Evening star., 1923-03-11
EARTH HOTTER AND
HOTTER, BUT WHY?
Scientists Ask If Radium Is
Heating the Globe and
Changing Seasons.

Roger ID. Rusk. in. the February
Popular Mechanics Magazine. has a
most interesting story. as follows:
Is the earth growing hotter or
COLDER
Old-timers often say we don't have
the hard winters that we used to
have. Scientists a few years ago be-
lieved the earth was big heated
sphere that is gradually cooling off
and that some time it would become
too cold for man to inhabit The dis
covery of the properties of radium
throws new light on this question
Prof. Jolly of the Dublin University,
believes the earth may be actually
growing warmer under the influence
of radioactive forces. K. j. Strut
+. r. s. of London. who is equally
famous in his researches on radium,
does not agree. but believes the
amount of radium in the earth is in
sufficient to produce this effect. A
middle view is that the heat produced
by radium may balance the heat the
earth loses, consequently keeping the
temperature of the earth constant.
The span of life of an individual is,
of course, insignificant in comparison
with the age of the earth, and SO
judgments based on individual expert
ence are worthless. Indeed. for as
long a period of time as accurate
observations of weather and climate
have been made. there is no positive
evidence of any change in the aver
age temperature of the earth one way
or another. over long periods of
time the averages are uniformly con-
stant. Mild winters for the last two
or three years have provoked some
discussion of this point. which can
only E,o cotfJnd w 10
Il longer period. Scientists have calcu-
lated that a regular and continuous
decline of a single degree in the
average temperature of the earth, no
matter whether this decline took a
century or a thousand years, would
in time, bring a return of the glacial
period.
Radium will boil it's own weight of
water every hour. That is, an ounce
of radium will raise the temperature
ing point to the boiling point in an
hour. 1t would raise the same amount
of earth to five times the same tenn
perature.
Very little is actually known of the
interior of the earth. Man has pretty
he has penetrated little more than a
mile into the earth's interior. The
deepest shaft in the world, at Moro
Velho. Brazil, is about 6,400 feet deep
1t has been suggested many times
that a shaft five miles or even ten or
twelve miles in depth might be sunk
in the interests of science. But with
the most improved machinery it
would take twenty-five years to sink
a shaft ten miles deep.
Such shaft. moreover. would only
give information concerning the per-
centage of radium at that particular
point. 1t would give interesting data
concerning the earth's structure and
internal temperature, but many diff
culties would have to. be overcome
Ventilation would be difficult; and
the temperature of the air at the
bottom of the shaft due to compress
sion alone would be raised higher
than that of boiling water.
Rutherford calculates that the heat
loss to- the earth would be fully bal
anced by the heat gain resulting from
the disintegration of radium II there
is as little as one ton Of radium for
every 10000. .000. 100000 (twenty mil
lion millions) tons of earth.