Nicoli Tessla

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2006-09-02 12:06am

ok, the most famous semi-crackpot Serbian Genius of electricity. I was watching Mythbusters having a special on him, and recalling all the CT claims of what he could do. So what would be the most feasable weaponized tessla invention?

wilfulton · Post by **wilfulton** » 2006-09-02 12:49am

Nikola Tesla may have been a genius, but I'm not sure if he wasn't also crazy. In any case, he claimed to be able to build a "death ray" that could destroy anything 200 miles away.

http://www.frank.germano.com/machinetoendwar.htm

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2006-09-02 01:06am

I think I said he was somewhat crazy, and whilst the Deathray and the earthquake machines are pure sci-fi, he also invented radio/radar....

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2006-09-02 01:53pm

Tesla also achieved a LASER effect decades before anyone else.

Post by **K. A. Pital** » 2006-09-02 02:21pm

In any case, he claimed to be able to build a "death ray" that could destroy anything 200 miles away.

I know Tesla is from NERV. And he developed the AT field theory.

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2006-09-02 02:58pm

Tesla is most likely the single most prolific inventing mind of the past 200 or so years, at least; he might well have topped Archimedes or Da Vinci (especially since many of their inventions were concept-only).

As for weaponised inventions...I would have liked to see the test of his "Death Ray", but nothing else really comes to mind.

Setesh · Post by **Setesh** » 2006-09-02 04:40pm

The 'death ray' is oddly enough technically possible, but highly impracticle. In order to build it you would need 8 nuclear reactors to hook into it and even if you could get the thing to fire (and that is an 'if' the balacing act to keep the thing working is hideously complex) it would fire a paritcle stream for a distance of about half a mile. And it wouldn't do much damage, Tesla underestimated air resistance to that sort of thing.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2006-09-02 04:44pm

His earthquake machine was hilarious, if only for the fact he meant to build a water-massage machine.

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2006-09-02 11:12pm

SirNitram wrote:His earthquake machine was hilarious, if only for the fact he meant to build a water-massage machine.

I was only half-watching the Mythbusters...did it seem like a larger version of that machine would actually cause some serious earthquake-like activity, or no?

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2006-09-03 12:07am

yes and no. It won't work, at that intensity, but you can make a bridge shake within normal tolerances using a six pound wieght and his "earthquake machine"

mind you he was the first one to recognize that Rotegen's X-rays were dangerous, when he seriously burned his lab assistant with radiation. (or should I say he pre-invented the "Microwave Oven" by baking his lab assistant's arm with an X-ray laser)

Spetulhu · Post by **Spetulhu** » 2006-09-03 07:00am

I recall reading of some energy transfer idea he had. Detonate a bomb (as big as you want), send the force of the explosion through another dimension and have it destroy things somewhere else.

It was probably in a Dragon magazine article about improbable but impressive-sounding devices for supervillains.