# What Energy Source Was Tesla Trying to Tap? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 21, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-energy-source-was-tesla-trying-to-tap/738186 "2015-11-21T15:46:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-energy-source-was-tesla-trying-to-tap/738186/21 "2015-11-24T19:47:29Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > You mis-spelled “Electromagical” there? I blame lack of coffee. And sleep. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-energy-source-was-tesla-trying-to-tap/738186/22 "2015-11-24T19:53:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > No, M&M disproved the _ether_. The æther is something else entirely, as any proper mad scientist could tell you. Mmmmm… M&Ms. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-energy-source-was-tesla-trying-to-tap/738186/23 "2015-11-24T22:45:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I guess I need to wait for **DrFidelius** to come explain the joke for everyone. So please, DrFidelius, illuminiferous it for us… ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-energy-source-was-tesla-trying-to-tap/738186/24 "2015-11-25T18:15:23Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > There is no aether. Michelson and Morley took care of that. LIES! LIES! The GreyFaces simply decided to eliminate the Ether from the Consensus. I’ve been to the red planet in a ship sailing the Ether tides. But, those bastards would have you believe that Barsoom is fiction! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to finish deprogramming a HIT Mark V. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-energy-source-was-tesla-trying-to-tap/738186/25 "2015-11-25T18:33:57Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > LIES! LIES! Your goggles are steaming up… ---
**Author:** ![Nefario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/59ef9b/32.png) [@Nefario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefario)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-energy-source-was-tesla-trying-to-tap/738186/26 "2015-11-25T19:39:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > No, M&M disproved the _ether_. The æther is something else entirely, as any proper mad scientist could tell you. Ed Zackery! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-energy-source-was-tesla-trying-to-tap/738186/27 "2015-11-25T20:53:30Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Ah. 😕 The problem is that he didn’t use the right colors. Here, try this version of Chronos’ statement: No, M&M disproved the ether. The æther is something else entirely, as any proper mad scientist could tell you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![botsgotme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@botsgotme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/botsgotme)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-energy-source-was-tesla-trying-to-tap/738186/28 "2015-11-25T22:53:59Z")
Thanks for the replies…at the dedication of the GE-built Niagara Falls power plant (the first high tension AC generating plant in the USA), Tesla made a speech, in which he alluded to an “inexhaustible source of energy”. this is what prompted my question. he seems to have had an unshakable belief in this. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-energy-source-was-tesla-trying-to-tap/738186/29 "2015-11-25T22:56:30Z")
Perhaps he was speaking of hydro electric power. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-energy-source-was-tesla-trying-to-tap/738186/30 "2015-11-25T23:05:46Z")
Yeah, that would be the logical conclusion, if he were speaking at the opening of a hydro plant. For all practical purposes, hydroelectric is inexhaustible. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-energy-source-was-tesla-trying-to-tap/738186/31 "2015-11-26T00:29:45Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yeah, that would be the logical conclusion, if he were speaking at the opening of a hydro plant. For all practical purposes, hydroelectric is inexhaustible. No, he was crackpotting, according to even a [pro-Tesla site](http://www.teslaenergy.org/intro4.html). > [@](#): > > Tesla wanted to harness the ground to utilize his technology; however, with the Hertzian system the atmosphere is used as the medium and ground is not a major part of the design. Tesla considered the entire globe to be an electrical conductor that could be made to resonate at different frequencies. Moreover, the earth had various terrestrial resonances, which could be “tuned” or tapped into, providing planet Earth’s citizens with a clean and inexhaustible source of energy. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-energy-source-was-tesla-trying-to-tap/738186/32 "2015-11-26T00:35:01Z")
Is snake oil a conductor? :dubious: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-energy-source-was-tesla-trying-to-tap/738186.md?page=1)