Nikola Tesla Books
IN SEARCH OF NIKOLA TESLA limits of the atmosphere you meet protons and other particles which stream out from the sun and across space to the earth.' 'I can remember most of that from my university physics,' I said. 'The Xrays and ultraviolet light from the sun ionize the upper atmosphere.' 'Yes, but there's another important factor. The earth acts like a big magnet with a pole at the top and bottom - the north and south poles. The charged particles in the upper atmosphere tend to run along the magnetic lines of force and form charged bands or layers around the earth.' 'A bit like a magnetic tunnel?" I asked. 'Yes, the charged particles spiral along the magnetic lines of force in definite layers. For a time they get trapped but even when they escape there are always new particles waiting to take their place.' 'So these particles move thousands of miles around the earth on definite paths? The effect must be something like huge electrical currents in the upper atmosphere.' I felt I should explain the reason for my visit. 'You see, all this interests me because I'm investigating a proposal made by Nikola Tesla.' I explained how Tesla had built an electrical machine which resonated at very high voltages and great power. The machine was supposed to broadcast electrical power across the earth and Tesla claimed that his signals had been transmitted right across the earth without any loss. 'That couldn't be possible,' my colleague objected. 'Any form of broadcasting would be very inefficient. The signal would simply spread out.' I nodded to him and continued. 'I know, but I'm trying to see if there could be some way to confine and guide the energy in a narrow beam. I'm just making wild guesses. You see, we've only got Tesla's word that the thing worked and it all happened so long ago.' upper 'Are you asking me if there could be some sort of waveguide in the atmosphere? A way of keeping the energy from spreading outward?" 'Yes,' I replied. 'Sometimes Tesla talked about sending the power through the earth but he also mentioned the voltage difference between earth and the upper atmosphere. Could there be some way of using these charged layers? I mean, would it be possible to induce a sort of waveguide between the transmitter and receiver?' Across the table the astrophysicist began to squirm a little as he 69
