Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-12-18
THE SUN A BIG ELECTRIC LIGHT.
It's Dazzling Briiiiancy Caused by Glow
ing Clouds of Carbon.

L
The light of the great orb of day ema-
mates solely from closely fitting robe OF
surprising brightness. The great bulk of
tho sun which lies within that brilliant
mantle Is comparatively obscure, and
might at first seem TO play but an unim-
portant part so far as the dispensing OF
light and heat Is concerned.
With regard to tho thickness of the robe
we might liken this brilliant exterior, says
Sir Robert Ball, to the delicate, flmy skin
of the peach.
As the ability of tho sun to warm and
light this earth arises from tho proper
ties of the thin, glowing she'll which sur
rounds 1t, we want to ascertain what that
special stuff can be which enables tho sun
to be SO useful to us dwellers of tho earth
This great problem has been solved, and
the result Is extremely interesting and In
structive. 1t has been discovered that this
material Is carbon.
A lump of coke only differs from piece
OF carbon by the ash which the coke leaves
behind when burned. As charcoal Is al
composed Of this same element.
In tho ordinary inoandescent electric
lamp the brilliant light Is produced by q
IL.
ful current of electricity experiences so
much resistance rs 1t flows through this
badly conducting substance that It raises
the temperature Of the carbon wire so as
to make 1t dazzlingly whito hot.
There Is no known metal, and perhaps
no substance whatever, which demands SO
high temperature to fuse 1t as does the
element carbon. A illament of carbon,
lop ,ayf - r,o al H.,
INFUSED and unbroken when heated by tho
electric current to the dazzling brilliance
necessary for effective illumination.
Modern research has now taught us that,
just as the electriciaa hls to employ oar
bon as tho immediate agent In producing
the brightest of artificial lights down here,
so tho sun in heaven uses precisely tho
same element as the Immediate agent In
the production Of Its transcendent light
and heat.
Owing to the extraordinary fervor which
prevails In the interior parts of the sun,
oil substances there present, no matter
how difficult we may find their fusion,
would have to submit to bc melted-nay,
evon to DO driven off into vapor.
In the presence Of the intense heat of
the innor parts of the sun even carbon 1t.
self Is unable to remain solid.
The buoyanoy of carbon vapor Is one Of
its most remarkable characteristics 40
cordingly immense volumes of the carbon
steam In the sun soar at a higher level
than do the yapors of the other elements.
AS tho buoyant carbon vapors soar up
ward through the suns atmosphere they
attain at last to an elevation where the
fearful intensity Of the solar heat has SO
far abated that, though nearly all other
elements may still remain entirely gas
eous, yet the exceptionally refractory car
bon begins to return to the liquid state.
Under the influence of chill the carbon
vapor collects into myriad host of little
beads of liquid.
Each Of these drops OF liquid carbon In
tho glorious solar clouds has tempera-
ture and corresponding radiance vastly
exceeding that with which the f1lament
glows in the incandescent electric lamp
Boston Globe.