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In Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he stayed from May 1899 until early 1900, Tesla made what he regarded as his most important discovery—terrestrial stationary waves. By this discovery he proved that Earth could be used as a conductor and made to resonate at a certain electrical frequency. He also lit 200 lamps without wires from a distance of 40 km (25 miles) and created man-made lightning, producing flashes measuring 41 metres (135 feet). At one time he was certain he had received signals from another planet in his Colorado laboratory, a claim that was met with derision in some scientific journals.
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In his autobiography, he described a magnifying transmitter in detail.
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I have been asked by the ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTER to be quite explicit on this subject so that my young friends among the readers of the magazine will clearly understand the construction and operation of my "Magnifying Transmitter" and the purposes for which it is intended. Well, then, in the first place, it is a resonant transformer with a secondary in which the parts, charged to a high potential, are of considerable area and arranged in space along ideal enveloping surfaces of very large radii of curvature, and at proper distances from one another thereby insuring a small electric surface density everywhere so that no leak can occur even if the conductor is bare. It is suitable for any frequency, from a few to many thousands of cycles per second, and can be used in the production of currents of tremendous volume and moderate pressure, or of smaller amperage and immense electromotive force. The maximum electric tension is merely dependent on the curvature of the surfaces on which the charged elements are situated and the area of the latter.
Judging from my past experience, as much as 100,000,000 volts are perfectly practicable. On the other hand currents of many thousands of amperes may be obtained in the antenna. A plant of but very moderate dimensions is required for such performances. Theoretically, a terminal of less than 90 feet in diameter is sufficient to develop an electromotive force of that magnitude while for antenna currents of from 2,000-4,000 amperes at the usual frequencies it need not be larger than 30 feet in diameter.
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His complete autobiography is available here:
The best way to understand resonance is pushing someone on a swing. If you push at the right time, you keep the motion going and can even increase it.
A similar phenomenon caused the famous collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Because the wind happened to match the natural resonant frequency of the bridge, the bridge absorbed energy and began to swing wildly until it broke apart.
If the earth can be made to act as a conductor, then it is wireless power transfer is possible much like the way radio, cell, and Wi-Fi signals work without direct connections. It's simply a matter of applying alternating current to the earth at the proper frequency and voltage. Depending on the power load, multiple stations would be needed to provide complete coverage for a given area.
A tesla coil can already wirelessly transfer enough to power a light bulb.
In a similar way, a receiver tuned to the right frequency could harvest electrical energy from the earth much like the way a sail catches wind.
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