Evening star., 1938-12-28
New Energy Source
In Prospect,
Physicists Told
CIoud-Lond Steam Engine
Is Possible, Two
Scientists Discover


prospect Of a new source of energy
were described to the American
Physical Society. meeting at the
Wardman Park Hotel today.
1t all comes from a paradoxical
phenomenon discovered at the Bu-
reau Of Standards a few months
ago when DR.. Harvey L. Curtis and
DR.. Allen v. Astin found they were
getting slightly more power out of
an electrical condenser than they
were putting into it, whereas there
should have been slight loss. This
particular condenser consisted Of
two plates separated by a layer of
air and 1t was found that the
strange gain in power came only
when the air was slightly humid.
Consequently. says DR.. Curtis one
explanation which is not yet alto
gether acceptable. is that in some
way not understood, the condensa-
ton OF water vapor into water
droplets Is accompanied by re-
lease OF stored energy in the form
OF electricity.
Now, says DR.. Curtis, If this can
take place in the laboratory it prob
ably can occur in the upper at
mosphere. The water vapor in the
atmosphere comes from evaporation
from the surface of the sea and
lakes. A lot of sun energy goes into
this evaporation. According to an
immutable physical law no energy
ever Is lost. 1t must appear again
In some form, somewhere.
At Lower Energy Level.
Now water droplets are at a lower
level Of energy than water vapor.
All the power" that has gone into
changing liquid water to gaseous
Vapor must come out when the
vapor changes back into water and
Tails as rain. Hitherto it has been
supposed that 1t was changed into
heat-demonstrated by the fact
that there is often rise in tenn
perature when it starts to rain.
But nobody ever has demonstrated
satisfactorily where the electricity
OF lightning comes from. With the
possible laboratory demonstration
= that some of the power released
upon condensation changes directly
into electricity, this problem might
be considered near solution.
For the electricity in one bolt of
lightning. DR.. Curtis calculates, it
would require release of energy from
the condensation of enough water
to cover a quarter of an acre a
quarter of an inch deep. He found
that the amount of moisture in the
air layer of his condenser was suf-
>. ficient to produce the slight OBJ
served gain in power for nearly two
months.
Would Be Inefficient.
The process by which water vapor
energy might be transformed di-
rectly into electricity without the
use Of any mechanical transformer
Is entirely unknown. 1t is probably,
DR.. Curtis said, very inefficient If it
exists at all, so earth-made lightning
engines are not likely to serve any
practical purpose, even if the secret
Of nature Is discovered. In nature,
he said, presumably most of the re-
leased energy is in the form of heat.
The lighting power hypothesis,
Or. Curtis said. is put forward very
tentatively since there is another
possible explanation for the queer
gain in power observed in the con-
denser.
Probing with the radiometeoro-
graph the thick layer of poisonous
gas which protects life on earth
from the burning short ultra violet
fays of the sun was reported to the
American Physical Society, meeting
at the Bureau of Standards. by DR..
W. w. Coblentz and DR.. r. Stair of
the bureau staff.
Irritating to Membranes.
This gas is ozone, form of oxygen
tn which three atoms are combined
to form one molecule. It is formed
out of atmospheric oxygen by the
very short Lengths of invisible
radiation from which it protects
the face Of the earth. This gas is
popularity supposed to be highly
stimulating and advertisements for
ultra violet lamps sometimes stress
that they release ozone in the room
II they actually do, watch out for
them, DR.. Coblentz says, because
the gas IS highly irritating to men,
braneS.
Most OF what has been known in
the past about the earths layer of
ozone armor has been quite specu-
lative. The Bureau of Standards
physicists constructed special
arrangement of the marvellous robot
sky pilot, which already has revo-
lutionized other types of strato-
sphere observations. A photo
electric cell with a bit of the ele-
ment cadmium, sensitive to ultra
violet, was attached to an amplif1er
and this in turn to a miniature
radio broadcasting station which
sent back to earth constant record
Of the current generated.
Ozone at 10000 Feet.
The further this instrument pen
etrated into the ozone layer the
more the particular band Of very
short ultraviolet wave lengths
would strike the photosensitive ele-
ment and hence the stronger would
: be the current generated. They
found that they first began hitting
the ozone layer at height of about
10000 feet, and that this is at its
maximum concentration in a region
between 20 and n kilometers above
the earths surface Their highest
Ascensions, about $4,000 feet, pene-
trated between go and 10 per cent
Of the ozone layer. At this height
the intensity of ultraviolet light
was about five times what it is at
bea level.
This layer Of very thin gas, at
least 10000 feet in thickness, might
be nkened to a great glass dome
over the world, DR.. Coblentz ex-