Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-08-11
WHAT WE CALL OUR WEIGHT.
And What 1t Would BE In Entirely
Different Circumstances.

From the Pittsburg Times.
You step upon weighing machine drop
a penny in the slot, the hand goes around
the figured dial and. stopping at certain
point. tells you that your weight Is so
many pounds. You know by this, in sort
of comparative way. that there is a GER
tain amount of the matter which composes
the universe confined under your skin. You
have appropriated a certain portion of it
in the construction of your flesh and bones.
There Is definite amount of the elements
combined together which produces an eff
feet upon the machine. and that effect is
translated into pounds. You do not know
exactly what pound is, but it is some
sort of an arbitrary measure of the force
of gravitatton. and. after reading the fig
ures on the scale, you know about how
much there Is of you by comparison with
other objects that have weight and density
When you stand outside OF yourself there
seems to be no reason why you should
have any weight. The mind, which is the
most important part Of you, does not ap-
pear to have any weight, is a matter en-
tirely outside Of yourself; you cannot in
crease or diminish 1t by any act Of will,
though sometimes in dreams you seem to
have Invested your body of the downward
pull. which you call weight. and find your
self floating as easily as a mote in a sun
beam. 1t may be that this is a sort of
recollection on the part of the matter which
enters into our composition of a time when
II was really not subject to this Juggling
called gravitation. and fioated free In our
present environment, however. this law of
matter has US in full control. and we can
not escape 1t for the smallest fraction of
second. 1t operates steadily all the time
and We are obliged always to take it into
account.
PIT
much We weigh? 1t simply calculates the
balance between two forces that are work
ing against each other. the one tending to
drag US down to the center Of the earth
and the other to send US spinning out into
space. The pull of gravitation has the
advantage by 50 many pounds other
wise we should leave our happy homes
in hurry and start on a journey from
which we would never return-going out
into space to hobnob with comets and
asteroids and other celestial wanderers
This old earth Is a whirler and a twirler
IL mas more curves than base ball In
the hands of an expert pitcher. You have
seen the experiment of swinging a pail
OF water over the head without splitting
the water The earth Is giving US the
same sort of a swing.
II Is as If some giant were stationed at
the point OF space where the center of the
Garth Is. with a string upward of 5000
miles In length attached to u.s. and were
swinging us around at the end of it. This
, VI circular motion Is approximately
l'Vo miles an hour 1t is pretty rapid
swing. and the fact that on account of
this rapidity We have considerable ten
Gency to take long jump several thou
siderable difference in the pressure when
we step on the weighing machine. If the
earth were to stop its whirling some day
for short time we should all suddenly
become heavy weights. and 1t Is a question
whether the ordinary weighing machine
would be adequate to measure the tendency
which our bodies would have to press To-
ward the center of the earth. 1t is plain.
therefore. that we should weigh a good
deal more II 1t wasn't for the giant swing
given us BY the planet upon which We are
involuntary residents.
In order to tell our real weight It would
SEEM therefore. that 1t Is necessary to
calculate how much of the force of CRAWL
tatlon Is counteracted by this circular mo-
ton and the constant tendency to hy Off
at tangent But. after all, this would
not really indicate our weight There is
a law Of physics which tells us that mat
Ter attracts according to its mass Now.
suppose that you were to take a tourney
on TO some world that had only one one
hundredth OF the mass of this one; then.
when you stepped upon the weighing ma
chine and dropped In your penny, accord
ing TO that law. you would weigh but
one one -hundredth of the amount indi-
Gated by the machines around Pittsburg
II You weigh 15O pounds here you would
weigh but "a pound and a half there You
would be decidedly in the feather-weight
class, could repoSe comfortably on the
hardest board. and with the same strength
CT limb that you now possess could lean
over fen-story building or skip across a
wide river
II really looks as II we did not weigh
anything at all and as II what we call
weight was only an incident to our sur
roundinss. We are citizens of the universe,
put Tor the present we are living on the
planet called earth, and We are adjusted to
the conditions here. We are subject to a
certain amount OF pull by our earth-mother.
but II at any time We acquire the power to
Journey to other earths and other planets,
the scales will tell different story, though
there may be no change In the amount of
matter composing our bodies. Our weight
just happens to be so many pounds because
we live on the earth. instead OF some other
world or planet.
A French naturalist asserts that n the
world should become birdless, man could
not inhabit 1t after nine years time. in
spite of all the sprays and poisons that
could be manufactured for the destruction
OF insects. The insects and slugs would
simply eau up all the orchards and crops in