|
|
THE STORY OF HIGH VOLTAGE FROM THE DISCOVERY OF FIRE TO THE HYDROGEN AGE
With many electrical and atomic demonstrations showing how high voltage, in the form of lightning, created fire for man's discovery, and how it further influenced his past, and how it now affects his future, extending into the hopes and fears of Hydrogen Age.
Outline of the Suggested Program
1. INTRODUCTION TALK
Brief description of scope and purpose of program.
2. DEMONSTRATION OF A WORKING MODEL OF A THUNDERSTORM
Drops of water falling from an artificial cloud about ten feet in
length would charge it to a high voltage, producing sparking (a
miniature artificial lightning) to earth. This would be followed by a
colored slide of a pictorial diagram showing how the electrical
operation of the large electrostatic generator is closely similar in
principle.
3. THE ROLE OF HIGH VOLTAGE (in the form of lightning) IN THE
DISCOVERY OF FIRE
This would be introduced by an explanation of the vital role of high
voltage in creating fire for its discovery by man, and would include
demonstrations of the re-enactment of the conditions of this
discovery.
Various demonstrations using an artificial thundercloud charged by
the high-voltage generator. A strip of countryside passing slowly
beneath the thunderstorm would show the effects of lightning on
various types of objects, as might have happened in the hundreds of
thousands of years before the dawn of history.
This would include the starting of a small fire of the type which
might have been first tended by man and also a little later the
starting of a small forest fire to illustrate the awesome effect of
fire on animals and prehumans.
4. DIORAMA SHOWING A PRIMITIVE FAMILY AT THEIR FIRESIDE AT THE
ENTRANCE OF A CAVE
There could be pointed out various humanising improvements which
resulted from the discovery of fire.
5. EARLY HISTORICAL PERIOD OF ELECTRICITY
The discovery of electricity and of magnetism by Thales of Miletus
about 600 B.C.
Invention of the first electrical generator by Otto von Guerrike
about 1660.
Invention of the vacuum pump (von Guerrike, Boyle).
6. DEMONSTRATIONS OF ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY
St. Elmo's fire from rigging of the old-fashioned sailing ship.
Sinking of a ship struck by lightning.
Franklin's kite experiment (1752).
Franklin's invention of the lightning rod showing the effect of
artificial lightning on a house with and without a lightning rod.
Demonstrations illustrating how the probability of a lightning stroke
depends on the situation and nature of an object.
7. THE MECHANICAL FORCES BETWEEN ELECTRICAL CHARGES
One force on a large conducting sphere.
Lines of force.
Pin-wheel motor.
Demonstration of Coulomb's law.
Projection of Coulomb's law on screen.
8. DISCOVERY AND THE EARLY USES OF CHEMICAL ELECTRICITY AND
ELECTROMAGNETISM
9. DEMONSTRATIONS WITH LARGE FARADAY CAGE
Sparks from generator terminal to cage and thence to ground.
Experiments showing that the cage completely shields the region
inside it.
Effects of window in the cage illustrated with a dummy.
10. ELECTRICAL DISCHARGES IN THE PRODUCTION OF ATOMIC
RADIATION
Discharge at atmospheric pressure.
X-rays.
Cathode rays.
Positive rays.
11. SOME MODERN ASPECTS OF THE ELECTRIC FIELD
The electric field in space and its use for radio and for
television.
The electric field in the atom and its place in atomic structure and
in atomic energy.
12. DEMONSTRATIONS OF PRESENT-DAY LIGHTNING PROTECTION
Automobile.
Power line.
House wiring.
Fences.
13."VISITS" TO ATOMIC RESEARCH LABORATORIES TO SHOW BASIC
PROCESSES OF THE HYDROGEN AGE.
Thermonuclear reactions.
Neutrons.
Fission.
Artificial radioactivity.
14. ATOMIC POWER FROM NUCLEAR FISSION
Atomic propulsion for submarines
Possibilities of atomic propulsion for airplanes.
Production of electric power by atomic reactors.
15. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES OF AN UNLIMITED SOURCE OF ATOMIC
POWER
Possibility of the use of accelerators for the production of atomic
power using hydrogen reactions.
Some possible uses, including propulsion of airplanes and space
rockets.
16. "VISITS" TO HOSPITALS ILLUSTRATING MODERN MEDICAL USES OF
RADIATION
Use of x-rays for diagnosis.
Cancer therapy using two-million-volt x-rays and rotational technique
for deep-seated tumors.
Cancer therapy using cathode rays for superficial malignancies and
demonstration of tracer techniques for diagnosis.
Demonstration of tracer techniques for therapy.
17. RESEARCH AND INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS OF CATHODE RAYS WITH
DEMONSTRATIONS USING SEALED-OFF VACUUM TUBE APPARATUS.
a. Medical applications
Sterilisation of pharmaceutical materials.
b. Industrial applications
Food industry.
Chemical industry.
18. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
|
|
