In his new Manhattan lab, funded meagerly by friends, Tesla’s wondrous imagination led him to research the resonant frequencies of the earth. He mistakenly caused an earthquake that engulfed the surrounding city blocks, breaking windows and shaking the plaster off of the walls. He announced that he had discovered how to turn the earth into a giant tuning fork, and that, in theory, the principles could shatter the Empire State Building or even possibly cause the earth to “split open like an apple.”
