Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-04-24
Gigantic Magnet
Under Our Feet
aarrett p. aaryinn.

| n ffAol NUMBER or people ride IN AUTOMOBILES now
! 4 i adays and probably less than In a thousand
of them would to be told how the mag
zeal machine gets its power They content with
being whirled away mysterously the old woman
on her bfoomstck The delight OF the experience If
enough; the explanation would be a bore So most
or the several hundred million passengers the
speeding earth interested only in seeing the stars
fly by, and care nothing about the marvellous ma
chinery Of the ancient that carries them about
the source Of the electric banners that II filings out
as il dashes along the endless roads Of space. How
smooth she goes and what sensation we must 10
making" aI#
There il 10 believe that at least bsf or tho
entire bulk OF the earth consists Of iron Deep In the
interior Of tho globe there il probably great core ot
metallic iron, ntermnglcd with other heavy metals,
since We know that iron s the most readily magnet
lied Of all substances and since find Of iron
which are natural magnets, the structure Of
the earth itself Of the why II has become
q gigantic magnet. with two opposed poles such
all magnets have
think That the ultimate source Or the earths mag
nssm is IN the Torrents Of eleotrons pass from
the excited surface Of The out into space all
sides, AID tho earth receives ~ share Of these OF
the solar light and heat
At times special outbursts Of solar energy send
electric charges Of uncommon Intensity 20 the earth.
and then the latter visiby responds with the waving
curtains Of the polar lights, and with magnetic
storms"
eloctric field originated by the sun, and, rotating
within that field ~ huge globe, largely composed
Of pure iron, becomes nagnctzod But this liz only
general statement OF the manner IN which the earth
has been nagnetically charged
Some Of the probable details are Indicated in Prof.
sylyanus Thompsons suggestion that the evaporation
in tho tropics the ascending Of heated
air to be positively electrified and that they travel
northward and southwark until they descend In tho
hay adj tie aacfyl
which the earth Is rotating
Prof Thompson has for many years upheld the
view that this thermodynarnic production OF polar
currents, In conjunction with the earhs durna rot-
ton, affords the only rational yet suggested
for accounting FOR the growth on the esrths mag
netlsm 10 It's present state"
In fact, II would be astonishing II the earth vera
not magnetized In the presence OF tho sun II IL Ilks
watch IN the neighborhood Of dynamo II IL likely
that all tho planets are magnets and particularly
those that the than the earth H. viz.
Venus and Mercury II Venus. no brilliant IN tho
evening sky should drift close to planet should
expect (dsregarding the effects OF graytaon) to
the two behave like pair Of magnetized balls float
ing water. n they approached, with similar poles
in advance they would repel another but II with
opposite poles confronted the encounter would
tainly end in magnetic kiss
II wo could IRE or the cover OF the esrth-engns
We might find out why It's magnetic elements are so
strangely variable When words are used accurately
there IL nothing misleading than to say that the
magnetic needle points north At New York II points
NJ present nearly ten degrees west Of north Denver
about fifteen degrees north only along an ex-
trerney crooked line running from Charleston s. C.,
to the northern end Of Lake Michigan does the needle
point true north
AZ London tho needle points about sixteen degrees
wast Of north, but $50 years ago II pointed exactly
north and about 100 before that II pointed eleven
degrees east Of north For unexplained reason
there Is slow swing eastward and westward in the
direction Of the magnetic meridans OF the earth.
cupying about $40 years for each double vibration.
AT tho same time the position OF the poles OF mag
netism appears 70 change in the earth. and In the
latitude the needle dips more at one time than at
another. At the magnetic poles which far from
tho geographic poles, the needle stands upright show
ing that there the magnetic lines OF straight
downward.