EXPLODING OLD IDEAS You Cannot See Lightning

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 220, 17 September 1938, Page 1 (Supplement)

EXPLODING OLD IDEAS You Cannot See Lightning

Trln?J y , the T* s P ecta ;" larfo i r i m of weather-it is one through the wire. disintegrating it in an outburst of blinding energy, dazrlin* brillinno ° U ™ * i rending sheet of imi can even eatcli lightning on the radio. Under its dvnamic personality help but snsnire awp i'n°ll. & acro f * <Ur , k s ky, eannot valves are ,pt to blaek out. but the diminishing waves That are the recoil the hurtlin-r hammer t Tl* ' of *' e ,^ holder > %,llether lie believes it of the discharge are caught, magnified and translated bv the wirelesl ,v''.; ' ln - " aDl nier of I hor or merely visible static. receiver into static. Hash followed lTv of ll S ht " ln ? » n d thunder is a brilliant With all tlie sj>ecfacular nature of lightning, it is surprising to learn present 'In the " i' V 0 ™ I * l «re always that the discharge is completely invisible and practically inaudible. The ">pinnin<« in orbits Mml IP " ? *v earth and its sister planets flash and roar usually associated with thunder and lightning are not fraction of an inch ''V"' f re ™ rcl r appointed path. The perfect «ccondary efTc-ts caused by the air. mechanism of the solar system makes !?,,t J 8 P r<K,uccd h . v tb* reeombinaoach planet a vast dvnaino. tK>n of - the sl ' a,,o "'"' i Tf . . nature is such mat tlicv rebuild fists had n f° that scien- themselves promptlv after disruption. WnJ +1, P» e eptric ' t y '?<? harness Anyone who has watched elementary Fv« + »' V * Illim b er ed its bones. cxj>er!Tncnts in school lal^ra-cries WW ° • T i ° ne i rea, |y knows Will remember that chemical change known i 7, electricity—all that is product* a glow. Prosaicallv, lightnaT r 1 ? T y# reco S nised ning looks the same as anv heated natural laws. It was once thought air. It is generally white'or blue. through m J '* < \ r . , ? ,,s able to flow The frequent rosy lightning owes its wire g From S T d . lU r 9UCh " a colour to hydrogen afoms in the path ™ * rom V',', 8 be Jj ef , we 8* the of the discharge. Hydrogen is a toll- riifld™*! 1 ah rn ® c * cnce principal component of water vapour, nnlL , y " , AU " C ° m " P i,lk lightning is more n£ to .. ' molecules, or groups of flash from a rainv skv. OxT<»en atoms; atoms already infinitesimal, glows blue or white. " aie in their turn composed of protons and electrons. Protons are posi- Brilliant and apparently erratic, tive, electrons negative, and certain lightning obeys its laws almost untheories say that, possessing a mag- swervingly. Nevertheless there are nctic fascination for each other, pro- occasional freaks which cannot b<i tons and electrons revolve like an explained. It generally strikes the infinitely small planetary system. An highest point in a locality, but has electrical discharge occurs when some l»een known to avoid towers and force blasts the electrons and pro- steeples (with rod*) and pertons apart. It is therefore gener* versely strike lower. Lightning rods ally agreed that an electric current were once erected so that the is not a fluid, but an uncountable electricity, finding an easy conducliost of truant electrons rushing pell- tor > would run harmlessly down into mell through the wire. Without a l ' lc ground. It is now believed that conductor they streak madly across t''ev do not attract flashes, but direct space, and it is this revolutionary them elsewhere. The only way of journey that we call lightning. rendering the disrupted electrons Lightning takes the line of least. harmless is by combining them with resistance, which means that all } helr n ? > tu^^, atom components, proHashes should be straight. Unfor- tonS \ os . itiv . e charges rush innately for the theorist it is ", p th . e "Pntmnjr rod and escape into generally forked, zig-zag or erratic air. where they combine with and This is explained by the fact that neutralise the rebellious electrons, the air is not uniform, some parts Where does the electricity come having a higher lightning resistance from? No one kn< ws. l'ossihlv than others. The common length of through the separation and condena flash is about half a mile, although satioi; of particles of water vapour, they have been noted over five miles Condensation of steam can produce in length. In a single flash the a discharge. But also enormous figure of 100,000,000 volts appears in volcanic eruptions and is expended, almost a million times desert dust storms, so the reason greater than ordinary domestic may be the friction of solid particles, voltage. Night and day electrical Xo one definitely knows. aerobatics\hit^ h n n « w e ™om e n t WOrld ♦' n end,ess display of celestial Even thunder, awesome, harmless and comparatively «W remains i r,°™ ™ r r powerlhan — M *~ 4 * d 7"--, " pr , ol ;:' j i?' °v s * «•» ""7", r* 1 -»■»<* tathetxss SrTca! ISen" n'f "? "V* , bU "" - **-»"■" Th " tromonjou, S . ™ ie ruined in «n in.lant 1W Se " S ! t ' ve maehln e r y echoed reverberation from the earth beneath, from mountains or is ruinea in an instant, lower lines are burnt out because of the even buildings. But the true cause of j- ~, '