Breakthrough by Scott H Washburn

Author:Scott H Washburn [Washburn, Scott H]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Great Martian War
ISBN: 9781945430237
Publisher: Zmok Books
Published: 2016-12-14T22:00:00+00:00

“Wire,” said Edison. “Miles—we estimate thousands of miles—of this wire. It was wrapped in coils which filled the entire cylinder—which you’ll recall was three feet in diameter and over eight feet tall. But that’s all. Nothing which could have produced energy, unless by some system which is totally beyond our science. A possibility we did not discount, of course.

“Having nothing else, we set to work studying the wire. A chemical analysis produced an interesting mixture of elements; copper, silver, gold, molybdenum, and quite a few others. The wire has a surprisingly high tensile strength which exceeds that of steel. But its most amazing characteristics were electrical. Bill? Could you explain?”

Mr. Hammer nodded. “When we ran current through the wire we were astonished to find that there was no electrical resistance at all. I mean none. An Ohm meter attached to the wire registered zero. We still don’t know how this is accomplished. There is a Dutchman, Heike Onnes, who has been working on this phenomenon, but his research has involved materials cooled to very low temperatures. This wire behaves as it does at room temperature!”

“And because of this lack of resistance,” said Edison, “a coil of this wire would be able to store an astounding amount of current, like an impossibly efficient dry-cell battery! We tested this out by taking a small amount of the wire—just a dozen yards or so—and winding it in a coil and then applying current. It just soaked it up! We fed current in for an entire day and it probably could have held more. Then we connected the coil to a bank of incandescent lights. They were still burning a month later!

“So, Major, it is our conclusion that the Martians must have some sort of central power generating station—don’t ask me how that works!—and this charges up these power storage units which the Martian war machines use. Of course we have no way of knowing what the power demands of the machines are, but considering how much power just one of these units must be capable of holding, I would guess that the machines could operate for months between chargings.”

“I should add,” said Mr. Sprague, speaking for the first time, “that if something were to disrupt the ability of the wire to store power, the unit might discharge itself all at once. This could produce a large explosion. That might explain the Liverpool disaster and the explosion that consumed one of the Martian machines at the Battle of Prewitt.”

“Yes,” said Edison. “And until we determine just what it takes to cause such a disruption, we must proceed with caution.” He paused and looked closely at Andrew. “Pardon me for asking, Major, but do you understand what we’ve been telling you here? Your lack of… well… astonishment had been noticeable, and in my experience that means the person really doesn’t understand what he’s being told.”

Andrew sighed. “Well, sir, I can’t say that I begin to understand all the technicalities of it, but I do, in fact, understand the gist of what you are saying.

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