Omaha daily bee., 1895-10-13
boon raised to the temperature necessary for
an lncundescent lamp.
MASS OF HEATED CARBON.

"Ha' VI i'm ~ 1NHNhOANs
There is no known metal, and perhaps no
substance whatever. which demands 20 high
a temperature to fuse II as does the element
carbon. A flament OF carbon alone will re-
main amused sad unbroken when heated by
The electric current to the dazzling brilliance
necessary for effective illumination. This Is
the reason why this particular element is
so Indispensable for our incandescent electric
lamps. Modern research has now taught us
that Just as the electrician has to employ
carbon as the immediate agent In producing
the brightest OF artificial lights down here, so
tho sun In heaven uses precisely the same
element as the immediate agent in the pro-
duction OF Its transcendent light and heat.
owing to the extraordinary feryor which pre-.
walls In the Interior parts Of the sun, all
substances there present, no matter how difi-
cult we may find their fusion, would have
to submit to be melted. nay, even to be
driven on Into vapor. II submitted to the
neat Of this appalling solar furnace. an iron
poker, for instance, would vanish into invisi-
BILE vapor. In the presence Of the intense
heat OF the innsr parts Of the sun even car
bon Itself is unable to remain solid. 1t would
seem that II must assume a gaseous form
under such circumstances. just as the cop
per and the iron and all the other sub
stances do which yield more readily than 1t
TO the fierce heat Of their surroundings.
CARBON vAPOR.
The buoysncy OF carbon vapor is one Of
It's most remarkable characteristics. accord
ingly immense volumes Of the carbon steam
In the sun soar at a higher level than do the
vapors of the other elements. Thus carbon
becomes a very large and important constitu-
ent Of the more elevated regions Of the solar
atmosphere. We can understand what hap
pens to these carbon vapors by the analogous
case of the familiar clouds in our own skies.
II Is true. no doubt, that cur terrestrial clouds
are composed of a material totally different
from that which constitutes the solar clor1s.
The sun evaporates the water from the great
oceans which cover so large a proportion of
our earth. The vapor thus produced ascends
In the form of invisible gas through our at
mosphere until IL reaches an altitude thou
sands of feet above the surface Of the earth.
Tho chill that the watery vapor experiences
up there is SO great that the vapor collects
into little liquid beads. associated in count
less myriads, which form the clouds we
know so well.
We can now understand what happens as
the bouyant carbon vapor scars upward
through the suns atmosphere. They attain at
last to an elevation where the fearful in
tensity of the solar heat has so far abated
that, though nearly all other elements may
still remain entirely gaseous. yet the excep-
tionally refractory carbon begins to return
to the liquid state. At the first stage in this
return the carbon vapor conducts itself Just
as does the ascending watery vapor from the
earth when about to be transformed into a
visible cloud. Under the influence of a chill
the carbon vapor collects into a myriad host
Of little beads Of liquid. Each of these drops
or liquid carbon In the glorious solar clouds
has a temperature and a corresponding radi-
ance vastly exceeding that with which the
nlament CLOVIS in the incandescent electric
lamp. When we remember further that the
entire surface Of our luminary is coated with
these clouds, every particle Of which Is thus
intensely luminous, we need no longer won
der at that dazzling brilliance which, even
across the awful gulf of so, 900 900 miles, pro-
duces for use the indescribable glory of day
light. SIR ROBERT BALL.