@sparks

Sorry I took his words out of context.   I was working off of memory and it was late.

No problem We have the same goal , to understand what Tesla was doing but to do this we need facts. What is seldom considered is that the earth is full of Dielectric and ferromagnetic materials, the dielectric materials are for the most part near the surface. Tesla said the earth is a capacitor, so we could consider the surface of the earth as the dielectric , the upper atmosphere one plate, and the inner earth of ferromagnetic materials the other plate. This would mean everything we know(the earth) is in a capacitive displacement current of 100 volts/meter. Now imagine YOU are inside a charged capacitor, how do you get this free displacement current for use ?. Remember the displacement current/energy is already there---everywhere, we do not create anything. What if we made an open capacitor and made the earth vary the capacitance hence doing work?

In this article-----http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1901-01-30.htm  , Tesla discovers capacitance varies with altitude thus changing the frequency of oscillation in a tank circuit. But the earth has a potential gradient of 100 volts/meter so does capacitance change in a potential gradient?, science has considered capacitance a static value.
I am still researching the idea that all space could act like a giant capacitor full of electrostatic displacement currents, and magnetism is nothing more than matter interacting with the displacement current, making magnetism ----- an electrical phenomenon .
I stated in another post that if you believe energy can move from one place to the next as a wave then you must also believe that all space and matter contains energy and waves in motion.

@ M@rcel

I was thinking Tesla patent 685957 Apparatus For The Utilization of Radiant Energy, this patent looks very easy but Im sure its not. In order to extract energy, energy must be moved from one place to the next. In order to do this I would think resonance with thte external energy must be established, the external energy needs a reason to move. But our perspective is always decieving us, maybe a capacitor (two close metal plates) is always charged and we just don't understand how to discharge it correctly, we should always consider the "other" perspective.

   
    I believe strongly that what man calls matter is just two fundamental forces in a fleeting state of equilibrium.  Energy is matter in a state of flux or change.  Einstein's theory of relativity states this when he qualifys the E=mc2 formula as working only relative to an observer.  Thus there can be no energy
(E=matter changing) unless there is an observer. Change does not exist unless something stays the same.   So the physical Universe is filled with matter.  This matter is the construct of a force to disperse reacting with a force to concentrate. The observer can go nowhere in this Universe where matter does not exist. So the Universe is filled with the potential for energy. The challenge is to setup an observer which experiences energy in such a way that it benefits the builder. The Earth construct (or properties of matter)  should be viewed as a state of equilibrium between the force of concentration (gravity of the Sun)
and the force of dispersion, (magnetism of  the Sun).  I use the word magnetism because I don't know if the force of dispersion has been named and quantified other than the speed of light.  The Sun is the largest form of matter round here so for practical purposes the Earth needs to be viewed as relavent to the Sun.  If one can understand what gives rise to Earth then one can understand what is needed  here on Earth to be constructed to give rise to energy on Earth.  Man must disrupt the state of equilibrium between Earth and the Sun in order to give rise to Energy.  Burning dead plants has been working up until now but it's practice is coming to a screaching halt.  Smashing atoms is way too Rue Goldberg with a huge potential for disaster.  Wind and Sun reliant on a very diffused and unreliable potential.
Man has been called the fire starter.  But before he started the fire he was the wood gatherer. We now need to gather electro-magnetic waves, the fundamental building blocks of matter, and send them down paths that keep us warm,  just like the first cavemen gathered tinder and deadwood, set it down and sat by the fire.

@all canadien

       I think that both forms of EM energy flow is prevalent.  In a conductor when the potential is first applied there is flow of energy through the electron cloud (always present in a good conductor) that moves through this field like a radio-wave.  It is the kick phenomenon.  Then the rest of the potential energy converts through the electron cloud like an electrical sound wave.  So Telsa and the other scientists are both wrong and both right.   Least that's what I believe.