Evening star., 1932-10-03
C0SM|C RAYS HELD
CHARGED VACRANTS.
Speed Along Definite Aerial
Routes, Says Noted
Physicist.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
| CHICAGO, October 3-Cosnic rays
as electrically charged vagrants of space
shooting earthward from remote dis
tances, wavering as they approach the
J lower strata of the earth's atmosphere.
and then speeding along definite aerial
routes to the poles-this was the ten
tative picture presented yesterday by
DR.. Arthur H. Compton. noted physicist.
Supported by Findings.
A tentative picture as are all por-
trayals of scientific phenomena COM
paratively recent in mans ken, DR..
Compton said-a rough draft done in
pencil in event later observations ne
cessitate revision and erasures. Two
findings support the picture.
One is that the intensity of the rays
is greater at the magnetic poles of
the earth than at the magnetic equator.
The other is that their intensity ap-
parently increases continuously at
higher attitudes.
Both observations are the result of
tests made by DR.. Compton at widely
scattered sites over the Western Hemi-
sphere, and both, he said, support the
hypothesis that cosmic rays are elec-
trical in nature rather than photons,
as heat and light waves.
As Huge Magnet.
In accounting for the varying in
tensity of the rays at the magnetic
Equator and the magnetic Pole, DR..
Compton said the earth is apparently
acting as huge magnet. Hurl fist
full Of iron filings toward sphere
magnetized at the poles. and assuming
the magnetism is powerful enough. the
! filings would tend to concentrate at
these poles. In this manner. do cosmic
rays approach the earth, tossed from
some unknown fist" in interstellsr
realms. and upon reaching the magnetic
lines of the planet, follow them to the
Arctic and Antarctic regions.
If the cosnic rays are electrified
particles shot toward the earth. as they
seem to be-" he said. "the effect Of the
earth's magnetic field would be to bend
the rays away f:o:n the Equator and
concentrate them ct the Poles. This is
what happens in the Aurora Borealis,
which is due to electrons shot toward
the earth from the sun. The electrons
are concentrated near the earth's mag
netic Poles. and produce the northern
lights as they strike the upper atmos-
phere
- tilc COSiliS idyo dlC ulClioA 6Sdi
like light rays or neutrons, they Should
not be affected by the earth's mangetic
field"
DR.. Compton's observation that the
rays became more intense at higher
attitudes bolstered the theory that they
reached the earth's atmosphere from
the outside and were then absorbed.
IF the rays had tended 10 diminish
in intensity as the top of the atmns-
phere was approached, this would have
been taken to support the theory that
they arc non-electric emanations, COM
paratively local in origin"
Another significant phenomena OBJ
served by DR.. Compton was the ;udden
burst Of ionization by cosmic rays en-
trapped in his steel ionization cham
ber" Using the burning Of iingle
hydrogen atom in oxygen as unit Of
energy. he found that the ionization Of
a radium atom would involve million
such units and the ioniZatioa Of cosnic
rays several million Production Of
such a ray artihcislly, he said, would
require several HUNDRED million volts
potential.
Nobel Prize Winner.
DR.. Compton, professor Of physics at
the University of Chicago and 1927
Nobel Prize winner, arrived here yes
terday and Immediately began assem-
bly, and INTERPRETATION Of trunkful OF
data accumulated since last March,
when he left on his "ray-hunting"
safari.
To ensnarc the rays at various points
along their apparent journey toward
the Poles. their port of entry he en-
ployed his 'ionizaSon chamber, and
figuratively, he enticed them in and
watched them "wriggle," like bac-
teriologist with culture OF microbes.
The cosmic rays penetrated the cham
bers, set up an electrical current in the
argon gas contained therein which was
measured with electrometer.
DR.. Compton. out for big game, ex-
cluded otner rays by lead and copper