101 Battle of the Currents-Mid

Battle of the Currents FOCUS Question How did AC power become the main source of electricity in use today?

电流之战焦点问题交流电是如何成为当今使用的主要电力来源的?

Let There Be Light! When you plug in your phone or play a game on your computer, you probably don't think about the electricity that charges up your devices. But in the late 1800s, a battle raged between inventors, and it determined how electricity powers our lives to this day. Have you heard of Thomas Edison? He invented the lightbulb. To power his lights, he developed a method of generating and moving electricity. His method was called direct current (DC). He thought the United States should be powered using direct current, and he fought to get his method accepted. Just what is direct current? Simply, it is the flow of electricity in one direction.

要有光!当你给手机充电或在电脑上玩游戏时，你可能不会想到给你的设备充电的电流。 但在19世纪后期，发明家之间的一场战争爆发了，这场战争决定了电力如何为我们的生活提供动力。 你听说过托马斯·爱迪生吗? 他发明了灯泡。 为了给他的灯供电，他发明了一种发电和移动电力的方法。 他的方法被称为直流电。 他认为美国应该使用直流电供电，他努力让他的方法被接受。 什么是直流电? 简单地说，它是电流在一个方向上的流动。

Edison and DC Edison used steam-powered generators to make DC electricity. Inside each generator, a coil of wire spun within a magnet. The coil of wire was attached to a device called a commutator. The commutator came in contact with two brushes, one with a positive charge. and one with a negative charge The rotating wire and commutator created an electrical current that flowed through the circuit from the positive to the negative brush. The result was a current that flowed steadily in one direction. Edison's power stations produced a steady flow of DC power with a constant force, or voltage But the DC electricity couldn't deliver power across a great distance. After about a mile, the DC flow lost power and fizzled out.

爱迪生使用蒸汽发电机产生直流电。 在每个发电机内部，一个线圈在磁铁内旋转。 线圈被连接到一个叫做换向器的装置上。 换向器与两个电刷接触，其中一个带正电荷。 旋转的导线和换向器产生电流，电流从正极电刷流向负极电刷。 结果形成了一股稳定地向一个方向流动的电流。 爱迪生的发电站以恒定的力或电压产生稳定的直流电流。但是直流电不能将电力输送到很远的地方。 大约一英里后，直流电流失去了动力，消失了。

AC Paves the Way In 1884, inventor Nikola Tesla moved to the United States from Europe. He went to work for Thomas Edison. Tesla's job was to improve DC transmission. Instead, his solution was to design generators and motors that used alternating current (AC) —electricity that alternates, or moves back and forth, as it flows. Tesla's AC generators didn't require a commutator but instead used two rings. Current flowing from each ring resulted in electricity that moved in both directions. Tesla's generators cost less to operate than Edison's DC generators. The voltage of the AC current could be changed using transformers This doesn't work with DC. By raising the voltage, AC power could travel long distances from the power plant By lowering it again, the power was safer to use.

1884年，发明家尼古拉·特斯拉从欧洲搬到美国。 他为托马斯·爱迪生工作。 特斯拉的工作是改进直流传输。 相反，他的解决方案是设计使用交流电(AC)的发电机和电动机，交流电在流动时可以交替或来回移动。 特斯拉的交流发电机不需要换向器，而是使用了两个环。 电流从每个环流出，产生了双向流动的电。 特斯拉的发电机运行成本低于爱迪生的直流发电机。 交流电流的电压可以用变压器来改变，这对直流电无效。 通过提高电压，交流电源可以从发电厂传输很远的距离。通过再次降低电压，电源使用起来更安全。

Electric Rivals Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison was born in Ohio and showed a love of learning from an early age. He started his own newspaper at age twelve! His next job, as a telegraph operator, sparked his love of technology. Before long. Edison was a full-time inventor. In 1880, he began the Edison Illuminating Company He believed that this company. would light the world. During his life. Edison earned patents for more than one thousand inventions. Nikola Tesla At home in Eastern Europe. Nikola Tesla had trouble finding people who were interested in his design for a new kind of motor. So he came to the United States and helped perfect AC technology. The system of generators and transmission lines used today is similar to the system Tesla invented in the late 1880s. Tesla had many ideas. and the money he made from his work on AC power financed some of his other projects.

托马斯·阿尔瓦·爱迪生出生于俄亥俄州，从小就表现出对学习的热爱。 他十二岁就创办了自己的报纸!他的下一份工作是一名电报员，这激发了他对科技的热爱。 没过多久。爱迪生是个全职发明家。 1880年，他创办了爱迪生照明公司。 将照亮世界。在他的一生中。 爱迪生获得了一千多项发明专利。 尼古拉·特斯拉在东欧的家中。 尼古拉·特斯拉很难找到对他设计的一种新型电机感兴趣的人。 所以他来到美国帮助完善交流技术。 今天使用的发电机和输电线路系统与特斯拉在19世纪80年代末发明的系统类似。 特斯拉有很多想法。他从交流电工作中挣来的钱资助了他的一些其他项目。

Enter Westinghouse Edison rejected Tesla's idea for AC power. But a man named George Westinghouse saw the moneymaking potential of the AC system. He bought some of Tesla's patents and began designing a transmission system to send AC power far and wide. George Westinghouse was an inventor and businessman living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania He founded the Westinghouse company in 1886. He had seen examples of systems using AC in Europe. He believed the technology would work to deliver electricity throughout the United States. He built power stations in rural places that Edison's DC plants couldn't reach. Westinghouse also sold electricity at a low rate to gain business in cities.

爱迪生拒绝了特斯拉交流电的想法。 但是一个名叫乔治·威斯汀豪斯的人看到了空调系统的赚钱潜力。 他购买了特斯拉的一些专利，开始设计一种传输系统，将交流电传输到更广的地方。 乔治·威斯汀豪斯是一位发明家和商人，居住在宾夕法尼亚州的匹兹堡。他于1886年创立了威斯汀豪斯公司。 他在欧洲见过使用交流电的系统。 他相信这项技术可以在全美范围内提供电力。 他在爱迪生的直流电厂无法到达的农村地区建造了发电站。 西屋电气还以低价出售电力，以获得城市业务。