Five Hundred Miles an Hour 



An electromagnetic method of transporting you through a 

 vacuum from New York to San Francisco in half a day- 



Prof essor Weinberg prepared the fol- 

 lowing article for POPULAR SCIENCE 

 Monthly at the editor's request. It is 

 the only one he has permitted to 

 appear on the remarkable electromagnetic 

 transportation system that he discussed 

 before the Engineering Section of the 

 American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science. — EDITOR. 



AFTER CLOSING FIRST DOOR AIR 

 IS EXHAUSTED FROM THIS 

 CHAMBER 



DOOR RAISED TO ADMIT 

 LOADED TRUCK 



HERMETICALLY SEALE;- CA' 

 ACCOnnOOATlNC ONE 

 PASSENGER tEisG 

 LOAOEIJ^ON! flAIL TRUCK. 



By Boris Weinberg 



Professor of Physics in the Technological Institute 

 of Tomsk, Siberia 



MAGNETICALLY SUSPENDED 

 CAR RUSHING FORWARD \N 

 VACUUM 



Starting off on a 

 journey through the 

 vacuum tube. The 

 cars are cylindrical 

 in shape and carry 

 one passenger each 



LIGHT travels at the rate of one 

 hundred and eighty-six thousand 

 miles a second. That is the highest 

 velocity that theoretically can ever be 

 attained not only by any material bodies, 

 but even by isolated electrons — atoms of 

 electricity. In comparison, racing aero- 

 planes which are credited with speeds of 

 one hundred and fifty miles an hour, seem 

 snail-like. The fastest artificial thing is a 

 bullet as it leaves the muzzle of a riHe, 



although its speed is only three thousand 

 miles an hour. Small as that is when 

 compared with the velocity of light, still 

 it proves that the railway train and the 

 aeroplane by no means represent the limit 

 of terrestrial possibilities. 



To attain speed, however low, energ>' 

 must be expended not only to start the 

 motion of a body but to overcome the 

 resistance of the air and friction against the 

 train caused by gravitation. The resistance 



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