The War of the Currents: Thomas Edison vs. George Westinghouse

I love how later Westinghouse bought CBS and General Electric bought NBC, which means that the war of the currents became the war of the ratings.

My grandmother made current jelly

No no no, enough of the myths. Westinghouse pioneered the AC. He was using it commercially before Tesla had even invented his AC motor. Tesla was still working for better DC generator in 1885 when Westinghouse started with AC. Edison did not electrocute animals. It was one of his associates.

The electrocution of the elephant had nothing to so with the war of currents. It had been over for 10 years and Edison had been fired. Only connection Edison had to it was that his company filmed it and he distributed it in his movie kiosks. He did not decide that the elephant should be electrocuted nor was he present there.

There is justice knowing that ultimately Tesla will go down in history as a Mastermind and Edison will go down in history as a bit of a dick

im here for my physics project and damn im not understanding a word

SIMON YOU ARE THE SHIT, THE BOMB, THE MAN, AND A VERY AWESOME DUDE!!!

Yes, Edison was a bit of a dick. Legendarily so, it seems.
Though I will also confess that I was thinking about the Epic Rap Battle between Edison and Tesla this entire time as well.
Great video, and I too appreciate the correct couching that Edison was fixated on Westinghouse and not Tesla so much.

Tbf should have Ben a mega project, because we would see your fine bald head without it 😂

Pure, unadulterated 'edutainment'.

The past was the worst.

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Edison was an asshole.

ironically enough, while both can be dangerous DC is more so in many cases. AC will shock the shit out of you but thats the end of it if you are still alive. DC will cause your muscles to contract and if you hand is on a wire or piece of live equipment you will grab it when your finger muscles contract and will not be able to let go and you then have a less severe shock then AC over a now much longer distance that if you cant get rid of the damn thing somehow will kill you eventually.

Well, death by Old Sparky normalised quickly.

I am not sure where I first heard about the fight between Edison and Westinghouse about DC vs AC, I knew Tesla worked with Westinghouse on it. I didn't know to what lengths Edison would go to win. It shows what money will drive people to do.

The land what was the Westinghouse estate has been a public park here in Pittsburgh for over 100 years. It was stipulated in his will that his property was to be donated to the city for a park as long as the house, known as Solitude, was torn down. I have taken my sons to play there for 15 years. Archeologists have worked on the site and have found some of the tunnels are still there, including equipment Westinghouse used.

An excellent presentation of, um, current affairs.

You realize the phrase "writing on the wall" is a Biblical reference? Odd choice for a B.C.E guy

I’ve watched most of your videos. Hands-down, this example demonstrated the best sarcasm of them all!

".... sounds like modern politics!" Simon, to quote a bygone phrase: You've said a mouthful there!

It's funny how the story goes that AC is more efficient at power distribution when actually DC is slightly more efficient. What governs efficiency is actually the voltage, with a higher voltage losing less power. The trick with AC was that it works with devices called transformers to boost the voltage up for transmission and then down again at the other end for use. Since transformers don't work with DC there was no way to change the voltage, so it had to be low enough for appliances to use which meant large losses in transmission. It wasn't until the 1980s that DC-DC converters first started to become practical, and now some of today's largest power transmission links in the world use DC because of its higher efficiency.

After learning of the dog, even more of a reason to say F*ck you Edison for all your slimy bullsh*t! 😠

The video was very interesting. All we need is a separate "dislike" button just for Edison and it would be perfect! 😁

I like how the writers aren't given names/credit etc

The transmission problem isn't AC vs. DC (which is used in a lot of places these days). It's that to minimise losses, you need high voltage, i.e. (tens of) kilovolts. But for domestic use you need to step the voltage back down to a few hundred volts. Which is easy to do if you start off with AC, using big dumb transformers. To step up/down DC, you need to chop it up into AC first, which was prohibitively difficult back in the day I presume.

I really feel a warm sense from being part of Simons society...he makes it feel so personal...like I could get a heart or reply by grabbing the first video I find after being off computer for a couple of weeks and making a comment.

Edison was a smart guy...but mostly a profiteer ..... he could see the success of an 'invention' even though the 'original idea' wasn't his....(sound familiar, Steve Jobs has been called the 'new' Edison, don't ya know).... Edison made sure 'his' name was on the products sold, thus giving him the 'credit' for whatever it was... it is a bit ironic though, newer technology with high power semiconductors is showing that 'super' high voltage DC has a more efficient mode of 'transfer', even though it must be 'converted' back to AC before local distribution.... strange huh?

"Edison was a bit of a dick" is the greatest understatement of the century
More like he was the greatest egomaniacal scumbag of his time

Edison was more than a 'bit' of a dick, marconi & Tesla Supreme Court radio patent decision would also be an outstanding topic for you folks to present, thanks ever

Edison was a dick.

You need merch that says 'I broke my screen smashing the dislike button". You'll sell a billion merches.

What an asshole.

Thanks

"Edison's a bit of a dick isn't he"
Tesla fans around the world: Yes..... yes. he. is.
People usually point out the 1893 World's Fair as the "end" of the current war, I think it was more so in the public eye anyway.

What a tool

What a tool

Definitely a mega side project ;)

Wow, and you think today business play dirty :)

I always knew I was right to be suspicious of dentists. Also, Edison v Tesla/Westinghouse would make a good Silicon Valley type show. Even has a dead elephant in the story.

Thomas Alva Edison as a businessman>as a inventor.😅

So many puns, so little time....

I hate Thomas Edison now

In the end AC/DC wins they used both names in their name and sold tons of records

Edison can rot in hell.

“I have multiple channels” is an understatement.

Also I read Edison was a horrible person and was very overrated inventor compared to his rivals.