"Wanna burn out my motor?"
"Not completely. This dingbat will stop a completely mechanical gadget like a clock. It seems to draw power from electric lights. It stops electromechanical power. I wonder just how far it will go toward absorbing power. And also I want to know where the power goes."
The tube was made to stop the clock again. The motor groaned under the load put upon it by the tube. Apparently the action of the tube was similar to a heavy load being placed on whatever its end happened to point to. Barney picked up a small metal block and dropped it over the table.
"Want to see if it absorbs the energy of a falling object—Look at that!"
The block fell until it came inside of the influence of the tube. Then it slowed in its fall and approached the table slowly. It did not hit the table, it touched and came to rest.
"What happens if we wind up a spring and tie it?" asked Jim.
They tried it. Nothing happened.
"Works on kinetic energy, not potential energy," said Barney.
He picked up a heavy hammer and tried to hit the table. "Like swinging a club through a tub of water," he said.
"Be a useful gadget for saving the lives of people who are falling," said Jim thoughtfully.