The herald., 1898-01-09
POWER ~i
TO REMOVE
MOUNTAINS.
1,655, 547, $50. 200, 900 Pounds of
Wasted Energy in a
Tempest at Sea-

Wind and waves have no longer any
terror for the navigator who has plenty
of sea room.
Such a ship as the Kaiser Wilhelm
der Crosse or the New fork or CAM
pania runs no risk in open sea from the
impact of the water itself. Only fog,
ice-bergs, collision with another boat,
or driving on lee shore by ndscalcu-
lation can wreck her, so long as her
engines are working. But break them,
and
The fault that leaves ten thousond ton
q log upon the sea
-endangers human lives and will con-
tinue to endanger them i'm the biggest
ship that ever can be, or will be, built.
The power of the waves is one Of the
great forces of the world.
Waves never run mountain high"
At the most, except during eart0h-
quakes, they reach a height Of 80 feet
from trough to crest and move with
the velocity Of a railway train. The
water itself does not travel, but the
wave movement runs along much as do
the curves in a clothes line if a person
holding one end of 1T vibrates it rapid
ly to and fro. Even in a gale the waiter
at a depth of fifty feet has a lateral
movement of only seven feet, swaying
lazily backward and forth.
THE POWER OF A WAVE.
"A very large wave has am extent Of
200 feet from crest to crest, or from
trough to trough. A wave 200 feet from
trough to trough and thirty feet high
contains, for every foot of length OF
crest, $4,000 pounds of waiter, or 96 tons.
The new White Star liners now being
built are to be 700 feet long, longer
than any ship yet afloat. If one Of
these ships were to fall in the trough
of the sea, big wave that would
strike it from the side would weigh, for
its 700 feet of length, $1,000 tons, or
about four times as much as the ship
herself. AS this wave movement trav-
els about thirty miles am hour, 1T deals
a harder blow than John L. Sullivan
at his best.
When a solid and comparatively i'm
movable surface Is opposed to the
waves, the force they throw against it
l
to the square foot i'm summer, and 2,0S6
pounds in winter. In extreme cases Of
violent gales the pressure rises to 6,0S3
pounds per square foot. These are
Thomas Stevenson's figures.
Supposing a ship 700 feet long and
averaging sixty feet I'm height from
keelson to deckhouse roofs We're to be
hit upon the side by a wave of the
maximum observed power. The force
of the blow Is represented rather tame
ly by the figures 255, 4S6, 900 pounds. OF
course, the power Is never actively ex-
erted, because the ship yields to 1t.
But these figures give some hint Of
explanation of the prowess of the sea-
They tell why 1T is that the entire At
lantic coast of the United States is be-
ing worn away here, built up yonder;
why entire islands weighing millions Of
tons are whitfield away as if they were
shingles, and others are upheaved In a
might.
SOME WAVE RECORDS.
Among the surprising athletic per-
formances achieved by wave cham
pions, these are the record breakers:
Earthquake waves are not reclroned
upon in Stevenson's formula. That
which wrecked Lisbon in 1755 was forty
feet high. At Cadiz, which lies ON a
more open harbor, the same wave
reached a height of sixty feet.
When the lighthouse on Barra Head,
Hebrides, was being built, Stevenson
saw the waves move stone measuring
500 cubic feet and probably weighing
sixty-four tons.
The breakwater, of Cherbourg was
composed of huge dixie of loose stone
protected by blocks of concrete Of ZOO
cubic feet each. During the storm of
Christmas, 1886, stone weighing three
and four tons were thrown over the
wall, and the concrete blocks were scat
tered about like child's toys, two OF
them being turned over.
In Cette large block of concrete,
measuring 1900 feet and weighing 125
tons, was thrown "a short distance by
the waves.
These are few high water mark
achievements Of waiter when 1T is
angry. "As weak ais water" Is rather q
weak phrase under the circumstances
SOME FLIGHTS OF FANCY.
In a great storm, waves thirty feet
high chase each other at intervals OF
200 feet. In a square mile There Is room
for twemty-six waves each a mile long.
In single square mile, then, a blow OF
55, 1874, ,926000 is being struck by the
waves at every moment of the gale.
A great storm often covers am area
of $4,000 square miles. If the entire
storm area averages only half the pow
er observed in Stevenson's experimen IS
there would still be used, by the waves
of single gale, "a force of 1855, SAT 1885,.
100000 pounds, which every moment OF
the time wastes itself upon nothing
And upon THE surface of this seeth-
ing, boiling, raging force, mans little
cookie shells of ships ride in triun ph.
If any way shall ever be developed
Of utilizing these 1,655, 547, ,7S0, coo 00t
pounds of energy, people may some day
cease to bewail the coming of q tenn
pest and look to it's harnessed energy
to warm their houses, cook their din
ners, and black their boots.
Why not? There's plenty Of IT.
Copyright, 1898, by Bachelor Syndicbte
Nose a, Detective.
In ordinary respiration the nose rec