Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1905-08-22
BUREAU OF STANDARDS.
A Wonderful Place Where a Hair is
Split Into One Thousand Widths.

SP'N i'hO VIC IhOu0dHQ NfluInS.
IL seems rather Il remarkable thing
that, whereas tho governments of Eng
land, France and Germany have for
years provided extensive laboratories
for the purpose OF maintaining a cor
rect standard Of weights. measure
mcnts, force. purity. otc., it is only re-
Gently that Il similar Office has been
established in Washington. This
bureau of Standards" us II is called,
is now very perfect and complete,
however, and may he made use of by
all who desire information on any
scientific point coming under the head
OF weights and measures"
III you desire. for instance, to know
in what degree the heat of your body
expands the works of your hundred
guinea repeater or yOur dollar Ingcrsoll.
which ever quality .rU: watch may
happen tn be, all you have TO do is To
write la Washington, ana tho officials
there will have great pleasure in re-
licving your anxiety on the point
though You Will have to pay something
like los. for the time occupied in
working ont the lino'ty problem.
In ii lecture delivered some time
ago. Prof William llaliock. Of Column.
l,ia University, who is connected with
the burrau of standards. gave some
interesting particulars relative to the
advantages and value of the new i'll
StitutiOn. Should you he Il purchaser
Of scientific Instruments. incandcscrnt
lamps, hydraulic machinery. etc and
wish To know whether they conform to
the standard recognized in other parts
OF the world. you may send the INTO
Wasliinston and receive all the in
formation YOU desire
In 1873" said Prof. lIalock in his
recent address. there WAS established
in Paris, through the cooperation Of
several countries. including the Uni
ted States. what was known nv the
international Metric Commission.
whose business it was to manufacture
copies of the standard meter and the
standard kiloeran l,ut The meter
and the lsilogram were defined long be-
fore that hy the French Academy. the
standard meter hcinG one ten millionth
Of the distance of The carth's surface
from the pole to the equator and now
represented by the distance between
two lines on Il mcta!ic rod preserves.
in the archicvcs Of the lntcrnationa!
Metric Commission. Two uf these
meter bars and two of the kilomctcr
bars were turned over to the United
States Tor permanent retention, and
arc now in safe Keeping in Washing
ton
ITO illustrate the dclicacy of the
processes employed by the commission
| VIII give one instance When com
pairing Two kilogram blocks their
weight was nDticcahly affected by their
relative position on The balance scale.
Side by side they weighed exactly the
same. whereas. when one was placed
ON top OF the other. tho under block
was the heavier for the reason that
Sravitation decreases. as objects rccrdc
from the center of the earth. That
process represented Il dclicacy in
weighing OF one part III Il hundred mil
| lion, and in order to Show the differ
cncc represented by moving the blocks
as Indicated II would BE necessary Ia
weigh to about one tcD thousan,lth
III Il grain.
In our bureau of standards il IL; now
| possible to- measure temperature To Il
! niliionth Of degree. One of the .rc-
cent determinations in measuring rays;
OF heat takes aS the unit the amount
| of heat thrown off by II candle six miles;
distant. The instrument used to re-
cord these radiationS Is an exceeding
ly simple affair consisting of y YER,
| light mica disc dcicatcly suspended in
II bulb frrm which most ol the air has
boon exhausted When the radiatiunS
from tho candle fall on this disc thcN
heat il sufficiently to force il back
AS Il rule. light lends itself very
nicely to extremely line measurements.
| IT. is no trick It all to calculate the
thou5andih part Of the width of u
huIilnn Hair, or even something that il
almost invisible Ia the naked eye. such
rs spider thread. this being possible
through the Inference of waves ui
light. II We have two systems OF
waves which come together so that the
crcsts vi ono system coincide with The
cresls Of the other, the two systems
are then III step. as VIC say. and hcll
each other. On the other hand. if for
any reason one Of them is Il triilc he
hind, they come in out nf step and ncil.
tralizc each other" Bits.