Re: without wires?

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Ed Phillips" <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net> 

"     Tesla describes in patent No. 645,576 using the upper region of
the
troposphere (approx.10-15 miles high) as his conduction layer.
      The ionosphere (approx.50-200 miles high) has pressures 100-1000
times
too low for transmission by conduction as Tesla envisioned it. He
specified
required air pressure as 100~150 mmHg.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

      The existence of the ionosphere was not even established until
several
years after the Wardenclyffe tower was demolished, Even the theoretical
possibility of its existence wasn't proposed by Oliver Heaviside until 2
years AFTER Tesla's patent was issued.

      In the next few decades, it may be possible to test Tesla's system
as
envisioned at 10-15 miles altitude using a balloon with a
tether/conductor
of carbon nano-tubes. And in a few years, someone will claim, in all
sincerity, that Tesla also envisioned buckyballs and nano-tubes.

Matt D."

	His patents and articles clearly show that his upper conductor is a
conducting sphere surrounding the entire earth at the altitudes you
say.  For fun, try making the following calculations:

1. Calculate the capacitance of two concentric spheres with the inner
one having the mean diameter of the earth and the second one that
diameter plus 2 x 15 or 20 miles.

2. Calculate the reactance of that capacitor at any of the frequencies
he discusses.  [He was always astonishingly vague about his frequencies,
even though he knew how to calculate them almost exactly.]

3. Calculate the current which the transmitter would have to feed into
that reactance to maintain the "100,000,000 volts" he mentions
repeatedly.

4. Calculate the effect series loss resistance that would be required to
permit maintaining that voltage with "a few horsepower".

5. Calculate the tuning inductance required to resonate that capacitance
at your selected operating frequency.

6. Design a coil of that inductance and compare its DC resistance (lower
limit) with the resistance from step 4.

7. Ponder the output of your calculations.

These are all steps that an engineer would have to perform in designing
a station according to the very detailed descriptions in Tesla's
patents.  Tesla could have done them all but apparently he never
bothered.

	These simple and straightfoward calculations would take a handbook and
at most couple of hours time with a pocket calculator so why don't one
of you try and let us know what you find and what your conclusions are.

	For those who get all the way to step 7, consider one more step.
Calculate the sharpness of tuning ("Q") which would result from
maintaining that high voltage with acceptable losses.

	I've done all of this a couple of times and as a result I'm not holding
my breath until a Tesla world power system arrives.

Ed

P.S. As far as the experiment with the balloon and bucky balls, remember
that you have to have one terminal of your devices connected to the
earth and thus the lead would be 10 to 15 miles long.  Calculate the
size of conductor that would be required to meet the resistance limit of
step 4.