La guerra de las corrientes es uno de los episodios más fascinantes de la historia de la electricidad, donde Nikola Tesla y Thomas Edison se enfrentaron por la supremacía del suministro eléctrico. Edison defendía la corriente continua (CC), un sistema que, aunque pionero, demostraba ser ineficaz y costoso. A medida que las distancias aumentaban, la pérdida de energía se volvía significativa, haciendo que su sistema fuera poco viable para la distribución a gran escala.
Frente a esto, Tesla presentó la corriente alterna (CA), una innovadora solución que no solo era más eficiente, sino que permitía transmitir electricidad a mayores distancias sin pérdidas significativas de energía. Este avance marcó un antes y un después en la electrificación, sentando las bases para el sistema eléctrico moderno que utilizamos hoy en día. A través de transformadores y la posibilidad de variar voltajes, la corriente alterna se convirtió en la elección predominante, superando a la corriente continua.
La guerra de las corrientes no solo se trató de una lucha técnica, sino también de una batalla comercial y de influencia, con ambos inventores intentando demostrar la superioridad de sus respectivas tecnologías. A medida que los avances de Tesla se imponían, la corriente alterna se estableció como el estándar mundial, cambiando para siempre la manera en que consumimos energía.
En conclusión, la guerra de las corrientes simboliza la lucha entre innovación y tradición, y la victoria de Tesla no solo revolucionó la electricidad, sino que también nos enseñó la importancia de adaptarse y evolucionar.
**Hashtags:** #GuerraDeLasCorrientes, #TeslaVsEdison, #CorrienteAlterna
**Keywords:** Guerra de las corrientes, Tesla, Edison, corriente continua, corriente alterna, historia de la electricidad, energía eléctrica, innovación tecnológica, transformadores, distribución eléctrica.
Frente a esto, Tesla presentó la corriente alterna (CA), una innovadora solución que no solo era más eficiente, sino que permitía transmitir electricidad a mayores distancias sin pérdidas significativas de energía. Este avance marcó un antes y un después en la electrificación, sentando las bases para el sistema eléctrico moderno que utilizamos hoy en día. A través de transformadores y la posibilidad de variar voltajes, la corriente alterna se convirtió en la elección predominante, superando a la corriente continua.
La guerra de las corrientes no solo se trató de una lucha técnica, sino también de una batalla comercial y de influencia, con ambos inventores intentando demostrar la superioridad de sus respectivas tecnologías. A medida que los avances de Tesla se imponían, la corriente alterna se estableció como el estándar mundial, cambiando para siempre la manera en que consumimos energía.
En conclusión, la guerra de las corrientes simboliza la lucha entre innovación y tradición, y la victoria de Tesla no solo revolucionó la electricidad, sino que también nos enseñó la importancia de adaptarse y evolucionar.
**Hashtags:** #GuerraDeLasCorrientes, #TeslaVsEdison, #CorrienteAlterna
**Keywords:** Guerra de las corrientes, Tesla, Edison, corriente continua, corriente alterna, historia de la electricidad, energía eléctrica, innovación tecnológica, transformadores, distribución eléctrica.
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00:00Electricity contains the power of life and death.
00:13At the end of the 19th century, revealing this force of nature is as tempting as dangerous.
00:33It is not verified, nor demonstrated, nor is it controllable.
00:38Enormous fortunes and brilliant minds will face each other in a battle engarnished by harvesting the power of electricity.
00:47Thomas Edison
00:50Nikola Tesla
00:52Two inventors with opposite visions, heading for a collision with each other and with history.
01:00Gentlemen, I present to you the future of electricity.
01:08It is the epic war to give energy to the world.
01:16Edison vs. Tesla
01:21Geniuses
01:34A group of young engineers is being pressured to find a solution to a difficult challenge.
01:50TESLA vs. TESLA
02:13How many inventions do we have?
02:16I don't know. Maybe a hundred.
02:26Persistence. Patience. Perseverance.
02:33When something doesn't work, there's always another solution.
02:39TESLA vs. TESLA
02:45At just 31 years old, Thomas Edison is the most famous inventor on the planet.
02:53He has already presented to the world an amazing invention, the phonograph.
