The Meeker herald., 1896-05-02
SPEED OF TRAINS
how It II Ansctsd By the Diuanal
Rotation Of the Earth.
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It is o8 far from Buffalo to New York
as it is from New York to Buffalo, yet II
we are to believe the reasoning of Nj.
Alexander Hogg. a correspondent Of
the Railway Gazette. the railway run
can be made more easily In the former
direction because the speed Of the east
ward moving train being added to TINT
of the rotating earth, the reduction of
weight due to centrifugal force is great
er. We quote such portions Of Mr..
mathematics:
"In 1851 the New York Central q
Hudson River railroad ran a train 1861
miles in 425 minutes and AZ seconds. or
an average OF GIL, miles per hour. The
weight of this train was AGO. 600 pounds.
The same company, on September II,
this year, made the remarkable run of
the same 436M miles in 4O7 2-s minutes;
this was sn average of GAPS miles per
hour.
The New York Central. in starting
both times from New York city, un-
necessarily retarded its own speed.
From Albany to buffalo, due west. the
train encountered not only the prevail
I ing WEST Wfuus Dut t1lc IoES& Va tAAS
earth's revolution eastward.
lowing to the diurnal rotation Of the
earth. bodies at the equator press
toward the Garth with 2ss-2s9ths Of the
pressure they would were the earth
| deprived of its rotation. II, therefore,
the rotation OF the earth could be ac-
celeratetl until it took only 1-17th Of the
present s;dcrcGl da,r 10 make q complete
turn or revolution. the centrifugal ten
dcncy would DC ircrenscd (17) 9 fold;
that is it would be $50 tines as great as
nov, and bodies at the equator would
| have no pressure downward. or, as we
say. wou.d wei-h nothing. This rate of
revolution wcu.t. ,:ot IL sufficient to de-
prive bodies anywhere else of their en-
tire weight.
"Now. let us apply this to railroad
trains. A train running east at the
equator ould he liglitencd as compared
with the weight on st;ll earth. Ii
running due west. the result would be
| less). And the difference of weight
between the sane train, running cast
and west with the Eamc velocity, would
be "a certain) fraction of its total ab-
/
II train running say 20 feet per second.
or nearly IS miles per hour, this frac-
tion would not DC far from -1,6o0ti
part: in runuips co miles per hour, it
would be 1-1,2SUth part, and If running
100 miles per hour, or 147 feet per Sec
ond, 1t would bc the 1,765th part, nearly,
and it would be greater as both speed
and weight of the train are increased.
The train Of the New York Central was
3sz feet long and weighed se''0o'
This calculation, IL will be observed,
| as said, will be true for the equator.
The New York Central train ran from
Albany to Buffalo upon about the 42d
| parallel OF latitude, and therefore.
this calculation should be corrected for
| this latitude, and would be about 7-1Gth
as great"
Other correspondents agree with MIR.
Hogg in principle, though not accept
ing all his mathematics. One Of them
ends his letter with the following rather
jocose suggestion:
''It is we'll know that when the moon
4, is above us it draws movable objects
away from the earth. and when it is on
| the opposite side of the earth it draws
the Garth away from movable objects
J here, thereby causing the tides. IT.
might be well TO suggest to the New
York Central officers, that, as the tides
travel from east to west, they may
perhaps offset the disadvantages under
Mr.. Hogg's theory by starting when the
position of the moon is propitious, and,
ag they would keep in the tide while
! going west, they may still be able to
/; make fast time going west, even If
| the engineers, or indeed the engines
/ themselves, learn of the disadvantages
Of centrifugal force when they are try
ing to make Buffalo."--Literary Digest.
Number of Gallons In the Ocean.
The mathematicians figure on every