Nikola Tesla: The
SYRACUSE STAGE 2010-2011 BACKSTORY STUDENT STUDY GUIDE
Forgotten Wizard
The Niagara Falls Power Project
Since his childhood, Tesla had dreamed of finding a way to harness the power of Niagra Falls. In late 1893, his dream became a reality, when Westinghouse was awarded the contract to create a powerhouse to do just that. After many other failed proposals from experts around the world, Lord Kelvin, the famous British physicist, and his commission asked Westinghouse to use alternating current to harness the power of the falls. The construction period was traumatic for engineers, mechanics and workers, but it weighed most heavily on investors. After a fiveyear nightmare of doubt and financial crises, the project approached completion. Tesla had not doubted the results for a moment. The investors, however, were not at all sure the system would work. While the machines were running smoothly in Tesla’s threedimensional imagination, they were still unproved and expensive. When the switch was thrown, the first power reached Buffalo at midnight, November 16, 1896. The first one thousand horsepower of electricity surging to Buffalo was claimed by the street railway company, but already the local power company had orders from residents for five thousand more. Within a few years the number of generators at Niagara Falls reached the planned ten, and power lines were electrifying New York City. Broadway was ablaze with lights; the elevated, street railways, and subway system rumbled; and even the Edison systems converted to alternating current. But there were complications. The War of Currents* left Westinghouse financially drained from years of litigation. J. P. Morgan, hoping to bring all U.S. hydroelectric power under his control, proceeded to manipulate stock market forces with the intention of starving out Westinghouse and buying the Tesla patents. Westinghouse called on Tesla, pleading for an escape from the initial contract that gave Tesla generous royalties. In a magnanimous and history-making gesture, Tesla said he tore up the contract. He was, after all, grateful to the one man who had believed in his invention. And he was convinced that greater inventions lay ahead. The Westinghouse Electric Company was saved for future triumphs. Tesla, although sharing the glory, was left forever afterward in recurring financial difficulties. * read more at: http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_warcur.html
Potential Energy: How Does It Work? Energy is the capacity for doing work. Potential energy is the kind of energy that is at rest. When that energy goes into motion, it is called kinetic energy. BACKGROUND A big rock sitting on the top of a cliff has lots of potential energy. If we push it off the cliff, then its energy becomes kinetic-energy in motion! If the falling rock lands on one side of a seesaw, this moving energy will lift the other side of the seesaw into the air. A lake sitting behind a dam also is full of potential energy. If the water is allowed to flow, its potential energy becomes kinetic energy. If some of the water flows through a pipe to a turbine, its kinetic energy will spin the blades of the turbine. DEMONSTRATION EXPERIMENT: MAKE & OPERATE A TURBINE Materials: 2 popsicle sticks 1 pencil epoxy See instructions at right: GRADE LEVEL Grades 4 through 6 For further exploration, extensions and other activities visit the teacher’s resource page at: http://www.pbs.org/tesla/tt/index.html 25