Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1922-05-10
ASTRONOMICAL
OBSERVATIONS
BY Levi G. johnson

In whatever we may observe on the
face Of the earth and in the sky, from
deep sea diving to the limit Of space
penetration by our telescope eyes, we
will find the ever persisting force of
attraction. From community ties to
the force that ties our neighbor plan
cts together into community known
as the solar system, and from sexual
love- that goes to make the home, to
the great force Of two attracting stars,
(suns), which in their journey thru
space may come into close approach
Of each other and by gravitational
pull are swerved out of their inert
course continuing their journey as
companions (the double stars), swing
ing around common center OF gray
ity, we find attraction in one form or
anotSer. The same power that con-
denses the vapor in the clouds into
raindrops or snowfakes presumably
also condenses the great nebulas of
space into new solar systems with
their innumerable worlds who in due
course Of time may be the abode of
life in it's varying forms. We will,
however, leave the study Of cosmog-
ony to some future time and confne
this article to the attracting force be-
tween bodies Of matter known as the
force of gravitation.
Gravitation is according to Prof.
Isaac Newton, it's discoverer, the pull
ing force of every particle of matter
On every other particle Of matter,
varying directly with the mass or
quantity Of matter, and inversely as
the square Of the distance between
the particles. If we tie a ball to a
cord and swing it around in circle
the ball will consequently be pulling
at the cord. This we call centrifugal
force. The force exerted through the
cord pulling toward the center is the
centripetal force. The ball is the re-
volving body and the hand the CELL
trail body. In the sense of the solar
system the sun is the central body,
the planet the revolving body, the
centripetal force is the gravitatiOnal
pull and the centrifugal force is the
law of motion to continue in a straight
course.
The centrifugal force varies with
the mass, the distance and the square
of the revolving speed.
TO make this plain let us tie ball
to cord, (real or imaginary as you
prefer), one foot long if the ball is
the right weight to exert 1 Id. pull
when swung at a speed Of l rev. per
second; then if we accelerate the
speed times or per sec. the pull
will be 4 times or 16 lbs. while if
we make the cord 4 #. long and swing
it 1 time per sec. it will pull times
1 ID. or lbs. and again if we &C.
celerate the speed times the pull
will be the square of 4 (16) times
lbs. or 81 lbs.
Now let us imagine the ball to be
a planet held by gravitation between
it and the central body. If a planet
revOlveS around the sun in a given
time and at certain, distance, and
we increase the distance times, it's
centrifugal force will increase in the
same proportion, viz: 4 times, and in
order to make the centrifugal force
the same we have to reduce the re-
vOlving speed by the square root of
4 which is 2, therefore - the speed,
while in the meantime the gravitatiOn-
al pull has decreased with the square
of the distance a times ~ it is there
fore only 1-16, we therefore have to
still reduce the speed by the square
root Of 16 which is 4, therefore a of
70 equals IS. Its revolving speed is
therefore u of the inner planet while
its actual orbital speed is p: Rule,
list, the orbital speed of planet is
proportional to the inverse square
root of it's distance from the sun
End The revolving speed of a planet
is proportional inversely to the pro
duct of the distance multiplied by it's
square root.
Table for Week of May 1920
Sun Sun in Sun Moon
Rises Mer. Sets Rises