Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-09-13

ASEtlNGIONs sept. l5.-lnaC
the coolest spot on earth is within
the confines of the District of Co.
lumbia will be news to most people
who have been accustomed to think
that to reach the place of record low
temperature involved a hazardous
Journey toward the North OF South
Pole, and who will be surprised to
know that it can be visited without
any trouble by persons wearing the
lightest summer attire.
This spot is located in the north
western section of Washington. To
be more exact, it is in a room in
the Bureau of Standards, where
Uncle Sans scientists are constantly
accomplishing new marvels. This
means, of course, that the record
low temperature is altogether an ar
tifcial one, and in this instance 1t is
the result of the work of Professor
IC. w. Kanolt, who has done some-
thing in this line that would make
the best effort of old Boreas seem
like a summer zephyr n comparison
When the bromide question, us
this cold enough for your" is asked
of the average individual he usually
replies in the affirmative when the
mercury has dropped below the
freezing point and is skidding to-
ward zero. When II gets we'll below
zero a rev degrees more do not seem
Ito make a great deal of difference,
but we begin to watch out for FROST
bitten noses and ears and we also
begin to hear from the oldest in
ha bitant who remembers when"
A 2 Ja4rnaS Rn1A1xv 49,. - I-z.-
that the mercury freezes, because
that was in the school books, but we
also know that temperatures of from
40 to so below have been frequently
observed in this country, the record
being somewhere in the sixties. Then
If we undertake a little research
work we may learn that the very
Lowest natural temperature ever re-
corded in the world only touched 80
degrees below.
That Is so extremely cold that we
had better hurry indoors and see
what nan has accomplish where
Nature left off. Well. to begin with,
he has frozen pure alcohol at a tenn
perature of about lao degrees be-
low zero. Then he has liduifed OK
ygen at 297 and nitrogen at $40 be-
low. and has frozen the latter at 347
land the former at $50 below.
Then he has taken hydrogen. thai
gaseous element which ia tasteless
colorless and the lightest thine
known to mankind and consequently
much used in balloons. and he has
liqui1ed it at a temperature of 421
below. And during the present sum-
mer Professor Kanolt has beer
freezing h Grogen ~ 43S an
has created temperatures probahl,
several degrees nearer the poinf
known as absolute zero-459 below
which scientists have been en-.
~deavoring for to reach.
While Washington Sweltcred
Professor Kanolt has achieved hi
marvel of low temperature Will
Washington has been sweltering in F.;
summer of protracted heat. Will
some half million Of his fellow resi-
dents have sweat and suffered h,
has at his command a little oom II
, the Government laboratory where
whenever he wanted it to be, it ha
been cold enough to freeze tn
lwtiskers off Il brass monkey" n
2 lslangy individuals would put It.
It has been so cold where h
works his magic that no thermome
ter you have ever seen can recor
l the temperature. 1t has been so col
THAT IL you were to thrust your arr
) into the place where the cold is
! would freeze instantly. and If upo
l withdrawing your arm o were I
!. bump 1t against any solid object
would break off into innumerab
q pieces so ininitesimal that yo
would never he able to tell what ha
been bone, flesh or blood.
The most hardened polar explol
c er could not endure such a temper
ature for a single minute. He woul
, be frozen until he would be so bri
y tie that he would disiniegrate
struck a sharp blow with a hammt
n or any like instrument.
of course the question immediate
1y arises as to how it Is possible
n know anything about SO extreme
iteinperatu = sAce the mercury whic
Il is used in ordinary saermomete
freezes at a point 400 degrees aboV
the freezing point of hydrogen. tt
answer is that the method of mea
urement Is a gaseous thermomete
Il which is difficult to explain to Il
RI lay mind. but which scientists kno
to be informing and accurate. "
G may be a little skeptical about Il
Ifrozen hydrogen's being as cold
they say 1t Is but the physicists CT