Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-13
BON BARDIhG EARTH
Radiant Electricity and the
Sun Spots.
A WEATHER FORECAST
STORMS IN THE SUN ARE DIS
TURBING ELEMENT.
Scientists Predict That These Condi-
tons Will Work Evil
Next Year.
A WEATHER FORECAST
special Correspondence of THO Evening Star.

PARIS. February l, 1901.
mot long ago it was thought that the
| atom was the smallest and ultimate form of
| matter. They have never been seen, even
| in the most powerful microscopes; and
| mathematically 5OO.0G0.0 900 of them can lie
| side by side in one inch
THAT is small. l said.
| But electrons are smaller; for 100000 of
| them can lie in the diameter of an atom.
Note. I say diameter; for they are 100000
| O00. 100000 times smaller in bulk than atoms
| are" said the French scientist.
And you say this explains why we are
| to have cold, wet, dark springs. sum-
mers and autumns and bad winters until
| the year 1922" 1 asked. ready to believe;
| because he is a great man.
| without our new knowledge of radiant
| electricity. coming to us by way of mathe-
| NAUTICAL theory on the one hand and X-ray
and radium experiment the other. We
| could not understand the effect our
earths weather of the fabulous storms now
raging in the sum- replied the French sci
enlist.
In France it is difficult to get men of this
standing to talk for publication, They pre-
| fer to write articles. Therefore l have
| promised not to give his name. I will give
| you an example At present Prof. and
Madame Curie are painfully impressed
| against American correspondents in general
because Of the breaking of his promise Of a
| single one of our number here in Paris.
| Such things are harmful: and the harm
| falls the public. Therefore I hasten to
| explain that my French scientist is not
Prof. Curie.
| In a recent signed article in Harper's
Magazine the American astronomer, Prof.
| Simon Newcomb. compared tiny piece of
radium to the sun, and declared the tri-
| umph of twentieth century science must be
| to correlate the infinitely great with the in
| finitely little.
Theories Before Facts.
| Many others are beginning to say the
| same thing. 1t is astounding how new dis
| coveries are coming to the front; the tele
! phone will not be a marker to them. Prof.
| Curie has found that radium keeps pro-
| ducing heat de novo. Thanks to the labors
| of the mathema ticians, who had the theory
| all ready before the facts had come to
| hand, and thanks to the experiments of
| men like Prof. Thomson Cambridge Uni
versity), Mr.. Rutherford (MontreaD. Mr..
| Zeleny (Ndnneapolis). NJ. Langevin Paris).
Mr.. McLennan CToronto) and dozen 9TH
ers whose names deserve equally to be men
toned but escape me. we not only know
why radium continues to give out heat,
but also have radiant electricity, first
glimpse at fnteratomic energy at work, a
new estimate of the possible life of the sun
itself-and the beginnings of a new. accu-
rate and utterly different kind of weather
forecaSting.
The atom, which is itself very small,
Is composed of electrons a thousand million
million times still smaller in bulk-a grain
of dust in comparison with the Methodist
Church or the opera housed Under certain
conditions-it is not known how or why
yet-atoms break up; and this spontaneous
breaking up of the atom constitutes a novel
source of energy. greater than any previ-
ously known
What are these electrons which are shot
out from the breaking atom - 7 asked tbe
French scientist.
They are the small particles which com
pose electricity. for one thing" he an
swered. we can. in a way. see them in
the Crooks or Cathode rays"
Il thought you said they compose atoms
Of NATTER | said.
$50 they do he answered Gas far as
we can estimate at present, an atom of
matter consists of positive and negative
electricity ard nothing else-with the mega
tive e1ectrons n state of violent move
ment and the possibility of escape
And these electrons, shot out from the
substance called radium-'
AT the rate of 10000 miles per sec
o,1d-'' !
Produce its mysterious energyr' I ex-
claimed.
Bad Weather Ahead.
Yes: also they are shot out from the
surface of our glowing sum-" he added.
You see now. how are getting to the
weather that is to last until the year 1912
on our earth.
AS he explained it to me it seemed pos
sible to grasp it, and If you want to go
further, there is Prof. J. j. Thomson s,
book, just out. on 1.-The Conduction of Elec
tricity Through Cases." For seven years
past the group of scientists already named
have been studying the power of X-rays to
turn air or gases through which they are
made to pass into conductors of electricity
for the time being. Prof. Thomson, who
has correlated their researches, has. of
course, been wonderfully aided by the new
knowledge of radium and the property of
radio-activity. My French man of science
quoted me from Prof. Thomson's book:
1.-The astronomer has now to deal not only
with the forces of gravitation and radfan
light and heat, but with radiant electricity.
Also he has to do with atoms of electricity
projected normally from the surface of
glowing suns and conveying the energy of
the central system through space to the |
satellites by a new mechanism.
when these projected 'electrons,' it |
is convenient to call them reach the earth, |
they must be reckoned with by the meteor |
ologist, and to him are intrusted problems |
of the utmost practical utility.
''The enigmas of the aurora and the |
gegenschein (afterg1ow) appear already to |
have succumbed, while the whole question |
of the magnetism of the earth-its origin |
and cause. its regular cycles and sudden |
disturbances-already presents most fas- |
cinating problem.
But (note) more of these 'electrons' or
ions serve nuclei for the condensation |
of drops of water. shown to the |
public this year at the meeting of the |
British Association by Mr.. C. T. r. Wilson |
in a beautiful experiment.
The Little "Ions"
'The. electrons reach the upper atmos-
phere of our earth from the sun. In their |
passage through the air they produce more
IONS and around these still more drops |
of water will condense. This takes place
more readily on negative than on positive
electrons, or ions. so that the former are
dragged down to the earth In the rain
leaving the positive ions behind. and this
accounts for the positive electrification OF
the upper atmosphere.
"Then the more electrons we get from
the sun the more rain we have?' l asked
my French man of science. to show that l |
was beginning to think understood.
Exactly" he answered. And that
brings us to the present fabulous activity |
of the sun, whose maximum is to be at
tanned in the year 1906 and which Is to
f1,o 1912 announced by