Fun Facts

Alternating current prevailed because voltage could be raised for transmission and lowered for use, which direct current could not then do.

His real achievements in polyphase motors and power systems are substantial enough that the invented ones only obscure them.

Averaging meters on distorted or pulsed waveforms can underestimate input power badly, producing an apparent efficiency above one hundred percent.

Conservation of energy and the second law rule these out, and every historical example has turned out to hide a power source or an unmeasured loss.

Cells maintain small voltages across their membranes and use them for signaling, healing and development, at scales far below any wall outlet.

A nerve impulse is a wave of ion movement across the membrane, regenerated along the way, not electrons flowing down a conductor.

Each electrocyte produces only a fraction of a volt, but thousands stacked in series along the body add up to hundreds.

High voltage drives a small pulsed current that drives motor nerves and muscle directly, producing contraction rather than unconsciousness.

An energizer stores charge and releases it as a brief high-voltage pulse roughly once a second, with the earth completing the circuit.

Sliding across upholstery charges you, and the spark happens when you reach for grounded metal after standing up.