Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1916-10-24
A NATURAL PUZZLE
One Of the Great Mysteries That
Confound Science.
THE FORCE OF GRAvlTATlON.

g.. - n, \, VI. 60
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'o'' 'o'ce o' h"'"'e tna' N tue most
'ati''ia' 10 us MI " seems strange
that the most familiar thing IN the
/ world should he u, the same time the
most lncxplicabie. but 80 Il Ia.
! In order to see clearly wherein the
what grayitation appears TO bc. Il Il
Z ernyitntion that gives the property OF
, weight to all bodies II there were no
/ gruyitnton We could ioat IN the air
/ II Is yiintion that brings u cannon
tall eventually to the earth. no mattrr
! how swiftly Il may i,e projected, The
! faster II starts the farther II will 40.
but during every second of ,ts hight
Il drops the same distance vertically
/ toward the earth. whether the speed
impaired 10 Il by the powder is 200 or
1900 feet per second Grayitntlop
acts on u moving iDdy exactly M well
as on one NJ rest
/ Il N grlvltaIlon that ,ari,s the upu
ton OF the inou,, aud kccl,s II ip nh
orbit OF which the earth is The Hrtiyr
focus
SO. too. Il II sraytatluu that 70,
erns the earth IN lis motlwn around
| the sun. preventing 4, f,u,n il,ln. nwa,
into bo,iI,lless sl,nce Astronomy show,
thnt sruvIlniivn nets tsaw,,u all the
/ planets und all The stars aiuI controls
their moiions with t-,-.y 4. one nm
other.
Now, this m,si.rl.us fur~ appears
TO be au atiractinu ~ Ii there were
elastic cords CONNECTING all the lssiics
| Ia space aud tending 4. d.llw them To-
gethcr Bu, sIHl,e. IN h.r us our senses
can detect, l. emrty How. then. yau
there bc mn attraction: Ia order that
a body may I've attracted or drawn
there must bc something 10 draw Il
Grayitation does the trick. but com.
plctcly hldcs from Us tie mechanism
through which I, acts We ran dis.
cover i,o mechanism At all.
When m unfortunate aerupIanist
drops FROM his machine lie begins at
once to fail toward the earth as II Il
were pulling sDim But how can Il puli
if II has nothing 10 IhilI WITH You
may think nt first slight that II In the
air which acts ns nu Intermediary. but
that IN not ~, because the earth and
the m,nu lhll' uls,,, oi,c another with
a force equal 10 the strength " n steel
cable 5OO mlles IN diameter, hut there
Is no mir md nn other tangible thing
~ the ol~i, space. .lOIsW miles ncross
hat gaps I"lwern the m.",n md the
earth .
Thrn gru, ilation exets the same
force NJ every Instant No matter
how fast the falling ncrOnn,ll may I've
descending nt ANY monient. gravltatitn,
win keep ~, addhv speed AZ n he
bad Just started l'isrcgANllng the
slight rctnrintlon p,,Hiured by the re-
sistnnrr " the air, he will fall six.
teen feet IN the hrsl second. forty.
eight feet lnNhc srrond second. eighty
feet IN the third second, gaining thir
~ swo feet IN hls vekWl.y during ev
icry aaund after the hrsi From Il
height of ih'nm frel hr would fali IN
about twenty i've seconds and would
strike with vrlW'lty " ,'N' feet per
scrund ti
The snMr kiud ~ calculation can be-
applied lo the glnvtnti0l' between the
earth AMI the mnnn W the moon were
not IN motion across the direction ~
the curlh's 'pulr II would rnll m the