be loved Wizard of Menlo Park.  While Edison slandered the idea of A.C. it was true that D.C. was to weak to work for anything but the weakest machines, and even with a coursing power that it had it was of very little danger due to the weakness of the charges that D.C. had, and the non-use of transformers to help power anything but the essentials of everyday living like those of Light Bulbs.On the topic of safety, we return to that of A.C.  It seems that the more voltage to pass through a line, the more insulation is needed to keep the people around safe.  No matter whether A.C. or D.C., electricity is dangerous in any but the smallest amounts, and due the idea of small amounts being safe, it becomes more costly due to the non-longevity of a local power station.  With A.C. and the use of its transformers, the ability to cross long distances with electricity became a thing of the past.  Niagara Falls was the project of a life time.  It was another bid over Edison that I won and it was amazing.  It was one of the inventions that I had dreams of.  The most spectacular culmination of A.C. in the world with a self sustaining power source, all hydro powered and ready to go as soon as it was built, like it had been waiting there for me my entire life.  Edison finally gave up in the struggle because of my giant advantage of long distance power supplies.  The pant was generating enough power to light the upper section of New York, gradually moving down towards the city.  Edison was a man whose ideas were revolutionary.  Yet his pride blinded him from the fact that though he was a great inventor, there were others like him out in the world.  If he had swallowed his pride and worked with me, it might have been possible to achieve such greatness as no one had ever seen before, or ever will again, but his down fall was his hubris.  To face the thought of defeat to Edison was impossible.  Though he was not my lesser, but more my equal I still give him the respect that he deserves, the inventor of the light bulb and the first to be able to harness the revolutionary electricity.  Yet it was most disrespectful, his approach and ideas concerning my choice in D.C. over A.C., he chose to look down upon such a thought, yet in the end it was I looking down on him because though broke as I was, it was the certain idea of being victorious over the wizard that would make any man delirious with glee.  Edison was a man whose genius clouded his vision to see the greater good that as possible to achieve.  With that said I seem to recall that he had once said that my workings would amount to nothing, yet in the end I am able to have the last laugh, and it is a good one.     

Works Cited

Hewes, John. Power Supplies. 2007. 5 November 2007 <http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/powersup.htm#transformer>.How does a transformer work? 5 November 2007 <http://www.antrimtransformers.com/add_page.php>.Jones, Jill. Empires of Light. New York: Random House Inc., 2003. 

lineman’s death

To whomever it may concern,            Is Electricity a blessing or a curse? Predictably, the answer would be in favor of both. Most people would regard it as a blessing because it is providing them with the conveniences and comforts of life, however, most people would judge it as a cursing because it is dangerous. Thomas Alva Edison, which is often regarded as the world’s biggest inventor and the father of electricity, discovered Direct current which was able to light up the houses of people but was not that powerful for long distance transmission. Then came the world’s genius, Nikola Tesla, who was able to imagine his inventions in his mind, manipulate all the mathematical calculations in his mind, and then practically perfect his inventions. He developed a more efficient and powerful form of current, called Alternating Current. AC had an ability to easily travel over long distances and it was easy to transform than DC. Nikola Tesla asked George Westinghouse for assistance in promoting alternating current. George Westinghouse favored AC over DC and agreed to commercialize Tesla’s system. Edison and Westinghouse became enemies and Tesla began to prosper as his system was getting recognized all around the country. People started to recognize the importance of Alternating Current.             The disagreements between these three men about the usage of more powerful form of current lead them to the War of Currents. Edison favored Direct Current while Tesla and Westinghouse wanted Alternating Current to be the primary form of current all around the country. Edison tried various means to prove that DC was better than AC. Edison’s most important claim was that DC was safer than AC. DC was certainly much safer than AC but it also had a low voltage which didn’t allow it to transmit over long distances and hence it cannot be used efficiently. A technical definition of Direct current would be that it always flows in one direction meaning that it stays in one polarity. DC cannot be used for domestic purposes as we would need many power stations in order to transmit it to even shorter distances. The costs of Direct current outweigh its benefits. On the other hand, Alternating current is the most efficient and more powerful form of current which can be used for long distance transmission, economical and commercial purposes, and for various other means hence making it a more profitable and beneficial form of current. A technical definition of Alternating current would be that it alternates between different polarities. It has a high voltages but it can be easily stepped down by using a transformer. A transformer can only work with AC making it a more compatible form of current. Even though Alternating Current is dangerous and not much safer than Direct current, its benefits still outweigh its costs. According to the economical reasoning and analysis, we should adopt the condition where benefits outweigh its costs.             Edison was aware of the fact that AC was more effective than DC but he still continued to make the people realize the power of DC because it was his invention. It was also his personal belief that AC was dangerous. He started to experiment on several different creatures in order to show the disastrous power of AC vs. DC. He wanted to prove that DC was much safer than AC and that only DC should be used for economical purposes. Harold Brown also helped Edison in proving his experiments true and making them more productive. Many deaths occurred from Alternating current but that did not necessarily prove AC to be a dangerous current for usage. It was dangerous but it can be utilized safely if safety precautions are followed.             Edison found a splendid opportunity to prove his point when the unexpected death occured of one of the Western Union Lineman, John E. H Feeks. He was working over cutting the dead wires from the spiderweb of lines looping all over the building. Jonnes described this magnificent event in the following manner, “He reached through a tangle of wires to cut out a dead wire “when he was suddenly seen to shiver and tremble as though he had received a violent shock. He put out his right hand and seized a wire as though to steady himself, and immediately there was a flash of flame under his hand. Then bright sparks and tongues of blue flames played all about his hand and a small cloud of smoke curled up into the air” (Jonnes 199). This was the horrible moment for every person who witnessed this death. Each and every person in the crowd was shocked to see this death. “Feek’s body was so interwoven with the numerous wires that he swayed but did not fall. His corpse was held horribly aloft for forty-five minutes, like a poor fly stuck in the spider’s sticky web, until at last the current was turned off and his blackened body extricated and lowered to the silent street.”(Jonnes 199)Edison claimed this death to be the worst action of alternating current and claims that this type of current should be banned to prevent such future accidents. However, it was basically wrong to blame alternating current for the death of careless linemen. The linemen were aware of the actual voltage and power of alternating current and in spite of that they did not feel necessary to follow the safety precautions. The current was dangerous in itself but the individual had to prevent from it by using every possible safety precautions. Edison still failed to prove his point and at last convinced that AC was much more productive and safer than DC.AC had greatly changed the world because of its uses and its benefits. DC is still in use today by many electrical appliances. Therefore, an AC is supplied to the households and a conversion take place there to convert AC into DC for appliances like computers, Televisions, etc. Edison did not recognize the power of AC because it required the higher understanding of mathematical analysis and physics concepts. As Edison was only practically perfect, he was unable to grasp the basic understanding and working of alternating current and thus was also unsuccessful in proving his point. As a concerned citizen, I think AC should be adopted all over the country because of its powerful uses. It can be used economically, commercially, and for long distance purposes.    Sincerely,A concerned citizen     

