4 ms·

How Telsa came up with most the things he did are beyond me. I have always thought he was the smartest man that has ever lived.

loceng 15y ago
He came from the future to try to prevent us from destroying our planet with pollution and global warming.
- samstave 15y ago
  As much as I love Tesla, if this is true - he has failed :(
- loceng 15y ago
  No sense of humour here on HN?
  - techiferous 15y ago
    HN style is to go really light on joking and really heavy on information. It can make for some dry reading sometimes, but it's better than Reddit where informative discussion can get drowned out by jokes, pun threads and snark. So people tend to downvote witty comments unless they find them very funny.
  - Jach 15y ago
    Furthermore, complaining about downvotes is a gamble. The odds are in favor of receiving more downvotes if you complain, though sometimes it works out the other way. However, the odds are especially biased for more downvotes if you make some sweeping statement (or "question") about the entire community as a reason for the downvotes.
backprojection 15y ago
I have the feeling that, to an engineer/researcher who is well versed in fluid-dynamics, this sort of thing wont seem as ingenious - my guess is that it's at the analogous level of a waveguide. No doubt that Tesla was a bright person though.
- Arjuna 15y ago
  "[...] my guess is that it's at the analogous level of a waveguide." In the field of fluid dynamics, it is referred to as a check valve. [1][2] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check_valve http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check_valve [2] http://www.spiraxsarco.com/resources/steam-engineering-tutorials/pipeline-ancillaries/check-valves.asp http://www.spiraxsarco.com/resources/steam-engineering-tutor...
  - marshray 15y ago
    Well the function of restricting flow in one direction is well known. But those sources you list describe several types of check valves, all of which have moving parts.
    - Retric 15y ago
      They also work. The Tesla valve allows a fair amount of bleed through, and unlike valves with moving parts you can't prevent that from stacking them. In other words it becomes less efficient as the presser differential decreases.
      - marshray 15y ago
        That bleed is also a function of viscosity. There might be some interesting applications for a device that passes two things, say a fluid and a gas, in one direction and resists the fluid (but not the gas) in another.
    - Arjuna 15y ago
      "But those sources you list describe several types of check valves, all of which have moving parts." Most all check valves use moving parts; the Tesla Valve is novel because it does not. I added the sources for those that might want to satisfy their curiosity when thinking, "I wonder what type of device a Tesla Valve is?" Although the Tesla Valve does not use moving parts, that does not mean that it is not classified as a check valve. Tesla's descriptions from his patent [1] describe the valve as only permitting flow through it in one direction, which is the essential operation of a check valve: "[...] a series of recesses or pockets with surfaces that reverse a fluid tending to flow in one direction therein and thereby check or prevent flow of the fluid in that direction." (Page 5, Item 3) "[...] and thereby check their progress when impelled in the opposite sense." (Page 5, Item 5) "[...] reverse such fluid impulses when impelled in the opposite direction and check their flow." (Page 5, Item 6) [1] http://www.google.com/patents?id=Lt1PAAAAEBAJ http://www.google.com/patents?id=Lt1PAAAAEBAJ
idonthack 15y ago
Did you know that Tesla created the equivalent of a waterwheel that tapped the energy of Earth's motion through the coelestial aether? Unfortunately, the resulting drag force was larger than he'd predicted, and after his experiments introduced a full extra day in 1893 (February 31, 1893 - google it), he was forced to stop his experiments. The original wheel is still on display in his home town of Smiljan. On special occasions, it is started up and let spin freely, without a load attached. To fix the mess he made, Tesla had to use the energy he'd stored up from the wheel (in a huge bank of capacitors - creating this was such a feat that the unit for capacitance is now named in his honor) to actually drive the wheel and restore the Earth's proper rotational period. Of course, the transfer wasn't without loss, which is why years divisible by 100 do not have leap days any longer.

loceng 15y ago

He came from the future to try to prevent us from destroying our planet with pollution and global warming.

samstave 15y ago
As much as I love Tesla, if this is true - he has failed :(
loceng 15y ago
No sense of humour here on HN?
- techiferous 15y ago
  HN style is to go really light on joking and really heavy on information. It can make for some dry reading sometimes, but it's better than Reddit where informative discussion can get drowned out by jokes, pun threads and snark. So people tend to downvote witty comments unless they find them very funny.
- Jach 15y ago
  Furthermore, complaining about downvotes is a gamble. The odds are in favor of receiving more downvotes if you complain, though sometimes it works out the other way. However, the odds are especially biased for more downvotes if you make some sweeping statement (or "question") about the entire community as a reason for the downvotes.

backprojection 15y ago

I have the feeling that, to an engineer/researcher who is well versed in fluid-dynamics, this sort of thing wont seem as ingenious - my guess is that it's at the analogous level of a waveguide. No doubt that Tesla was a bright person though.

Arjuna 15y ago
"[...] my guess is that it's at the analogous level of a waveguide." In the field of fluid dynamics, it is referred to as a check valve. [1][2] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check_valve http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check_valve [2] http://www.spiraxsarco.com/resources/steam-engineering-tutorials/pipeline-ancillaries/check-valves.asp http://www.spiraxsarco.com/resources/steam-engineering-tutor...
- marshray 15y ago
  Well the function of restricting flow in one direction is well known. But those sources you list describe several types of check valves, all of which have moving parts.
  - Retric 15y ago
    They also work. The Tesla valve allows a fair amount of bleed through, and unlike valves with moving parts you can't prevent that from stacking them. In other words it becomes less efficient as the presser differential decreases.
    - marshray 15y ago
      That bleed is also a function of viscosity. There might be some interesting applications for a device that passes two things, say a fluid and a gas, in one direction and resists the fluid (but not the gas) in another.
  - Arjuna 15y ago
    "But those sources you list describe several types of check valves, all of which have moving parts." Most all check valves use moving parts; the Tesla Valve is novel because it does not. I added the sources for those that might want to satisfy their curiosity when thinking, "I wonder what type of device a Tesla Valve is?" Although the Tesla Valve does not use moving parts, that does not mean that it is not classified as a check valve. Tesla's descriptions from his patent [1] describe the valve as only permitting flow through it in one direction, which is the essential operation of a check valve: "[...] a series of recesses or pockets with surfaces that reverse a fluid tending to flow in one direction therein and thereby check or prevent flow of the fluid in that direction." (Page 5, Item 3) "[...] and thereby check their progress when impelled in the opposite sense." (Page 5, Item 5) "[...] reverse such fluid impulses when impelled in the opposite direction and check their flow." (Page 5, Item 6) [1] http://www.google.com/patents?id=Lt1PAAAAEBAJ http://www.google.com/patents?id=Lt1PAAAAEBAJ

idonthack 15y ago

Did you know that Tesla created the equivalent of a waterwheel that tapped the energy of Earth's motion through the coelestial aether? Unfortunately, the resulting drag force was larger than he'd predicted, and after his experiments introduced a full extra day in 1893 (February 31, 1893 - google it), he was forced to stop his experiments. The original wheel is still on display in his home town of Smiljan. On special occasions, it is started up and let spin freely, without a load attached. To fix the mess he made, Tesla had to use the energy he'd stored up from the wheel (in a huge bank of capacitors - creating this was such a feat that the unit for capacitance is now named in his honor) to actually drive the wheel and restore the Earth's proper rotational period. Of course, the transfer wasn't without loss, which is why years divisible by 100 do not have leap days any longer.