"Great Mind" Paper in school

[Mr. Wyndham]

hee, hee. Watch me!

I'm gonna be that really cool teacher...the one that nobody wants to have class end with.
In my auto classes, if they're good, I'm gonna drive in with a special "vehicle"...and wake up the teachers down the hall, if you know what I mean.

[DGthe3]

But you are going to have to keep that special vehicle a surprise, which means no blabing on about it

[Mindz]

Bob lutz is a great mind but it's a lot easier to do the report on someone who STARTED a new concept. Tesla did just that, Baambatta did the same with hip hop. I'm not 100% sure but Houdini started the escapist acts. It's easier to tell what something was before and then how it changed after the introduction of the new idea. You have more information to use so you can beef it up and produce a better paper.

[CamaroSpike23]

Greg Norris. nuff said

[Mr. Wyndham]

Okay, so I settled on Tesla. Sorry Mr. Lutz.
Anyways, this is the first, just-finished, hot-off-my-fingers, haven't-even-read-it-over-myself-yet version.

So please read (if you want to), and let me know what you think!

The Brightest Mind: Nicola Tesla

Great minds don’t come about all that often, and especially lately. So much has already been invented or discovered that great minds have become the everyday people who maintain our complex ways of life. However, Nicola Tesla was a King among insects. It can be argued that he lit the world. That’s right, Thomas Edison, has nothing on this man. Nicola Tesla is the inventor of Alternating Current, most notably. This type of power allowed for electricity to be distributed farther from one power plant, than Edison could have ever imagined. Because of Nicola Tesla’s unmatched achievements in the electrical field, I believe he is an excellent nominee to become a Great Mind that Shaped our Intellectual World.

Nicola Tesla’s greatest work took place between 1881, and 1915. He was born on July 10th, 1856, in what was at the time the Austo-Hungarian Empire. At first Tesla wanted to major in Mathematics, and physics. But the wonders of electricity won his heart, and he began to study that, instead. The start of his career was with a phone company in Budapest, where he worked as an electrical engineer. Eventually, he came to the United States in 1884, when he realized that people in Europe didn’t have much interest in his work. He also wanted to release the electrical power of Niagara Falls. His coming to the US was due, in part, to being hired by the Continental Edison Company in New York. They showed interest in his induction motor prototype.

Unfortunately, Tesla and Edison did not get along very well. They had vastly different opinions on how electrical current should be sent to people. This resulted in a battle of electricity. Edison stood solidly behind his original Direct Current, or DC method. This was wildly inefficient, but Edison already had an “empire” in place, ready to operate. Tesla theorized Alternating current, or AC current. This is what is currently powers all electrically-supplied homes around the World, due to its efficiency, and ability to travel over more than 2 miles. Both of which Direct Current couldn’t do well. After 2 miles, DC power lost much of its original strength after 2 miles, because it could not step-up to higher voltages for long-distance transmission. Direct Current, on the other hand, is sent first one way down a power line, then the other – switching direction every 60 seconds or so. This minimizes power loss, and allows the energy to be amplified to very high voltages. Ultimately, Tesla and George Westinghouse (who bought the patents on Tesla’s technology) won, which is why we all have Alternating current in our homes.

Tesla also invented many other electrically based things. The fluorescent light, the laser beam, and X-rays are just a few of his many achievements. He succeeded in his attempts to harness Niagara Falls. In 1895, the first hydroelectric power plant was designed for the Falls. Why don’t we hear much about Tesla? Tesla is widely unknown because Thomas Edison’s name came first. He started the company that is credited with the invention of hundreds of items, most notably the light bulb.

Nicola Tesla’s name is starting to be recognized, though. A major upcoming electric car manufacturer is named after him. Tesla Motors, is responsibly for the widely acclaimed Tesla Roadster. A purely electric sports car with credentials to rival the Ferrari’s of the world. 0 to 60 mph comes in less than 4 seconds and the battery pack hold over 250 miles in one charge. When people think electric car, this is the last sort of thing that pops in their mind. Soon enough, this hopeful American company will begin producing more electric vehicles, including a family car; soon enough, Nicola Tesla’s name will be on every one of those cars.

Tesla’s most important achievement of Nicola Tesla, perhaps, was the concept of Wireless transmission of electricity. This was tried, and proven by only Tesla himself. At his research facility in Colorado Springs, he managed to light 200 lamps without any wires at all. This is really amazing, because that sort of transmission would eliminate all extension cords, expensive wiring of houses, and ugly electric poles on the side of the street. He constructed a tower, at the Colorado Springs Location which would be meant to send wireless power anywhere on the planet.

