Author's Musings

February 2023

Here you will find the musings of the author about his writing and general  interest.

Author's Musings

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“double line of towering pillars”

Feb 10, 2023

“…they saw a vast roof far above their heads upheld by many mighty pillars hewn of stone.” From the book Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien, this passage describes a chamber in the mines of Moria which comes to life brilliantly in director Peter Jackson’s trilogy. 
Although the series of books is a work of fantasy, you might be surprised to come across the real life existence of just such a place in your world travels. For instance, there is a vast salt mine in Slanic, Prahova, Romania, partially shown beside an artist’s depiction of Moria, in the photo on the right. If you look closely, you can see wooden railings 54 meters above the floor where visitors can look down from above. What amazing structures can sometimes collide in fantasy and in fact. Or, who knows, was Jackson’s imagination spurred by a trip to Romania?
Art by Alan Lee
Photo by @travelguster

A Working Tractor Beam

Feb 2, 2023

Any fans of the science fiction genre have read and watched scenes wherein an object, such as a space vessel, has been trapped in an invisible beam, unable to break free from its grasp and inexorably drawn into the beam. These tractor beams, as they are usually known, play a part in Star Trek, Star Wars, and District 9 to name just a few. A tractor beam is a hypothetical energy beam that can move objects at a distance. It might amaze you to know that the name was first coined in 1931 by E. E. Smith in his novel Spacehounds of IPC.
Well, this was made less hypothetical in 2022 when scientists invented a machine that produces a beam able to repeatedly pull an object over a distance using a specialized laser. The only drawback currently is that it can move only extremely tiny objects. Take a look at the comments on a GIF from Optica Publishing Group showing a green laser flash onto a pendulum plate five centimeters (two inches) long and pull on the plate. There is hope that this technique will be further developed and used in practical applications.
One of the scientists voiced, "The rarefied gas environment we used to demonstrate the technique is similar to what is found on Mars. Therefore, it might have the potential for one day manipulating vehicles or aircraft on Mars."   
For more technical information visit: https://www.optica.org/en-us/
Art by Euderion