03:00And he has earned the nickname of Menlo Park Wizard.
03:05Edison represents for many people the essence of young talent.
03:11He was brilliant. He was visionary.
03:15But at the same time, he was an extraordinarily hard-headed and pragmatic businessman.
03:23TESLA vs. TESLA
03:32His success as an inventor has no rival.
03:36But now Edison is trying to do something that no one has ever done before.
03:42Create a safe and cheap source of light that can replace a gas lamp.
03:47And that uses electricity as a source of energy.
03:56He has carried out more than 100 failed experiments.
04:00But now, in October 1879, Edison is about to find the element that will allow his light bulb to make a uniform, safe and repeatable combustion.
04:12Carbon.
04:15TESLA vs. TESLA
04:30The use of a carbon filament is a great advance.
04:33But the invention of the electric light bulb is only half the battle.
04:38To replace gas light with electricity, Edison will have to design and build a whole new industry.
04:47It was not enough to have a light bulb.
04:49Remember that in 1879, when Edison was working on this, there were no plugs, there were no generators, there was no wiring in the houses.
04:58So if you wanted to have light in your house or in your business, you would have to build everything.
05:03That means that Edison had to think in terms of a whole new system.
05:15But Edison is not the only genius who is trying to solve the problem of electricity.
05:25By reversing the flow of electric current, the dynamo of electricity,
05:31the dynamo can function as an engine and also as a generator, giving at least the potential to...
05:39Waste energy.
05:42Mr. Tesla?
05:44There is too much friction. If you remove the switches, it will increase the efficiency of the machine.
05:49And how do we create a rotating field without the switches?
05:56I don't know.
06:00At a university in Austria, an ambitious physics student is coming up with an idea for a radically innovative method of generating electricity.
06:10His name is Nikola Tesla.
06:20Nikola Tesla had a vision, the vision of what would come in the future.
06:26Tesla had big dreams and he had the genius to make them come true.
06:38A generator creates an electric current that periodically reverses its flow naturally.
06:47In Tesla's time, the electric current is generated by transmitting that current in one direction.
06:53It is called direct current.
07:01But Tesla imagines the use of the alternating current that naturally produces a generator.
07:09The alternating current would be a much more powerful and efficient way of transmitting electric energy.
07:16But there is a problem.
07:19It has never been done before.
07:24It was very radical because nobody had thought about how to make an alternating current engine that could work.
07:33Everyone thought about the traditional way of designing an engine.
07:37But Tesla was a dreamer. He could imagine a technology in his mind.
07:49This will be the future of Edison Electric.
07:54Thomas Edison is about to create a system that will allow him to take his new light bulb home.
08:01Here is the first generator.
08:04And this is the second generator.
08:08Edison presents to its investors its continuous current model as safe, simple and reliable.
08:16He hopes to convince them that his system can be the new electric lighting system in people's homes.
08:23We will have more than 500 customers.
08:26Not bad for a start.
08:30Welcome to the Pearl Street station.
08:43Located in Manhattan, the Pearl Street station is the largest in the United States.
08:49Located in Manhattan, the Pearl Street station is the world's first generator plant.
08:57In two years, Edison will build 18 new plants.
09:02But each of them can only supply electricity within a radius of 800 meters.
09:09You could only build generator plants in very populated cities because otherwise they were not economically feasible.
09:18So right away, the rural towns and the smallest towns were out of the equation.
09:33More than 4,800 kilometers away, in a Edison factory on the outskirts of Paris,
09:40Nikola Tesla has a different idea.
09:49For years, Tesla has been trying to perfect his own invention, the alternating current motor.
09:53For years, Tesla has been trying to perfect his own invention, the alternating current motor.
10:18And now, he finally has a prototype that works.
10:23And now, he finally has a prototype that works.
10:33But to demonstrate his idea, Nikola Tesla will have to travel to America and face the world's most famous scientist.
10:54Thomas Edison has begun the process of wiring the country and the world using a system called the alternating current.
11:08But he is about to meet Nikola Tesla, a man convinced to know a better way to distribute energy around the world.
11:23But he is about to meet Nikola Tesla, a man convinced to know a better way to distribute energy around the world.
