Homework #2 黎長安

The Current War

The Current War is a 2017 American epic historical drama film directed by
Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and written by Michael Mitnick. The film presents the
story of the "war of the currents" between electricity titans Thomas
Edison and George Westinghouse which determined whose electrical system
would power the modern world.
Main content of the Current War:
- The war of the currents was a series of events surrounding the introduction of
direct current electricity (DC) Thomas Edison invention –based Edison Electric
Light Company and the alternating current (AC) Nikola Tesla invention –based
Westinghouse Electric Company. It included commercial competition, a debate
over electrical safety, and a nasty media propaganda campaign led by Edison.
- Edison had invented the light bulb, but the truth is that he had purchased the
patent from Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans in 1880 and then he hired a
team to help him perfect the patent that he made a fortune on.
- It all started in 1882 when Thomas Edison invented the DC or direct current
electrical power system.
- Eventually he hired a young Serbian genius man named Nikola Tesla to help
him improve his electrical device.
- While working for Edison, Tesla discovered how to make his own electrical
power system and began building an alternating current system that used a
transformer to step up voltage for long-distance transmission and then stepped
it back down for indoor lighting, a more efficient and less expensive system
that directly competed to the Edison DC electricity system.
- In 1888 George Westinghouse bought the patent for Tesla’s AC generator.
- As many other electric companies joined in and the use of AC spread rapidly.
Tesla's AC generators were spreading across the country faster than the DC
electricity alternative. Edison began publicly questioning the safety of the
Tesla-created system. He thinks AC power is dangerous and tries to prove it.
He put together a demonstration of his new invention, called “the electric
chair”.
- Ultimately the lower cost of AC power distribution prevailed.
by 1890 over a dozen electric companies had merged down to three; Edison
(now Edison General Electric), Thomson-Houston, and Westinghouse.
In 1893, Tesla’s AC transmission system had been proven superior over the
existing DC transmission system. Westinghouse won the bid to supply
electrical power for the World’s Columbian Exposition.
- Nikola Tesla had officially won the war of the currents.