The Ocala banner., 1914-08-28
OF A COMET
Its Wild Race Through Space and
the Speed 1t AttainS.
CRASHING INTO THE EARTH.
What the Result Would 6e if One of
These Light but Massive Wanderers
of the Sky Were to Swing into a
Head on COLLISION With Our Planet


of the Sky Were to Swing into q
Head on COLLISION With Our Planet
4 large part of the fear that great
comets have always inspired Is due ~
an instructive dread Ot their rremen
d0uS power for evil They look like
beSOnlS of destruction. and those who
know nothing about astronomy accept
them at their apparent face value
And. In truth. if they could come
within hitting distance of the earth
they would do an enormous amount of
damage. aud some OF them nigh. be
capable of putting the earth Temporal
rily out OF commission a. an inhabited
globe
The terror that was aroused In many
quarters by Halley'S comet in 1910 Il
sure to recur on the appearance OF any
new comet. so that ii iS worth while to
consider what an evilly disposed comet
could do to the earth If it got IL ctance
There are two ways i'll which Il comet
could cause damage to the earth first.
by running straight into it with 10000
times the velocity of an express train
and. second. by injecting the atmOs-
phere with the poisonous or sitting
gases contained in it's tail
Let us consider the first case OF a
comet shock.
Two things have to be taken int
account-namely. the velocity and the
weight of the colliding comet. con
sidered as gigantic prtsectile shO'
against the earth as u target
Comets are very deceptive in regard
TO weight or mass. They are enor
mously large, but relatively very light
The comet that appeared in 1861 first
grazed the sun and then swept the
earth with its tail
Halley's comet also occupied vastly
more space than the earth. but care
full estimate has shown that 1t prob
ably did not weigh more than 10000.
600 tons. which is much less than the
weight OF the material excavated t(
make the Panama canal
1t might be thought. then. that the
earth Is In no more danger from suct
boys bean shooter But now the veloc
ity begins To come into play. The speeC
Of comet ut the earth distance from
the sun would be about twenty-si1
miles per second
A mass of 3O.OOO.OOO tons shooting
through space at velocity of twenty
six miles per second would develop il
round numbers about twenty quintil
lion foot pounds of energy. equivalent
to the development in one second o
thirty-six thousand million millior
horsepower.
Where the comet struck everythin.
rock. soil. vegetation-wOuld be melt
ed. vitrited and even vapOriZed in HI
instant. for all this tremendous energy
would be turned into heat through th'
sudden and complete arrest Of the
swift motion of the comet The 6Ot
QuintilliOns OF absolute units Of en-
ergy developed by the stopping Of the
comet would furnish enough heat Il
tons Of solid iron!
The result would be very big anC
very deep hole in the earth. Thou
sands of square miles would be NOR,
or less directly affected by the terrific
impact. for the shock would be great te
than that OF the mightiest earthquak ke
and perhaps buildings would tumbl'
into ruin and mountains would shak,
off their fringes of rock In all parts 0
the globe. while the sea would hur
itself in whelming tidal waves upol
every coast and drown all the low Iy
ing islands.
The atmospheric disturbances woulC
also be enormous. The sudden devel
opment of great heat at the point o.
collision would unbalance the air cur
rents and destructive and capriciou!
winds would blow to and fro over th.
earth.
We have only little space left e
consider the effects of a collision be
tween the earth and the tail of 1
comet This is something that ha!
actually occurred two or three time.
within a century. AS already said. th'
comet of 1861 enveloped the eartl
with the spreading end of its tail 70
few hours. and in 1910 Haley
comet brushed its tail over the earth
but apparently the electric repulsiol
developed prevented the gases of tn,
tail from entering the atmosphere.
Is possible that in every case thi
would occur. so that electricity may b.
our effective guardian against dele
terious substances that might other
wise be introduced into the atmos
phere from the switching tails of clos
! passing comets.-Garret F. Serviss II
| Spokane Spokesman Review
Destroying Equilibrium.
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