The Washington times., 1919-11-23
BY H. Gernsback,
Editor Of Electrical Experimsoter and
Radio Amateur News.

Editor Of Electrical Experinsnter and
Radio Amateur News
TN our planetary system there are prob
II ably only three planets now capable
OF bearing organized life They are
he earth. Venus and Mars. 1t has been
sAown conclusively that the major plan
81. such a. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and
Neptune, are all still in a plastic or molten
stats. And life a. we know 1t cannot exist
0 q planet whose surface has not as yet
coosed to firm crust. and whose tempera-
tzre ID far above the boiling point OF
water.
These large planets are still In their
eas4y childhood, while the earth may be
termed In its 1teens," 1t being few steps
ahend Of the evolution OF the major PLAN
sts- Venus Is probably abreast OF the
eartb's progress, or perhaps just . step be-
hfndsus.
We know very little about Venus because
no human being has ever seen Its surface.
n is constantly enshrouded in vast masses
a clouds. making 1t impossible to see the
hpd or oceans. Being twenty-five million
miles nearer to the sun than our earth, 1t
receives twice as much heat. This gives
rise to much greater amount of cyapo-
ration-hence the constant ciouding
We may be sure. however, that organ
lied life exists on Venus Where there
are water and clouds, which must give
Venus similar atmosphere to our own,
organized life must exist without shade
Of doubt.
But now what OF Mars, that interesting
planet with which scientists dream of
some day communicating,
Being much smaller, Mars cooled down
handreds of thousands of years before
the earth did, II the earth is In its
teens Mars Is well along in the eighties.
And organized life there must have begun
cons before 1t did here.
To form any adequate conception of what
ftfs on Mars Is like we must first under.
stand the conditions under which It exists
osnditions radically different from those
under which we ON this earth live.
Our telescopes reveal a very great scar
city Of atmosphere on Mars. We know this
frDm the exceedingly rare cloud forma-
deua The air Is so thin there that a man
suddenly TRANSPORTED from the earth TO
Mars would suffocate in a few minutes.
And Mars Is losing its atmosphere into
SPACE much quicker than the earth be-
cause OF Its bower grsvitstion-
One terrestrial pound weighs only about
third OF a pound on Mars. Therefore Mars
does not hold down its air as strongly as
is the case on earth, and the air escapes
more quickly into the outer space. While
this process Is slow. requiring millions II
years. It Is steady and inexorable.
The accompanying diagrams, reproduced
from q recent issue of the Electrical Ex-
perimenter, show the wide differences in
the amount OF graVitstional pull found be-
Eros
II you were to descend a shaft drilled
right through the centre of the earth you
would steadily lose weight until you
reached the earths centre, where you.
would weigh nothing at all.
An averags American living on Mars
would be able TO lift and carry about with
ease a safe weighing 564 pounds, and on
Eros be would actually be able 70 lift big
mogul locomotive weighing 262. 200 pounds
But to return to the conditions life has
to face on Mars Scant air. as every avia,
tor knows, lowers the temperature How
mach colder is IL then on Mars with an
atmosphere thinner than an aviator ever
bfeakhed On earth, Also IL must be re-