Tesla VS. Edison

The war of currents

Day 341 / 365

When you think about the greatest inventors of all time, two names that will surely come to mind are Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. Edison was actually Tesla’s boss at one time. Another interesting thing about this pair is that not only were they around during the same time, but they were also actually close rivals.

AC vs. DC

AC and DC are two types of electric currents. Edison was behind the DC currents, while Tesla invented the AC or alternating currents. During the 1880s, both of them were in a battle, trying to promote their version of electricity to become the accepted norm.

Edison, who invented the bulb was the more popular out of the two. He made the bulb to run efficiently on DC supply and even set up power plants to supply power to small groups of houses.

When Tesla came up with the AC supply, Tesla spoke against it, telling everyone know that it was an impractical and inefficient solution. Because of his influence, lots of people believed him, and it made things tough for Tesla. When the first person was put to death with an electric chair, AC was used for it. It turned out to be a big failure, and the person suffered and slow death. Edison used this as an example to show the dangers of AC.

Tesla didn’t lose hope though, and we worked hard to improve AC. AC was always the more efficient solution, which why Tesla prevailed in the end. Even today, most of our power supply is AC.

This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog — Leading by example