What made the movie Inception tick? The entire movie unfolded on a fantastic premise that one could retain consciousness within one’s dreams. This concept alone opened up a smorgasbord of opportunities for the producers to exploit ideas like Totems, Kicks, Shared dreams, and dream theft among others. This synergy of reality and illusion got me thinking; could I come up with one, myself?
It began with a video on YouTube, in which a rocket carrying a spool of Copper wire, tied at one end to a test station, was launched towards the overhead dark clouds. The spool began to unwind as the rocket went upwards. When it reached close enough, the Copper wire short circuited the potential difference between the clouds and the ground, and vaporized as high density current shot through it, resulting in the awe-inspiring spectacle we call “lightning”. The whole process can be likened to grabbing a wild bull by the horns in order to make it hit you! This method is just one of the ways in which scientists can aggravate nature into dishing out (near) lightning strikes. Besides this, there are sophisticated methods, such as the Thunder-Bolt-Spewer (in my mind) in the Siemens High Voltage Testing Lab in Berlin that can perform the same task. Jolly good, it is underlying principle in both cases, that aids me in my self-imposed quest.
From body-gas powered cars (Siddharth Mahesh is in the process of designing one, considering his love of cars and acute case of flatulence) to instant teleportation to Battlestars, Science-Fiction has always been the playground for our frenzied imaginations and cuckoo inventions. So, delving into that domain, here’s one that uses the idea explained above.
What if we constructed really long pipe-like-channels between cities and filled them up with gases that easily ionize, as opposed to air. Next, we'd have to maintain a really high voltage across the ends of the channel , which should be able to ionize the channel given its low Di-electric strength. This should strike a bolt similar to lightning through the entire channel. We could use a tethered rocketish-device to aid us in this process, if needed. This would lead to a really large current flowing through the channel. Now, if we could use some sort of Electro-Magnetic Induction to convert this current flow to a propelling motion of an object, the transport vehicle, placed in this channel, we could shoot forward, at the speed of light(ning). The transport vehicle itself could be designed as a Faraday cage so that no one would get zinged alive due to the surrounding electric field. Also, as a safety feature, we would have to design systems that could withstand such extraordinarily high stress (in terms of Voltage), perhaps inspired from EHV lines used in Power systems.
On paper, it may be possible.(I am kidding myself) But would it be worth investigation, considering the astronomical financial and technological stats? I think , Yes , because I came up with the idea. But you try telling that to Health and Safety officials. They'd tell you how you'd certainly get a shock and die!! But such cowardice should not be tolerated in the face of scientific discovery. After all; it is one large shock for man, a giant streak ahead for mankind. Fictitious flimflam or fodder for future? You decide.
Note: Although I am joking for most part of this article, your serious thoughts on the subject will be partially entertained.
It began with a video on YouTube, in which a rocket carrying a spool of Copper wire, tied at one end to a test station, was launched towards the overhead dark clouds. The spool began to unwind as the rocket went upwards. When it reached close enough, the Copper wire short circuited the potential difference between the clouds and the ground, and vaporized as high density current shot through it, resulting in the awe-inspiring spectacle we call “lightning”. The whole process can be likened to grabbing a wild bull by the horns in order to make it hit you! This method is just one of the ways in which scientists can aggravate nature into dishing out (near) lightning strikes. Besides this, there are sophisticated methods, such as the Thunder-Bolt-Spewer (in my mind) in the Siemens High Voltage Testing Lab in Berlin that can perform the same task. Jolly good, it is underlying principle in both cases, that aids me in my self-imposed quest.
From body-gas powered cars (Siddharth Mahesh is in the process of designing one, considering his love of cars and acute case of flatulence) to instant teleportation to Battlestars, Science-Fiction has always been the playground for our frenzied imaginations and cuckoo inventions. So, delving into that domain, here’s one that uses the idea explained above.
What if we constructed really long pipe-like-channels between cities and filled them up with gases that easily ionize, as opposed to air. Next, we'd have to maintain a really high voltage across the ends of the channel , which should be able to ionize the channel given its low Di-electric strength. This should strike a bolt similar to lightning through the entire channel. We could use a tethered rocketish-device to aid us in this process, if needed. This would lead to a really large current flowing through the channel. Now, if we could use some sort of Electro-Magnetic Induction to convert this current flow to a propelling motion of an object, the transport vehicle, placed in this channel, we could shoot forward, at the speed of light(ning). The transport vehicle itself could be designed as a Faraday cage so that no one would get zinged alive due to the surrounding electric field. Also, as a safety feature, we would have to design systems that could withstand such extraordinarily high stress (in terms of Voltage), perhaps inspired from EHV lines used in Power systems.
On paper, it may be possible.(I am kidding myself) But would it be worth investigation, considering the astronomical financial and technological stats? I think , Yes , because I came up with the idea. But you try telling that to Health and Safety officials. They'd tell you how you'd certainly get a shock and die!! But such cowardice should not be tolerated in the face of scientific discovery. After all; it is one large shock for man, a giant streak ahead for mankind. Fictitious flimflam or fodder for future? You decide.
Note: Although I am joking for most part of this article, your serious thoughts on the subject will be partially entertained.
