Amador ledger., 1906-04-20

The electron, as defined by Prof.
Soddy, is an electrical conception
that has been applied to matter. 1t
is a definite "charge'' smallest
possible of negative electricity, and
its properties, unlike those of the
atom, are always the same. 1t is a
particle smaller than the atom, which
was long regarded as the smallest
division of an element. Each atom
of matter must normally contain at
least one electron, and it may lose
this or take on at least one more
without great change. With one or
more electrons less than the normal,
the atom becomes positively charged,
or positive ion; while an atom with
one or more eIectrons in excess is a
negative ion.
Some years ago the addition of
moisture to furnace heated air was
found by DR.. H. j. Barnes of Boston
temperature several degrees lower.
In his recent Investigation in south
eastern Nebraska, q. A. Loveland
has shown that the air of house of
IA, 900 cubic feet should receive from
20 to 40 quarts of water daily, and
that this evaporation does not in
crease the relative humidity by more
than 1e per cent. The humidity
indoors should not exceed about 40
per cent, otherwise there will be
troublesome condensation on the
windows.
A new incandescent light uses
ordinary petroleum without a wick,
and tube only one-eight of an inch
outside supplies the oil, which is
vaporized and mixed with air before
being burned in the mantle. The
light is claimed to be softer and more
difusive than any other. One gallon
of oil is sufficient for 1000 candle
power lamp for fifteen hours, and
enables person to read at distance
of forty to fifty yards.
As a hailstone melts in water, it
gives off a large bubble of air, evil
IDENTIFY enclosed under great pressure.
While the transmutation of elements
at will is still dream, the alkali
metals have given j. j. Thomson q
suggestion of control of the change.
has been long known, and he has now
proven that they give off slow elec-
irons, or Beta rays, even in darkness,
and that the process is greatly in
fiuenced by light, heat and chemical
forces. These act as detonators,
splitting up atoms which have become
unstable. This atomic breaking up is
thought to be going on in all matter,
with the setting free of enormous
energy, and it is calculated that il
the action extends throughout the
earth, the emission by every atom Of
an electron once in a thousand
million years would account for the
earth's internal heat. The atomic
modification may explain the
fatigue" of platinum and other sub
stances after long incandescence.
The degree to which solids slowly
Intermix is one of the recent surp1is
ing discoveries. A New Zealand
teacher mentions the dark patches
which appear opposite the steel wind
ing stems on the inside of silver
watch-cases forty or fifty years old
tests showing that those patches are
iron, which has vaporized, dissolved
in the silver, and d1ffused into th'
solid metal. Still more remarkable
is an instance of the penetration O.
carbon into porcelain. Fresh pencil
marks are easily removed from an ole
porcelain writing tablet, but som'
notes written forty years ago hav'
sunk into the tablet to considerabi,
depth and cannot be erased.
In simple German method TO
copying manuscripts OF printed
matter, the object is placed face up
ward on a table, and mirror i
arranged above it at an angle of A