The Photonic Engine
My tenant was all that a landlord would want. He paid his rent on the first day of every month without fail. He arrived early in the evening and went out only after the sun was already halfway up. He made no fuss whatsoever. But lately I was having one problem from the upstairs rooms. A kind of whining sound like that of a giant motor running loudly could be heard. And what's more it could be heard even at the dead of the night. It had been disturbing my daily routine for the past week. I normally would sit studying some novel during the night. The sound coming from the heavens was somewhat irritating to comply with. Moreover the sounds were more pronounced during the morning hours. These sounds were frequently interrupted by what appeared to be loud bangs. These sounds would stop very quickly as soon as two loud bangs were heard. I had given my tenant permission to keep some electric stuff he was experimenting with. But I had not bargained for what I was being put through. I had decided to enquire what the racket was all about? And suggest to him in the mildest of terms to stop that nonsense. Although I did not want to loose such a good tenant I surely wanted to loose all the noise he had been creating.
It was late in the evening that he came in through the main gate. I called out to him from my chair in the portico, "Rajesh, come over here, I have something to talk with you." He was about to climb the staircase, but stopped suddenly when he heard me and turned back. I beckoned him with my hand. He was of the shy kind not very talkative and all that. So I came straight to the point. "Well, Rajesh I wanted to know where all that noise is coming from, are you having some problem with the ceiling fan?" He looked irritated at my question, he replied a little later, "Well it's some of my electric equipment." I knew it would be improper to ask him to stop it after I had given him permission to keep electric equipment. So I casually remarked, "I don't know what experiment is so useful as to put up with all that sound, that does not even let you sleep at night."
At this remark of mine he became quiet grim and rather sharply replied, "I will show you what my experiment does and you can decide whether I need to continue my work or give it up", then he left. So, I decided to visit his room before dinner. Somehow I could not find time till the next day.
However, I found myself knocking his door at around six in the evening on the next day. The dwelling of Rajesh consisted of a small hall, which opened into a side room on the left and a kitchen on the right side. Rajesh led me to the side room to show me his gizmo gadget. Inside the room were stacked all sorts of equipment, broken bulbs, and pliers, burnt out paper and what not. To put in a line 'it was a mess'. At the center of the room on a table was placed a huge cylinder. The cylinder was made up of alternate panels of transparent glass like material and iron sheets. The cylinder was fixed to a rotating wheel on the farther side. I could not see any electric connections to the cylinder, although I searched for one underneath the table also. I guessed it had some sort of a powerful battery inside the cylinder.
As I stood there staring at the spectacular equipment in front of me, the shy Rajesh was transformed into a spectacular speaker. He explained to me all the intricate details of his invention. It was as though Goddess Saraswati had blessed him with powers of speech, which I had failed to notice in him earlier. However, most of what he said was Greek and Latin to me. I have tried to recall some of that conversation. It was more of a monolog, with him speaking and me listening.
"First of all let me tell you something about radiation and matter. Radiation interacts with matter under appropriate conditions. The interaction leads to an abrupt transition of the quantum system such as an atom or a molecule from one energy state to another. These transitions are known as quantum jumps. If the transition is from a higher energy state to a lower one, the system gives out a part of its energy. This energy is given out as light. And if the transition is in the reverse direction, then it absorbs the incident energy.
When such a transition occurs the electron goes to a higher energy level. The energy of electrons increases as it is farther away from the nucleus of that atom or molecule. Thus, when the atom or molecule absorbs a photon it expands. Thus the volume of the entire mass increases. He then picked up a spring lying on the floor and held it in front of me. He continued as though he were addressing a big gathering I could hardly see.
"What you have here in front of you is GC-8. It's a polymer that I have developed. It's a heat stable polymer even at temperatures as high as 300C. I have prepared springs using GC-8. They are highly elastic and have very high tensile strength. It can hold a weight up to 500 tons. These springs expand when exposed to light and contract in darkness giving out heat. A clever system of gears and levers keeps moving these springs into brightness and darkness, hence providing the momentum required by the wheel to rotate."
Just to show off that I was not a ignorant person I remarked, "I have read all about quantum theory, but it is all theoretical stuff isn't it?" "To be truthful, yes, not much has been done practically using the quantum theory concepts. This engine is surely a breakthrough in the application of quantum theory."
Pleased at being acknowledged I asked, "So is this wheel being rotated by solar energy? Its no big deal, haven't you seen solar powered automobiles on discovery channel?"
To this he replied rather boastfully, "There is a big difference between solar powered automobiles and this engine, this engine if fixed into a automobile it can compete with formula one cars and beat them for sure. Apart from that this engine can be run even from the light coming from this tube light here. It does not stop running if the sky is cloudy and in the night the light from the stars is more than sufficient to operate it at optimum speeds "
He went onto explain the magnitude of benefit this engine will have on developing countries like India that are facing an energy crisis. I asked him whether he had shown this invention to anyone else. He replied rather carelessly, that there was no scope for people of his kind in this country. He belonged to the new breed of youngsters who considered patriotism a virtue of the past. I stopped myself from giving him a lecture on the sacrifices our fore fathers had made to achieve freedom. He seemed rather pleased at having me baffled for the whole evening.
