Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"What I have in my stories is ethics. Ethics and morality are very different cups of tea. I adhere to a very strict rigor of personal ethics and I demand it of those around me as well."
- Harlan Ellison
 |
| Vibration Machine | ||
| A device that neutralized the gravitational force of the sun on the earth. |
The Comet-people wanted the Earth for their own - so they created a diabolical machine to wrest it away from the arms of the sun!
| They were setting up an apparatus that would neutralize the sun's gravitational power on the earth. They have learned that the emanations of gravitational force from any body have a measurable wave-length, and that this wave-length is different in the case of each different body. The vibrations of gravitational force from the sun are thus different in wavelength from those of the earth, and it is the same always; the wavelength of no two emanations are the same. Thus the invaders could neutralize the sun's gravitational power on earth without affecting the power of the earth itself, or any other body. They would set up a wave-plant, or vibration machine, which would send out vibrations equal in wavelength to the sun's gravitational emanations; these would meet and oppose and neutralize the gravitational force of the sun. In that way, the sun with no longer pull earth, and the earth, therefore, would fly off into space on a tangent. |
| Technovelgy from The Comet Doom,
by Edmond Hamilton. Published by Amazing Stories in 1929 Additional resources -
|
Although convenient for use as a plot device, the gravitational "emanations" that connect the sun to the Earth seem no different from any others. However, it does pick up on the Theosophical idea that different planets have different vibrations, which would have been popular with Hamilton's audience in the 1920's.
Compare to cavorite from H.G. Well's 1901 novel The First Men on the Moon,
gravity neutralizing disks from Hamilton's 1937 story Fessenden's World and the etherometer from Frank Belknap Long, Jr's 1937 story Spawn of the Red Giants.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Comet Doom
More Ideas
and Technology by Edmond Hamilton
Tech news articles related to The Comet Doom
Tech news articles related to works by Edmond Hamilton
| Amazing Photonic Crystal Light Sail |
| The New Habitable Zones Include Asimov's Ribbon Worlds |
| Will Space Stations Have Large Interior Spaces Again? |
| Reflect Orbital Offers 'Sunlight on Demand' And Light Pollution |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'Sapiro’s computer just kept dialing at random, hanging up on humans, until it got a fellow computer of the same type as itself.'
'I request that you feed the correlation between those dots and the levers of the panel into my memory banks.'
'... all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
'If you surf over a bump, the spokes contract to roll over it.'
'He wrote on it, using the pointed fingernail of his right forefinger...'
