South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-12-29
The Question of a
Blown Up World
BY Garrett p. Serviss

What is the origin of meteors,
the big irons and stones that fall
cut of the sky?'-J. c., Chicago.
The astronomer differentiates be-
tween "meteors" and "meteorites."
The latter is the term he uses to
describe the objects of which you
speak. Meteors are often called
shooting stars" and they are com
paratively abundant, sometimes ap-
Pearing in verita BILE showers OF fiery
sparks.
\ connection has been shown to
exist between the tracks Of comets
through space and those of meteor
swarms. and II is believed that me-
teors are particles of disintecrated
comets. They are very small bod
les, and there is no record of any
of them having penetrated the air
enough TO reach the earth's sur
face. They are swiftly burnt up in
consequence of the intense heat sud
denly developed through friction as
soon as they enter the air Their
average velocity before striking the
atmosphere is about 26 miles per
second. OF course. the products of
their combustion, in the form of
dust, must eventually descend 10
the earth. They begin TO take fire
at elevations as great as a hundred
miles or more.
on the other hand, meteorites
ialso called "bolides," "fire-balls."
'aerolites," "uranoliths" or me
teoric stones'D are relatively large
bodies which often pass completely
through the atmosphere and strike
the ground. They are of two prin-
cipal varieties-iron meteorites and
stone meteorites, the first consisting
almost entirely of metallic iron al
lOyed with nickel, and the second OF
stony material, with little or no me-
tallic substance.
The stony meteorites are far
more numerous than the iron ones
They sometimes burst. with loud
explosions. in the air. or are shat
tered on striking upon hard ground
or rocks. Their speed, which may
initially he equal 10 that of the
meteors. is rapidly reduced by the
air resistance, but although the
temperature at the surfaces rises
high enough to melt and vaporize,
the outer portions Of their sub
stance. their flight lasts so short a
time that the interior remains cold
and solid
The solidity and density Of me-
teorites of both classes emphasize
the mystery of their origin. Some
OF the iron masses, supposed TO be
meteorites fallen in prehistoric
times, weigh many tons and are as
compact as ingots. There are many
indications that all of the meteorites
have once formed parts Of a large,
planetary body, which by explosion,
collision r otherwise. may have
been broken into fragments
This theory Of the origin OF
raeteOrites. both the iron and the
stony varieties. from an exploded
world has always hung N the
background of astronomic thought
since the recognition. not much
more than a hundred years ago. of
the reality of meteoritic falls, and
the first discovery OF the small
planets, usually called asteroids or
planetoids Ii is an interesting fact
that these two things happened
nearly contemporeneously, although
that has no bearing upon the ques-
ton OF relationship between aste-
roids and meteorites. since the sup
posed explosion must have occurred
untold ages ago.
The asteroids are now known 20
number more than 500 i. e., such a
number have been Individually de-
tected; but there may be seen or
photographed. because beginning
with single one that is nearly 500
miles IN diameter, the known ones
range downward in size 20 hundreds
whose diameter probably does not