The Tesla dream

Xa [UDas]; ok .. how about Manmohan inventing a particle accelerator which gains momentum as it travels through space and creates a destructive effect at the end. knowing you, I believe that, you can invent anything .. So, I was just saving myself .. :)

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Xb [SPraharaj]; Uma – Something similar was conceptualized by Nicola Tesla  years ago and it can work in theory.

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Xc[MDash]; I am a pacifist and possibly you know that, so save yourself from the Lokpal effect (not from me, just kidding :D) No, particle accelerators do not work that way. In an accelerator the particles are wrapped by a pipe that insulates the outside world from the dangerous/unsafe electric or radio-active effects. When I was in Japan, in its particle acc. lab, this tube encompassing the electron and positron beam broke down. (here is also high voltage helping these to gain momentum as you said, but it does not move through the space but inside the tube which in itself maintains a vacuum, so pressure must be maintained very carefully) The leak was noticed early hence no disaster.

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Xa; Thanx, Saswat , Now, Manmohan can create this thing for us .. ok .. Manmohan Dash Point taken :)

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Xc; The Tesla-Society article sounds to me like a hoax.

1. its extremely inaccurate and nontechnical in describing the particle beams.

2. the particle beams do not at all differ from the cathode-ray tube in our TV set except this time the magnets are huge in size.

3. One can not guide the electron or any other particle without an envelope such as a vacuum tube, no one rules over the atmosphere hence the whole atmosphere will be electrified, we can not go much distance with such a provision and at the end it will hardly melt some metal. (proton which is the suave particle in this decade is >1800 times heavier than electron, hence that much more difficult to accelerate)

@LHC in Geneva where the biggest particle lab is operating protons are being accelerated to the speed of light (almost) and dashed against each other to study their interactions. If you are interested look at the results of the ongoing Mumbai conference (Physicist Matthew Strassler) is constantly updating the newest results from LHC at this conference and you maybe interested in realistic stuff that scientists of today are actually discussing.

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Xa; will do

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Xb; @Manmohan – I am not a physicist so I can’t discuss technical aspects of particle acceleration. Having said that, I have high regards for Tesla for being one of the greatest inventors of our time. Tesla gave an interview to NY times  where he talks about his death ray. You can challenge Tesla because of your knowledge in the subject, but I can’t.

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Xc; Every scientist has a high degree of respect towards Tesla including me. We use many of his inventions. Having said that in Nikola Tesla’s days particle acceleration technology was almost nonexistent. The current energy we reach is only a current technology. Naturally occurring high energy particles constantly hit earth atmosphere such as extremely high energy cosmic rays but it does not do us much harm. But if he actually gave such an interview (there are other websites also mentioning this interview) he was hallucinating as he did not understand the nitty gritties but it is impossible to send electric currents (thats what beams are) in open air that too for 250 miles. People believed him for his reputation but remember Einstein has come out plain wrong on many physics problems and his compatriots understood this far better than we do at present. Just one thing comes to my mind what Feynman said: No one is a pope in science … compare that to lightning, how it spreads everywhere, he could not have produced lightning for that sake, he should have thought a little more.

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Xa; modification -: No one is a pope in any field .. We’re all learning, knowingly or unknowingly.

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Xc; @ Uma agree. Except when you say field I presume any field of study where it is valid is where logic is respected.

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Xb; @Manmohan – “but it is impossible to send electric currents (thats what beams are) in open air” – Didn’t Tesla demonstrate wireless electricity many times using Tesla Coils ? There are many videos in YouTube (even by non-professionals) that demonstrate electricity transmission through open air. Here is one such video  –

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Xc; Saswat, don’t confuse electromagnetic waves Vs particle beams. The former is just a disturbance or undulation of the electric field and magnetic field, the particle beam is like the current inside your TV. Its always maintained inside vaccum, never in open air. The only open air current or particle phenomena is of lightning which is not a beam but a random ionization path. Thats what happens when electricity moves through open air …

current in open air can be demonstrated in a small-scale with caution, eg Van-de-Graf discharge which is electrostatic

@Saswat: Tesla just assumed that he will accelerate the particles (such as Tungston or Mercury) to a very high energy point and it will go like a projectile  to any arbitrary distance assuming it will just go through air like a focussed beam (coming from some hypothetical technology that will provide it self-focus in the gas) If he were right we wouldn’t see any of today’s particle accelerators but free air laser show like particle collision. Since he was wrong we needed superconducting magnets maintained in extremely cold and vacuum conditions, inside pipes that are so complicated that any small deviation would cause the beam to be lost. This is the present status with how particles can be accelerated over 27 kms at CERN, Geneva (the LHC) they focus the beam to micrometers but only under such conditions with several collimation arrangements just to keep the beam in track …

@Uma so now the proverbial A.S.S. you mentioned at the top of your post has a Lokpal on one side and Physics/invention on the other. what a beautiful …