Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-05-30
WHAT'S INSIDE THE EARTHa
Core of the Planet Known to be Very
Hot-Said to be Molten Iron.

Core of the Planet Known to be Yer,
II Hot-Said to be Molten Iron.
Scientists everywhere arc trying (
l look inside the earth. trying TO find on
swhat is underneath the THU skin q
1 this planet upon which we live. says
the Kansas city Star. They have beer
on this quest for many years, and they
have not found out yet, and there Is
as much difference of opinion among
| them as TO what constitutes the kernel
of this nut as there is about the nebu-
4 lar theory. or whether or not Mars is
/ inha bited, or whether the moon has an
atmosphere: and today. in spite of the
III delvings of science, the composition
" and condition of the earth's interior Is
/ as much mystery as ever 1t was Nor
II is this mystery likely to he solved, Tor
Il there seems TO be no way OF getting
/, at the facts II would be impossible 10
| dig down or to bore down far enough
| 10 find out The deepest mine In the
| world is only $3.50 feet, considerably
! less than a mile; and the greatest
denth ever reached by boring was less
| Than tive miles, and when one consid-
ers that il is 1858 miles from the sur
| face TO the center of the earth, il can
| be realized that these attempts of man
| to penetrate this earth are mere pm
| scratches upon its skin.
Four different theories are held by
scientists as to the nature of the
earths interior
First. that the earth is thin outer
crust filled with molten liquidity.
Second. that the earth is solid to the
core.
Third, that it has a solid external
shell filled with gaseous matter.
Fourth. that the earth has solid eX-
ternal shell separated from a solid nu-
cleus by one of intermediate molten
matter.
Each OF these theories has its adher-
epts among the learned of the earth,
and il is a popularity of each group
that they assert their particular theory
as an incontrovertible fact, borne out
by evidence plain and convincing. ,.
Perciyal Lowell, astronomer and
founder of the Lowell observatory,
Flagstaff. Ariz., asserts that the earth
has a molten interior. He wrote in
recent article
volcanoes showed early man that
the earth must be very hot within.
Later he found that no matter where
he dug the ground grew warmer as he
descended below the surface. On the
coast of Cornwall. in England, is tin
mine. supposed to have been worked as |
long ago as the time of the Romans |
A person descending deep within It's
tunnel can feel with his hand the
startling warmth of the rock while at
the same time he hears the boom of the
ocean overhead. It gives you start-
ing perception of the real nature or
the earth on which we dwell-of ITS
hea ted heart and its chill covering OF
sea.
THE increase of heat the lower one
goes is fairly regular, amounting 10
me degree of our thermometer for eV-
FRY 100 feet of drop. The temperature,
n fact, increases so fast that at rela-
i've depth no greater than that repre-
;ented by the thickness of the rind OF
I'm orange the heat would be great
.noush to fuse any substance we know.
rhe heat must increase in inten-
;ity as it approaches the center of the
earth until the conditions must be
hose of a veritahle Tophet.
Not only do mines and volcanoes,
1
,arth is intensely hot, but since the
here must be flow of heat outward
n other words, our earth is SLOWLY
cooling off. Now since our heat is leav-
ng us, the earth must have been hot
.er once upon a time than it is now.
So we find ourselves face to face with
The query, How did this heat get IN
Here everyday experiences Will put
rs on the track of an explanation.
When one body strikes another potn
become heated. Everyone knows that
an anvil hit by a sledge hammer grows
her. Indeed so universally true is TINS
nrinciple that the amount of heat can
,Ivvays he calculated from concus-
sion Tn this manner it has been FOUND
that all the heat our earth now pos
sesses could have originated with the
falling together of once scattered
mass of material
.E,lrthermore, this is the only way IN |
which the heat could have been "c-
nuired. For, we're 1T due TO the sun,
tive Garth would be warmer on the out
eide than within-which is not the
case. Nor could it be due to what Is 50
non,,lar a supposition just no"-lh9
breaking up of radium
..The present internal heat OF the
earth thus informs us that this pianet
was not always the body we KNOW 20
dav. In the distant past it was a mass
of scattered material. which mas sine
condensed into the globe of the pres
emit time. 1t was much larger tneh ~
volume and not unlike the chaes "
old world fable Thus the earth pres
emf state is an Indication of its pass
history, and our informant IN the i'i"'-
ter is it's heat.
prof THOMAS Crowder Chamheriaih
If the university of Chicago believes
that the earth was formed by a as
turbance in our sun caused by the APP
nroach of or collision with some otlier
sun which drew off projections OF i"o-
ulous matter from our sun ana s'te
them rotary motion by It's Own ~
traction as it passed. These par.ieies
of matter then gradually gathered W
eetber to form the planets. Inc iii'ei-
nal heat of the earth. says Prof. Cham-
berlain. developed by compression as
, the body grew. .,.t
Prof r. c. Mendenhall believes tiltl
! the earth is a molten mass WITHIN. he
saws. Between 80 and 40 miles oowil
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