Prompt Cast
The History of the Electrical Grid: From Blackouts to the Current War
TLDR The electrical grid system, which powers our homes and economy, is facing challenges due to extreme weather events and the changing climate. The history of the grid includes a competition between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, the development of the electric chair, and the dominance of alternating current (AC) power.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
Extreme weather events put pressure on the electrical grid system, which powers our homes, hospitals, and economy, and in order to understand how to protect it for the future, we need to go back to its beginning.
04:47
A simple bug in the software system caused a blackout in Ohio, leading to an overload on the power grid and a domino effect of shutdowns in neighboring states, resulting in one of the largest blackouts in history.
09:17
The electrical grid is a fragile system that can experience cascading failures, and as the climate changes, the grid is being confronted with conditions it was not built for, leading to questions about its effectiveness.
14:30
Thomas Edison invented the elements of the electrical system, including the direct current (DC) standard, which had limitations such as power loss over distance and the need for different lines for different uses, while Nikola Tesla pioneered the alternating current (AC) model, which allowed for higher voltage transmission.
19:03
Alternating current (AC) solved the problems of easily changing voltage and producing power where it was most plentiful, which led to a competition between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse known as the current war.
23:36
As the current wars were heating up, electricity was becoming a part of American cities and people were encountering its dangers in brutal ways, such as the gruesome death of a lineman named John Fekes who died from electrocution, leading to a panic and fears about the potential hazards of electricity.
29:04
In an effort to find a more humane method of capital punishment, Alfred Southwick reached out to Thomas Edison, who initially rejected the idea but eventually supported it as a way to discredit George Westinghouse's alternating current system, leading to the development of the electric chair through experiments conducted in Edison's laboratory.
33:41
Edison's plan to link his competitor's technology with killing succeeded, but he ultimately failed to convince the public that alternating current should not be used as the dominant system of electrifying the country.
39:43
Edison's loss in the standards war led to the dominance of AC power, the survival of capital punishment through the electric chair, and the eventual success of Tesla's AC power in the electrical grid, while Edison's DC power is making a comeback in certain applications such as batteries and electric cars.
Categories:
History
Society & Culture