11:38It must have been incredible for Tesla.
11:40I think he must have seen Menlo Park as a huge playground.
11:44I'm pretty sure Tesla thought, I've finally found my home.
11:47I've finally found a spirit.
11:50It's been three days. What's going on?
11:52We've adjusted the plugs. They must be the switches.
11:56The switches?
11:57Yes.
11:58But before Tesla can present Edison with his great idea of the alternating current, he will have to earn his trust.
12:06Mr. Edison.
12:07Sir.
12:09I have a letter from my supervisor.
12:17What do you do, Mr. Tesla?
12:21I am an inventor.
12:22Okay.
12:24And I can fix things.
12:30Sure.
12:32Yes.
12:33I can fix anything.
12:39Look at this. Do you have any experience with generators?
12:42Yes.
12:43Good.
12:44Edison assigns Tesla a difficult task.
12:47Fix a generator that causes a lot of trouble.
12:49The first of its kind to be installed on a ship.
13:05I think Edison did that with a lot of the people he hired.
13:08He would send them out to do something that might seem very difficult or even impossible.
13:13He just wanted to see if they could handle that.
13:19Let's go.
13:49A short circuit burned some of the coils in the armor. It was an easy fix.
14:01Tesla demonstrated that he was able to kind of be on a parachute and come up with a novel solution.
14:10I think that's something that Edison really admired because part of his own talent.
14:20The electric company Edison is growing at an incredible rate.
14:26And now it supplies energy to the magnates of the American industry.
14:36But Edison's direct current has its limits.
14:40It can only transmit electricity with efficiency in a radius of 800 meters from a generator station.
14:51Nikola Tesla believes that his alternating current can travel much faster and bring electricity to the whole world.
15:09But the power of the alternating current has a cost.
15:20They both have their dangers and advantages in the distribution of electricity.
15:24But at that particular moment, with the voltages that were being handled and the understanding that the system had,
15:30the high voltage alternating current clearly seemed more dangerous.
15:35Despite the risks, Nikola Tesla is convinced that his system is superior.
15:55You have two minutes.
15:58Imagine a central power station with one generator.
16:02What kind of generator?
16:04Alternating current. It can do the work of many alternating current generators.
16:09It's dangerous. It can't be controlled. It would burn the city.
16:14If you want to impress me, improve the system that we have.
16:21If you can do that, you'll get the $50,000 prize.
16:45Tesla decides to make his choice.
16:48Tesla decides to make Edison's challenge his own.
16:52And he designs the way to make Edison's alternating current more efficient.
17:02Tesla discovers that if he shortens the magnetic nuclei, he can triple the production of the generators.
17:17The solution is in the starting motor.
17:20If the units are redesigned, send your suggestions to my assistant.
17:32And the prize, the $50,000.
17:37He said that if he improved the design of an alternating current generator,
17:40he would receive a prize of $50,000.
17:43He said that if he improved the design of an alternating current generator,
17:46he would receive a prize of $50,000.
17:48That was a joke.
17:52What do you mean, a joke?
17:54It's clear that he doesn't understand the meaning of American humor.
17:59Get back to work.
18:04As a result of not receiving the $50,000 from Edison,
18:08Tesla said to himself,
18:10Well, you know what? I really don't need Edison's company.
18:20Instead of working with Edison, Tesla will work against him.
18:23He has decided to prove that he is right.
18:27The energy war is about to begin.
18:40When it arrives in 1885,
18:42the continuous current of Thomas Edison is transforming the center of New York into a city of light.
18:48But his former employee, Nikola Tesla,
18:51believes that the continuous current is too limited
18:54and that its alternating current is the future of energy.
18:58Now he has to prove it.
19:04Nikola Tesla leaves Edison's lab
19:07and for a while is unemployed and has a hard time finding work.
19:12At that time, there is not a lot of work for electricians in New York.
19:17Without job prospects, Tesla is forced to work digging ditches.
19:24Ditches for Edison Electric's electrical wiring.
19:34By the time he has implemented this system, he will be out of date.
19:37He can drive electricity 800 miles per hour.
19:40He can drive electricity up to 1,000 miles per hour.
