The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-09-03
HoH Old rs TIE EARTHY
what IL the Cause Of tho suns Heat and
How Old 10 itf

one million OF years ago. Remarking upon this
Mr.. James CroIl says
If the beginning OF the glacial epoch
be carried back million years, then
ciudes, P that the beginning Of the 1smbran
period will require 70 Ue placed Ec" ,Hai ,S S
ages Ut geological history may he a. great as
that which has elapsed Aimee tho close OF the
sSa Se p e"mpslisd to admit that nearly
5O,WopD years have passed away since the
But we have evidence OF physical nature
which proves that II H. absolutely impossible |
that the existing order OF things, regards our
globe, can date 40 far back as anything liNe
refer are tlioss which have been advanced by
Professor Sir William Thomson at various times.
These arguments are well known, ana 70 all
who have really given due attention 70 them
pernuous to state them here. shall, however
Tor reasons which will presently appear, refer
seems to he the most conclusive OF all, VIZ the
argument derived from tho limit TO the age OF
the suns heat.
That the sun il hot needs Just at present no
philosophical demonstration. Few persons,
however, even when most affected by Its power,
reflect on the tremendous energy Of that body
which from distance of more than s,oo0OOO
of miles strikes down man and beast with the
fervency of its rays Such rays are at all times,
without break or intermlssion, streaming In all
directions from Its surface. In one second OF
time an amount OF heat equal to about I,VD
horse power Is radated OF every square foot OF
Its superficial area The combustion OF about
f5OO pounds OF coal per hour on every such
square foot OF surface would be required to
maintain this rate OF radiation and had the sun
been mass Of coal II would all have been con-
sumed In loss than 5000 years, ", during that
time, 1t had given out constantly the quantity
IL. fl.a
theory that the suns heat Is maintained by com
| bustion Ia plainly untonabls. In another way
the same quantity Of coal could put In action
an amount Of energy very many times greater
| than would be produced by its burning. A
| pound OF coal falling into the sun from an In
| mite distance would produce by Its conclusion
| more than 1900 times the amount OF heat that
would he generated by its combustion"
| piece OF coal that on the earth would
| weigh one pound, would, on the surface of the
| sun, weigh twenty-eght pounds. Half the
| diameter OF the sun has been calculated to
| be 4i,G0 miles. Assuming this calculation
| to be correct, "the energy Of pound Of
matter falling into the sun from lnnnite space
would equal that OF a ~ pound weight descend
ing upon the earth from an elevation OF 4i.0o0
miles, supposing the force Of gravity to be as
great At that elevation a. It il at tho eartb's sur
face. II would amount 20 6l,0Oo0D,0cD foot
| pounds. better Idea of this enormous amount
| OF energy eKerted 10y = one-pound weight falling
into the sun, will be conveyed by stating that
1t would be sufficient to raise loo tons to a
height OF Ave and a half miles. II would pro-
loct the Warrior, fully equipped with guns,
stores. and ammunition, over the top OF Bon
Nevis"
The theory that gravitation Ia the source OF
the suns heat IL now generally accepted IL this
theory be the true one the value Of the cause,
and, consequently, the amount OF the effect
| may be exactly calculated. "Prodgtous as Is
| the energy Of single pound OF matter fallins
into the sun, nevertheless a range Of mountains
| consisting Of lf6 cubic miles OF solid rock, fall
ing into the sun, would maintain It's heat iol
| only single second. mass equal to that oil
the earth would maintain the heat Tor only nine
ty-three years, and a mass equal TO that OF tn
sun Itself falling into the sum- would AFFORD bu
10000 years sun-heat"
Ii IL easY to conceive, however that bod
| uuce nyits concnsslon a cOrrespondingly great
era amount OF heat. Thus Il Ia p,,.sible that
meteor might move into the sun with all III
velocity which II had while sweeping throug,
space before reaching the limits Of the sun,
attraction, increased by that attraction. that ia
by gravtation.
theory that the suns heat Ia caused by IN
conclusion OF such neteors A. they fail into tho
sun was advanced by Dr. Meyer, OF Hellbronn
hut II IA generally taken for granted tn,
meteors which rush on to such n fate rnu.t IA.
rare and this meteoric theory has for the most
part given way TO that advocated 10y Hslmholtx
rms philosopher supposes that the sun origin
alyexist"d a. "a nebulous mass, nlling the entir.
Spaoe presently occupied by the solar system
and extending into space Indefinitely beyond
the ontermost planet = and he has given a for
| ntlla by which all ha
would do In condcnsing such nlass to An orl
OF tho suns present size may be ascerts,ned and
expressed IN measures OF heat. II may in thi
way De shown that tho amount OF heat thus
produced by Rravtation wouid sunce for
nearly 9l.SE,'00 years" This would be the r.sul
| II the density Of the sun is uniform throughnn,
| It's likely, however that this density becoma.
greater toward the centre; and II so tho
amount ~ work done by grayitatlon and con
seIuehtiy the amount OF heat produced by oon-
densation, would be somewhat creator I'm,
even IN this case, though tho geological his,orv
OF the earth be limited 10 term very much
shorter than that supposed by Sir Ch.lea Lv.,l
this theory Of Helmholtz IL not suificient To
explain the production Of all the heat that u,,lst
| have been emitted from the sun during such
history " Even supposing we lin. the geologi.
cal history OF our globe 10 on6 hundred mi lions
OF years IL Is nevertheless evident that df,.ita-
t'oh VIII not account for tho supply OF the sun'a
neat during 80 long period"
nut Is there not some other souroo OF heat
much moro productive than grayitation2 And
may not both these sources serve hsrmoniousIv
together each contributing It's portion Of sun'.
heatf According to the grayltation theory. II
IL supposed that the nebulous mass. which VIVA
condensed into the present sun, existed with.
out temperature and that heat was given tn IL
by the force OF graytation in condensing. II Il
more likely that such mass would be kent In
nebulous state by excessive heat, and that CON
den7atlon only commenced whom tho telnpern-
ture began to fall. " Il seems far moro prob-
able that this should have been the case than
That the mass existed In 50 rareAcd condition
without temperature. For why should the par
ucles have existed IN this separated form when
devoid OF the repulsive energy Of heat, seeing
that In virtue OF gravltatlon they had such n
tendency to approach 10 one anotherY' II this
mass was made nebulous by heat II wa. necoa
sarly stupendous reservoir OF calorlc In he
added to that produced by the work Of graylta-
ton' Ia calculating the number Of wears heat
when the sun has radiated. But the amount
thus held IN this nebulous reservoir cannot. ike
tIdt produced by graVitattnr "a