Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-01-02
BATTLES AND RAIN.
Absolutely No Physical Relation Ex-
lists Between Them.

BATTLES AND RAIN.
Absolutely No Physical Relation Elk.
lists Between Them.
IT is one of the extraordinary things
OF warfare says a recent writer in
Pearson's Weekly 0ondon,) that a
big rattle invariably produces rain"
once in the early stone age some
body remarked to somebody else that
rain frequently occurred after battles.
The author of this casual statement
was probably not psychologist. else
his conscience would have srnitten him
for having set afioat in the world the
germ of particularly fatuous fallacy.
The evolution of the idea was probably
complete long before the age of bronze.
Big battles are often followed by rain.
Big battles often produce rain. Big
battles invariably produce rain. Even
the modern penny-a-liner cannot i'm
prove on the statement. The myth is
fiXed-crystallized- probably i'm
perishable.
Had we enjoyed the privilege of per-
sonal acquaintance with the Neander-
thai gentleman just mentioned we
should have courteously entreated him
to start another ball rolling down the
ages. to wit. "A big sneeze is often
followed by rain" The infinitesimal
increase in the humidity of the air
occasioned by a sneeze is a simple and
obvious fact, whereas the infinitesirlal
amount of water vapor produced by
the explosion Of a few tons of am
munition can be hunted down only by
istry.
Since, however, we must put up with
the myth in its present form, let US
see how it happens that rain has SO
often followed battles as to suggest to
uncritical people that there was a ply
steal relation between the one and the
other.
First Of all, no such relation exists.
Rain is the result of the active con-
densation in the atmosphere, and This
is purely a question of humidity and
temperature. If the humidity be sufTi-
GENTLY increased. or the temperature
sufficiently lowered, condensation is
neutrality-suspicious. certain nuclei of
condensation dust particles or mole
cules of microscopic gases be present,
and outside of the laboratory they al
ways are present.
Now, it is conceivable that a warning
army might produce local rainstorm
by setting fire to a great city. If the
air be rather moist, a large confiagra-
ton invariably builds up great cum
illus clouds above it. The heated air
rises and cools by expansion. just as
it does from the sun heated earth on
a summer day, and condensation re-
suits. Under favorable conditions a
very big fire might cause smart
shower, or even thunderstorm,
than to form clouds.
A battle, however, cannot be sup
posed to have any appreciate effect
upon either the temperature or the
humidity of the air. Two explanations
of the alleged production Of rain by
battles have been offered, one non
sensical, and the other pseudo scien-
tific The nonsensical explanation is
the popular one-viz, that the con-
densation of moisture is promoted by
the conclusion due to cannonading, or
that the drops already condensed and
constituting the clouds are jostled to-
gether by the same process, with the
result that they coaleSce and fall as
rain. AS was once pointed out by
Professor Newcomb, the effect of a
violent explosion upon a body of moist
air a quarter of a mile away is exactly
the same as that of the clapping of
ones hands upon the moist air Of the
room in which the experiment is per-
formed e., absolutely nil. Or, again,
If we stand in the steam escaping
from a kettle and clap our hands we
shall not produce a shower, though we
jostle the water drops just as the ex-
ploSion does at a distance OF a quarter
of a mile
The pseudo-scientific explanation is
that the gases and smoke produced by
explosions increase condensation by in
creasing the number Of nuclei in the
atmosphere. The nucleation Of the at
mosphere, as affected by ordinary
business, by Microscopic gases, by
radioactive discharges, by ultra vio-
let light and what not, Is still An OBJ
scure subject. An outstanding result
OF recent Investigations, however, ap-
pears to be this: The lower atmos-
phere normally contains more than
the minimum number Of nuclei neces-
sary for the process Of condensation,
and this process cannot be made more
active by a mere increase in the num-
Der. Thus various and abundant
nuclei, in the form Of gases and smoke,
are given off to the atmosphere by
great manufacturing centers, yet these
places do not have a heavier rainfall
than the surrounding open country.
Pittsburgh. for example. is one of the
driest places IN Pennsylvania. The
suggestion that explosions may pro-
duce rain by furnishing nuclei to the
is, In fact, a mere specu-
lation, and probably could be easily
refuted by laboratory experiments
Scientific American.