Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1906-10-03
WEIGHT OF THE SUN.
HOW The ASTRONOMER SOLVE
THIS WONDERFUL PRoeLsM.

hou VIII Get Approx
m"teiy the Number OF Tons OF Mat
ter Contained I'm the Great Orb.
To weigh the sun. moon. earth or
any other body. said Professor Edgar
l.. Larkin. the celebrated director of
Echo Mountain observatory. TO the
writer. Is not a very difficult matter.
though TO those ignorant OF astronomy
and mathematics Il would PERTAINS ap-
pear so or course weight Is merely q
relative term, FOR at the exact center
OF gravity n body weighs nothing nj
all Weight varies as we approach the
gravitatiOn point or recede from II.
and the expression as employed I'm ev
eryday life-when we buy a pound OF
steak or ton OF co0ls-simply means
the weight used on the surface OF the
earth because we live there.
Now. suppoSing you are DESTROYS OF
weighing the earth. how would you 20
about Ii: Well. IL your education had
Deen neglected and you were in conse-
quence ignorant of mathematics YOU
might decide TO cut UP this terrestrial
globe OF ours I'm blocks and bring each
block 10 the surface OF the earth and
there weigh il on an ordinary pair OF
scales. The operation would doubtless
be costly and fatigulng one. and per-
haps many unscientiiic landowners
might object to your carrying or their
property even though yol explained
that 1t was merely aa temporary
loan. But let Us for gs--umcnt's sake
suppose that you succeeded
Well. having carried each block 10
the surface land many q. ;hcm would.
or course. have been brought from the
very center OF the eartaD one at n
time (returning each 70 its proper place
before weighing the ncxl ana havin..
discovered that each block weighed a
ton. then before your l1b,rs ended and
the last block OF earth hai been placed
on the scales you womb have dealt
with rather less than sC-la Sextillions.
This Of course Is a tremendous num-
Der of tons for any moving mass 10
weigh. hut there Is "A the twice each
year when the earth a.tuau- weighs
nothing at all. In October last this
earth gradually began T. lose weight
Ike some huge slant dying Of a de
cline until at a certain moment Of time
ii weighed only an ounce. then half an
ounce. then a quarter. ami finally. Just
for about the fifty-thou inGth part Of
Il second. 10 weighed absolutely nothip-,
whatever-not even so ll-ch as a SOAP
bubble which a baby mi-at blow away.
To realize this YOU must remember
that the earth docs not travel round
the sun i'm an exact circle. 80 that the
distance from the sun g., always vary
ing. which OF course Glt.~s the power
OF attraction or. in otter words. the
earth's weight. But hl October and
April OF each year the earth is nj an
exact average distance during the frac-
ton OF second. n which time. rs
have said before. Il wc.-hs nothing.
How short a space OF ti,4, this is may
hc judged from the fact that the earth
moves at the rate OF eighteen and n
half miles every second.
But 20 weigh the earth I'm the manner
suggested would be a very costly mat
ter. and SO 70 Is found 10 bc more sat
isfactory To employ mathematics. when
we shall arrive at the same results. as
Stunning Of course that we are correct
In our deductions. And now as TO the
most usual means employed In weigh
Ing the sun. Having satisfied ourselves
rs TO the true weight OF the earth. we
call that lone" OF Unity" That is
the basis on which we work.
The next thing 10 do Is TO mount to
some elevation-the top OF tower or
the roof OF a house VIII answer our
purpose very well-drop stone and
find out how far Il Will fall I'm one sec
ond OF time anG what It's exact rate OF
speed Will be at the end OF the first
second.
This Is not So easy as IL sounds, but
we can spare ourselves the fatigue OF
calculating for after 300 years sclen-
lists have by means Of the most deli
cate instruments arrived at the proved
conclusion that at the end OF the first
second the stone will be NJ distance
OF l61 feet from the starting point and
will be then travelling at the rate of
32.2 feet per second. This 322 is the
most important factor in our calcula-
tons and has been called the astrO-
nomical scales, FOR by means Of 1t we
can weigh the Sidereal universe.
Now, here, said Professor Larkin.
taking paper from his desk. is an ar
ticle which | wrote some time ago on
the Weighing Of the sun. and do not
think you can do better than make an
extract from II. which will save me
much needless repetition. and he hand
ed me the manuscript. from which l
quote the following paragraphs
Every object in the celestial vault
seen by the eye Of man Is falling
body. The earth is body forever fall
ing toward the sun and the moon for
ever toward the earth. II we can find
with what speed the earth is falling to-
ward the sun at the end OF our exact
second a clew is obtained that Will lead
through maze of figures 10 the mass
OF the sun. This must be true, for It
has been discovered that If the earth
contained quadruple its present guam
tity OF matter the stone would fall at
the rate of GA feet per second. And
Newton discovered that IL the stone be
taken 3.95S miles away from the earth
and dropped its speed at the end Of the
first second will be 500 feet. But 395S
miles from the earth is twice as far
from the center aS is the surface. and
500 feet is one-fourth of so But is
the square of >. 50 gravity diminisheS
as the square Of the distance increases
and directly as the matter increases.
The earth Is 93OOO.00O miles fro1
the sun. ana this. divided by 3,95-,
equals approximately 23,406. There
fore, take stone to the distance OF