The Kendrick gazette. [volume] (Kendrick, Idaho) 1892-1968, 1908-12-04

I'rOr. Ii. kammerllngh OnneS OF Ley
Zen has succeeded in liquefying he
lium.
Terrifying in its destructive aspects
and appalling in it's danger, yet in
tensely fascinating in it's possibilities
for benefiting the world, the latest
explanation of chemical science has
placed mankind literally within but a
few degrees of the frozen pole Of
knowledge.
Heat is life; cold is humiliation
The final and absolute extremes o.
these are as yet heights so exquisite
and depths so profound that they mock
at once the lens and the plummet-lin
Of human conception.
For the sake of convenience. how
Ever. science has established pure
ly arbitrary starting point for the
measurement of heat and cold. This
Is called the absolute zero" and is
fixed at 459 degrees below the fam
Iliar zero mark of the Fahrenheit
have vainly sought to reach ever
since Prof. Dewar most nearly ap-
preached it by his astonishing feat of
liquefying air and hydrogen.
But even Dewars greatest cold was
hundreds Of degrees from absolute zero
That was some ten years ago. Now
comes news from the old town of Ley
den in Holland-birthplace of the cleo
trio battery-that Prof. HI. Hammer
lingh Onnes of that city has succeeded
In liquefying the rarest and most vo.
latile of all gases He has reduced
helium to visible fluid, determined
Its temperature and made the incred.
lble discovery that 1t is but a frac
tion over four degrees from supposed
ly theoretical jumping-off place Of Jack
Frost.
In order to appreciate the vast sig
nificance of Prof. Onnes' achievement
It is only necessary to recall the means
by which the air is kept at zero tenn
perature in a cold storage warehouse
AS everyone knows. evaporation causes
cold. 1t is the evaporation Of the wa
ter with which you battle your face
not the temperature OF the water It
self-which produces the sensation Of
GOODNESS.
According as the evaporation is slow
or rapid, the cold produced is less OF
greater. So, in a cold storage plant
ammonia gas, which is extremely vol
atie, is allowed to evaporate, eitke
directly into the air or it is released
In the presence of brine (Which freezes
only Mt less than zero temperature
and the brine, taking the Temperature
Of the evaporating ammonia, is thel
distributed in pipes throughout the G.
adjustment. Thus the desired degre
Of cold Is impaired to the storaS
rooms.
Now fancy, If you can, a cold, com
pared with which the deadly chill fror
ammonia gas is hotter than boilin
oil call this the temperature Of liqui
hydrogen. Then, with this as a ney
point Of departure, try to imagine
cold so profound that beside 1t liqu.
J hydrogen itself Is as a boiling oil, all
the frozen heart of an ice plant i
| uOltcI tAdn bhC OoWCio VI u blucltlu
furnace, and you have some conceptio
Of the temperature-if 1t can be Gallo
temperature-of liquefied helium.
, DIR. H. T. Galpin, a well know
authority on refrigeration. a membe
Of the London Society Of Chemical II
iustry, the American Chemical Societ
Ind the Society of Electrical Engineer
attempted to explain in non-technic,
'anguage what the new discovery NEAR
, 10 science and humanity.
[ 'The liquefaction Of hellum," he sal
sis Of the most startling and far-reac
ing significance. 1t opens the dot
to possibilities Of which students
refrigeration have long been awar
!. but which thus far have been beyor
! our reach in actual practice. 1t
4 apparent. for example. that If we Ct
| distribute au1m0nis chilled hrinA fro