Evening star., 1941-04-22
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms -
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henry.

OVerCOdu-a tnlnly woven blanket OF rare
gas in the upper atmosphere which
makes life possible on this planet-has
just been reported by the United States
Bureau of Standards.
Robot radio operators with brains of
| copper wire were sent on suicide flights
to heights of $4,000 feet-three times the
altitude of Mount Everest-in small ball
looms. They were equipped to observe
and radio back to earth two things-their
height from moment to moment and the
amount of invisible ultraviolet light from
the sun which they encountered.
The earth's surface, it long has been
known, is protected from this penetrat-
ing, burning radiation by a shield of
form OF gas known as ozone, which alb
serbs major part of the rays. Other
wise, all living matter soon would be
killed. A small amount is essential to
keep the air purified and to prevent
ricketS. A thinning of the ozone layer
in autumn is believed to be partly re-
| sponsible for the death of plant life,
regardless of the temperature
From the reports of the robot pilots,
no. W. v" SObACliGA dIld IT, oLdII VI IIle
bureau staff, have been able to calculate
that this ozone overcoat starts at height
of about 9 miles and extends upward for
approximately miles. 1t is thickest
about IS miles up and then thins out
very rapidly. At height of II miles the
flying instruments were reporting from
10 to IL miles the amount of ultraviolet
| light received at sea level through most
of the year.
The ozone is form of oxygen in which
three atoms are combined in a molecule.
1t is formed by the passage Of electricity
through air and its pungent smell can
be detected after stroke OF lightning.
| 1t also is formed by the action of infra-
red light-the other invisible radiation
from the sun-on the thinly distributed
atoms of the upper atmosphere.
The robots used by Drs. Coblentz and
Stair were of the same type now used
regularly by the United States Weather
| Bureau to determine temperature and
barometric preSsureS at great heights. In
this case, however, each was equipped
with photo-electric cell which measures
with extreme accuracy the amount of
| light falling upon it. The cell was pro-
tected by a filter which shut out every
thing but narrow wave-length band of
| ultra violet which afforded a good meas
use of the strength of this radiation.
The attitudes at which some of the
measurements were taken were among
! the highest ever attained by man-made
instruments. Eventually, with the con-
stantly decreasing pressure of the atmos-
phere, the thin rubber ballons burst and
the robots fall to the earth. Up to this
moment, however, the currents generated
in the photo-electric cell are transformed
automatically into radio impulses, ar
ranged in a code which is received at
a ground station.
1t is possible, the two physicists report,
that there may be something besides
ozone at great heights which traps a
little of the incoming ultraviolet radia-
ton. They have been unable to form
any theory as to the nature of this.
s**
A new kind of cloth, made of a chem
ical mixture of seaweed and the rare
metal beryllium, has just been reported
to the United States Bureau of Mines.
The process is being developed in Eng
land, where it promises to turn into
gowns and stockings thousands of tons
of the brown wrack which is washed
against the shores of the British Isles,
and relieve threats of any shortage in
textile materials.
The final result, according to the COM
munication to the Bureau of Mines, is a
basic process of making it is quite SIM
liar Seaweed contains gelatinlike sub
stance known as alginic acid. This Is
extracted easily and combined with
sodium to form so-called sodium alginate.
This chemical is then forced through
fine jets from which 1t emerges in silk
like threads. These must then be run
through a coagulating bath, which is
the secret of success, according to DR..
]. B. Speakman, the English chemist who
Is conducting the experiments.
At first the fabrics made from these
threads dissolved in warm water and
soap used to launder them. 1t now has
been found, according to the Bureau Of
Mines communication, that they can be
made stable by running them through
a coagulating hath Of a chemical COM
position of bery llium. Minute amounts
of the rare metal enter into the struc-
ture of the threads.
On the basis of present prices for
beryllium ore, says the report, the new
cloth seer,S commercially practical The
metal itself is close relative of alum
| mum and magnesium, but is lighter and
stronger than either. In recent years it
has been used extensively for hardening
copper and has been proposed for some
airplane parts. It is listed as an impor-
tant war mineral and with the present
development probably will become much
more valuable
In the past it has been known as one
| of the chief ingredients of amethysts and
emeralds, which are forms of the mineral
beryl. There are considerable deposits
! of beryl in Great Britain itself and some
of the worlds largest deposits are in
| Canada.
| At the same time, United States Vice
| Consul A. R. Randolph at Bogota, CO.
lombia, reported to the Bureau of Mines
that there are probably large undevel-
| oped beryl deposits in the State of Cundi-
namarca of that republic and that be-
ryllium also can be obtained from the
| Colombian emerald mines, which are
among the largest in the world.
Under recently developed processes, it