Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-03-23
HOW OLD Is THE EARTHP
Kelvin Put il at A.out Twenty Million
Years.

Tears.
How much time has elapsed since the
globe attained condition OF haoilabil
ity is question recently revived by l.
G. Chamberlain. professor of geology At
the University of Chicago. He discusses
Inc subject in Science" which had few
weeks previously republlshed an address
OF Lord Kelvin on The same topic. Thle
address. delivered in 1891, does little bni
rtiterate views expressed several times
between ls62 and 1865.
When Lord Kelvin. then Sir William
Thomson first took an This problem. II
was with the object OF showing the az
surdity Of certain other estimates made
by biologists and ~-uiogiStS. The latter
believed that from one hundred million
years to three hundred million years must
have passed while the rocks composing
tn. earth's crust We're being deposited
and while the various forms OF NE I'm =
prisonrd there fossils We're being
evolved from primitive organisms. SIT
William Thomson cut down these figures
10 something less than twenty million
wears The basis Of his calculation was
the rate at which piece ~ stone VIII
conduct ana radiatc neat.
Assuming that the earth had been con-
dtnsrd from nebulous mass Ia a sphere
Of molten matter. and adopting 1850 ue-
grees Fahrenheit as the temperature ~
which this material would begin to pass
from a fluid TO a solid state. he set oui
10 ascertain how much time would oe re
uured for the crust of the earth to cool
down To its present condition lnCiden-
tally ne brought forward one ur Two oth Z
or arguments. The chief one was that
even i the earth had been suilclrhtil
solid to sustain life more Than twenty
million years ago. the sun At mat time
would not have afforded enough warmth
ana light % make existence possible. But
hr laid the most stress on me hcdt con
ductivitY of rock.
In the latter discussion oc the matter
he extends the time trite. Taking note
of Clarence Kings estimates ana OF some
recent inVestiga lions of thermal conduc-
tivity by Carl Barus. Lord Kelvin admits
| the possibility of lapse of thirty mill
lion years since the earth'S shell first pc
gan to solidify, although twenty-four
| million years suits him rather better tnan
| the larger estimate.
Professor Chamberlain devotcs himself
entirely 10 showing that the problem Is
more difficult than has been supposed
| He offers no computation Of his own as
a substitute for Lord Kelvin $, and leaves
| the main question Still open. IN NOR
| oughly courteous manner he attirms thai
| two or three OF the Glasgow physicist :
assumptions are far from being estao-
liShed
Lord Kelvin assumed that the earth
was once a white hot globe. That is his
| starting point. Professor Chamberlain
declares that this notion does nor rest on
| any conclusive evidence. il is based. he
| says. on the internal temperature Of the
globe ana the nebular hypothesis. It IS
suggested, however. that the former may
be explained by theory of meteoric dg-
gre CATION. which left the earth solid a all
| times. The Chicago gcoligist is careful
| not 10 deny the possibility that there was
once molten globe. He merely insists
that it has never been demonstrated thai
| one existed. Even Lord Kelvin comedies
/ the proba ability that the material of which
| the earth is composed came from meteor
| ties: but he assumes that when they fell
| together they developed heat sufficient -
melt the hardest stone and metal. Pro-
| fessor Chamberlain thinks that Inc
| numerous complexities ana irregularities
| in the materials OF which the crust g
made suggest slow accre,ion of meteor
ties rather than one rapid enough 10 pro-
| duce a molten globe.
| IL is conceded by Professor Chamber
lain that the energy of impact may have
| been sufficient 10 fuse The mete1rites
when they came together. But everything
| depends on the rate at which they as
sembled. Heat is result of graVitation
: and Interrupted movement. II the meteor
ites-bits of stone and metal that We're
chilled 10 the appalingly low temperature
| of nterstelar space-did not come to
gether in sutiicien. numbers and with an
I adequate speed. OF course, the heat de.
veloped would be lower than that needed
! to produce a white hot or molten mass.
| Both Lord Kelvin and his critic have
| considered the age OF the earth as an
| abode fitted for life. They have not dis .
cussed the question as to the antiquity Of
! the material composing this planet. The
| fact is, scientific men hold that matter
like force, is indestructible They imaein..
| that ii has undergone many transforma
tons. and concede that il may undergo
| others. They hold that each of the celes-
| tial bodies may some day reach a condi-
tion where II will not sustain life. The
moon has already reached this stage OF
| its existence. The hottest stars in the
| heavens-and it is believed that some Of
| them are vastly hotter than our sun-wiil
eventually cool down to this same level
| On the other hand. it is supposed tina:
| the stuff out of which the earth and ali
| these other spheres is made has existed
| F"rever. The scientific idea of creation.
| then. is such an alteration of conditions
as to adapt a globe To habitability.