The Adair County news. [volume] (Columbia, Ky.) 1897-1987, 1912-12-04
The EARTH CRUST
Its Density, Its Thickness and the
Pressure 1t Exerts.
A BAR TO WORLD EXPLOSION.
The Reasons Why This Old Planet o.
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 its orbit. Similarly, many have
| thought that perhaps at some diStan5
tine, when the seas shall have h.eD
! drunk up into the cracked and thick
! eneL crust of the age shrunken earth
| and the volcanoeS-those vents Of the
| fer lnteriOr-shal have become chCE-
ed and extinct, the pentup gases gener-
ated from the descending moisture rs
| the still great Internal heat may ac-
tualiT explode the old earth like =
veriiable bOmbSheI.
-But that can never happen
In 1888 hrakatOa, a sleepy old 20.
cano On a small Island IN the stra..
Of SJlda. between lava and Sumatr.
began 70 show marked signs Of uneas.-
ness Round the volcano the quGElI,
earth opened enormous assures in tho
bottom of the sea, down which rushef
Nfagaras of water fhen the fissu~re
closed md confined The engulfed foo'5
In the hot subterrauean depths. The
water was quickly converted in,s
steam, the steam into dissociat.,F
gases, without room for expansion
1t exerrad a pressure equal TO tha-
of the strongest dyna mte.
The -reat chimney OF krakatr-7
, sealed a,nce the memory Of man.
barred he normal path of escape
Higher and higher mounted the pres
sure unler the huge mass OF the vol
cano; then. of 4 sudden, came bla,a
that actually shook tie earth. Never
before il historic time had there hrs.-
such shock The whole top Of the q
mountaiI was blown into the sky.
recoil wa distinctly felt clear thTou.,
the terre trial ball.
This great cataclysu has been citH,a
as an indication of tn power Of fHe-
pentup forces that may some day Dis
rupt the eth itself ct Us ezGUfr-
the unde ing princir es that. mus
guide us I'D passing judgment on to,
CORRECTNESS IF this theory.
An explCsive compounI IS a combG--
ible comb ID mechanically OF chen
ically either with oxyc or with an
oxidizing 81 lance that Tin burn v-f-.
out the helu Jf atmospheric oxygen
Among IT, most pow ~fuI high e-.
plosives az Hitrocclgtir and u.r--
acid, each G which has density u'. ...
than one GrI-a half tines that e..
water The -Oducts of -heic comn@s
oil Cd
products OF .. combustion OF ord'u"-s
black gunpo Ter are les than ua.-
f gaseous. t.. larger part is the SOLE
matter that makes the smoke
The energy at a high explosive r-e
exert depend on the volume of t..
gases liberato and the temperature Old
which the q, OF the explosion can
raise them
The exact { lperaturC z the G1s"~
liberated by a gh explosive at the i.t
slant Of detO ion IS rCrs absolute
known, but Y be GT1rOEimaie.-
learned thrOuc chemical rxperimer..
Nor is the am IT OF pres IRE know
with absolute .tainty u S prOha ".
/ however. that -rO-.yCa-i- uitrn--
tin and picric 2. when tODated H
a confined spacr exert "a pre- sure some.
where betweeI 2C0CCO and 5000h
pounds to the IRE inch
, II we assums hat the earth crust
has q density fss times tha- Of v3-'-
and that its av.r re thickness is G.t-
miles. then it follows that il exertf g.
( pressure OF nor han 100000 pound
to the square inch: If the crust is -
hundred miles t,iri. then t6 pressure
is more than a ..l lion pounds 10 The
SQUARE inch-a y. .ure certainly great
err than the expansive force exerted bT
the most pOwe-ruI nigh expioSfr.-
Plainly. no quantity of high explosive
detonated under t.n crust of the earJf
would be able-to IL it. and consequent
" We know that I'D world OF the size
of the earth can ever explode from is
own pentup intera forces.
! III then. no high explosive force Is
sufficient to blow rD world the Sc
of the earth. how can worlds expl"te-
There is only one way in which the
heavenly bodies ca become posseSs'7i
of sufficient energy actually to bIo''
up, and tlat 3. b. a,-~---
The stars are flying about in space
with velocities thai range all the W
from five mites a second to 500 m
second.
If two celestial orbS, trave -.
at a velocity of 200 miles a -,
in a head-oD collision T. $50
fused and gasifed b. r. ;,,noct. -
! the heat generated mid no s,,aic;or,
to break up the y 80. 80 ,,,,.,, 80 -
. intimate elemer Aat'er OF ootn into u
ats and to expand II int,
neDu,ous &c. This is the way n
WHICH sci' ace says that new suns. new
neouiae and new stars are born.-Hnd
son 'sAaxiza in Youths Companion.