Evening star., 1936-09-06

DIR. ARTHUR B. LAMB,
Reports total internal heat of
the earth holds as much
po,Der as that OF ,0orld's coal
reserves.
The present World Power Conference
will doubtless add new details to the
issue that inevitably must be faced.
Since most Of our present machines
are driven by steam and other heat
engines, and since the earth beneath
its crust is seething cauldron OF
molten rock and metal, why not tap
this vast underground store of heat?
Many have suggested that. The total
internal heat Of the earth, according
to an estimate reported to the Amer
ican Chemical Society by DR.. Arthur
B. Lamb. holds go 10000 times as
much power as that of all the world S
coal reserves. If our coal can keep
us going a thousand years, the in
ternal heat Of the earth ought to fire
our boilers for many millions of years.
Some time ago Sir Charles Parsons
proposed the sinking of an expert
mental shaft down into the rock to
depth Of IL miles. He estimated
that the job would require about IS
years of time and from s25,000, 900 to
500, 100000 of money-an outlay
paltry in comparison to the industrial
value of the power sources thus opened
up. In addition, there should be valu-
able stores Of metals and other min
erals encountered in opening the deep
shaft, and new knowledge of the
mysterious unknown interior of the
earth.
An experienced mining man. John
L. Hodgson, has drawn plans for two
types of heat wells-one designed for
depth of miles, where the tempera-
ture Is 800 degrees F., and the other
for 80 miles, where the temperature
Is 1000 degrees. By sending water
from the surface down to these levels
steam would be generated, to be led
of in pipes to drive turbines of vast
central power plants. Perhaps the
experiments now under way in Cam
bridge, Mass, and Washington, D. C..
to determine the behavior of rocks
and other materials at high pressures
will provide fundamental data for the
heat miners of the future-since an
outstanding technical problem is that
of installing and maintaining equip
ment under the unusual conditions
of pressure which govern the subter.
ranean depths.
Harvesting Temperature.
The under-earth is hottie under
sea is cold. Even in the tropics the
ocean temperature at a depth of a mile
is about 40 degrees, while that of the
surface water Is from 70 to Sc de.
grees. Several experts have dis.
cussed the feasibility of harnessing this
temperature difference to useful work
and the French engineer, Georges
Claude, actually tested the idea in {
series of experiments on the Cuban
| coast.
BY creating vacuum in his ap-
paratus, DR.. Claude caused the surface
heat of 86 degrees to evaporate water
in his boiler, and by discharging this
steam at the other end of the appa-
ratus into sealed chamber chilled
by the cold water pumped from tn,
ocean depths, he caused the steam
to be instantly condensed back into
water. Thus the vacuum in the sys.
tenn was heightened; in consequence
the newly generated steam from the
boiler end continuously rushed to fl
the void at the condenser end, and il
its journey was led by pipes through
q turbine and SO made to turn the
vanes of q rotor.
Such q process, capable of takinl
from the sea the energy of 10 Niagaras
will convert wldernesses into populou
communities, predicted DR.. Claude
His own experiments were plagued b.
accidents which delayed his program
again and again and disrupted hi
apparatus on more than one occasion
But he had the satisfaction of demon
strating that such power plan woul'
work. Electricity generated by hi
ocean installation at Matanzas lighte
40 large incandescent lamps and KEEP
them glowing for the period of tn
demonstration. The practical indus
trial application of the idea remain
to be worked out in an installation
where the power output will be eco
nomically related to the capital in
vestment.
Movement of Tides.
An even more obvious source Q
ocean energy is that provided by III
movement of the tides subjec
much publicized in connection wit
the Government project recently be
gun at Passamaquoddy Bay in Maine
but now suspended. It Is estimate
that the total braking action of tn
tides on the earth amounts to abou
10000 million horsepower on tn
average, but what percentage of tn
may be economically harnessed t
produce mechanical power is q ques
ton.
No doubt q great deal Of the tida
movement will become cheaply avail
able eventually, and industries alon
seacoasts will find the weight OF tn
waters of falling tides q convenien
means of driving their generators an
supplying their electrical energy. Bu
whether such coastal plants coul
power conttnental interiors y . doubt