Most of what Rajesh was telling was going way over my head. However, I was sure he was onto something big. I thanked him for showing me his invention and came downstairs in time for my Dinner. It was nearly a week later that Rajesh declared he was going to the US. I promptly paid up his deposit for the house. I don't know what happened to Rajesh or his invention. May be its on the last stages of design in NASA for a rocket or in some pentagon secret weapon of the future, only time will tell.
This is an excerpt from the family memoirs of Mr. Kantraj (1951-2004). It has been reproduced with the permission of Mr Sagar, son of kantraj for the benefit of the general public and the scientific community in particular. The above incident is dated around February 2001.
It was late in the evening that he came in through the main gate. I called out to him from my chair in the portico, "Rajesh, come over here, I have something to talk with you." He was about to climb the staircase, but stopped suddenly when he heard me and turned back. I beckoned him with my hand. He was of the shy kind not very talkative and all that. So I came straight to the point. "Well, Rajesh I wanted to know where all that noise is coming from, are you having some problem with the ceiling fan?" He looked irritated at my question, he replied a little later, "Well it's some of my electric equipment." I knew it would be improper to ask him to stop it after I had given him permission to keep electric equipment. So I casually remarked, "I don't know what experiment is so useful as to put up with all that sound, that does not even let you sleep at night."
At this remark of mine he became quiet grim and rather sharply replied, "I will show you what my experiment does and you can decide whether I need to continue my work or give it up", then he left. So, I decided to visit his room before dinner. Somehow I could not find time till the next day.
However, I found myself knocking his door at around six in the evening on the next day. The dwelling of Rajesh consisted of a small hall, which opened into a side room on the left and a kitchen on the right side. Rajesh led me to the side room to show me his gizmo gadget. Inside the room were stacked all sorts of equipment, broken bulbs, and pliers, burnt out paper and what not. To put in a line 'it was a mess'. At the center of the room on a table was placed a huge cylinder. The cylinder was made up of alternate panels of transparent glass like material and iron sheets. The cylinder was fixed to a rotating wheel on the farther side. I could not see any electric connections to the cylinder, although I searched for one underneath the table also. I guessed it had some sort of a powerful battery inside the cylinder.
As I stood there staring at the spectacular equipment in front of me, the shy Rajesh was transformed into a spectacular speaker. He explained to me all the intricate details of his invention. It was as though Goddess Saraswati had blessed him with powers of speech, which I had failed to notice in him earlier. However, most of what he said was Greek and Latin to me. I have tried to recall some of that conversation. It was more of a monolog, with him speaking and me listening.
"First of all let me tell you something about radiation and matter. Radiation interacts with matter under appropriate conditions. The interaction leads to an abrupt transition of the quantum system such as an atom or a molecule from one energy state to another. These transitions are known as quantum jumps. If the transition is from a higher energy state to a lower one, the system gives out a part of its energy. This energy is given out as light. And if the transition is in the reverse direction, then it absorbs the incident energy.
When such a transition occurs the electron goes to a higher energy level. The energy of electrons increases as it is farther away from the nucleus of that atom or molecule. Thus, when the atom or molecule absorbs a photon it expands. Thus the volume of the entire mass increases. He then picked up a spring lying on the floor and held it in front of me. He continued as though he were addressing a big gathering I could hardly see.
"What you have here in front of you is GC-8. It's a polymer that I have developed. It's a heat stable polymer even at temperatures as high as 300C. I have prepared springs using GC-8. They are highly elastic and have very high tensile strength. It can hold a weight up to 500 tons. These springs expand when exposed to light and contract in darkness giving out heat. A clever system of gears and levers keeps moving these springs into brightness and darkness, hence providing the momentum required by the wheel to rotate."
Just to show off that I was not a ignorant person I remarked, "I have read all about quantum theory, but it is all theoretical stuff isn't it?" "To be truthful, yes, not much has been done practically using the quantum theory concepts. This engine is surely a breakthrough in the application of quantum theory."
Pleased at being acknowledged I asked, "So is this wheel being rotated by solar energy? Its no big deal, haven't you seen solar powered automobiles on discovery channel?"
To this he replied rather boastfully, "There is a big difference between solar powered automobiles and this engine, this engine if fixed into a automobile it can compete with formula one cars and beat them for sure. Apart from that this engine can be run even from the light coming from this tube light here. It does not stop running if the sky is cloudy and in the night the light from the stars is more than sufficient to operate it at optimum speeds "
He went onto explain the magnitude of benefit this engine will have on developing countries like India that are facing an energy crisis. I asked him whether he had shown this invention to anyone else. He replied rather carelessly, that there was no scope for people of his kind in this country. He belonged to the new breed of youngsters who considered patriotism a virtue of the past. I stopped myself from giving him a lecture on the sacrifices our fore fathers had made to achieve freedom. He seemed rather pleased at having me baffled for the whole evening.
Most of what Rajesh was telling was going way over my head. However, I was sure he was onto something big. I thanked him for showing me his invention and came downstairs in time for my Dinner. It was nearly a week later that Rajesh declared he was going to the US. I promptly paid up his deposit for the house. I don't know what happened to Rajesh or his invention. May be its on the last stages of design in NASA for a rocket or in some pentagon secret weapon of the future, only time will tell.
This is an excerpt from the family memoirs of Mr. Kantraj (1951-2004). It has been reproduced with the permission of Mr Sagar, son of kantraj for the benefit of the general public and the scientific community in particular. The above incident is dated around February 2001.
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