The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1902-01-28
EARTH'S HOT INTERIOR
CAN 1T BE UTILIZED AS A SOURCE
OF POWER7

Scientists Don't Think the Worlds
Centre IL n Molten Mass.
BY all odds the greatest amount of
mechanical power generated today
tor industrial purposes comes from
burning coal. And inasmuch as the
unmined supply of that material has
its limitations and is likely to be
used up inside of couple of centuries.
| II not sooner. engineers and philoso-
! piers have begun to cast about for
| other resources. The substitutes for
coal which are generally suggested
are falling water, the wind. sunshine
and the waves and tides But Pro
lessor II. G. Mendenhall, IN Casters
Magazine. makes a somewhat novel
! addition TO the list. Referring TO the
interior heat OF the earth. he says that
1t lis worthy of most serious consider
alton as a possible and reasonable
source of power. Its importance will
be greatly enhanced when we are able
to transform heat directly into cleo
tricity on large scale and with econ
omy, avoiding the great waste which
| necessarily accompanies the use of the
steam engine and this must soon come
about"
The earth IS globe nearly 5000
miles in diameter, ana except for a
thin shell, is probably hotter than any
furnace yet devised by human skill
Estimates differ as TO the thickness
of this crust. Temperature increases
with descent, in mines and oil wells.
at an average rate of one degree Fab
renheit for every fifty or sixty feet
! Assuming that the mean for the
| earth's surface is something like fifty
| degrees above zero, the boiling point of
water (212 degrees would be reached
at depth of about 5000 feet. And II
is believed that between thirty and
fifty miles down the heat is sufficient
to melt the hardest known substances
clay, lime, carbon and the like. 1t
would probably not be wide of the
mark to say that at this distance TEN
reraures Of 5000 and GOOO degrees ex-
list.
The old notion was that the interior
of the earth was molten. and the phe-
nomena of volcanoes tended to
strengthen that belief. Modern writ
ers, however incline to the theory of
potential Elasticity" That is to say.
they think that the heat there is ade-
quate to melt the most refractory
materials, but that melting does not
actually take place owing to the pres
sure of superintendent weight.
y moments reflection will satisfy
one that If this source of energy should
ever become available. it would vastly
transcend in value wind power, water
power, sun power and tide power.
Even the coal deposits of the earth.
consumed and unconsumed would he
inconsiderable in comparison. Were
the internal heat drawn off by arti-
fetal means-the conversion into other
forms of energy for mans use-the
| cooling of the globe which is already
| going on, would be accelerated. and the
earth would be reduced to the cold.
| dead condition of the moon Il little
sooner than otherwise. Thus the very
existence of the human race might
possibly be abbreviated few thou
sand years by climatic changes Still
if the great heat reservoir here under
consideration were once tapped i'm
satisfactory manner, it would be a
practically ineXhaustible bank account
to draw upon.
Professor Mendenhall outlines no
plan for utilizing the earth's heat be-
yOnd a suggestion that it might be
| converted directly into electricity
without the intermediate use OF steam
| There is much to commend this idea
If it is necessary to go down 5000 feet
in order to make water boil it would
be necessary to 20 down 2OOO more
to generate steam ut a useful pressure.
say $50 TO 200 pounds to the inch.
! To be sure were some more volatile
substance than water employed to pro-
duce the motive vapOr, a lower tenn
perature would suffice. This i'm the
| principle Of q new motor i'm Germany
which just now threatens to work
revolution in power generation II
| takes the exhaust Of cOndensing
steam engine, at temperature OF
| about $50 degrees, vaporizes Herewith
| some sulphur diOXide, and thus gets
more than a third as much power as
the principal engine develops This
! heat would otherwise be wasted. a
sulphur dioXide engine might bc run
! successfully, so far as temperature
! conditions alone are concerned. at
! depth of a mile, which has more than
once been attained by oil wells.
The principle of the thermo-electric
couple is very simple. When q change
Of temperature occurs at the junction
Of two slips of dissimilar metals am
| electric current is excited i'm them
/ Many inventors have tried to turn
| that phenomenon into account. Cla-
mond built up a hollow cylinder out of
! alternate layers Of tim and an alloy
| containing anthony, ana heated the
Interior with q gas fame around
perforated carthpnware tube Harry
Darlington Cox Of Hartford. few
years ago constructed somewhat
similar battery. which could be run
with gas jet ana be left alone for "a
month at q time. The Postal Tclc.
graph tested it aud found that 10 would
work % telegraph wire. For some rca-
son these and other thcrmo-clcctric
| batteries have thus far failed To gen
crate currents chcaply. but many per-
SONS besides Professor Mcndcnh3U cX
pcct to see thc secret discovered some
| dav Comparatively little more iuycn.
/ ton would Doe required t0 adapt 10 i0.
/ iho particular service which ur -u.