Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1857-04-02
Source of the Suns Heat.

Source of the Suns Heat.
rhe so,loxin is an abstract OF Professor
Tbompsou's (of England9 srticle-,oitsn re-
tered TON which he advocates 'ne h'po
,bs.;s .,hat meteors falling into tno sun
49,. rise 70 the heat which ne em'ts.
An tho theories that have yet been p,o-
,ossd M 70 account for the heat OF the sum no 4
fam.,ts as well as every conceisaoie theo'y,
en- ~, ono or other, or q combinaslonse'
'HI -, 80 That the sun is heating body losing
heat. r, the sanis
due TO chemical action among
;o;nsllv belonging to his mass OF 'hatA
al TIA, meteors falling into the sun give
rise to the heat which he emils'
II is demonstrab!e that unless 'ne sun
of matter inconcsiyably more cohuue'he
bo., and less volatile, than any .etiest.
-o,oor;c matter we know, he would oeoo''0
1t in tvo or three minutes, oI uaFs' "
-, Of his nresent rate Of emlssion' no
yea sourcs Of energy to draw from out
primitive heat ;..,;on ia 10
The object of the oomlnun.1a''o ~.
consider the relative capabilities y,
second and third hypothesis to account "
the phenomena. ,b,t there
.,,vavs meteors falling to the SUM- sih'e
,ho f.c. nf me,eors coming TO the ear'h Pio-
vss the existence of such bodies moving
about in space. 1t is easy to prove 'na'
,oor. calling TO the sun must enter ms A.
.,hars or strike his surface with immeh'
oI, creator ralatve veloci:ies than lh''e
,n;tb wbich meteors falling to the earth eh.e'
the earth's atmosphere, or stfiSe IN.
surface. Now Joule has SHOWN 'ha'
> mense ouantities of heat must DC gene.aN
l from this relative motion in case ot me'eo.'
e .au,,r ~ the earth-and it is all but car
3 ,a;n hat in a vast msjority of cases, ms
$ onoro,;on of heat ia SO intense as TO raiSe
n ,hs bodv in temperature gradually up 10 'n
$ ;n,orsa white heat, and cause It 10 ou'''
= ultimately into sparksi in the ar' anu DuA'
e :, hs ot met,llic iron. before IT reaches 'ns
IN su-r,ce Such effects must be exPerienceo
E ~ an enormously greater sdegree before
H. reaching his surfuce, by meteors 'a'hns "
ie The sun, if, as is highly probaoie, lie nus
q. dense atmosphere. Hence 1t Is Certain
~ that some light and heat radlatins 'fou 'Hs
- sun is due to meteors.
lg I,,e a., mated that the quantity OF mat'eE
" that would be required TO striKe' Is aoou'
eh nn,na 70 the square foot for every hSe hours
y A, this rate, the surface would DC coseis'
III to depth of thirty feet IN the year, /" "'
ID, density of the deposit is the same as that o
ss- .n.,.r We find the source OF meteor
on .;nc;nau withiu the earth's orbiti and We
WI actually see them there us 'he -'u.A's
7s' lipht," according to Herschei, an iiiu"ina' ~,
Jus cd shower, ofrather tornado OF stones. An
lie, ;nner narts of this tornado are always GET
E'e ting caught in the suns atmosphere a."
J-,ypt to his mass by graVltatlon. III
'en an,sr odge of the zodfrcal light appears I
er- ro,cb nearly to the earth at present; and Il
er- nos, ti,ne i, NAV be that the earth has bee
at n , dense enough part of it 70 be kept not
OF a the sun is now, by drawing IN meteors
rly i,s surface. ThIsscalculation is accordin
,i;y ., M Wa,erson's form of the theory, ou
lgs' accnrd;pu to Prof. Thompson's, the fall
ces m ,teors must be twice thst Ge'efmih,
'utS above. Then the whole surface wouia
MS covered annually to the depth ot sixty Ice
hen and the sun would grow in diameter MI
ese in etghty-eight years. Even at this rate,
ne yonld take 1000 years to grow sufficient
ing to make the change apparent to the mo
T1- refined observations
'on- A body Of such dimensions as the 81
= might by entering cloud o. metsors'
des- me iocsndsscent intensely in a few secon
La and on again getting to position co
pay para.ively free from meie'rs' as SUDDEN
become dark again
3 Of soDosition that some of the fixed sta
the are suns irregularly supplied with metee
'lent e-o,r nebulous atmosphere. which reyo.v
= to eIipricaliy around. and occasionally env'
'ssiy ones them, may, on this hypothesis, De su
leas- qested as theory to account for the e1
. at fence of periodically fixed stars
'slve If the sun is burning, and its c9nditio
7 so 40 s;,niIar 10 those of the earth, the
! we would be choked, and by no conceira
this admiration of air and fuel, could keep n
); to- "a, more than a few minutes. Fiji conta
Do within itself al the elements Of combusfl
IS OF to give the amoun. oflight and heat re9ui
sun Void bv demonstration cause il to b
the away in 900 years. If the sun has D.
thout burning at that rate, it must have beer
reg double diameter, quadruple heating PoS
It his and eioht-fo!d mass, only S.ooo years age