19:43By the time he has implemented this system, he will be out of date.
19:46He can drive electricity 800 miles per hour.
19:48Pathetic.
19:49I could design a plant with a reach 100 times higher for a fraction of the cost.
19:54Is that true?
19:57You can be sure.
20:00He talks about it while digging ditches.
20:03And one of the people who discovers that he has that idea
20:06is the superintendent of the ditch project and he says,
20:10You have to come and meet my friend, a Wall Street financier,
20:14who has invested in a series of companies.
20:25For Tesla, it is a unique opportunity.
20:29But simply explaining the alternating current to investors will not be enough.
20:36He has to show them exactly what he can do.
20:41This is not for conversion, but it makes use of all possible voltage.
20:47No commutators, no brushes, no more pieces that can be broken,
20:52but above all, no resistance.
20:55Gentlemen, if I may.
21:11This is one of the really important characteristics of Tesla.
21:15He was very good at proposing simple demonstrations
21:18to show people the possibilities of the technology he was working on.
21:24A rotating magnetic field.
21:27Alternating current.
21:30Gentlemen, the future of electricity.
21:34Tesla is able to show how a spinning egg,
21:38controlled by electricity, is analogous to an engine.
21:43The demonstration is a success, and Tesla gets his first investors.
21:47Now he is ready to face Edison's electric empire.
21:53Tesla is ready to face Edison's electric empire.
21:58Tesla is ready to face Edison's electric empire.
22:04The opportunity of Tesla may have arrived at the right time.
22:10In 1888, Edison's system has problems to meet the demand.
22:17But he still refuses to abandon the alternating current.
22:23Five years of personal investment,
22:25and by bankers like JP Morgan,
22:28in the development of an alternating current system,
22:31he is going to build central stations.
22:33People will invest in those central stations.
22:36He is going to make money with them.
22:38He knows he's going to get results.
22:46Now Edison has competition.
22:51With the money from his investor,
22:53Tesla opens a laboratory not too far from Edison's Pearl Street station.
22:58Decided to show the world what the alternating current can do.
23:03Tesla's idea of the alternating current was quite popular.
23:08It didn't just allow a few generating plants
23:11to produce electricity for a few large companies.
23:16It meant that everyone could receive electricity.
23:28He still has to find a way to increase the energy of the alternating current.
23:45The alternating current moves in waves, with pauses between the peaks.
23:52Tesla imagines a second signal, not synchronized with the first.
23:56In order to fill the gaps.
24:13Tesla does have a vision about the alternating current.
24:17It comes to him in a kind of picture,
24:20and he is able to see that as the way to transmit electricity over long distances.
24:28And from that moment on, he held fast to that,
24:32and it is demonstrably correct.
24:39As the alternating current approaches reality,
24:42Thomas Edison's electric empire is about to face its greatest threat.
24:51The most famous inventor in the world, Thomas Edison,
24:55is being challenged by an unknown genius, Nikola Tesla.
25:02But in order to break Edison's monopoly on electricity,
25:06Tesla has to show that the alternating current
25:09can do more than simply illuminate the world.
25:14It can also boost the world's economy.
25:18It can also boost machines.
25:28Gentlemen, good afternoon.
25:34No converters. Two phases.
25:37One fifth of a horsepower.
25:41I present to you the future of electricity.
25:44Alternating current.
25:54Tesla's system can boost an engine with barely any resistance.
26:00And it transmits that energy more efficiently than Edison's system.
26:06Finding an alternating motor that could be used
26:09to compete with continuous current systems was important.
26:13The motors would be the key to the success of this industry.
26:18Now, alternating current not only allows to illuminate over long distances,
26:23it can also boost virtually any type of machine.
26:28A motor allows to use electricity for all sorts of applications.
26:32To boost elevators, to move fans, dentist's ovens.
26:38When Tesla's motor comes out, everything changes.
26:45Now that Tesla has perfected his idea, it's time to sell it.
27:03Tesla's motor catches the attention of George Westinghouse,
27:07one of the richest men in America.
27:11Westinghouse was a railroad magnate for many years,
27:16and he saw electricity as this underground market,
27:20as a way to make money.
