> Wayne Foletta <wayne@ELECTROTEK.COM> wrote:
> > You are right - the first power generators were DC. One of the reasons
> > for Edison switching to AC, as I remember reading, was a marketing ploy!
> > It seems there were some early fatal accidents with high voltage DC
> > power and with lower voltage AC, it was suppose to be totally safe.
> > Edison did some public demonstrations that showed the safety of AC with
> > a goat or some other animal. Don't recall the reason for 60Hz choice.
> > I'll find that history book tonight and let you know.
>
> I think you've got that backwards.  Edison vehemently opposed the use of AC,
> and gave repeated public demonstrations of the dangers of AC by electrocuting
> animals with it.  I somehow doubt that safety was his real motivation; it
> sounds more like NIH Syndrome.

According to Smithsonian Magazine's article on Coney Island awhile ago, one
such "demonstration" was performed on an elephant that had killed someone
and needed to be put down.  Poison had proven ineffective, and other methods
were rules too hazardous or unacceptable; in this instance, electrocution may
in fact have been the best method to kill the animal.

On the other hand, I have also heard [unconfirmed] that the electric chair
was also invented for the purpose of showing how hazardous AC was; I have
no idea whether that legend is true or not.