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"Does it open a new horizon for my thinking? Does it lead me to think new kinds of thoughts, that I would not otherwise perhaps have thought at all? These qualities are what [make] science fiction ...unique."
- Frederik Pohl
 |
| Electron Gun | ||
| How to add a lot of electrons to a lot of positrons? |
A businessman decides to corner the market on potable water by changing natural water to heavy water. How can you even find him?
Having found his hidden base, an electron gun is needed to make some permanent changes, and return the natural order.
How Munn has been curving his
streams of positrons so that we can’t
check back by directional angles to their
source. He’s superimposed an additional positive charge. The earth is an
enormous magnet. The south pole is
its negative pole. As a result of the
extra charge the streams of positrons,
no matter which way they start out
originally, feel the pull of the south
pole and swerve slightly, but continuously, in that direction. Given the
amount of surplus charge, the pull of
the earth, the voltage and speed of the
electrons, I believe I’ll be able to plot
their paths back to the point of origin.
| Sandy Dale went
into action. The snout of his queer-looking machine pointed straight for
the cavern opening. It was simple in
construction. Two upright tubes of
heavy quartz filled with helium, a highly
compact electrostatic machine for generating continuous streams of electrons
from the helium gas; and an impulse-breaker for emitting them in surges.
The helium glowed into incandescence; the hum of the machine grew to a piercing shriek. The air along the path of the streaming particles glittered with fine pin points of flame. The hurtling electrons crashed with inconceivable velocity into the circling positrons. Positive and negative coalesced and vanished into the substratum of the cosmos. A blinding flare of radiation marked the disappearance.
 (Electron gun from 'The Great Thirst' by Nat Schachner) The great concave arch of the protective curtain took form and visibility as a huge bending sheet of flame, A gasp of astonishment went up from the bewildered troops. The colonel’s mouth was agape. Sandy grinned and set the machine up a notch. The whine became almost unbearable. The curtain of fire pushed in as though it were an elastic ball, but still it did not break. |
| From The Great Thirst,
by Nat Schachner. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1934 Additional resources -
|
As usual, though, more power carries the day!
See also contraterrene matter from Collision Orbit (1942) by Jack Williamson.
Thanks to @MrBeamJockey for tweeting about this classic story.
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Great Thirst
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and Technology by Nat Schachner
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Tech news articles related to works by Nat Schachner
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'Why must we travel ever faster in a seemingly insatiable desire to conquer space and time?'
'It was as if some invisible jet impinged upon them and flashed into white flame.'
'Electronic differentiation of the grotesque, as it says in the specifications - in man, a sense of humor.'
'And as the ball bulleted downward on a screaming slant, it shrank!'
'Hufhuf oil held in static tension... within a viewing tube...'
'The wings were at full spread-rest, their delicate metal interleavings extended.'
'A record that wouldn't get lost and couldn't be destroyed.'
