HIGH SPEED REDUCED TO FIGURES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 280, 23 November 1918, Page 15

HIGH SPEED REDUCED TO FIGURES.

One of the flret questions the layman asks the aviator Is. "How doe« it feel to fly?" by wMcb Iβ generally meant. What la the sensation of seeding through, the air at the rate made possible by the aeroplane 7 Ttie following abstract from an article appearing m should be eniightenln«. according to the 'lilectrlcal Expcrlaieuter":—

An analysis of sensation is always tnterM a K and mi£hi be expected to be exceptionally so in the case of speed, jet paradoxically enough there Iβ no such thing as c sensation of speed. There are many proofs of this, but I will adduce for one. that In the eacly centuries of human existence mm, though he h-is since been pro Ted to be moving through space at the prodigioiM speed of Borae thousands of miles an boor, thought himself to toe living on the immobile hub of a rotating dome of the moving planete and stars. Our Impression of epeed is derived largely from the optical effect, due to adjacent objects flitting fcj. and Is increased by a surface or skin effect due to the ■α-lud which brushes past us and eoole and presses on to our persons. These two effects are sumdent, bnt the impression is heightened by going a little further. Our past experience of most mechanical and animal means hy which -we haTe Borrowed epeed has shown us that they are rarely If ever perfectly smooth In their action. After the change of speed due to the starting operation there are slight irregular changes of speed and changes in the direction of the movement. Thes* are always associated with rapid travelling. We call them Jolts and Jafs U they are severe, and we wrongly regard them ai> part of tbe sensation of epeed. though they are pure accidentals. They onsht properly to be called accelerations, and the act of starting Iβ the only acceleration whirh L=. in fact, necessary to obtain Bpce<l. Yet a fourth factor can be detected in many of our lnypressione of speed. I allude to noise, whether of whistling wind or of beating hoofs or of moving machinery. These thinge no more constitute a eensatlon of epeed than the bristles constitute a hedceioE. TteT are merely excrescences and causes of independent sensation. At one time or another an aeroplane flight gives rise to ail these sensations to an acnte decree, and super-adds one novelty, that oX the point of view. The following comparative table of speed is of interest: — 1. Light and the electric telegraph, 136,000 m.p.s. 2. Shell near the mnzale of 6ln gun, 2500 f.p-s. 3. Shell from 75 mm. gun. 1600 f.p.s. 4. Sonnd, 1*» f.p-6. 5. Revolver bullet near the mnrzle, 500----800 f.p.B. 6. Tip of the blade of an airscrew, 600 f.p.s.. or 400 m.p.n. 7. A fast aeroplane through the air, 150 m.p.li. 8. A fast aeroplane with a high wind, 200 m.p.n. 9. A fast car. 120 m.p.h. 10. An express tram, SO m.p.h. 11. A fast steamship, 40 m.p-h. 12. A bicycle (pedalled). 32 m.p.n. IS. A race horse, 30 m.p.h. li. A man skating (for a milet, 21 m.p.o. IX A man running (100 yards>, 20 m.p.h. 1*;. A man running a mile. 13 ra.p.a. 17. A man waiting. 4 m.p.h.