Omaha daily bee., 1911-11-04
ENDLESS SEARCH FOR SPEED
Strenuous Pace Exemplified in
Means to Get There.
RECORDS BROUGHT UP TO DATE
MarveIs of Speed ON Land, Air and
water-PrOEress Depends ON
the Angle of Com
purlson.

Tick, tick, goes your eight-day clock,
and between the two ticks second OF
time has elapsed
It isn't long, is It? Yet, In that brief
interval your thumb nail has grown
two one-billionths of lard and ray
of light has travelled 32S O2s, 800 yards on
it's Journey from the sun to the earth.
Between these two extremes of speed
| lie the efforts of man to traverse land,
water and air faster and faster.
The most recent OF human Inventions
calculated to annihilate space and COM
pei a new adjustment OF time values,
is the English-built motor boat Maple
Leaf III, which arrived in this country
on the Baltic two weeks ago. The tiny
craft is credited with having travelled
at a rate of fifty-seven miles in an hour
speed greater than has ever before
been attained by vessel designed to go
through water
A few hundred years ago man was Just
as keen in his pursuit of speed as he Is
today. Then, however he was quite
content with such swiftness as he could
reasonably expect his one pair of legs
to give him. The highest reward for
great speed in those days was usually a
leafy crown.
Since then man has gone ahead in his
search for speed, first breeding his four
legged friend, the horse, sometimes with
and sometimes without the aid of the
bookmakers' association; then harness
ing the power generated from kettle OF
boiling water, afterward using gasoline
instead of water In his engine, then
claiming the lightning and finally fitting
himself out with a pair OF artificial wings
ana taking to the air. And his reward
today, even though not so we'll suited as
laurel leaves for the purpose OF head
wear, is q trifle more material than 1t
was in the older days.
Speed over Land.
Remarkable as is the time record
credited TO the Maple Leaf Ill, 1t is In
water travel that man seems TO have
made the slowest progress. Overland he
has travelled more than twice as fast as
he has on water. In the air, recent as
are his efforts to master that element,
he has achieved almost as great speed
as he has on the surface of the land.
Man never has and never VIII devise a
means of darting through space at a rate
that will permit him even to approximate
many of natures own forces. But those
elements that he cannot rival he does
at least harness and bring virtually be-
meath his own control.
| 1t was a painstaking French statisti-
clan who estimated the speed per second
of the rays Of light. From the same
source electricity Is credited with a speed
Of 3OI,523, 100 yards a second, making II
in point OF swlftness second. And cleo
tricity Is one OF natures most powerful
forces thai man has subjected almost
completely to his needs
Sound the Frenchman OF figures found
TO be a laggard. No matter whether
travelling on first or second speed, sound
waves never exceeded a speed OF 3O5
yards a second.
Such deliberation is at times a decided
hardship For instance, man has sue
ceeded in imprisoning within the breech
of his greatest guns forces that when
released are sufficient to send a pro-
jectile through the air at a rate OF s75
| yards a second.
Swift Moving Things.
! with the sound OF the discharge OF the
gun arriving al the target more than
three seconds after the projectle, the
opportunity for successful lodging is not
| great.
From the security OF an underground
cellar the same statistician was able to
calculate the speed OF fine. booming,
| young cyclone across the plains Of the
western United States at 6s5 yards a
| second.
OF such are the understanding things
In the world. There are other nantes
tatlons OF nature more deliberate In their
/ rnoypmauta and cofuDstred with which The
inventions Of man travel at dizzy speed,
For instance, the bamboo tree grows
twenty-seven ten-milllonths Of a yard a
second and human hair grows thirteen
-minionths Of a yard In the same
period OF time.
There is infinitely less difference when