Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-08-29
FIBERs MADE Of QUAR.z
Compared With Their Thinnesa Those Of
SILK AMI Other Substances Are Nowhere.

SILK ami Other Substances Are Nowhere.
GDEoPLE COMMONLY SPEAK OF A
u hair as representing the utmost conceiv-
able fineness," said aphysicist to a STAR writer.
but copper wire can be spun much finer. so
that its diameter will be little more than .
one-thousandth OF an inch.
with spun glass you can even excel the
copper wire in point Of thinncss. making il
less than one one-thou sandth OF an inch thick
However, silk fber is finer b. far than spun glass
can be naia- Each fiber Of a silk cocoon is
only one two-thousandth OF an inch thick
But suppose that you want something finer
than hair, or drawn copper. or spun glass, or
silk fiber. you can get it by melting quartz I'M
- an oxy-hydrogen blowpipe and pulling il
oat So ine is the result obtainable tina,
lengths Of quartz fiber can be thus procured
many yards long and not more than one Ave
thousandth OF an inch in thickness Yet these
are coarse beside Others which you can get
from the same mater ial. which may be drawn
out to a diameter that has been estimated al
one-millonth of an inch. Such pipes can be
made In this way. but they are invisible under
the microscope OF the highest power You can
get notion of their fncness when the fact is
stated thatan inch cube Of quartz drawn ont
TO inns degree would go around the world 65s
times. To put il otherwise. a grain of sand
barely large enough TO be visible 20 the naked
eve would mako 1000 miles of thread. TIE
finest of such fibers is stronger in proportion
70 Its thickness than the best quality OF bar
steel.
such minute figures. however, cannot be
dealt with with comprehension. Suppose
therefore. that you draw your quartz fbers 10
the thickness OF one acknowledgements part
OF an inch That Is comparatively coarse. but
II you were to take 100 of them and twist them
INTO bundle you would produce n cable OF
tho diameter of single silk worms thread.
do not mean the silk for sewing that is wound
upon reel. for that is composed Of an enor.
NOUS number OF such threads, but Of the fiber
as 1t is wound from tho cocoon.
1T is an interesting experiment 10 make
imitation spider webs from these quartz fbers
The thing is easy enough TO do, and il is read.
lily possible TO coax spider from the real web
| to the false one by the buZzing Of a fly. Ii is
| not readily practicable TO make fy buzz Jus,
so as TO produce the result aimed at but the
object IN view is accomplished in moment by
making an ordinary tuning fork buzz agains.
| the web. Immediately the spider jumps Tor tine
imaginary fly, and your purpose is accom-.
plishod. Unfortunately Mistress hrachnid i,
not able to climb about without great difficulty
| upon the artificial web. because it is 80 slip
| perry. The web will not catch flies, either for
the reason that il is not sticky, as is that made
| by spider, but you make il sticky by
stroking the quartz fbers lightly with a straw
wet with castor oil. and then the web will cap
ture flies like a real one.
IF you will examine such fbers under a
microscope you will observe that they exhibit
the most beautiful coloring. Yol can make
oupDies out OF the quartz, too. which have al
the perfection of form and rainbow tinting
tnat Is Possessed by the soap bubbles blown
with q pipe"