Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-11-05
Scientific Discussions
by Garrett P. Seryiss
BY GARRETT n. SERVISS

Since the opening of this century the
world of thinkers has been amazed and
fascinated by the glimpse of the il
iimltable energy locked up in the
atoms of matter that has been acct
accidentally disclosed to the eye
of Science by certain cases of
spontaneous disintegration or AL
teration, of the basal elements
of chemistry. To grasp the meaning
of these gigantic intra-atomic forces
(the conquest of which would make
man truly Natures MASTERY, it is neces.
sary to account for them by the we'll
known laws of mechanics concerning
mass velocity. etc. They arise from
the astonishingly swift revolution of
the electrons in the atom
To set these forces free for our use
we should have to do something with
the atoms equivalent in effect to the
instantaneous removal of a man from
the equator to the pole or from the pole
to the equator.
For little as we are aware of it, we
too, have tremendous forces locked UP
in our bodies. due to motion. This mo-
ton is derived in part from the earth's
rotation on it's axis. Shakespeare's fa-
nous line. There are more things in
heaven and earth. Horatio, than are
dreamt of in your philosophy" gets
new significance if we ponder on the
unknown effects upon ourselves of this
balanced motion.
But, let us see what purely mechan-
lcal energy sleeps unnoticed in our
carth-whirled bodies If you live in the
latitude of New York, Boston Chicago.
you are carried round in n circle by
the rotating earth at speed of about
6OO miles an hour, or more than l3
miles minute. AS you go south
ward the speed increases. On the
equator it becomes about 1000 miles
an hour, or 16 2-3 miles a minute.
But, If you were at either of the
earths poles the only motion impaired
to your body by the earths rotation
would be simply one turn every "a
hours around your vertical axis. Sup
pose. then, that you were instantane-
ously transported from the euua-
tor to the North Pole. retaining
the tangential speed which you
as if the circumference of the
circle that you had been describing in
"a hours had suddenly shrunk from
25, 900 miles to zero! You would then
shoot away from the pole at speed of
16 2-3 miles a minute, or about 1,462
feet per second. You would become
something like an electron shot from
an atom. If you weighed 200 pounds
you would carry with you six-and-a-
quarter million foot-pounds of energy.
Whenever we travel north or south
over the earth's surface the amount of
kinetic energy in our bodies, derived
from the earth's rotation, varies, gain
ing if we approach the equator, and
diminishing il We go poleward. But,
the change occurring gradually, we are
unaware of it, as indeed we are una
ware that there is anything of the kind
within us.
However, these changes do produce
perceDtible effects. for all moving OBJ
jects have their direction slightly shift
ed through this cause, the shift being
toward the right in the northern hemi-
sphere. and toward the left in the south
ern. This force is visible in the cy-
clonic rotation of the winds. and has
been thought to be perceptible in ten
dency of rivers to eat into their banks.
1t is not alone from the earth's ro-
tation that we are imbued with an i'm
mense energy of motion unnoticed by
ourselves. BY being carried with the
earth around the sun we have impaired
to us momentum far greater, even,
than that derived from the terrestrial
iObfieioi' L nc ttIlil OTDlIal speed,
which we, of course, share, is about
1871 miles per second. or Sc times as
swift as the rotational velocity at the
equator But this is combined with
yet another motion, viz; the proper
motion" which the earth shares with
the entire solar system, in it's flight
toward point in the northern heavens.
at speed of about twelve miles per
second.
Free us from the earth's attraction.
and we would dart away on a tangent
to its circumference free us from the
suns attraction and we would dart
away. much faster, on a tangent to the
earth's orbit. But even then we would
not be entirely free, for we would still
fly. with the momentum derived from
the proper motion" of the system, in
the direction of the star Vega.
The resultant of all these motions, a
truly enormous force when reckoned in
potential norsepowers. slumbers unper-
ceved within our bodies; is il possible
that there is no reaction of any kind
affecting us? Would we be in all re-
spects the same If we dwelt OF motion
less globe in Il motionless universe?