Manchester Democrat., 1911-01-18
Prof. Mcmillan Of Chicago univer-
sity Doubts NebuIar
Theory.
u One Could Throw Baseball Hard
Enough Il Would Never Touch
Earth-sun Must Eventually Ex-
haust its Energy.

KANSAS CITY, MO.-COulo you etan0
on top Of high building and throw a
baseball around the earth? Certainly.
says William Duncan Mcmillan, profea-
sor OF astronomy In the University Of
Chicago. If you throw 1t hard enough.
'.,rhe moon." he said. "is falling to-
ward the earth at the rate Of one-twen-
tieth Of an inch a second, and the
earth IL falling toward the sun at the
rate Of one-eighth of an inch every 10
miles. But the moon never will fall
into the earth and he earth never will
fall into the sun. The reason Is that
while the earth is falling toward the
sun. at the same time It is falling out
ward from 1t sufficiently to keep the
same relative distance. II you stand
on top Of a high building and drop q
baseball 1t will travel to the ground
in straight line. But If you throw 1t
outward 1t will reach the ground in a
curve. and the farther you throw 1t the
greater will be the arc 1t will de-
scribe. II you should throw 1t far
enough It wouldn't strike the ground
at all. but would continue in curve
all around the earth and come back
to your hand. That is what the earth
is doing--it 10 being thrown around the
sun every "a hours and never strikes
It,"
Astronomy. the oldest and most ex-
act science, nevertheless. is discover
ing something new all the time. Prof.
Mcmillan asserts. Great progress
has been made even In the last ten
years.
Most OF what We know about the
stars" he said. I'VE have learned quite
recently. We know them now as well
as though we had scratched them with
nail. We have reached point where
we almost are ready to reject the neb-
ular theory Of the creation Of the uni
verse. We know more about the sun
than we ever did The only thing
about that the science of astronomy
has not outgrown is the Newtonian
law Of gravity-that remains and never
can be changed. Mechanically, as.
tronomy has reached high point of
exactness. Astronomy is the mother
OF mathematics: 1t has pushed the
mathematicians forward to every tri-
umph they ever achieved"
Gould the mathematicians con-
struct new solar system that would
work as well az the present one?"
Prof. Mcmillan was asked
"On no other theory that mathemat-
les ever could evolve would the solar
system work" he said. Change 1t a
hairs breath. and there would be a
wreck on the main line past all un-
tangling. That does not mean that.
perfect as 1t is, the solar system will
go on forever. 1t will not. There is
no such thing as perpetual motion. and
some time our universe as we know 1t
will cease to exist. The sun has been
pouring forth Its tremendous light and
heat for five hundred million years.
Enormous as that reservoir Of energy
Is. 1t must eventually exhaust itself.
When 1t does life on the planets
must cease"
About when will that happen. pro-
fessor?"
20 say in twenty or thirty million
years. 1t isn't anything new for a
sun to go out The sky is full of ex-
tinct sums
''Is It true that the moon came out
Of the Pacific ocean! People out in
California say you can see the edges
where 1t was broken on"
Well. It's possible. but more likely
the moon. the earth and all the planets
were born Of a tremendous collision be-
tween our sun and another sun. You
can see that there would be sparks fly