The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1899-02-16
SHOEMAKERS' WAX.
Experiments with This Substance
That VIII Surprise Every One.

Experiments with This Substance
That VIII Surprise Every One.
One of the most apt illustrations ever
made by Lord Kelvin was his likening the
luminiferous ether to a mass of shoemak-
ers' wax What Lord Kelvin said Of shoe
makers wax may be tested by any boy in
a manner that will astOnish his playmates
First let it be said that the ether pene-
tTates all space 1t is as rigid as steel and
yet 80 flexible that IL does not retard the
passage of planets through space in the
least. 1t is an invisible substance which
travels in waves through all things Now,
TO illustrate the nature Of such a paradox
ical material Lord Kelvin searched every
where, and at last concluded that shoe
makers wax represented it best He
made tests and this is what he found:
He melted some wax in a common glass
tumbler After it had hardened he tried
to thrust a lead pencil through It. II
would not go. Then he placed coin on
the surface of the wax and left 1t there for
several days When he again visited it,
the coin had sunk to the bottom of the
glass The wax had closed over 1t and by
lifting up the glass and looking through
the bottom he could see the coin lying
there. Had the wax been as deep as a well
the coin would have gone on sinking un.
til it reached the bottom This proved
that the wax would conform only to ven
slow movements. II he had tried to pus
it too fast, it would have resisted him.
An idea struck the scientist. If the wa
acted like this toward the coin, how won
it treat an object which hoated? He a
cordingly placed a cork in a tumbler an
poured hot shoemakers' wax upon it. I
wax hardened with the cork at the bot
tom. Yet when Lord Kelvin looked at the
bottom of the glass in a day or two he
found the cork had disappeared 1t wal
somewhere in the mass Of wax and proba-
bly, rising very slowly but surely, toward
the top. Sure enough, after given period
Of time the cork peeped above the surface
OF the hard wax and finally it rose to q
point where it remained half imbedded
In the wax, Just as 1t would have done In q
glass Of water 1t rose no higher than this,
however and corkserew probably would
not have pulled it from the wax Yet its
own buoyancy had raised 1t up from the
bottom, through what seemed an impene
trable mass of wax.
This, in fact, is the popularity OF shoe
makers wax, that it resists all sudden OIL
quick movements, but is highly susceptible
TO very SLOW ana pfOlonBeu pressure
you pressed a datiron hard down on 1
lump of wax on a table 1t is probable you
would make no impression on it, but II
you left that iron resting on the wax for q
day or two, you would find the lump fiat
tened out under the iron So curious II
this property Of the wax that tuning fork
have been cast from pieces Of It. ThesG
forks were capable of vibration, giving q
musical note and being set going by vibra
tion for another tuning fork, yet when onG
of them was laid across the open mouth oi
a jar it slowly collapsed and fell into thu
jar in a shapeless, sticky mass. ANY boy
may perform these experiments, and th'
lesson in physics to be got therefrom is nj
less valuable than the amusement which
tho performance affords - Cincinnati
Commercial Tribune