Nikola Tesla's laboratory, known as Wardenclyffe, was built to provide free wireless energy for the entire earth.

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[–] • 4 pts

He never got it to work at the distance he wanted for any length of time. Because he was literally trying to provide power in all directions, the amount of energy required increased exponentially with distance. The electrical components were crazy expensive to make and burned out quickly.

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[+] [deleted] • 2 pts

[–] • 0 pt

the Earth is a bad conductor.

So that is why safety codes everywhere require that we drive metal stakes into the ground and connect our electrical systems to them? And that is why lightning bolts seek the earth?

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[+] [deleted] • 0 pt

[–] • 0 pt

Ground sinks lightning strikes. Makes sure the ground matches local ground so there's no potential. Multi-phase systems don't need to carry much current on the ground anyway because the phase loads are balanced (it's like inter-bank transfers, where they go both ways so most cancel out).

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[–] • 0 pt

His 'standing waves' idea had merit, but the amount of energy needed would have been insane even by today's standards. Plus, there's no way it wouldn't have disrupted plant, animal, and human life with unforeseeable consequences.

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