Nikola Tesla - Free-Energy Devices

HIGH FREQUENCY AND HIGH POTENTIAL CURRENTS. 167which practically the same molecules would strike the terminal.Under such conditions the exchange of the molecules would bevery slow, and the heat produced at, and very near, the terminalwould be excessive. But if the frequency would go on increasingconstantly, the heat produced would begin to diminish for obviousreasons. In the positive brush of a static machine the exchangeof the molecules is very rapid, the stream is constantlyof one direction, and there are fewer collisions;hence the heatingeffect must be very small. Anything that impairs the facilityof exchange tends to increase the local heat produced. Thus, ifa bulb be held over the terminal of the coil so as to enclose thebrush, the air contained in the bulb is very quickly brought toa high temperature. If a glass tube be held over the brush soas to allow the draught to carry the brush upwards, scorching hotair escapes at the top of the tube. Anything held within thebrush is, of course, rapidly heated, and the possibility of usingsuch heating effects for some purpose or other suggests itself.When contemplatingthis singular phenomenon of the hotbrush, we cannot help being convinced that a similar processmust take place in the ordinary flame, and it seems strangethatafter all these centuries past of familiarity with the flame, now,in this era of electric lighting and heating, we are finally led torecognize, that since time immemorial we have, after all, alwayshad " electric light and heat " at our disposal.It is also of nolittle interest to contemplate, that we have a possible way ofproducing by other than chemical means a veritable flame,which would give light and heat without any material beingconsumed, without any chemical process taking place, and toaccomplish this, we only need to perfect methods of producingenormous frequencies and potentials.I have no doubt that ifthe potential could be made to alternate with sufficient rapidityand power, the brush formed at the end of a wire would lose itselectrical characteristics and would become flamelike. The flamemust be due to electrostatic molecular action.This phenomenon now explains in a manner which can hardlybe doubted the frequent accidents occurring in storms. It is wellknown that objects are often set on fire without the lightningstriking them. We shall presently see how this can happen.On a nail in a roof, for instance, or on a projection of any kind,more or less conducting, or rendered so by dampness, a powerfulbrush may appear. If the lightning strikes somewhere in the