This article is for quizzes on Tuesday August 9th...
Teleforce was proposed defensive weapon by
Nikola Tesla that accelerated pellets or slugs of material to a high velocity inside a vacuum chamber via
electrostatic repulsion and then fired them out of aimed nozzles at intended targets. Tesla claimed to have conceived of it after studying the
Van de Graaff generator. Tesla described the weapon as being able to be used against ground-based infantry or for anti-aircraft purposes.
Teleforce was mentioned publicly in the
New York Sun and
The New York Times on July 11, 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or
death ray. The idea of a "death ray" was a misunderstanding in regards to Tesla's term when he referred to his invention as a "death beam" so Tesla went on to explain that "this invention of mine does not contemplate the use of any so-called 'death rays.' Rays are not applicable because they cannot be produced in requisite quantities and diminish rapidly in intensity with distance. All the energy of New York City (approximately two million horsepower) transformed into rays and projected twenty miles, could not kill a human being, because, according to a well known law of physics, it would disperse to such an extent as to be ineffectual. My apparatus projects particles ..."
