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Faraday was experimenting with electricity generating dynamos in the [Michael Faraday being electrocuted]

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1830s though it wouldn't be long before lightbulbs coffeepot and drones to crash

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the day after Christmas came on scene right er not so much it actually took a [Christmas tree falls to the floor]

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really really long time throughout the 19th century electric energy was still

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something of a wacko dream wackier than that one were you won synchronized

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swimming gold with Adele like super wacky.. So moving on from that stellar dream [Boy with Adele holding swimming gold medals]

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let's start by taking a look at dynamic dynamos. Dynamos make electricity by

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moving a magnet through a coil of wires at first they were powered by hand [Man powering a dynamo by hand]

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cranks but then folks got smarter or maybe their arms just got tired

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either way they started powering them with coal and steam over the next 50

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years dynamos became more and more efficient and powerful they powered [Dynamo providing electricity for household appliances]

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Telegraph systems factories and a handful of showy bling gadgets. By the

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1880s Electric Power was ready for its close-up integral in his close-up U.S

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inventor Thomas Edison Edison definitely did not invent electricity but he did [Edison opening the first public power station]

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open the world's first public power station in 1882 it had one giant dynamo

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in it and it powered a few wealthy people's homes in New York City here was [Wealthy New York citizens home lit up brightly]

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the problem with Edison's Dynamo though like every other dynamo in the

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world that produced direct current or DC power so what was wrong with that well [People wearing suits raise their arms]

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DC electricity sends all the electrons down the line at a consistent pace and

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in the same direction it's steady but it can't travel very far without losing [Power lines with electricity sparking]

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power but by 1887 there was a new kind of electricity on the scene alternating

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current or AC with AC power the electrons are constantly switching

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direction rather than plotting along like we do after a big bowl of [Man eats at a table and crawls out of the room]

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fettuccine alfredo most importantly AC power could be run through a transformer

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giving it a major assist with the help of transformers and no not the alien [Transformer character stood beside a power line]

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robots times AC power could be sent over long distances unlike DC power this

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meant that instead of smaller dynamos on every city block there could just be one

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huge AC generating plant that sent power all over the city and the bonus of [An AC generating plant giving electricity to different parts of the city]

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knowing all these fun facts well you can impress your friends

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the next AC/DC concert guy who came up with the AC power generator was Nikola

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Tesla. Serbian science whiz and sorry to all Thomas Edison fanboys but he's kind [Edison pushing Tesla into a big puddle]

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of famous for being a world-class jerk in the next part of the story because

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surprisingly enough he did not love being out shined by some random Serb. Though

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Edison launched a no-holds-barred campaign to fight AC power arguing that [Edison speaking declaring AC power is too dangerous]

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it was more dangerous than his generators which was a big whopping fat

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lie even hired a professor to give public speeches full of lies about how [Professor teaching a class of students]

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awful AC power was well Edison also publicly electrocuted stray dogs with AC

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power to prove how awful it was well in the process all Edison actually proved [Edison electrocuting stray dogs with AC power]

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was how awful he was in the end Edison lost big time today all the

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electricity in our homes comes from power plants generating AC power score one

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for Tesla. By 1895 Nikola Tesla had built an enormous hydro electric plant at [Nikola Tesla stood by a hydro electric plant at the Niagra Falls]

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Niagara Falls it produced AC power for Buffalo New York and marked the

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beginning of a new age of public electricity but hey don't feel too bad

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for Edison he has literally a thousand patents to tinker with and he died

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a wealthy and world-famous man Tesla had died bankrupt and largely forgotten in a [Tesla on his death bed in a hotel room]

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hotel room David Bowie did play him in a movie though you know you win

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some lose some [David Bowie acting as Nikola Tesla as electricity rains down]

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