Why isn’t this technology available today, you might ask? Well, first of all, Tesla’s funding was cut for the project. J.P. Morgan funded him, but when Morgan and Tesla disagreed on the use of the Tower, Morgan pulled out, saying, “If anyone can draw on the power, where do we put the meter?" So the tower was destroyed, (and it is said that Tesla worked on all of this in his head alone; that he never wrote anything down, because he feared his ideas would be stolen) and when Tesla died, so did all the knowledge he owned about this technology. However, Scientists are working on this again. In fact, researchers at MIT successfully managed to mimic Tesla’s idea on a much smaller scale. They were able to wirelessly light a 60-watt bulb from almost 7 feet away.

There is no contending that Nicola Tesla’s inventions have had a tremendous impact on our life, as we know it. His AC electricity is now the standard power for homes, and businesses around the world. Without AC, a person would have to live within 2 miles of an electric power plant to access the Direct Current from the plant. Coupled with his other inventions, our world would be dramatically different if it wasn’t for Tesla. Also, his theories, and experiments with wireless transmission of electricity has interested, and inspired countless scientists and inventors to mimic Tesla’s lost Legend. Due to all of these inventions, and their impact on our world, Nicola Tesla is a perfect nominee to be included in the Great Minds that shaped our Intellectual World list.

[Jeff]

Its nice, you in college? & if so what grade? I'm a senior in high school but my English course is a Duel Credit class so I get a credit for high school and college. We have to write SAT papers daily but rarely a persuasive writing. Can't wait for next year, most likely I'm going to UT (GO LONGHORNS).

If I could take a guess by your paper.. I would say your a senior in high school or a college freshman? ;O

[Mr. Wyndham]

Freshman in college....why, was it that bad?

[Jeff]

no no, its great. I guessed right. ;p I have high standards when it comes to writing reports and essays. Its very good :]

[Mike88]

Originally Posted by DGthe3

For this, it would be better to have somone who isn't all that obvious. Perhaps Alexander Issigonis, the inventor of the Mini. Like it or not, most cars now follow his layout for cars

yep, the mini was the first production car to successfully use the fwd back in 1953. My dad is a mini freak (owns a 1975). Whatever you do don't associate it with today's BMW mini. The original was a different car in a different world for a different population.

[Mike88]

Originally Posted by Dragoneye

Freshman in college....why, was it that bad?

I remember those days...keep up the good work! I finished my undergrad last year and now I'm doing my masters in criminology. I wonder how many of us are students on this forum.

[DGthe3]

Overall pretty good. the details are accurate, to the best of my knowledge. One thing to change is to get rid of a bunch of those commas. Also a proof reading tip that I've heard of is to read each paragraph individually, starting with the last one and working up to the first. Odds are a bunch of things won't make sense

[TAG UR IT]

All I have to say is...........

Thank God I don't have to write essays and persuasive papers anymore!

So, AC is an alternating current where power is sent one way for 60 seconds or so and then back again...so as not to lose current or draw. But, DC is a constant one way...only able to go two miles. I didn't know that he developed our AC for our homes.

And I would bet you money on this.....Tesla didn't do all his work in his head. I'm not saying your wrong. I'm saying conspiracy theory. I'd bet anything that those ideas were on paper....only to be destroyed by the gov't. Why in the world would "free electricity" be destroyed? Because that's money down the drain. They have a perfect argument. If anyone can draw off the electricity, how would it be managed. You couldnt' manage it. The gov't wouldn't want everyone to get free electricity. Sounds like "The Saint" and cold fusion. That would be awesome if they could duplicate and perfect the wireless electricity. I'd love to see all these powerlines go.

Cool paper. Interesting stuff.

[Mr. Wyndham]

I have an issue with commas...never had a problem before a few months ago, though...When I read the Garden of the Finzi-Continis. If anybody here has read this book...you know what I mean .

Anyways, thanks for the responses...and TAG, thanks, you pointed something out to me. I wrote how AC works wrong. It switches direction 50-60 times a second.

yeah, I actually didn't find anything credible on Tesla doing the work in his head, but I thought it'd be interesting to put in, because one of my teachers was talking and phrased it, "they say"...so that's how I worded it.

overall...I'm looking for a B+ to an A. I'll post it up when I find out.

Thanks again, all!

[Mike88]

an interesting article pertaining to the AC/DC topic:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...ional/America/