RESONANCE Read Free Page B

tremendous force, it will still not be sufficient enough to cause a large rock-pile dam to fall."
    "Well, it will create wide cracks inside the masonry and steel panels and then it will not be possible for the weakened foundation to hold it for a long time. The massive backwater pressure of the reservoir will crumble it."
    "Nothing will happen. I'm a structural engineer and I know how big structures like dams take care of cracks. They withstand severe earthquakes and don't collapse like a house of cards. The enormous weight of the sand and earth of the gravity dam will quickly fill up the crack. Any porous opening disappears in the blink of an eye."
    "What if we carry out successive explosions one after another? Will it not be sufficient to cause dam failure?"
    "Each successive explosion will amplify the height and the strength of the waves. Even though each of them will weaken the various segments of the dam, still it cannot tear the dam apart."
    "What is the solution then?"Sundaram seemed to be worried, as his grand plan seemed to be falling apart piece-by-piece.
    "Resonance, my dear, resonance,"said Somashekhar Rao, "It is one of the most striking and unexpected phenomena in physics, which can cause bridges to collapse, aircrafts to turn to dust and buildings to come crumbling down. Think if the sturdy Broughton Suspension Bridge in Britain could give way due to the resonance created simply by the rhythmic steps of marching foot soldiers, imagine the magnitude of devastation that a bigger resonance can create. Tabla maestros and opera singers have been known to shatter glass to smithereens with their mesmerizing beats and shrill high-pitched notes." 1
    Somashekhar Rao poured wine in a plain wineglass and pinged the glass with a teaspoon. He observed the sound attentively and then walked over to the System III Sirius Turntable at the far corner of the room. He chose Luciano Pavarotti's opera performance in bel canto . He mounted the LP, gently lowered the stylus and turned the volume knob, increasing the echo and hum. Nothing happened at tenor and countertenor levels, where the intonation alternated between two extremes. He then slowly turned the knob in the opposite direction, slowly reducing the sound to a very low volume, and waited.
    Every one of them watched tentatively, holding their breath. When the vocal chords of the artist let out a bass-baritone, a large crack spread from the top to the base of the wine glass to the rim, shattering it into tiny shards of glass.
    Somashekhar Rao walked pompously from the music deck to his awed audience. He chuckled, "Resonance of a Simple Harmonic Motion is the only thing that is capable of flattening the entire planet. A well calculated resonance could even split the planet into two."
    The Additional Inspector General of the Central Industrial Security Force then spoke up, "I won't allow any of your reverberation unless you accept my terms."
    Sundaram was upset, "We had a deal."
    "I never agreed to anything. And you've not paid my previous dues yet."
    "What dues?"
    "Well Mr. Iyer, you know the Deputy Commandant at the dam doesn't work under my jurisdiction. Another officer of my rank has jurisdiction over the region. But then, I had to carry out the assigned work against all odds. When the Indian Government received a specific terror threat on dams from western intelligence, the Director General called for a meeting in Delhi. After a lot of deliberation, I convinced the DG to allow us to place the security post at a faraway place on the reservoir and upstream of two rivers. He agreed. To implement it, he assigned the work to me. Then, I had to work out everything to the last possible detail. I knew that I couldn't carry out the sensitive work, if the Deputy Commandant posted at the dam oversaw it. So, I managed a five-day training program for the DC. When he left for the training at NIS Academy in Hyderabad, we started our operations. After that, we had to complete the entire work