The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1911-03-31
MYSTERY OF LIGHT
Some Luminosity So Intense the
Eyes Cannot See 1t.
THE RIDDLE OF THE FREELY.
So Far 1t Has Baffled Science, but
When 1t Is Solved, as It Eventually
Viii Be, We Shall Have Light With
out Heat and the Perfect Lamp.

When 1t Is Solved, as It Eventually
! viii Be, We Shall Have Light With
| out Heat and the Perfect Lamp.
The scientist set down a small black
boz and impatently pushed aside the
powerful microscope and the delicate
bolometer. 1T is most discouraging,"
he muttered, ITO have such a treasure
before ones eyes and still be unable
to grasp it."
| looked in the little box, surprised
to fluid nothing but a few brilliant fire
dies. The scientist began to explain.
In that box is the most efficient IL
luminant known to man. The radiant
output from one Of those insects cor
responds to nearly fifty watts can,
! die while orr very best artificial illu
| minaHt, the flaming axe lamp. gives
only Two or three watts to the candle
| The Hight from those insects, as re-
| corded by the bOlomctcr, radiates little
If any beat while TIE very best mean
descent lamps waste more chan 90 per
cent Of the electrical energy in useless
heat Il | could rcaa this secret of
the insect world ard make lamp aft
or its pattern | could produce 3Sl can
die power from the same current that
! gives sixteen candle power today. Some
day the secret will be read"
The source OF all light Except the
Hight from firehies and their kim is a
substance raised to temperature suf-
ticient to set up waves in the sur
rounding ether, which. when falling
upon the eye, produce the sensation
we know as light. Light waves vary
in length between one thirty-three-
thousand four-hundredth and one six.
ty-fve.t housandth Of an inch, the first
being extreme red aud the second ex-
treme violet Rays of white light
have n length of one forty-flve thou,
sandth of an Inch. The sun Is n great
mass of white hot matter. 1t is the at
mosphcre that enables us TO see light,
| and outside If Uul atmosphere it Is alb
soute darkness. As dark as the interior
of Mammoth cave. In an are lamp it
Is the white hot particles Of carbon
floating between the two electrodes
that produce light. In the incandes-
cent lamp It is the hairpin flament in
side the glass globe that, when heated
by electricity, gives off light waves
In gas and oil lamps light is produced
by the heated particles of carbon in the
flames above the wick or mantle
The eye can stand without firing q
brlllianee Of about five candle power
to the square inch OF surface The or
binary candle flame gives only two or
three candle power to the square inch.
while the sun ut zenith gives 100000.
The are light ranks next to sunlight,
with 10000 candle power an inch, and
the best tungsten tilament incandes-
cents give 1000 candle power. This
means that II the sun could be chang
ed into II ball of tungsten it would
throw Off only 1000 candle power of
light from every square inch of its
surface. when the world would be
practically dark and we should freeze
to death in week.
The prism shows that white light is
composed of n happy blend of all col
| ors of the spectrum. The sun gives
the only pure white light, with the arc
| lamps close second and the metal
, fllament incandesccnts taking third
place. Sky light, such rs comes from
J the north on clear day, is blush
, white. Gns nantes give greenish
light, open flame yellow light and kero
senc orange light
by the laws Of evolution the human
eye has become accustomed to sun
light or Sky light, coming obllquely
from above and our eyes resent light
coming from any other source. Snow
blindness distress from white sand or
water. is the result OF violating this
rule. The upper cyelid Is adapted to
shade the eye from Il strong light
from above. The lower lid cannot per-
form this Office, SO when strong light
| is reflected up into the eyes ii blinds
| us.
The \ ray tias proved beyond doubt
that there are light rays which move
| too fast for human eyes to register.
This light penetrates books, wood, pa
per and even human flesh With the
Horoscope to assist our eyes we can
see the bones in our arm without both
erlng to remove coat or shirt. But
man with N-ruy eyes would be sadly
handicapped in this world. for he
could see nothing but solids, such as
earths and metals. and would be I'M
able to see n board fence at all. Be.
| You'd doubt there Is light so bright
that the eyes cannot see 1t, and to us
all is darkness beyond what our eyes
will register
Light rays themselves are Invisible.
When they move through the ether
alone our eyes cannot see them, conse-
quently all is total darkness. But
when they meet with the resistance of
our atmosphere, producing heat, they
register on the retina and-behold, we
can see! AS the atmosphere thins
rapidly rs we 70 upward, so in pro
portion the air resistance diminishes,
and consequently the heat Of the sun
seems to grow less This explains
why the tops Of high mountains are
always covered with snow.
Many wonderful discoveries have
been recorded in the illuminating field
of late, aud it Is safe to say that this
branch of science affords one of the
greatest fields for research and l1ven-
tion. Each year our artificial ilumi-
n0nis are improved. hut they are far
from being perfect Not until the Sc.
cret Of the FREELY IS read and light is
produced without heat win our even
Ing lamps he perfect Chicago Record
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