The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1891-12-17
RA1NMAKING BY ELECTRICITY.
Showing the Defects Of the Present Expert
ments and Giving New Formula, by j.
?. Hachenberp. IL D. Austin, Tex.

1t is self-evident that there are other
agents that cooperate with electricity
to cause rain, as heat, cold, humidity,
air in motion, gravitation, etc. The
prime electrical processes in pro-
ducing rain are the operation Of evap-
grafton, the formation Of clouds, and
the coalescence Of the atomic mist into
falling drops of water. The evapora-
ton Of fluids is complex affair. The
atomic cell of g fluid to be
carried in the air as a
vapor is partially formed under the
agency of heat, Of wind, but its glob.
ular form is the cOnjoined work OF
gravitation and electricity. We draw
this inference by analogy, from what
we know Of all isolated globular
bodies, whether atomic or immense
in size-from floating vapor in the
air to the largest planetary body in
the heavens.
If heat will facilitate evaporation,
it is not an indispensable agent to
bring it about; for cold wind blowing
onice and snow will disappear by
evaporation. Any dynamic action on
fluids has the same effect, and it is
this that is necessary to invite the adj
junct action Of electricity to complete
the process.
AS to the ascension Of the vapor
from the plan Of evaporation, what
are the influences that resist the laws
Of gravitation, as it is carried to the
clouds? 1t appears that there are two
ways to account for it. The
atomic vapOr cell that is
cast globular by electricity contains
a hydrogenized element, brought
about by an electro-chemical decom-
position, therefore its ascension il
made, it being lighter than atmos-
pheric air. An electric displacement
Of certain amount Of oxygen out Of
the cell would readily affect this.
But if in part this may be the means to
carry vapor cell into the clouds, it is
aided if not entirely dependent upon
the ascending force Of electricity itself.
What is this ascending force of cleo
tricity.
y
its presence and transmission are
manifested only by the aid of foreign
bodies Of peculiar physical structure.
These bodies by electricians are called
conductors. 1t is the evapOrated
water that carries electricity into the
clouds. That force exists in the cleo
. trcal affinity it has for that Of the
sun. 1t is this affinity that gives ter
restrial electricity all its activity. But
it's ascension is limited to the clouds,
asthere is nothing beyond it to carry
it further on; as it has no affinity
for a rarifed atmosphere, free
from all humidity. 1t is on this
account that electricity is interstitial
in bodies and ever seeks the surface,
and that, too, Notwithstanding the
best known nOn-cOnductors. The At
lantic cables verify this fact. At the
laying of the first cable |, through the
press, predicted, on these very
grounds, the enterprise failure, and
it proved so within hairs breadth.
The analysis Of portion of the
water cell is effected to secure its
passage to the clouds, there in time to
meet its synthesis in a lightning
flash. 1t is conjoined hydrogen and
electricity that gives violence to a
lightning stroke. Without the for.
mer as an element in lightning, there
would be an excess Of electricity in the
air like that of the arctic regiOn-a
difused aurora boreals. The chemist
can readily perceive that the fulmina
ting power given to lightning is not
in the hydrogen alone but in its pow
erful affinity for oxygen caused by an
electrical ignition. The simultaneous
action of ten thousand dynamOs could
not produce the phenomenon Of a
strong lightning stroke. The process
, of coalescence Of the cloud mist
into rain is strictly electrical
in its nature. 1t is not so much
the quantity CT water in the
, clouds that causes rain, as certain
electric conditions ofthe clouds. There
never was but one one rain where the
clouds surrendered in a measure theil
full store of water. Could there he al
: entire sudden displacement of electric
ity in the clouds, so fearful deluge
would immerse the earth as not tt
leave living thing-leaving the face
of the earth a common sea for years tC
. come without limit if the electricity
were not restored.
What is this electric condition o
the clouds that favors rain? Each
water cell, in the form of vapOr, car
ries it J equivalent of electricity to the
clouds, and there, under the influence
of cold air, coalesces with other cells
TO form clouds. The enlargement o
the water cells lessons the forces o
electricity, not only that, but it sur
renders part to the cloud to which
} it belongs, establishing a common
equilibrium. But there is a limita
ton to this electrical intiltration, so tC
speak. When it gets to all excess the
water cells are still more forced into
each other, clouds of different cleo.
trcal tensions are brought together
causing the most violent electrical
} perturbation, the resulting thunder
and Lightning further aid the coales-
cence of the mist, until the weight be-
comes so great that electrical force
can no longer support it, and it falls
| 4 10, al 80, hA of rain