Evening star., 1954-09-20
Shooting Stors Start
From SoIor System
Minute Dust Particles
cunnot Breuk Through
By Thomas R. Henry


Cannot Breuk Through
By Thomas R. Henry
All shooting stars" definitely orig
mate in the solar system.
Apparently this system Ia closed to-
material particles from outer space.
even to the most minute dust particles
which are about 100 times fainter than
the faintest meteors which can be seen
with the naked eye.
Between 10000 and 100000 particles
of all sizes enter the earth's upper at :
mosphere every second. Very few Of
these are seen and most are completely
consumed. They move at an average
speed of about ~ miles second, con-
stantly slowing down As they come into
denSer atmosphere. :. /.
These are among the conclusions re-
ported to the American Association for
the Advancement of Science here by
DR.. Peter M. Millman OF the Dominion
Observatory. Ottawa, based on radio
echo observations both Of Canadian
and other radio astronomers. The Ca
nadians now have reported approxi-
mately 1000 radio observations, chiefly
intended to determine the speeds Of
the meteors.
Orbits Of Particles.
BY combining the velocities computed
from the radio echoes with the paths
followed it Is possible to determine the
orbits of even the smallest individual
particles. ALI are such that they could
not have entered the solar system from
outer space. All these orbits, or paths
around the sun, appear to be quite &C.
centric. They have periods Of from
1.5 to 70 years.
Radio echoes from meteors also have
been valuable in determining wind ve-
locitieS in the extreme upper at
mosphere. These reach so meters a
second in the horizontal direction and
up to 10 meters per second up and
down.
They also show that the upper at
mosphere must be quite sharply strait
fed in layers four or five miles thick.
Something of the sort had been de-
duced previously from radio echoes re-,
ceived from different attitudes in the;
ionosphere, the electrified roof of the
world which prevents radio waves from
escaping into space.
n -
Effect Of War Casualties.
Only in one year, 1914, did the cas-
ualties of the second world war ma
terially affect the American death rate.
Approximately the same number per
thousand died as If there had been no
war.
In the wars peak year, however, the
rate went up nearly one per thousand
of the population at large.
This is established by Public Health
Service analysis, based on recently re-
leased figures on the deaths of Ameri-
can personnel overseas between 1941
and 1851. For the past decade the
Nations death rate has lowered around
10 per year per thousand. During the
past four years there has been a slight
decrease, initiation of which apparently
was delayed by the war.
"The figures show" reports Lillian
Guralnick, Public Health Service statis-
tician who conducted the study, that
the losses incurred during World War III
and the Korean engagement while of
tremendous personal and national con-
sequence had no large effect on the
crude death rate for the population
as whole, except in 1914"
That year, the figures show, the rate
for the continental United States was
10.6 per thousand. When those deaths
which occurred overseas are added it
goes up to 11.4. The next year the con-
tinental death rate was 1915. With the
war deaths added it becomes 1913. In
1946 the comparable figures are 90 and
10, even though in that year were, re-
ported many war deaths which prob.
ably had occurred during the previous
few years, such as those of prisoners
Of war.
When the death rate charts are split
up according to age groups, the report
points out, the picture Is somewhat
different with big jumps over the nor
NAL for the male population between
20 and 80.
These constituted the great majority
OF the armed forces, but they are rela-
lively small part of the population as
whole, so that the greater number of
deaths among them makes little diff
ference in the overall statistical pic
ture.
Thus, it is concluded, war costs the
country very little in actual lives lost
but there Is heavy attrition among those
in the most productive years of life,
the effect of which on the future of
the population cannot be predicted.