Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1913-10-31
SPHERES
With An His Scientific skill Man
Cannot Produce Them
THE CuRvlNe OF A BASEBALL

son win tn Size Much RouahoT
Than the surfsee Of The Earth.
The real reason why a baseball can
be thrown 30 that Il will describe won
derful curves during it's progress
through the air Is that every such bali
has a surface made up Of mountains.
valleys, craters. canyons. gorges, plains
and other Irregularities OF the surface
that when the difference in size Is
taken into consideration, makes the
surface OF the earth seem like plate
glass.
II II were possible 70 make q perfect
gphere-if Il were possible 30 make Q
baseball with an absolutely smooth d r
face and an exact s~2here-ne pitcher
In the world could make Il curve. The
very best pitchers baseball has over
known or probably ever win know
could not make the ball deviats a hairs
breadth In It's flight.
And 80 while Il Is partly IN the art
OF knaek the professional pitcher has
Ia holding and releasing the baseball
as he throws It It is also due to tho
fact that a baseball has a wonderfully
rough surface against which the air
catches and turns It that gives IL the
curve.
Il you pass your hand over a plate
glass It owe smoothly with nothing
to retard It. II you pass your hand
over an unplaned board you can feal
the roughnesS-splinters We call them.
You cannot nov your hand as easily
over the board This is the same prin-
ciple with the baseball There IL a
rOughness in its surface that catches
In the air and forces one side about or
retards that side. This has but one
result-to make the baseball leave its
straight course and IN doing this II de-
Bcrlbes a curve.
This does not dstraet in the least
from the cleverness Of the pitcher who
can 80 accurately judge bis muscular
control al to make a baseball curve M
or down. right or left But the fact
remains that It IL the roughDSss Of the
baseball that makes all his pitching
cl~everness possible.
Take a brand new league ban IN
your hand. II looks to be q perfect
Sphero-that Is, absolutely even and
uniformly round and Al smooth AZ
glass" And 1t may be as smooth a
glass, for glass also has q rough sur
face
Put a baseball under the most pow
erful microscope. enlarge Il MICROSCOPE
caIly 10000 diameters, and what do
you seer The very thing mentioned in
the 6rst paragraph Of this article The
surface IL rough Il looks like the
landscape In the Alps Of Yellowstone
park or any other rough section Of the
earth. It has peaks, ranges. ridges,
valleys, plains and holes. gulches and
all sorts Of uneven places, and II the
earth could be made az small as q
baseball Il would be practically a per
feet sphere and absolutely smooth
This - because the highest mountains
OF the earth and the deepest valleys
would DO millions upon millions OF
times smaller in comparison with the
rough uneven places on a baseball II
either the earth were reduced TO the
size Of a baseball on a baseball enlarR-
ed to the size Of the earth.
II this were not true the earth would
not revolve 30 regularly upon it's axis.
IL would perform an "fn shoot or
-Out shoot and curve on through
space.
Even the billiard BAH has a surface
much Fougher in comparison to itz siEe
than the surface OF the eurth, and we
refer to a billiard ball as about the
smoothest thing known. "As smooth
a q billiard ball" Is q well known
smile. For the same reason that q
perfectly smooth baseball could not be
curved, a perfectly smooth and per
fectly round billiard ball could not be
made to urv on the table. Il would
not take English" az billiard players
call 1t when they make a ball go for
ward and then roll backward or in any
direction just by the manner In which
they strike 1t with a chalked cue
This fact o. rOughness causing II to
becomes all too evident when a
forgets to chalk his cue and
plays several shOts t~hereafter. II the
leather dp Of the cue becomes shiny
Il VIII slip on the ball Thero Ia no
purchase with which II can take hold
But chalk Is sticky stun, and the gran
ules are large. 20 that a wen chalked
cue has a very rough surface, and this
rough surface OF the tip Of the cue nts
into the rough projections on the ball.
and thereby a ball can be given a lot
OF twist In order TO accomplish this
successfully. moreover, the billiard
cloth nap must be new and therefore
During recent experimentation with
regard to the kineuc theory Of gases
q Belgian scientist desired 10 End out
bow perfect a sphere could be made In
order that BY the clashing Of these 10
an idea might be secured OF the
effect OF the collisions Of the spherical
atoms that make up a gas. The prof.
ect had to be abandoned az last b.
cause no machinery could b construct
Cd that would turn out q perfect
sphere a~rdacially. and nature has no
uarfnnf nnhaHa - H.. ~. A. III A.