Does anyone know how Wardenclyfffe Tower works?

[John Harmonic]

I read different stuff about it using Google and I don't know what to think cause they all have different answers saying why it would work (one person saying that Nikola Tesla intended for it to be 3 times bigger to function properly) and why it would not work . Does anyone know why it would or why it wouldn't work? 

[Frank]

I think (new to this too) that the concept below is the intent - to (super)charge or ionize the atmosphere?

How Powering with Atmospheric Electricity Works - YouTube: 

 

[Strange]

3 hours ago, John Harmonic said:

I read different stuff about it using Google and I don't know what to think cause they all have different answers saying why it would work (one person saying that Nikola Tesla intended for it to be 3 times bigger to function properly) and why it would not work . Does anyone know why it would or why it wouldn't work? 

Depend what you mean by "work". My understanding is that it was originally designed as a radio transmitter. It would have worked for that. Unfortunately he decided to try and implement his crackpot "wireless power" ideas halfway through construction and so the project was abandoned by his (sane) investors.

[Frank]

3 hours ago, Strange said:

Depend what you mean by "work". My understanding is that it was originally designed as a radio transmitter. It would have worked for that. Unfortunately he decided to try and implement his crackpot "wireless power" ideas halfway through construction and so the project was abandoned by his (sane) investors.

What exactly makes "wireless power" crackpot?  Also, the radio transmitter would not be based on EM waves, but on ionized atmosphere - does that actually work?  Tesla planned on modulating at ~11 Hz, really low for a radio signal.

[Strange]

6 minutes ago, Frank said:

What exactly makes "wireless power" crackpot? 

Nothing in principle. After all you can get a wireless charger for your phone or electric toothbrush now, where you put the device directly on top of the charger and a tiny current is generated. This requires all sorts of advances in modern technology in oder to deliver small currents over short distances.

At the time, there wasn't a good theoretical understanding of electricity and radio waves, nor was suitable technology available. And Tesla himself seems to have been driven more by wishful thinking than actual science.

This seems to be a good article about the flaws in his ideas: http://moreisdifferent.com/2015/02/22/teslas-folly-why-wardenclyff-didnt-work/ This also suggests that the "radio transmitter" idea was a bit of a con to attract investors.

 

[Frank]

Here's another article,  seems like we need to build one to test out theories.  Ionized atmosphere VS EM waves.  Nikola Tesla On Wireless Energy Transmission:  http://teslaradio.com/pages/tesla.htm

 

[Strange]

14 minutes ago, Frank said:

seems like we need to build one to test out theories.

Nope.

[studiot]

Such a thing was actually built and did work, but was controversial.

Because it did pour huge currents into the Earth, just as Tesla said.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Sanguine

[John Harmonic]

I am guessing if it did work then people would be using it by now. I am sure scientists and engineers would wonder about such a powerful thing "to transmit wireless power" and look further into in theory. I love Nikola Tesla and he did a lot for the world with AC but he is only a man... man can be flawed.

[Frank]

1 hour ago, John Harmonic said:

I am guessing if it did work then people would be using it by now. I am sure scientists and engineers would wonder about such a powerful thing "to transmit wireless power" and look further into in theory. I love Nikola Tesla and he did a lot for the world with AC but he is only a man... man can be flawed.

Not necessarily, if no practical application exists given the inroads made into other means or, if power is in the atmosphere, how do you charge(ha) people for use?

Still not clear why it's "no".  It seems to me what Tesla describes is similar to a fluorescent tube, or similar, where current flows through an ionized gas, not transmitted by electromagnetic energy (like wireless phones or toothbrushes).

[studiot]

9 hours ago, John Harmonic said:

I am guessing if it did work then people would be using it by now. I am sure scientists and engineers would wonder about such a powerful thing "to transmit wireless power" and look further into in theory. I love Nikola Tesla and he did a lot for the world with AC but he is only a man... man can be flawed.

 

I find this first response to anything I have said to you totally negative and really disappointing.

[Strange]

13 minutes ago, studiot said:

 

I find this first response to anything I have said to you totally negative and really disappointing.

I didn't think he was responding to you. (But I know how touchy you are about people not replying to you, so maybe better to pretend he was.  )

[studiot]

30 minutes ago, Strange said:

I didn't think he was responding to you. (But I know how touchy you are about people not replying to you, so maybe better to pretend he was.  )

 

Thank you for your thoughts (and support?). +1

I have posted straightforward replies containing useful information to several sensible questions of his in subjects I know something about.

I have no more time to waste on the great ungrateful.

 

[Strange]

9 minutes ago, studiot said:

and support?

Just teasing a little, maybe. I will sometimes complain as well, if people ignore what seem to be sensible questions intended to move the discussion forward. 

[studiot]

21 minutes ago, Strange said:

Just teasing a little, maybe. I will sometimes complain as well, if people ignore what seem to be sensible questions intended to move the discussion forward. 

Maybe, but in fact I know that some members actually operate under difficult conditions of access - we have one female from a country that undervalues them for instance and yet is studying hard at  Science.

I value this and am prepared to go the extra mile to be helpful.