blog/wiki evaluation

The blog and wiki were both were useful tools for students. It enabled us to interact with other class members of our class, look at their style of writing, and correct the errors as needed. The wiki helped as to organize our major class projects which were mainly done as a group. The wiki helped us to make an informative site about a specific issue currently going on in the class. Professor thompson also helped each and every student to make these sites more easy for them to use. I highly recommend these tools for future freshmen classes.

Blog/Wiki Evaluation

The blog and wiki were both very useful tools for this class.  The blog was nice to use because it enabled us to post our own iterpretation of something and then compare and anylize it along with the posts from other classmates.  The usefullness of the wiki was in the fact that it allowed collaboration and teamwork within the class.  In a way it forced us to communicate and organize our information together in order to get the best final result.  Both of these sites also helped a lot with providing a foundation with which to begin our papers on.

Blog/Wiki Evaluation

The blog proved to be very useful.  It instilled a sense of community while being available outside the classroom.  Postings were easy to make and the ability of fellow students to critique others’ work proved to be useful in making corrections.  The use of the wiki was also beneficial.  It provided a simple way for group work to be done in collaboration.  Like the blog, the wiki was available outside the classroom and work could be done at one’s leisure.  Both the wiki and the blog was useful and beneficial in our class.

Final Paper : First Draft

To Whom it may concern:

The development of electricity has gone from an exciting task to an unfriendly burden amongst our peers.  This war that has been going on, though unfortunate, must be realized for what it truely is.  Great inventors and innovators, once seen in the eyes of the public as heroes, have reduced themselves to verbally bashing each other in an effort to better their own appearance.  The fight between AC and DC for control of the electrical empire is both uneccessary and detrimental to society. 

Thomas Edison and Harold Brown have been the most prominent of the DC supporters.  Using direct current has always seemed the safer of the two.  Although less efficient because of it’s inability to travel long distances, DC’s lower voltage is much safer than alternating current.  However, using alternating current has repeatedly proven to be the more effecient of the two.  There have been deaths in accidents relating to alternating current.  However, electricity is one of the smallest causes of death and alternating current cannot be deemed unusable.  Alternating current can travel much longer distances and, when handled properly, can be used safely.  It should be noted that direct current can also electricute and kill those who come in contact with it.

Alternating current has been made to seem as a dangerous, almost evil, development that should never be used by anyone.  Clearly, it is the more efficient current and is the future of the electrical field.  The deaths that have occurred associated with alternating current are heart felt and sympathized.  However, it is simply unreasonable to blame it purely on alternating current.  It is a new development and accidents will occur.  Being an electrical development,  that fact should be even more evident.

Blog/Wiki Evaluation

I think the blog was a very good idea and it worked out very well this semester.  The blog saved paper, it got us to write almost every day and made our work available for everyone to read and critique, allowing us to become better writers.  The wiki allowed the students to work together and post their individual research on a collaborative web page.  This made it extremely easy to work together and make sure that all of the information being used is useful because the group members were able to proof read and correct all written responses.  Another benefit of the wiki and blog is that I could work on the assignments at any time.  I did not need to be in class I could pull up the site and work in my spare time.  All in all I think that the blog and wiki was a huge benefit to this class.

Wiki Evaluation

I found the wiki to be very useful throughout the year. I believe it helped everyone to comprehend the subject better because of the writing blogs. I think it gave some students who do not study a chance to learn a different way. I also think it was a good idea to have the public have access to our work and the ability to benefit from it. I also believe that the group oriented work in the blog helped to build students for their careers.

Evaluation

Over all, i found the Wiki and blog to be very useful over the course of the semester.  Most of the work we did took a lot of stress out of my day. but i kind of disliked the idea of putting the draft on the blog post, i just thought it would have been better and more useful to have it on paper. except for that, i felt that the wiki and the blog were very useful during the course of the semester.