The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1907-09-26
ODD THINGS IN NATURE
Every Known Object, Even Ice,
Contains Some Heat.
SOME PARADoXES 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.


Hour Travel Backward at the Rate
Of Ten Miles an Hour.
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.
For example, when a train is going
at rate Of sixty miles an hour, what
part of it Is moving backward! This
Is no trick, no SELL 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
yet portion Of that same train is go
ing in a contrary direction at Il pretty
fair rate of speed. 1t is not going rel
atiyely even; it is actually and literal
ly in hurry in that direction. You
may prove this for yourself with a BIZ
cycle. Push its front wheel up against
4 house wall Make chalk mark on
the lowest part of the wheel and on
the ground Immediately beneath it.
Back the machine little from the
wall, and when the wheel has moved
an inch the marked spot will not ap-
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
I,
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
fiange. portion which juts down
below the wheels point of contact on
the rail. That point of contact then
becomes a center; the whole wheel
passes forward above it, while the
fiange beneath it passes under it, go
ing backward That is the part of the
wheel that travels in the contrary di-
rection. And by simple mathenati-
cal formula its rate of speed is cal
culable at about one-sixth of the speed
of the axle of the wheel, which repre-
sents the forward rate of travel. So
that on every express train going six
ty miles on hour toward New York
there's a portion that is travelling to-
ward Boston its humble ten.
The paradox that sail and ice boats
may fly 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
a row along the cushion, touching each
other. Place another ball alongside
the cushion, say eight inches from this
row. Hit this lightly and smoothly.
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 it will also remain station
airy. But the third ball will start off
from the bunch at precisely the speed
of the ball you have struck, and it
will quietly move off to the exact dis
tance from the row that you had
placed the ball which you struck. The
balls will then be in position exactly
the reverse of the one at which you
started. The ball You struck with
your cue will be the third ball i'll the
row, and the last ball in the original
row will be at rest just eight inches
away from them. If you had placed
two balls eight inches from your row
of three, and hit them with your cue
SO that they struck the row of three,
then just two balls would leave the
row of three and retire to the eight
inch position occupied by your two
cue balls. Plainly the billiard ball is
smart enough to come in out of the
rain. It can count and add and sub
tract. It probably has its opinion of
the people who bat it about the cush-
ions with not nearly SO true an i'll
stinct for angles and velocities as ii
has itself.
Hereafter when coal is high we may
| heat our houses with ice, for ice gives
| out heat-not much. 1t would take q
| large chunk to heat the public library
| but it might be done. Everything in
nature has some heat, every known
| object, even ice. Ice is cold to us oaly
| because it has much less heat thar
/ our bodies. 1t hasn't much heat, tt
be sure, but still a little. You ma.
lower its melting point by mixing ii
some salt. A mixture OF water ant
salt requires 80 degrees of frost t.
freeze It, Therefore the mixture Of
ice and salt can be melted by the hea
of anything that has a higher temper
ature than that. Such thing is pure
| ice which has been exposed for some
time to the air. 1t remains at freezing
or melting. point, 81 degrees f., o.
zero on the centigrade scale. At thi.
temperature then it has heat enough
/ to melt a portion of its own substanc,
That has been made more easily melta
bic by addition of salt 1t proceeds t.
| melt part of itself, deyoting Il par
of its heat energy to this wor6-tha
Is to say, that having used up som'
Of its heat it has less heat left. An.
that is further to say that all the whi',
the ice was melting 1t was CROWN.
colder.
We come now to the ice furnace. !
large mass Of pure ice is contained il
a galvanized receptacle, having q flu
leading from the top. About this re
ceptacle is placed ice mixed with salt
The salted ice melts Ia melting
draws from the pure ice its heat. Gu
patent fiue conducts this heat to al
parts of the house. And there Is
great saving in coal.
Water may be made serviceablc a
| 4 fuel. It Is no mere reDortorial hy