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"The thing that I'm most interested in at the moment is the so-called Infinite Energy solution - the possibility of finding new ways of tapping into virtually limitless sources of energy."
- Arthur C. Clarke
 |
| Daisy Projector | ||
| Beam of energy penetrates the Heaviside layer to enable communication from planet to planet. |
The Heaviside layer is a layer of ionised gas occurring between 90km and 150 km above the ground — one of several layers in the Earth's ionosphere. It reflects medium-frequency radio waves.
Predicted by Oliver Heaviside (and Arthur Kennelly), its existence was essentially demonstrated by Marconi's transmission of radio waves beyond the horizon.
But would this layer prevent communications between the Earth and other planets? John Campbell wrote a story about men trapped on Ganymede with no way to communicate their whereabouts.
| Stetson had made a queer set up that looked something like a daisy ten feet across. The golden center, however, was a flattened copper dome, made of heavy metal, and attached to a tremendously heavy copper lead about two feet long. It was almost as great in diameter as it was in length. The end of this massive copper block was approximately an inch from a second plate of two-inch copper. This spread out in a bowl three feet in diameter.
Around the two-foot length was a curiously designed coil of rather heavy copper wire, insulated from the block on insulite pins. At the gap between the heavy lead and the copper bowl three magnets were placed, one hundred and twenty degrees apart. The petals of the daisy were made of thin metal plates, connected at rim and center, and insulated from the copper dome. The beam started out. After a very long time a sudden flash snapped out, and the beam was a solid column of energy stretching out to infinity, flowing bluish in the atmosphere... "Want to send a message to the home folks?" |
| Technovelgy from The Derelicts of Ganymede,
by John W. Campbell. Published by Wonder Stories in 1932 Additional resources -
|
The description may remind you of the stiletto beam from Earthlight (1955) by Arthur C. Clarke.
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'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
'The men are dead, but their acquired wisdom lives on and I am the beneficiary.'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.'
'After twenty generations of shillyshallying...'
