electro-Physics: 17.3409 volts

From: Tom Jennings <tomj_at_wps.com>
Date: Mon Dec 13 16:01:58 2004

On Mon, 13 Dec 2004, Carlos Murillo wrote:

> Almost random, I concur, but there were definite technical factors
> behind. It took a while for people to settle
> on 60Hz or 50Hz. Some interesting tidbits mostly taken from
> "Engineers and Electrons" by Ryder & Fink, IEEE Press:


Good find!

> Edison's interest was not safety: at the time, he held the patent to the
> only available power usage meter, but it only worked with DC. Also, some
> of the competing light companies used arc lamps, which require
> high voltages. Finally, Westinghouse held Tesla's patent for the
> induction motor.

Clearly, trying to determine much of this with logic is useless.
Received on Mon Dec 13 2004 - 16:01:58 GMT