Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"I was involved in a cloning project. .. to send me into outer space along with a lot of other people. Not the whole me - just a hair from my head, while I still had some. I would thus pop up in another galaxy in the distant future."
- Arthur C. Clarke
 |
| Polaron Beam | ||
| A unique beam of energy that scatters some of its light at right angles to the direction of propagation. |
A classic battle between a stationary fort on the lunar surface versus a quick, mobile spacecraft is decided by this fort-based weapon.
Readers should note that Clarke alters the version of this weapon for use in the 1955 novelization of the story. See the stilletto beam from the novel Earthlight to see Clarke's final (and perhaps more elegant treatment) of this idea.
| For it was during a lull in the engagement that the polaron beam operated for the first time in history.
The two watchers saw it strike upward like an inverted lightning flash. It was clearly visible along its whole length not merely in patches where it passed through dust and gas. Even in that brief instant of time Wheeler noticed this staggering violation of the laws of optics and wondered at its implications. Not until many years later did he learn how a polaron beam radiates some of its energy at right angles to its direction of propagation so that it can be seen even in a vacuum. The beam went through the Phlegethon as if she did not exist. |
| From Earthlight (Novella),
by Arthur C. Clarke. Published by Wonder Stories in 1951 Additional resources -
|
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Earthlight (Novella)
More Ideas
and Technology by Arthur C. Clarke
Tech news articles related to Earthlight (Novella)
Tech news articles related to works by Arthur C. Clarke
| TrackingPoint Smart Rifle |
| Navy Shoots Down Drone, With Help From Dr. Benton Quest |
| DARPA's Upward Falling Payload Like Leinster's Wabbler |
| Arafat Poisoned With Polonium? |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'He pressed hard with his tongue against his right upper first molar.'
'The prototype blue-bellied, gray-backed tracer-bird with the wide-angle eye...'
'See Vee Threepio - Vee for versatility - at your service...'
'Three and a half centimetres in diameter, permanently fixed in the centre of his forehead.'