27:24I'll pay $5,000 for a 60-day option.
27:28Then, depending on the purchase, $60,000 in total.
27:34And I'll cover legal fees.
27:41We reject the offer. Options, contingents, legal fees.
27:45These are the terms of someone investing something
27:47that doesn't believe it's going to work.
27:53For the electricity it can sell.
27:56For every horsepower, you pay $2.50.
28:09Westinghouse accepts and pays the current equivalent of $2 million
28:13to ensure Tesla's patents.
28:19Together, Tesla and Westinghouse will build an energy system
28:23that will compete with Edison's.
28:31But there's still a technical issue.
28:36The high voltage needed to send electricity long-distance
28:40and drive big machines can be deadly.
28:45Alternating current is great,
28:47but you have to have all the insulations
28:49and all the safety devices
28:52because 100,000 volts are deadly.
28:57To solve the problem,
28:59Tesla is studying a new device developed by European engineers
29:03called a transformer.
29:12You can have a transformer, basically,
29:14where you can have 100,000 volts,
29:16not just to the location where you're using it,
29:19but 100,000 to 100,000 to a flat house
29:24because the transformer allows you to have a step-down function.
29:37The transformer not only makes electric current possible,
29:41it also makes it safe.
29:50But despite the advantages of alternating current,
29:53Edison is determined to build his empire with direct current.
29:59Edison's greatest weakness
30:01is his inability to change his mind
30:04as the industry changes and the market changes.
30:10He was not going to allow an advertiser
30:12to prove that he was wrong,
30:14that he could solve the problem.
30:16His investment was both financial
30:18and personal reputation.
30:27If Tesla and Westinghouse want an energy war,
30:30Edison is willing to fight it.
30:45The battle lines are set in the war for electricity.
30:54Edison's strategy is to show that alternating current is deadly.
30:59How do you know it's so dangerous?
31:01It has not been tested, nor can it be controlled.
31:04Imagine being the first person in a hot air balloon
31:07before they invented a way to land it.
31:10And what is your system?
31:11There is no danger to life or health
31:13with any current generated by Edison's dynamos.
31:18Edison believed that alternating current
31:20was much more dangerous due to its higher voltage.
31:23From his standpoint, it was a crucial problem.
31:26And there were actually a lot of people
31:28who saw alternating current as a potential danger
31:31in the streets of the city.
31:42To prove it, Edison's team decides a negative approach.
31:50Edison's collaborators go to see him
31:53and tell him that they are going to raise the tone
31:56of the campaign against alternating current.
31:59There is so much at stake
32:01that Edison accepts that campaign of discredit.
32:12They conduct experiments with dogs.
32:15There are demonstrations for journalists and the public
32:18where they show that large animals can also be electrocuted.
32:36To seal his case against alternating current,
32:39Edison needs to go beyond animals.
32:55It's time.
33:10The state of New York asks Edison for advice
33:13on a new way to execute criminals.
33:17For the first electric chair in history,
33:20Edison recommends the system of his rival.
33:39100,000 volts go through the condemned killer William Kembler.
33:43But his death is not instantaneous.
33:48It turns out to be quite a macabre execution,
33:51which serves Edison quite well.
33:53Because he is the only one who can do it.
33:56He is the only one who can do it.
33:58He is the only one who can do it.
34:00He is the only one who can do it.
34:02He is the only one who can do it.
34:04He is the only one who can do it.
34:06It's a macabre execution, which serves Edison quite well.
34:09Because that's what he wants to show.
34:11He wants to show very dramatically
34:13that alternating current is what he calls the current of death.
34:26You would have been more compassionate with an ax.
34:29So this is how alternating current will be judged.
35:00As the battle for energy gets dirtier,
35:03Westinghouse needs an important public victory for alternating current.
35:10The current war is about to pass to the last phase.
35:20How do you know it's so dangerous?
35:22It is not verified, nor demonstrated, nor is it controllable.
35:26Thomas Edison has launched an incessant campaign
35:29to defend his alternating current against Nikola Tesla and his rival,
35:33Westinghouse Electric.
35:42The final confrontation will take place
35:45in one of the largest sources of natural energy in North America.
