The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-10-18
WEIGHT OF THE sun.
HOW THE ASTRONOMERS SOLVE
THIS WONDERFUL PROBLEM.

THIS WONDERFUL PROBLEM.
II You VIII Multiply 8s8,284 by Seven
sextillions, You Will Get Approx
mately the Number Of Tons Of Mat
ter Contained In 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 very difficult matter,
though to those ignorant Of astronomy
and mathematics it would perhaps ap-
pear 80. OF course weight is merely
relative term, for at the exact center
Of gravity a body weighs nothing at
all. Weight varies as we approach the
gravitation point or recede from 1t,
and the expression as employed in ev-
eryday life-when we buy a pound Of
steak or ton Of coals-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 go
about it? Well. if your education had
been neglected and you were in conse-
Quence ignorant Of mathematics you
might decide to cut up this terrestrial
globe Of ours in blocks and bring each
block to the surface of the earth and
there weigh it on an ordinary pair of
scales. The operation would doubtless
be costly and fatiguing one, and per-
haps many unscientiflc landowners
might object to your carrying off their
property even though you explained
that it was merely as a temporary
loan. But let us for arguments sake
suppose that you succeeded.
Well, having carried each block to
the surface land many of them would,
Of course, have been brought from the
very center Of the EARTH one at a
time (returnilg each to its proper place
before weighing the next and having
discovered that each block weighed a
ton, then before your labors ended and
the last block Of earth had been placed
on the scales you would have dealt
with rather less than seven sextillions
This Of course Is tremendous num-
Der Of tons for any moving mass to
weigh, but there Is time twice each
year when the earth actually weighs
nothing at all. In October last this
earth gradually began to lose weight
like some huge giant dying Of de-
cline until at q certain moment Of time
it weighed only an ounce, then half an
ounce, then quarter, and finally, just
for about the fty-thousandth part Of
a second, 1t weighed absolutely nothing
whatever-not even so much as a soap
bubble which baby might blow away.
To realize this you must remember
that the earth does not travel round
the sun in an exact circle, so that the
distance from the sun is always vary
ing, which of course alters the power
Of attraction or, in other words, the
earth's weight. But in October and
April of each year the earth is at an
ton Of second, at which time, as l
have said before, it weighs nothing.
How short a space of time this Is may
be judged from the fact that the earth
moves at the rate Of eighteen and a
half miles every second.
But to weigh the earth In the manner
suggested would be very costly mat
ter, and so it Is found to be 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
as to the true weight Of the earth, we
call that zone" or Unity" That is
the basis on which we work.
The next thing to do Is to mount to
some elevation-the top of tower or
the roof of a house will answer our
purpose very well-drop stone and
find out how far it will fall in one sec
ond Of time and what its exact rate Of
speed will be at the end of the first
second.
This is not so easy as it sounds, but
we can spare ourselves the fatigue Of
calculating, for after 300 years scien-
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 at distance
of 1871 feet from the starting point and
will be then travelling at the rate OF
1922 feet per second. This 32.2 Is the
most important factor in our calcula-
tons and has been called the astrO-
nomical scales, for by means Of it we
can weigh the sidereal universe.
Now, here, said Professor Larkin.
taking q paper from his desk, is an ar
ticle which l wrote some time ago on
the weighing Of the sun, and l do not
think you can do better than make an
extract from it, which will save me
much needless repetition, and he hand
ed me the manuscript. from which !
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. If we can find
with what speed the earth is falling to-
ward the sim af the end of our exact