The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-10-24

This Wonderful Power Thae Keeps
Suns and Planets In Their Courses
May Be Waves In the Ether That
Push All bodies Toward Each Other.
The mystery Of mysteries In science
Is the attraction Of erayiiatlm--th that
very force of nature that is The most
familiar to us all. 1t seems strange
that the most familiar thing IN the
world shoull he at the same time the
most inexplicable. but 80 il is.
In order to see clearly wherein the
mystery consists let us first consider
what grayitation appears to be- 1t Is
gravitation that gives the property of
weight - all bodies. If tacre We're no
gravitation we could float in the air.
II is grayilation that brings cannon
ball eventually to the earth. no matter
how swiftly 1t may be projected. The
faster 1t starts the farther it will 20.
but during every second OF its flight
il drops the same distance vertically
toward the earth. whether the speed
impasted to ii by the powder is 900 or
5000 feet per second Gravitation
acts on Il moving body exactly as well
as on one at rest.
1t is gravitation that curbs the mo
ton of the moon and keeps it in an
orbit Of which the earth is the active
focus.
SO, too, il Is Gravitation that gov
erns the earth in its motion around
The sun, preventing 1t from flying AWAY
into boundess space. Astronomy shows
that g.aviati0n acts between all the
planets ana all the stars and controls
their motions witli respect 10 one an
other.
Now. this mysterious force appears
10 be an attraction Us il there were
elastic cords connecting all the bodies
in space and tending to draw them to-
scther. But space, as far Is our senses
can detect, is empty How. then. can
there he an attraction: In order that
body may be attracted or drawn
there must be- something to draw IT,
Gravilntion does the trick. but COM
pletely hides from us the mechanism
through which 1t acts. We caI dis
cover no mechanism at all.
When an unfortunate aer0planist
drops from lis machine he begins at
once to fail toward the earth as IL it
were pulling him. But bow can il pail
ii it has nothing to pull with? You
may think ut first sight that Il is the
air which acts as nh intermediary. but
that Is not 50. because the earth aud
the moon pull" upon one another with
a force equal TO the strength of steel
cable 900 miles In diameter. but these
Is no mir and no other tangible thing
IN the open space. 10000 miles across.
that gaps between the moon and the
earth.
Then gravitation exerts the same
force nj every instant. No matter
how fast the falling aeronnut may be
descending NJ any moment. arayitation
will keep on adding speed as II he
had just started. Designating the
slight retardation produced 10y the re-
sistancc OF tue mir. he will fall six
teen feet in the first secold. forty
eight feet in the second second. eighty
feet in the third second. gaining thir-
ty.two feet in his velocity during cv-
cgy second after the first From
height OF l0,OHO feet he would f0ll IN
about twenty-five seconds and would
stflke with velocity Of 100 feet per
second
The same kind of calculation can be
applied 10 The graviiGtioa between the
ra.th and the moon. II the moon were
not in motion across the direction OF
!hc caltl's pail It would fail to the
earth in about llG hours.
Now. TO return to TIE inys,eiy, how
is this force cyerted; is it really n
pull. rs it seems 10 he? The answcr
TO which science IS tending IS that, IL.
stead OF heing a pull srayitation * u
push-ln ether words lLli Tie Ealing
aeronaut is pushed toward the ground
and the moon is pushed toward the
earth.
On the face of it one might think
that nothing was gained by this the
Dry becarse it seems as impossible
that push should he eXortcd with
ont tangible connection rs a pull
But the clcw is found in the supposed
properties of HAT Invisible intangible
all pcrvading medium called the ether
This, to be sure. is explaining one
mystery by another for we know moth
ing about the ether except that II con-
ycys the waves # light and electric
ity; but, at any rate. it affords y con
cclvuble explanation Of grar,mt.oI..-
Garrett I. Serviss ia New York Iour
nal.