35:49Niagara Falls.
35:56The Niagara Falls Electric Company
35:59is looking for a way to take advantage of the fall
36:02of 6,400 cubic meters of water per second
36:05to generate an energy equivalent to more than
36:08one million tons of carbon per year.
36:26Edison meets with his advisor
36:29in order to outline the plan for the falls to generate alternating current.
36:39Gentlemen.
36:45We have a proposal we'd like to submit to the Niagara Commission.
36:51Edison Electric has already made a proposal.
36:54Edison Electric will become a new company.
36:59General Electric.
37:05Behind Edison's back, the board decides
37:08that alternating current is better.
37:11And they know that Edison will never approve this.
37:14So they shut him out of any of the proceedings.
37:19I built this company.
37:21There would be nothing without me.
37:24And you're driving it down.
37:26It's time to come up with profits.
37:29You're paying for the cents.
37:31You can't see anything beyond your bill layers.
37:34Leave the business to us.
37:37Edison has lost the trust of his advisor
37:40and the control of his empire.
37:45Edison's very smart.
37:47He's the brainchild of the company.
37:50He's technically the reason the company exists.
37:53But shareholders only care about what kind of money I can give them.
38:08Edison will be forced to witness
38:11the battle of the Niagara Falls from behind the scenes
38:15while Nikola Tesla prepares the ground for Westinghouse.
38:27Gentlemen.
38:29Mr. Nikola Tesla.
38:32Mr. Nikola Tesla.
38:37A pleasure.
38:4710 generators, 2250 volts,
38:51producing 37,000 kilowatts each.
38:54Here, the current is increased to 22,000 volts
38:58for its transport.
39:00How far?
39:02Albany?
39:04New York City?
39:06Chicago?
39:10This will revolutionize the industry as we know it.
39:22The Niagara contract is awarded to Westinghouse
39:25and Tesla's alternating current system wins the battle of the currents.
39:41But for Westinghouse, it could be too little and too late.
39:48Tesla's license expenses are crushing us.
39:56The endless legal battle with Edison and the debt with Tesla
40:00take Westinghouse Electric to the brink of bankruptcy.
40:26To keep Westinghouse and save its vision of the alternating current,
40:31Tesla decides to give up the millions of dollars in license costs that are due to him.
40:55It's a decision that costs Tesla his personal fortune.
41:00People don't realize, but Tesla has a mental health problem.
41:03Today, we call it T.D.
41:11T.D. stands for Troubled Time.
41:15In short, a T.D.
41:17a troubled time.
41:20T.D. stands for Troubled Time.
41:23In short, a T.D.
41:24a troubled time.
41:27Today we call it OCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder,
41:32but back then it was not known as such.
41:35This obsession affected his work later on.
41:38When he should have been enjoying the fruits of his own efforts,
41:43other people were taking advantage of his patents,
41:46other people were profiting from his work without recognizing him,
41:50and he was suffering from a mental illness.
41:57Tesla will live his last years in a hotel in New York.
42:05In 1943 he dies alone and without a penny.
42:14His rival, Thomas Edison, will get more than a thousand patents throughout his career,
42:19more than any other inventor.
42:22But the defeat in the current war against Nikola Tesla
42:26will be the bitterest setback of his career.
42:31In the battle of electricity we see Edison in his most human aspect.
42:36He allows his ego to take over.
42:41Edison ended up believing in his own myth.
42:44He loved being the wizard of Menlo Park.
42:47He loved being the genius acclaimed by the public.
42:52And the idea of losing an important battle in electricity
42:57was just something that he didn't want to face.
43:06The alternating current of Tesla will continue to distribute energy throughout America
43:10during the next century and beyond.
43:13The battle between Edison and the alternating current
43:17was decided in the end by Tesla.
43:21Today, 99.99% of all electricity in this country
43:26is generated and distributed by alternating current,
43:29and that's due to Tesla's ideas and vision
43:32at the end of the 1880s.
43:35Tesla is clearly the winner of the battle of currents.
43:43TESLA
43:46TESLA
43:49TESLA
43:52TESLA
43:55TESLA
43:58TESLA
44:01TESLA