The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1899-12-13
HEAT FROM THE sun.
HOW LITTLE or IT WE GET IS ALMOST
BEYOND BELIEF.

Scarcely One Sunbeam 7. Two Thou
sand Millions AIfEhts Upon This
Earfh-A Pen Picture Of the Actual
Condition of the Fiery Orb.
The sun is for the most part simply
wasting his beat-finging away the
golden rays that are the life OF the
world with a recklessness beside which
ali human waste is mere parsimony.
II Is almost beyond belief. Scarcely
one sunbeam in 2,O00, 100000 alights
upon the earth. and allowing for the
whole solar system not more than one
Ia IO0.OO0.0O0 ever hits anything, so lar
as we can ascertain
Sir Robert Balls comment on this
waste of the suns heat is: Suppose
man with an income OF 100000 a
year. He spends for useful purposes
l cent and throws the rest away. His
wastefulness is no greater than that
which this old prodigal the sun has
practiced for untold ages
The untold amount OF heat which
thus leaks away through the cracks in
tile sky cannot be expressed by figures
II is only by considering what II might
do that we can get any conception OF
It. This is probably the most striking
Illustration. and is given by an eminent
astronomer:
Suppose a solid shaft OF Ice two miles
square to be extended like a bridge
across the gulf which separates the
-. = fal or
laid on its surface an express train
running at full speed would require
more than $50 years to traverse II. Yet.
il the whole heat OF the sun were turn
ed upon 1t for a single second il would
be melted, and in q few seconds more
all. even to the railroad iron. would
drift away as vapor.
But what is the source Of this heat
that flows into space as the gulf
stream pours into the Atlantic. warm
ing the earth and other planets like lit
tie islands In its course? What keeps
up the supply.
If the sun were merely a white hot
ball. gradually cooling. our grandchil-
dren would indeed get chill; or.
rather. neither they nor we would ever
have seen the sun. The final frost
would have fallen long ago.
Nor can the heat be maintained by
fire. as we understand the word-such
fire as warns and now and then
consumes our houses. II IL were a
globe Of flaming coal II could have last
ed but a few thousand years; II would
have been burned to ashes long before
we were born. All the coal on the
earth would hardly keep the sun going
for one-tenth Of a second
A falling meteor gives out great heat,
Just as a bullet Is heated when 1t
strikes the target Some have conjee-
tured that vast stream of these little
hallstones raining upon the sun supplies
fits fuel But il the whole mass OF the
moon were put into a stone crusher.
broken up and thrown against the sun.
1t would barely furnish heat for a sin
gle year. And no such weight could
possibly approach the sun without our
knowledge.
Yet. in its own chosen way. the sun
really has its fires. With proper in
struments we may see the red flames
spouting from its edge. sometimes TO a
height Of 100000 miles-higher than
the moon floats above the earth. To
some Of them our world would be no
more than a water drop falling from a
fountain
To gain any idea Of the almost mex
haustible reservoir from which the sun
draws its heat we must first picture its
actual condition. Matter there is In q
state unlike anything ever seen upon
earth. IL is neither solid nor liquid
nor in any familiar sense gaseous The
sun is boiling. seething. flaming mix
ture OF the gases or vapOrs of all the
elements condensed by the tremendous
squeeze of solar gravity until it is
thicker than pitch. and so hot that its
vaporized iron might be used for steam
power II there were any boiler fit TO
hold IT, IL has no definite surface. but |
shades away from this incandescent
paste. through leaping flames Of blood |
red hydrogen to the faint streamers of |
the corona. as filmy as a comets tail
This writhing mass. heavier on the |
average than water and yet as un-
stable as air. does not even rotate like |
other orbs. but swirls around its axis.
In the terrific tensionyOf these gases |
is stored up the energy Of the sun. AS
this escapes in Gushes OF heat they do |
not cool. but slowly contract. II Is
quite possible that they even grow hot
ter as they thus settle downward and |
compress themselves into a denser |
fluid.
a total shrinkage Of 200 feet a year
will account for the whole expenditure.
and so small a change in the size Of the
disk could not be detected until Il had /
been watched for thousands OF years |
This will go on until the substance of |
the sun ceases TO be essentially case
Gus. Then will come the beginning OF |
the end. for from that time forth the |
actual temperature Of the sun win de-
cline. r.
This. however. win be in some far |
distant day. for careful scientists as
sure us that our race viii enjoy un-
diminished sunshine for at least 5000 /
years. and perhaps for twice 5000.
Then. while the sun slowly reddens
and darkens. our earth viii die After
that comes the night Of ages.-Charles
Kelsey Gaines In New York World.
Coats That Last n Century.