The Problem of Increasing Human Energy: With Special Reference to the Harnessing of the Sun's Energy

THE PROBLEM OF INCREASING HUMAN ENERGY

WITH SPECIAL REFERENCES TO THE HARNESSING OF THE SUN'S ENERGY

NIKOLA TESLA

Edition 2022 by ©David De Angelis

All Rights are Reserved

CONTENTS

THE ONWARD MOVEMENT OF MAN – THE ENERGY OF THE MOVEMENT – THE THREE WAYS OF INCREASING HUMAN ENERGY

THE FIRST PROBLEM: HOW TO INCREASE THE HUMAN MASS – THE BURNING OF ATMOSPHERIC NITROGEN.

THE SECOND PROBLEM: HOW TO REDUCE THE FORCE RETARDING THE HUMAN MASS – THE ART OF TELAUTOMATICS.

THE THIRD PROBLEM: HOW TO INCREASE THE FORCE ACCELERATING THE HUMAN MASS –THE HARNESSING OF THE SUN'S ENERGY.

THE SOURCE OF HUMAN ENERGY – THE THREE WAYS OF DRAWING ENERGY FROM THE SUN.

GREAT POSSIBILITIES OFFERED BY IRON FOR INCREASING HUMAN PERFORMANCE – ENORMOUS WASTE IN IRON MANUFACTURE.

ECONOMICAL PRODUCTION OF IRON BY A NEW PROCESS.

GREAT CIVILIZING POTENCY OF THE NEW METAL.

EFFORTS TOWARD OBTAINING MORE ENERGY FROM COAL – THE ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION – THE GAS-ENGINE – THE COLD-COAL BATTERY

ENERGY FROM THE MEDIUM – THE WINDMILL AND THE SOLAR ENGINE – MOTIVE POWER FROM TERRESTRIAL HEAT – ELECTRICITY FROM NATURAL SOURCES

A DEPARTURE FROM KNOWN METHODS – POSSIBILITY OF A SELF-ACTING ENGINE OR MACHINE, INANIMATE, YET CAPABLE, LIKE A LIVING BEING, OF DERIVING ENERGY FROM THE MEDIUM – THE IDEAL WAY OF OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER

FIRST EFFORTS TO PRODUCE THE SELFACTING ENGINE – THE MECHANICAL OSCILLATOR – WORK OF DEWAR AND LINDE – LIQUID AIR

DISCOVERY OF UNEXPECTED PROPERTIES OF THE ATMOSPHERE – STRANGE EXPERIMENTS – TRANSMISSION OF ELECTRICAL ENERGY THROUGH ONE WIRE WITHOUT RETURN – TRANSMISSION THROUGH THE EARTH WITHOUT ANY WIRE

WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY – THE SECRET OF TUNING – ERRORS IN THE HERTZIAN INVESTIGATIONS – A RECEIVER OF WONDERFUL SENSITIVENESS.

DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW PRINCIPLE – THE ELECTRICAL OSCILLATOR – PRODUCTION OF IMMENSE ELECTRICAL MOVEMENTS – THE EARTH RESPONDS TO MAN – INTERPLANETARY COMMUNICATION NOW PROBABLE

TRANSMISSION OF ELECTRICAL ENERGY TO ANY DISTANCE WITHOUT WIRES – NOW PRACTICABLE – THE BEST MEANS OF INCREASING THE FORCE ACCELERATING THE HUMAN MASS

THE ONWARD MOVEMENT OF MAN – THE ENERGY OF THE MOVEMENT – THE THREE WAYS OF INCREASING HUMAN ENERGY

Of all the endless variety of phenomena which nature presents to our senses, there is none that fills our minds with greater wonder than that inconceivably complex movement which, in its entirety, we designate as human life; Its mysterious origin is veiled in the forever impenetrable mist of the past, its character is rendered incomprehensible by its infinite intricacy, and its destination is hidden in the unfathomable depths of the future. Whence does it come? What is it? Whither does it tend? are the great questions which the sages of all times have endeavored to answer.

Modern science says: The sun is the past, the earth is the present, the moon is the future. From an incandescent mass we have originated, and into a frozen mass we shall turn. Merciless is the law of nature, and rapidly and irresistibly we are drawn to our doom. Lord Kelvin, in his profound meditations, allows us only a short span of life, something like six million years, after which time the suns bright light will have ceased to shine, and its life-giving heat will have ebbed away, and our own earth will be a lump of ice, hurrying on through the eternal night. But do not let us despair. There will still be left upon it a glimmering spark of life, and there will be a chance to kindle a new fire on some distant star. This wonderful possibility seems, indeed, to exist, judging from Professor Dewar's beautiful experiments with liquid air, which show that germs of organic life are not destroyed by cold, no matter how intense; consequently, they may be transmitted through the interstellar space. Meanwhile the cheering lights of science and art, ever increasing in intensity, illuminate our path, and marvels they disclose, and the enjoyments they offer, make us measurably forgetful of the gloomy future.

Though we may never be able to comprehend human life, we know certainly that it is a movement, of whatever nature it be. The existence of movement unavoidably implies a body which is being moved and a force which is moving it.

Fig. 1: Burning the Nitrogen of the atmosphere

Hence, wherever there is life, there is a mass moved by a force. All mass possesses inertia, all force tends to persist. Owing to this universal property and condition, a body, be it at rest or in motion, tends to remain in the same state, and a force, manifesting itself anywhere and through whatever cause, produces an equivalent opposing force, and as an absolute necessity of this it follows that every movement in nature must be rhythmical. Long ago this simple truth was clearly pointed out by Herbert Spencer, who arrived at it through a somewhat different process of reasoning. It is borne out in everything we perceive--in the movement of a planet, in the surging and ebbing of the tide, in the reverberations of the air, the swinging of a pendulum, the oscillations of an electric current, and in the infinitely varied phenomena of organic life. Does not the whole of human life attest to it? Birth, growth, old age, and death of an individual, family, race, or nation, what is it all but a rhythm? All life-manifestation, then, even in its most intricate form, as exemplified in man, however involved and inscrutable, is only a movement, to which the same general laws of movement which govern throughout the physical universe must be applicable.

Note to Fig. 1.--This result is produced by the discharge of an electrical oscillator giving twelve million volts. The electrical pressure, alternating one hundred thousand times per second, excites the normally inert nitrogen, causing it to combine with the oxygen. The flame-like discharge shown in the photograph measures sixty-five feet across.

When we speak of man, we have a conception of humanity as a whole, and before applying scientific methods to, the investigation of his movement we must accept this as a physical fact. But can anyone doubt to-day that all the millions of individuals and all the innumerable types and characters constitute an entity, a unit? Though free to think and act, we are held together, like the stars in the firmament, with ties inseparable. These ties cannot be seen, but we can feel them. I cut myself in the finger, and it pains me: this finger is part of my. I see a friend hurt, and it hurts me, too: my friend and I are one. And now I see stricken down an enemy, a lump of matter which, of all the lumps of matter in the universe, I care least for, and it still grieves me. Does this not prove that each of us is only part of a whole?

For ages this idea has been proclaimed in the consummately wise teachings of religion, probably not alone as a means of insuring peace and harmony among men, but as a deeply founded truth. The Buddhist expresses it in one way, the Christian in another, but both say the same: We are all one. Metaphysical proofs are, however, not the only ones which we are able to bring forth in support of this idea. Science, too, recognizes