Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1922-07-02
tBy Associated Press.l


WASHINGTON. July IA rain
storm dries tho air; moro goes up
than comes down; as tho sun sets
the air grows warmer; the hotter tho
sun grows. tho colder tho earth be-
comes; the sun rises before IL 10 up
and sets after Il 10 down; those arc
strong statements and sound like q
fairy tulo. but they ars all true. DR..
w. J. Humphreys. quoted in the an
nual report Of tho Smithsonian In
ntitution. which has just been made
public. explains all OF thom. Tho>
AFRO perfectly vol known to scien-
lists. II not to Iaymen.
As every ono knows. Or. Humph-
reys declares. water evaporates and
is taken UP in the air AZ vapor. This
action Ia continuous all over the
earth. and the atmosphere wou1d
soon become very soggy II 1t wsren't
dried out. Rain Is the collection. or
condensation. and precipitation of
these moisture particles. consequent
~ the more /, rains the !ess waite,
there Is left in the atmosphere, or
tho drier the air becomes.
Tho second OF DR.. Humphreys
paradoHos rcGms natly 10 contradict
tho old sayinE whatever goes up
must come down" However. as the
writer expresses II. vertical circula-
tion In the atmosphere Is only gray
rational action. consisting in the
sinking OF relatively cold. and,
therefore. dense air. and rising OF
warm and light air. Contracted air
descends: expanded air ascends
Therefore. mass for mass. the vol
uma o. ascending air is always
larger than that descending In
terms OF mass. also. DR.. Humphreys
says, descending air IS less than as
cending. for air while rising contains
immense quantities ~ water in sus-
pension which does not return 10
earth with that air. but as rain. hail
or snow. IN" air that rises from
the iand surface is greater In mass
by al least 10000. 900 tons per sec
ond. tho measure OF world precipi,a-
tlon. than that which descend.. he
says.
The third paradox Is merely a way
Of stating that the warmest part OF
tho day is not at noon. when the
sun is at meridian or overhead and
should seemingly be pouring down
greater heat. bur several hours later
In the afternoon That is because
tho surface Of the earth and the
lower layers of air continue 10 alb
sorh more heat from In" upper LAYERS
for somc time after the latter nave
been receiving tho maximum amount
o. heat radiation from the sun
While II IL not yet univcr.ally
conceded tina, tho next puzzler. the
hotter the sun, tho colder tho earth
really is tr9c. DR Humphreys states
tho evidence In favor Of !, is already
very strong. There are several ex-
plantations offered. Tho fret is tha,
Increased radiation from tho run
causes carths air currents TO now
moro rapidly bringing down a
greater quantity OF cooler air from
high latitudes TO lower. He rejects
this explanation. however.
The temperature ~ the sun Itself
varies. and sun spots are eruptions
caused By heat activity. II Is known
ne continues, that carth's temncra-
ture varies with spot activity. THAI
the more spots there are on the sun
the cooler the earths temperature
becomes, and vice versa. Also. that
the suns corona Is in large meas
ure only so much dust, mus, inter
Zero with passage OF radiation
through It. Hence, hotter sun, NOR.
apots; more spots, dens.r corona:
dense corona. less radiation received
on the earth and warmer climate
ensues.
Another explanation is the heat
absorbing quality Of ozone. which
exists in greater quantity in the