The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-07-17
HOW H0GH a MAN MAY FLY
SCIENTISTS OF THIRTY NATIONS TRYING TO SOLVE MYSTERIES
OF ATMOSPHERIC OCEAN.

driven by clockwork and as the paper
roll revolved the pens registered the
helSht and temperature. AT seven
and three fourth miles the tempera-
turc vas 60 below zero. then the ink
frozc and no record was made until
the balloon arose to ten miles when
the ink thawed and for several hours.
while the balloon remained at that
altitude the registered temperature
was only six degrees below zero.
All that is known positively about
the temperature of the upper air is
what has been proven by the records
brought down by those sounding bal
looms. All else is pure theory. The
lowest AR temperature recorded has
h"on 119 degrees below gro. That
was twelve miles mp over the heart
of eauitorial Africa.
Some scientists say that in the in
t'rsfellar space the temperature sinks
I" 800 below zero. But at a far less
extreme of cold than this oxygen and
nitrogen. h principal constituents of
inc arr, have been liquefied and soli-
dlfled. Some say that up there the
air loses its gaseous condition and is
trH%rn into minute crystals or drops
That follow the earth through space.
But that is all theory and the fact
may be that so or 100 or 200 miles
Nv thitf lIt temperature is as
nigh as here upon earth. If that is
the case n of the barriers against
n navigation of the upper air, that
OF intense cold, would he removed.
n French meteorological. Teisser-
ch'e de Bort. suspended from a
sounding balloon a glass tube closed
at both ends and with ono end drawn
out to a fine point and sealed in a
name after the tube had been COM
pleleiT elnptied of air. At a certain
height a hammer driven by clock
work broke the thin end of the glass
TUBE and let in the air. Then the
tube was sealed by a platinum wire
heated by an electric current from a
storage battery. When the balloon
came down 18th it's tube of air the
scientist analysed it and it showed a
came dow with its tube of air the
earth,s surface. The mechanical mix
lure known as atmospheric air is COM
posed of E9o4 volumes of nitrogen.
-o.?" of oxygen. l Of argon, .o3 of
carbon dioNide and traces of free hy-
dfcsen. helium. neo krypton, xenon
ana 4 varying amount of water vapo,
All of this was in the air which the
ffench scientist dipped from the at
moSpheric ocean nearly ten miles
ABOVE. but il was rarefied. Following
this experiment. which showed that
the composition Of the air above was
the same as that We breathe. another
scientist suggested that all that womb
ne needed to make possible the ascent
cl man to great heights was to invent
d macflne 10 compress the rarefed ai;.
anu thcr an aerhnaut could set his
achln going and breathe the COM
pressed air. If a balloon could be sent
10 eighteen miles With scientific in
s.ruments. a larger one could go to
\ ( m q hri rh = kl-
argued.
In replying TO that suggestion an
other scientist pointed out that while
1t might be possible o send a mans
Weight up to eighteen and even to
thlrtE miles or more and to
1he ar for him to breathe, there was
get the Impossible barrier of the re-
ouced ar pressure which decreases as
me height increases. Thus a man Oh
the earth's surface sustains an air
pressure of fourteen tons but this
pressure is halved with each thrno
and one half miles We ascend and at
eighteen miles the pressure is only a
fraction Of an inch of mercury instead
or the thirtv-two inches at sea level.
This release of customary air pres
sure at high attitudes has an effect
upon the blood. popularity known as
thinning so that one is fatigued
With little movement and a torpor.
known as balloon sickness, comes on.
This is accompanied by nausea, hem
orrhage of nose and lungs, drowsi-
ness and death.
Other scientists suggest that all of
this may be overcome BIZ inclosine
The aeronaut in q suit similar to those
Worn by divers, and keeping a forced
pressure from pumps upon the sur
face of the body.
The use of sounding bells have re-
suited in another most astounding
discovery, that the atmosphere lies
upon the earth in three we'll defined
LAYERS. The lowest layer is two miles
deep and is the air we breathe. 1t is
a egion Of currents and cross cur
rents of air. of heavy clouds, much
water and of turmoil and storms.
M second layer. beginning at two
miles above the earth and six miles
thick, is known as the "troposphere.'
Below it's upper level is three fourths
OF the total mass of the atmosphere.
Within this six-mile layer the air
blows constantly from west to east
at a velocity OF from so to 200 miles
an hour owe the temperate zones.
over the tropic zone it blows at the
same speed from east TO west. Tn
near the top of this layer the velocity
OF the wind is often 200 miles an hour.
# a balloon or aeroplane could be de-
vised to reach this altitude it would
he blown across the Atlantic or Pa
cifc within a few days.
h third layer, known as the
"stratosphere." lies upon the middle
layer and extends to an unknown
height. The winds here are gentle
breezes that blow in all directions
and the air gradually grows warmer
as the ascent is made. This is most
puzzling to the scientists. and, as 1t
upsets all their preconceived theories,
they do not know how to ccoun for
it. Excessive dryness is another char.
acteristic of the upper layer of air.
There Is no intermingling Of these
three layers of air. One floats above
the other as oil floats on water.
h exploration of the upper strata
Of the atmosphere is being done by
thirty governments in connection with
the International Commission of
L Czt "A ~