The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1908-10-29

Prof. II Kammerlingh Onnes OF Ley
den has succeeded In liquefying he
lium.
Terrifying In It's destructive aspects
and appalling in its danger, yet in
tensely fascinating in its possibilities
for bene6ting 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 Of
these are as yet heights so exquisite
and depths so profound that they mock
at once the lens and the plummet-lina
OF human conception.
For the sake OF convenience, hoy
ever, science has established a pure
ly arbitrary starting point for the
IS called the absolute zero" and is
fixed at 400 degrees below the fam
iliar zero mark Of the Fahrenheit
Thermometers point which chemists
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 Dewar's 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. II. Hammer
lingh Onnes Of that city has succeeded
In liquefying the rarest and most vo.
latilc of ali gases He has reduced
helium to n visible fluid, determined
its temperature and made the incred-
ible discovery that It is but a frac
ton over four degrees from supposed.
~ theoretical jumplng-off place of Jack
Frost
In order to appreciate the vast sig
nlfiCance Of Prof. Onnes' achievement
It is only necessary to recall the means
by which the air is kept at zero tenn
perature in n cold storage warehouse
AS everyone knows. evaporation causes
cold. 1t is the evaporation Of the wa
not the temperature OF the water it.
sef-which produces the sensation Of
cOOlness.
According as the evaporation Is slow
or rapid, the cold produced is less or
greater SO, IN cold storage plant
ammonia gas, which is extremely vol
atilc, is allowed to evaporate, either
directly into the mir or 1t Is released
in the presence Of brine (Which freezes
only at less than zero temperature)
and the brine, taking the temperature
of the evaporating ammonia is then
distributed in pipes throughout the os-
adjustment. Thus the desired degree
of cold is impaired to the storage
rooms.
Now fancy if you can, a cold, COM
pared with which the deadly chill from
ammonia gas IS hotter than boiling
oil; call this the temperature Of LIQUID
hydrogen. Then, with this as a new
point of departure, try to imagine a
cold SO profound that beside it liquid
hydrogen itself IS as boiling oil, and
the frozen lcarI OF an Ice pant IS
hotter than the bowels Of a smelling
furnace, and you have some conception
of the comparatively 1t can be called
temperature-of liquetied helium.
DIR. II. Il. Galpin, well known
authoril, on refrigeration, member
of the London Society Of Chemical In
dustry. the American Chemical Society
and the Society Of Electrical Engineers
attempted to explain in non-technlcal
language what the new discovery means
to science and humanity.
The liQuefaction of helium," he said,
''is Of the most startling and far-reach-
ing significance. 1t opens the door
to possibilities of which students Of
refrigeration have long been aware
but which thus far have been beyond
our reach In actual practice 1t is
apparent, for example. that If we can
distribute ammonia chilled brine from