23 Dec 06
Originally posted by PalynkaElectrocution of an elephant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zhfet8pYro
😞
This was just one of many of Thomas Edison's 'terror films' in his effort to frighten people from using AC current. As we all know, Thomas Edison had invented DC electrical current, but DC current is not good for sending electricity over long distances, and it was Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, and scientist who invented AC current.
To understand the video you need to know that a huge contract to build the world's first hydro-turbine generator was offered to whoever could come up with the best ideas. Westinghouse was threatening to take the contract away from Thomas Edison by adopting Nikola Tesla's AC current. So Edison started filming the electricution of dogs, cats and even an elephant to scare the public into using his DC current instead!
He lost the contract.
http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_niagara.html