The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1922-08-02
rain DRIES AIR
SAYS SCIENTIST
Some Interesting Paradoxes Are
Explained by DR.. Humphreys of
Smithsonian Institution.
HOTTER SUN COLDER EARTH
Old Sol Rises Before He Is Up and
Sets Before 1t Goes DoWn-Bent
Rays of Light Account for
This Paradox.

| Washington.-A rainstorm dries The
air; more goes up than comes down
as the sun sets the air grows warmer
the hotter the sun grows, the colder
the earth becomes; the sun rises be
fore it Is up and sets after it is down
these are strong statements and sound
like fairy tale, but they are all true
DR.. w. J. Humphreys, quoted in the
annual report Of the Smithsonian in
stitution which has just been made
public, explains all of them. They are
perfectly well known to scientists, If
not to laymen.
AS everyone knows, Dr. Humphreys
declares, water evaporates and is
taken up in the air as vapor. This ac-
ton is continuous all over the earth
and the atmosphere would soon be-
come very soggy If it weren't dried
out. Rain is the collection, or con-
densation, and precipitation Of these
moisture particles, consequently the
more it rains the less water there is
left in the atmosphere, or the drier
the air becomes.
Contradicts Old Saying.
The second of DIR. Humphreys para
doxes seems fatty to contradict the
old saying whatever goes up must
come down" However, as the writer
expresses it, vertical circulation in the
atmosphere is only gravitational &C
ton, consisting in the sinking of rela-
lively cold and therefore dense air,
and rising Of warm and light air. Con-
tracted air descends, expanded air
ascends. Therefore, mass for mass,
the volume of ascending air is always
larger than that descending
The third paradox is merely way
Of stating that the warmest part Of
the day is not at noon, when the sun
Is at meridian or overhead and should
seemingly be pouring down greater
heat, but several hours later in the
afternoon. That is because the sur
face of the earth and the lower lay
heat from the upper layers for some
time after the latter have been re-
ceiving the maximum amount of heat
radiation from the sun.
While it is not yet universally con-
coded that the next puzzler, ''the hot
ter the sun, the colder the earth,'
really is true, Dr. Humphreys states,
the evidence In favor of it is already
very strong.
Another Paradox Explained.
The paradox of the sun rising be-
fore it is actually up and setting after
it has actually gone down is explained
by the bending of light waves when
passing through the air. A stick when
placed in clear water seems to bend;
a light ray when sent through the air
does actually bend. The rays from
the rising sun are bent when they
strike the air envelope. This angle
varies according to well-known laws,
but on the average the light from the
sun is bent 341a seconds Of degree, so
that the upper limb of the sun when
first seen is actually half a degree be-
ow the horizon. AS the angular diam
ster of either sun, moon or star is less
han this fraction it follows that when
he sky is sufficiently clear the whole
If either may be seen before even its
.opmost portion is economically above
he horizon.
contradicts Old Saying.
While the reverse is not absolutely
systematically, it is added,