Smyrna times., 1912-12-04
The Earth CRUST
Its Density, Its Thickness and the
Pressure Il ExertS.
A BAR TO WORLD EXPLOSION.

The Reasons Why This Old Planet of
Ours, With All It's Pentup Fiery,
Volcanic or Gaseous Forces at Work,
Could Never Be Blown to Fragments. |
Some writer's have accounted for the
asteroids on the theory that they are
the fragments of a world that from
some unknown cause has been explod-
ed in it's orbit. Similarly, many have
thought that perhaps at some distant
time, when the seas shall have been
drunk up into the cracked and thick
ened crust of the age shrunken earth
and the volcanoes-those vents of the
fiery interior-shall have become chok-
ed and extinct, the pentup gases gener-
ated from the descending moisture by
the still great internal heat may ac-
tually explode the old earth like
veritable bombshell.
But that can never happen.
In 1888 Krakatoa. a sleepy old vol
cano on a small island in the strait
of Sunda, between Java and Sumatra,
began to show marked signs of uneasi-
earth opened enormous assures in the
bottom Of the sea. down which rushed
Niagaras of water. Then the assures
closed and confined the engulfed flood
in the hot subterranean depths. The
water was quickly converted into
steam, the steam into dissociated
gases, without room for expansion.
1t exerted a pressure equal to that
of the strongest dynamite.
The great chimney of Krakatoa,
sealed since the memory Oc man.
barred the normal path OF escape.
Higher and higher mounted the pres
sure under the huge mass of the vol
cano; then. of a sudden. came a blast
that actually shook the earth. Never
before in historic time had there been
such a shock. The whole top of the old
mountain was blown into the sky. The
recoil was distinctly felt clear through
the terrestrial ball.
This great cataclysm has been cited
as an indication of the power OF the
pentup forces that may some day dis
rupt the earth itself. Let us. examine
the underlying principles that must
guide us in passing judgment on the
correctness of this theory
An explosive compound is a combust-
ible combined mechanically or chem
ically either with oxygen or with an
oxidizing substance that will burn with
out the help of atmospheric oxygen.
Among the most powerful high ex-
plosives are nitrogelatin and picric
acid. each of which has a density more
than one and a balf times that of
water. The products of their combus-
ton are nearly all gaseous. whereas the
products of the combustion of ordinary
black gunpowder are less than half
gaseous. The larger part is the solid
matter that makes the smoke
The energy that high explosive can
exert depends on the volume of the
gases liberated and the temperature to
which the heat of the explosion can
raise them.
The exact temperature of the gases
liberated by a high explosive at the in
stant of detonation is not absolutely
known. but may be approximately
learned through chemical experiment
Nor is the amount of pressure knowr
with absolute certainty. 1t is probable
however. that nitroglycerin. nitrogela
tin and picric acid. when detOnated il
a confined space, exert a pressure some
where between 100000 and 500.00t
pounds to the square inch.
If we assume that the earth crus
has a density five times that of waite
and that its average thickness is fit,
miles. then it follows that it exerts
pressure of more than $4,000 pound
to the square inch: if the crust is
hundred miles thick. then the pressur
is more than a million pounds to th
square inch-a pressure certainly great
er than the expansive force exerted b
the most powerful high explosive
Plainly, no quantity of high explosiv
detonated under the crust of the cart
would be able to lift it. and consequent
ly we know that no world of the siz
Of the earth can ever explode from il
own pentup internal forces.
If. then, no high explosive force
Su1nclent TO bloW up world the S12
Of the earth. how can worlds explode
There is only one way in which I'll
heavenly bodies can become possesse
of sufficient energy actually to bio
up, and that is by collision.
The stars are flying about in spaC
with velocities that range all the wa
from five miles a second to 500 miles
second
If two celestial orbs. travelling eaC
at velocity of 200 miles a second. m
I'm a head-on collision they would
fused and gasified by the impact. al
the heat generated would be sufficie
to break up the matter of both into !
ultimate elements and to expand it in
nebulous haze. This is the way
4 which science says that new suns. ne
nebulae and new stars are born.-Hu