The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-05-06

with oxygen companions, themselves are
attracted by other oxygen molecules. and
glow and shine for q while until consumed
and converted by the new union into the
so-called oarbonio acid. Now this combi-
nation of Oxygen and carlo produces
nevsr be exceeded by a fame involving
those materials; and if the molecules
of oxygen and hydrogen. or of oxy-
gen and carbon, come together at q higher
Temperature. j. g., in some places whore it
is already hotter than they could make it
by their union. they refuse to combine.
Nay, further, if vapor of water, or car
bonlo acid gas. be exposed to such a tenn
peraturs, their composite molecules come
to pieces. so to speak-to use the technical
term, the hydrogen and oxygen, or the
carbon and oxygen, are "dissoeiated"-to
combine again as soon as the Temperature
falls sufficiently. ~"
Now the SUMS surface is in all probability
hotter than the ''dissociation" Temperature
of any clements known to be present there;
and this 10 What We mean by saying that
the substances of the sun are ''too hot to
burn"
But there are other ways than burning
temperature raised beyond any limit
known.
A smith. BY hammering a nail, with
profer precautions. can make it red hot.
In boring 3 hole with a gimlet, both wood
and Rimlet are heated. Sometimes car
axlss are heated by friction till they set this
car on IRE. In COMPRISING air for certain
machinery it is made intensely hot, SO that
means have to be used to prsvent it doing
damage.
Now it is believed that the sun is a great
ball OF gases and yapors, kept hot by it's
shrlnkage in size.
There is no question that the shrinkape
of GnCh n hall 1o1or fhA form ~ <bo "a :,
tual attraction of its particles must heat it.
1t can be proved mathematioally-it is not
a mere matter of guesswork or opinion
that if the sun is now shrinking at such a
rate that its diameter diminishes more than
about 800 feet a year it must be growing
o1ntinually hotter. If tho s%hrinkage is
less than this it may be cooling off slowly.
Almost all astronomers agree in suppos.
ing that at one time, ages ago, the sun was
a great whirling nebula or cloud, filling the
whole space now occupied by the solar sys-
tenn, and that this system han come into it's
of this primeval cloud. The smaller
globes-the p~lanets-havs soliGified and
Ceased to shrink to any great extent. and
30 have cooled down more or less COM
pletely, like the earth. But in the great
central globe the process is not finished,
and is not likely to be for millions of years
to come. 30 that it still CLOVIS with a fiery
heat that no furnace can rival, and biazes
with a brillianos more dazzling than any
human art can produce.
For myself do not think it neo essary to
look further for an explanation of the in
tensity of sunlight.
But there arc some who do not feel quito
satisfied and are disposed to call in the aid
of electrical action.
1t is true, of course, that a thing can be
heated, and that to a temperature beyond
any known limit, by passing through it an
electrical current OF sufficient intensity.
The carbon flament in an electric (incan-
descent) lamp is not 'burning," but is
made hot and luminous by the current
flowing through it.
Those, therefore. who are dissatisfied
with the mechanical explanation of the
solar heat as produced by shrinkage, main
tain that the SUMS light is generated by in
tense electric currents circulating upon its
surface.
1t would take too long to show why this
is hardly likely, and the discussion would
not be suited to these columns; but there
is no way known in which electric cur
rents of sufficient power could be made to
act over tho whole surface of a sphere at
once, nor any reason to suppose that it oan
be done. Still, it is quite possible, and
even likely, that the exceptional br~ilIiance
of ANAL portions of the surface here and
there may BIO caused, in part, by some ac-
ton Of the sort, adding intensity to the
light due to the general heat of the lumi-
nous shell. PRoF. G. A. YousG.
Copyright.