Windows of the World

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 21 September 1938, Page 5

Windows of the World

International Scenes and Affairs

THE NEWS BEHIND THE NEWS.

ELECTRICITY.

STIMULATES RAIN

BRITISH SCIENTISTS THEORY. LONDON*. Electricity has been blamed by cranks as the cause of ills ranging from falling l>irth rate to influenza epidemics. And now Sir John Ambrose Fleming, the scientist, declares that electricitv, especially the grid network of high' tension cal.les. may have the effect of stimulating rainfall. Fleming, leader of (ireat Britain's I'Wtricsil export*, in a letter to the •"Daily Telegraph" advances as proof of '>'- " IV several well known facts to ■dutw that electrieiil charges can prod\iee t!'i« conileiioation of vapour into drops "t water and the further t ranforiuillion of small drops into larger ones. Here is his explanation: If. for example, a fine jet of water drawn from j, eistern is allowed to fall piiiabolically into a metal tub hardly liny noise is produced. Introduction of an electrified rod near the jet. however. causes the fine sprav to coalesce into large drops, which fall into the tub with a distinguishable patter. The principle governing this experiment is the same as that which causes the initial flash of lightning in a thunderstorm to be followed by a shower of large rain drops. A jet of tine steam when backed by an electric lump throws practically no shadow at all, but the approach of an electrified rod lenders the shadow visible, showing that the fine vapour has formed into larger drops. The shadow changes also to a yellow-brown colour, similar to the yellow edged clouds often seen in thunderstorms.

Observations near high potential electric lines or radio masts would enable the exact amount of increasing rainfall to be discovered. Long lines of barbed wire, electrified to high potentials so as to_ create brush discharges from the points, would condense vapour into rain, and solve chronic problems.

Britain's electricity bill grows greater each year, but rainfall decreases periodically. From 1914-1017, the world war years, London's combined annual downpour averaged 30.40 inches a year. During the four years ended 1936 it averaged

Some theorists maintained that constant artillery firing in France during those years proved a far more efficient rainmaker than did electricity in the same period, but none has obtained proof.

Fleming has allowed for this contingence. He says he would require a prolonged period of observation to ftiid out if electrical charges actually have tended to increase rain before committing himself definitely. Besides electricity he believes there are many other causes which determine the production of rain and its distribution.