Lineman’s Death – Dave D

Dear Editor,

The tragic death John Feeks, a Western Union lineman, brought a harsh reality to the general public. We have now seen first hand how deadly electricity can be and I know it has made many people very sceptical about it’s use. I, on the other hand, believe that electricity will bring about a grand and new vision to the world and will change our lives as we know it. That being said I do not believe you should post articles condemning Westinghouse’s electrical system. I believe Westinghouse’s system will be much more efficient because of his ability to send electricity over long distances. While Edison’s system may be more safe, it is cost deficient. His system would require many ‘central stations’ to be installed throughout cities, driving the total cost of his electrical system through the roof. Although Westinghouse’s system has been proven fatal because of Mr. Feeks’ death, I think this will drive Westinghouse to create a much safer system. I do not believe something as great as his AC system should be thrown away because of a tragic accident like this, other inventions such as cars and trains have proven to also be fatal yet this are still widely used throughout our society. I think people should embrace this new innovation while still being careful of it’s dangers.

Very Respectfully,
              Anonymous Citizen

Edison and Capital Punishment – Dave

I think Edison’s ideals were greatly misplaced when he set up Kemmler to be put to death by means of electrocution. I believe this to be highly unethical and I think Edison’s sole reason for doing this was to give Westinghouse’s AC a bad name. I do not think that Edison had how Kemmler would die in mind; I think he was only thinking about how he could put Westinghouse down so his own business would thrive. His claims on a painless death should have been clearly tossed aside because of the effects on the animals he previously electrocuted. When killing the animals, they would yelp in pain and that should have made it plain and obvious that electrocution was not a humane way of killing someone. He deceived the public by using his acclaim as an engineer so he could have this method used.

Edison, Brown and Electrocution – Dave

During the war of the currents, Harold Brown, Edison’s new found PR agent, wanted to start a campaign to outlaw AC current above 300 volts. This would in turn render AC useless since it could only operate effectively at high voltage. Brown’s campaign consisted of shocking a dog with  300 volts of direct current and showing that the dog only seemed startled and at 400 volts the dog yelped from the shock. Then, with 330 volts of alternating current, he killed the dog in front of an audience of onlookers and reporters.

I believe that this showed Edison’s desperation in trying to get ahead of AC. To have to take these kinds of measures showed that Edison’s company was loosing it’s power and they were trying to desperately keep up with Westinghouse and Tesla’s AC system. I do no believe that any kind of corporation or company should gain strength through these kinds of actions, and that it is not a legitimate business. I also believe that it is highly unethical to kill animals to show that a system doesn’t work, there are much better ways to show this than killing something. Brown could have set up an experiment to show that AC is more deadly by shocking himself, or a willing subject, with a very low voltage and have them tell the audience which hurts more but this should have never escalated to killing animals.

Tesla and the AC Motor – Dave D

Tesla was not entirely compelled to give a lecture on his AC motor but Thomas Martin convinced him to present to Columbia College for the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. He explained, in this lecture, his concepts of the AC induction motor and how it was run off of the polyphase alternating current. He showed that only the polyphase current would allow this system to work, as oppose to the single alternating current. The two currents, operating at fluctuating times, would induce a magnetic field in this motor, allowing it to turn. It was because of this lecture that Westinghouse bought Tesla’s patents. Westinghouse kenw that Tesla had fully covered his ideas in the patents and no other companies would be able to steal an aspect and make it their own. In doing this Westinghouse and Tesla gained complete power in the AC induction field and they would later grow to electrical supremacy.

Micron – Dave Duston

The trip to Micro was very informative and gave some interesting facts about the company. The tour started off with a power point that gave information on the company’s work and what it contributes to. I found it surprising that Mircon is the last American company that makes semiconductor devices. Also, upon seeing one of the wafers the company produces, I was surprised to see that the chips are not individually manufactured, instead many are produced on wafers and then cut into pieces to be used in different devices. I also did not know just how much chemical work is put into making one of these wafers. There are over 100 steps the chip is put through, many consisting of the use of chemicals. I like how environmentally aware the company is towards the proper disposal of chemicals and how they provide clean water for Manassas.

After the power point we toured the facility and got a chance to view the behind the scenes work done in the factory. We found the the working environment is incredibly clean, cleaner than a hospital, and we could not enter the actual work space. It was interesting to see that the entire process is done by machines, with minimal human input. I thought it was very cool to see the the whole system at work, how all the automated machine work.

Micron does offer internship but they are extremely competitive because the company is made up of some of the country’s best engineers. This internship would give some great job experience and look good on a resume. I would be more interested in the design of the automated system used for the processes than the chemical engineer used to create the wafers. I would not be so interested in a job at Micro because my interests lean more towards defense contracting rather than the creation of semiconductor chips.

How Transformers Work – Dave

The invention and improvement of the transformer was a momumental acheivement towards creating a successful AC system. Without the transformer, alternating current would not have as an effective edge over direct current. The transformer steps up the voltage from an AC generator, allowing the current to travel  much farther distances. Then, before the current reaches it’s destination (i.e. a light bulb) , it steps it back down to a more managable level so it can be used in every day life. It is immpossible to use DC with a transformer because of the way it works. A transformer uses alternating current to create a magnetic field, which would change the voltage being sent or recieved. Direct current would not be able to create a magnetic field because the is no occilation in the current. The transformer uses a system of coils of copper wire wrapped around a iron rod. These coils have the center peice of an H running through it, where the horizontal peice will actually act as a primary and secondary inductor for creating a magnetic field. Then end peices, or vertical parts of the H, would act at end cap for the transfromer, sealing everything in. As Faraday has discovered, the more coils used in the transformer, the more the voltage could be changed.

