The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1910-01-14
NEBULA HYPOTHESIS,
One Of the Most Interesting Prop
oSitions of Science.
WHAT IT ACTUALLY MEANS.
That the Sun, Planets and All Matter
Were Once a Vast Mass of mean
descent Gas All Jumbied Together In
an Enormous Chaotic Cloud.

Everybody mas neafQ the phrase, tue
nebula hypothesis, but what Is it?
In few words this is the meaning
Of "nebula hypothesis" That the sun,
the planets and all that is in them
were at one time in the inconceivably
remote past n vast mass Of chaotic, in
gas all jumbled together in
an enormous nebula. or cloud.
To begin with, the first conception
that science has dared to make, how
ever, takes US one step further back
Without mentioning the origin of mat
ter itself science conceives that in the
beginning all matter was Uniformly
distributed throughout space - that
there were no stars, no planets, no
with the matter we now have divided |
up into very fine particles some dis
lance apart. The consistency Of such
material was perforce very thin in !
deed, much more rarefied than the |
highest vacuum we can obtain now by
air pumps. From this state to the
nebulous state the theory has miss
ing link, one that can only be satisfied
by supposing divine command, for it
assumes, in the words of Professor
Todd, that gradually centers Of at
traction formed and these centers pull
ed in toward themselves other parti-
cles. AS a result of the inward fall
ing of matter toward these centers, the
collision of its particles and their fric-
ton upon each other the material
masses grew hotter and hotter. Nebu-
lac seeming to fill the entire heavens
were formed-luminous fire mist. like
the filmy objects still seen in the sky,
though vaster and exceedingly numer-
GUS" This process is supposed to
have gone on for countless ages, faster
in some regions than in others. Many
million nebulae were formed and set in
rotation around their own axes. This
happily can be explained by science.
Whenever particles are attracted to-
ward a center and are kept from fall
ing directly to this center whirlpool
Is formed, rotating in one direction.
An example of this, though humble
and not exactly analogous, is the rota-
| ton of water in a basin when the stop
per is pulled out of the bottom. Crawl
ty attracts the water immediately
above the hole, which starts flowing
out, thus leaving a space to be filed.
The rest Of the water rushes in from
all sides to do this. and the whirlpool
is the result.
Now each of these whirling nebulae
became exceedingly hot, and each
formed what is known as a star or
sun, our sun being one. The earth
and other planets had not then come
into separate existence, Of course, as
it is supposed that they were thEoWn
of later from the sun.
Our sun in its nebulous form and ro-
tating swiftly on its axis gradually
fattened at its poles on account OF
centrifugal motion. This phenomenon
is entirely familiar to those who have
seen ball of clay on potters wheel
gradually fatten. The motion was sc
swift and the mass so nebulous that
|
As time went on the outer part be
came cool and somewhat rigid, while
the inner part continued Its cooling
! and contracting. Thus the inner par
drew away from the outer, leaving
ring of matter whirling around on The
outside. This breaking off Of the ring
D is supposed to be FASTENED by the in
ability of the outside to keep up thu
0 swift motion of the central mass, boil
on account Of the slight cohesion anC
Of the centrifugal force. But this par
ticular part of the argument has moth
Q ing to stand on If the first law OF mo
ton is true.
B In the successive stages Of the sun
contraction this process was repeated
o over and over again, until severa
q rings were whlrllng around the centra
5 orb. They would necessarily be i
! the same plane. Now, these rings, no
70 being uniform IN mass or thickness
3 would each gradually accumulate tc
70 ward the densest portion until they
too, would form Il ball which woul
z subsequently fiHtten, and II the sui
N stance continued nebulous and the ba
a was large enough they would ais
70 slough rings.
10 OF course the rings the sun discard
- ed have become the planets, which,
required by the theory, are all yer
* nearly In the same plane. The ring
90 that the planets formed have becom
~ moons or satellites. So we are drive
y 70 conclude that our sun at one tin
% filed all the space from his preseI
90 position to the farthest planet In I'll
d solar system.
so From this theory there Is anoth'
~ thing that we have to believe, and TIL
% is that every star in the heavens n;
50 gone through this same process al
has family Of planets sailing arouT
It. lust as our sun has. 1t would
impossible to see these planets,
= course. for it Is impossible TO see
star even with the greatest teleseop
except as mere point Of light.
" As regards the proving Of this ne
v MIA hypothesis. of course 1t cannot
done. But everything points to Its
ty curacy. Many nebulae are seen eV
now among the stars that seem TO
an going through the delayed process
~ world forming. Around one OF t
N planets Of our own solar system, 81
~ urn. are three rings, which are prof.
bly destined In time to become mool
,k in the opinion Of some seholars.-A.
nj Hodge in New York Tribune.