Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1881-10-04
THE couscn s.uffs EXPLOSION.
A scien,ias Explanation .r It's Cause. and

A Gc'en;ific Explanation ar Its Causes and
Effects.
Prof. Il. T.. Page in the Council Bluffs Non
pnTil.
OF course every one has their own
theory of the matter, each that they are
right and the rest wrong, aud each
opinion is bassd upon observation ard
exIerlcncc. Sclence has however dem
onstrated that undirectea observation is
qnite oItGp wholly atfault. Toinstance.
for hunNels OF years observation taught
the world that the earth was the center
of the universe and tho sun, moon and
stars reynlyed around it. Science and
its appliances ut last convinced the world
that all f3sthcir obscrrationsi had been a
IJelusion, and the ealth'nnd moon revoly.
| edsarouud the sun. SO We here men say
that different explosive have habits
Idiferent directions; gun-powder up,
dynamite down. etc, and this is shown
by experience. Ii tale cur had been load.
ed with Any other explosive both Omaha
and COUNCIL Bluffs would have been
wholly destroyed, The truth is that all
lexpIosiycs.Rre alike in that respect. only
differing in power. An explosion il
anything that bl,rns quickly, Saltpetrc,
Or nitre. Which is the same thing, united
with carbon forms the ordinary explosive
OF commerce. - Saltpetre and charcoal
mako powder. Saltpetre and glycerine
make nitro glycerine, and nitro glyccrine
and alloyed or ainlterhted with soil
make dynamite. 1T is not practicable
to- ship nitro glycerine ih its pure form
The heat Of the sun or the conclusion of
the cars passing over the road would
explode it, OF would be liable to, hence
its adulteration. It's explosion is purely
a chemical result like. all other fires.
Heat is the arrest OF motion, whether
from the 4. sui or the fur
Lace. 1t is the uniting of oxygen and
hydrogen in the explosion that produces
the heat Heat causes expansion in pro-
portion to its intensity. . '.e-'.- -
In this instance whole car Of dyna
mite doomed in an instant. Tho concns-
SION OF atoms of oxygen and hydrogen
produced the heat BY the arrest of
motion in the impingment of the atoms.
Oxygen 'ahd hydrogen joined forms
water, in this explosion the heat was SO
! intense Us to vaporize the water, and
1sthat .vapor Joined with the liberated
4 carbon, formed dense cloud covering
the whole southern part of the city. The
sudden explosion Of heated air drove
open the walls, and when they fell to-
gether it produced lond report. The
waves OF energy passed in front Of glass
windows driving the air before it caus-
ing = e.lehun, while Oh tie inside of the
/. windows the air was pressing fifteen
pounds TO tl,e square inch, a pressure
greater tl.au the glass conld resist unless
equally sustained by pressure on the
other side, and hence gave away in frag
ments. ,z.
The hole in the ground under the ca,
was produced by tie recoil that the hun
ter feels against his shoulder when he
discharges his gun. The pressure was
equal i'll all directions, but as the waves
OF energy extended they divided irtc
beams like those of the sun and one
window YVES demolished and its mate es
capped because out of the track of the
heat beam. The formation OF the coun-
try had much to do IN guiding the waves
of energy. The bluffs conveyed them
along up the river so that the shock was
felt at Sioux City very distinctly, while
scarcely noticed ten miles to the east.