La guerra de las corrientes. Tesla demostró que la corriente continua de Edison era cara e ineficaz. Cuando mayor era la distancia, más energía se perdía por el camino. Como alternativa, Tesla presentó su propio sistema: la corriente alterna.
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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