Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-09-06

Every Known, Object, Even Ice,
Contains Some Heat.
SOME PARAD0xEs EXPLAINED
How the Wheels Of an Express Train
Going Forward at Sixty Miles an
Hour Travel Backward at the Rate
of Ten Miles an Hour. Y
In 'Paradoxes. Of Science and Nature
the author, Mr. Hampson, explains the
why and wherefore of many things
which appear to contradict scientific
principle or settled belief. BIZ
For example, when train is going
at rate Of sixty miles an hour, what
part Of 1t Is moving backward? This
Is no trick, no .seli." The whole train
Is not going backward, and you are not
the innocent goat to be sacrificed upon
its rails. The train is going forward
at the rate Of sixty miles an hour, and
vet a portion of that same train is GO.
ing In a contrary direction at pretty
fair rate Of speed. It IS not going rel
ativeiy even; 1t is actually. and literal
~ in hurry in that direction. You
may prove this for yourself with a BIZ
cycle. Push its front wheel up against
a house wall. Make chalk mark on
the lowest part Of the wheel and on
the ground Immediately beneath it.
Back the machine a little from the
wall, and when the wheel has moved
an inch the marked spot will not APP
pear to have moved at all. As the ma
chine is slowly backed farther the first
visible movement Of the bottom Of
the wheel is upward from the ground,
while it is impossible to see that the
marked spot has backed from the wall
to the smallest extent. This means
that all wheels, travelling at any speed,
have a part-the part in immediate
contact with the ground which has no
movement at all.
But the wheel Of railroad car has
a fange, a portion which juts down
below the wheels point of contact on
the rail. That point of contact then
becomes center; the whole wheel
passes forward above it, while the
fange beneath 1t passes under 1t, go
ing backward. That is the part Of the
wheel that travels In the contrary di-
rection. And by simple mathemati-.
cal formula its rate of speed is cal
culable at about one-sixth Of the speed
Of the axle of the wheel, which repre-
SCENTS the forward rate Of travel. So
that on every express train going six
ty miles on hour toward New York
there's portion that IS travelling to-
ward Boston its humble ten.
The paradox that sail and Ice boats
may, fy faster than the wind which
| propels them Is obvious and common
place to the point Of boredom. But
consider the Intelligence Of the aver
age billiard ball. Place three balls In
4 d row along the cushion, touching each
4 other. PAce another ball alongside
the cushion, say eight inches from this
4 row. Hit this lightly and smoothly,
4 SO that It strikes the row. 1t will
come to rest at once on striking the
nearest ball The nearest ball and the
next one to 1t will also remain station
airy. But the third Ball viii start of
from the bunch at precisely the speed
OF the ball you have struck, and it
will quietly move OF to the exact dis
4 lance from the row that you had
i placed the ball which you struck. The
balls viii then be in position exactly
the reverse of the one at which you
4 started. The ball you struck witt
4 your cue will be the third bali In the
row, and the last ball In the origfna
row viii be at rest just eight inches
4 away from them. If you had placed
two balls eight inches from your row
Of three, and hit them with your cue
4 SO that they struck the row of three
then just two balls would leave ths
row of three and retire to the eigh1
inch position occupied by your twt
cue balls. Plainly the billiard ball Il
smart enough to come. in out Of th,
rain. 1t can count and add and sub
tract. It probably has its opinion o
the people who bat it about the cush
\ ions with not nearly SO true an in
stinct for angles and veiocittes as i
I has itself.
Hereafter when coal is high We ma,
4 heat our houses with ice, for ice give
out heat-not much. 1t would take
large chunk to heat the public library
but 1t might be done. Everything i
/ nature has some heat, every know
object, even ice. Ice Is cold to US onl
because It has much less heat tina
our bodies. 1t hasn't much heat, t
be sure, but still a little. You ma
! lower its melting point by mixing i
some salt A mixture of water an
salt requires 80 degrees OF frost t
freeze 1t. Therefore the mixture 9
| Ice and salt can be melted by the hes
Of anything that has 9 higher temper
azure than that. Such thing Is pun
1 ice which has been exposed for SOM