Tesla Master of Lightning – Dave

This was a very interesting film depicting Tesla’s life. Not to say I didn’t enjoy it,  but I found it very interesting that they chose the narrator’s voice over to be thought of as Tesla himself. This gave a very different point of view than from the Edison film, and this view only grew farther away from Edison as the film progressed.

While Edison and Telsa were both great inventors for their time periods, Tesla seemed to have a more mystic sense in the film. It goes on to tell that he was born at midnight in the middle of a great thunderstorm, giving him at connection to electricity from his birth. Then, when he was a young boy, he became very ill. In his bedridden state he asked his father, a very religious man, if he could attend a school for engineering. His father, wanting him to follow in his footsteps as a priest, reluctently said yes in hopes of his son getting better. Then by some miracle Tesla recoved from the illness and went on to becoming an engineer.

Tesla moved to America with nothing but a few cents and a letter of recomendation from one of Edison’s aquiantences, Charles Batchelor. Tesla was a huge fan of Edison, but when the time came that he met him and tried to explain his AC system, Edison merely turned his head the other way and laughed. This, coming after Edison’s failure to pay Tesla $50,000 for redesigning his motors and generators, fueled Tesla to step out of Edison’s shadow and become something of a great man himself.

It was here that Tesla created his own company, emerging with inventions such as the Tesla Coil, a magnetic generator that ran off AC, x-rays, and ideas for an electric ‘death ray’ and the wireless transmission of electricity. Tesla gained most of his publicity for his later inventions at the World Fair in Chicago, where he successfully lit the enire fair with his AC system. Through the rest of his career he conitinued to show how effecient the AC system was.

Tesla’s process of invention differed much from Edison’s. Tesla did not go through the metholodical process of testing one idea after another, his idea’s simply came to him. It’s said that many of his inventions came to him in visions, like the idea for a transformer came to him in the form of a vision in the sky while he was walking the streets.

Edison and Ohm’s law – Dave

Edison was a genius in his time, simply because he was capable of higher understanding in electronics. This was most likely because of how much he put into the electronic industry. His understanding of E=IR, voltage equals current times resistance, allowed his to greatly cut prices of the already expensive process of electrifying public homes. He understood that in order use thinner copper wires, which would cut down on the prices, he would have to use a lower current. Through his understanding of Ohm’s Law he knew that he would have to create a lightbulb with higher resistance in order compisate for the lower current.

Engineering Specialties – Dave

Thinking about it, I decided to be an engineer because of my problem solving skills. I have always been proficient at coming up with abstract and intricate solutions to problems and this skill only improved with my knowledge of math and physics. With this knowledge I knew I was going to do something in the engineering field but I hadn’t quite decided what. After reading through job descriptions of the many engineering fields I decided on computer engineering because I have always been proficient with computers.
My future opportunities in this field are quite expansive. As it is now, I will be joining the Air Force and with a major in computer engineering I will be in high demand for specialized jobs. The recently new Air Force mission statement is “Fly, Fight, and Win in air, space, and cyberspace”. That last last word is where I plan on using my skills. The Air Force plans on creating a whole detachment for this field of ‘cyberspace’. It will basically be a very high-tech environment, where the Air Force will regulate as much as they can in cyberspace. With the skills I will gain in computer engineering I plan on making a big impact in this program and making myself very valuable in the field.
I realize my abstract problem solving skills will be very valuable in this field and I hope to be very successful. As things stand now, I have a long way to go before I will even be eligible for a position in this field but I plan on learning as much as I can so that I can be very valuable and marketable in the field.

Edison Miracle of Light – Dave

     When this documentary first started I had the impression that it was going to be very dull because of the old man talking in the beginning but as soon as I saw a picture of Edison I became a bit intrigued. I expected this great inventor to look something like Einstein or Bell, but he shows up as a young, normal looking man. Most other inventors came from wealthy or scholarly backgrounds, but I learned that Edison came from a rather poor family and he didn’t have a formal education. I immediately began to respect Edison more because of the beginnings he came from.
     I believe the information in this film was presented pretty well, it seemed clear enough that the documentary was running chronologically through Edison’s life. Before seeing this I only knew Edison as the inventor of the light-bulb, among other things, but now I respect him so much more because of what I learned about his life. He not only put together a research facility from scratch but he also ran a very successful company for years. I also learned the differences between AC and DC current, I had not realized that there was such a significant difference between the two.
     I reread the  ‘hats’ paper and realized how well Edison makes use of all the hats. The explorer and the artist are what makes him such a great inventor and the judge helped him in making all of this ideas actually work. He made great use of the warrior as well in the sense that he did such a great job pursuing the ideas he started out with. For example, his proposition of creating the light bulb and bringing power into peoples homes was set out for six weeks yet this project took him far longer. Though he passed his deadline he didn’t give up the pursuit and continued on to finish what he said he would do. I would have to say that Edison mastered the use of the four hats, thus making his a creative and innovative problem solver.