RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 286, 30 August 1935, Page 6

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights on Current

Events

(By

Kickshaws.)

Publicity statistics show that 34,006 photographs of New Zealand were distributed in six months. The world must be getting to know Mitre Peak.

It is contended that people do not imitate what they hear on the radio. In that case, there is still hope that crooning will die out.

The German Minister of the Interior declares that Germany is slowly decaying. Hitler, of course, will say he is talking rot.

Recent discoveries indicate that man will never be able to tiy to the moon bn account of a band of heat of 1000 degrees round the world, that would frizzle up anyone making the attempt. Experts, however, once declared that man would never sail round the world because the earth was flat and he would drop off. Indeed, experts once said that man would never be able to send radio messages round the world because the earth was round, and they would shoot off into space. It will be seen, ’ therefore, that experts, despite their theories, just don’t know. It may be that they are correct about this band of heat round the world, but until someone tries to fly to the moon, not even the experts can say for certain. It is, perhaps, useful that would-be moon-flyers are ’ warned of a possible obstacle because they can send out pilot rockets to test out the proof of the contention. In the old days men were brave enough to flout the experts by sailing over the edge of the world and confound them.

. Whether there is a band of heat round the world that will prevent us reaching the moon, the fact remains that there are other obstacles in the way that are nearly as insuperable. Experts who have examined the idea of even shooting a projectile at the moon declare that there is no known propellant suitable for the purpose. For a projectile to escape beyond the force of gravity a speed of over seven miles a second is necessary. At speeds lower than that the projectile would never leave the influence of the world and would circle round it like the moon. The energy required to produce a velocity high'enough to permit a projectile to escape the world’s influence is said to be just over 15.000 calories per unit weight. It doesn’t really matter what a calorie is, but it does matter that tlie energy used to propel those Big Bertha shells the 60 miles or so to Paris was only 400 calories per unit weight. The energy of the world’s most powerful force, dynamite, is only 1500 calories per unit weight. Even if dynamite had nothing to propel but itself, it lias insufficient energy to escape for ever from the world.. In order to shoot a projectile to a height of only 4000 miles above tl e world requires an energy of unit mass equivalent to 7500 calories. The proposition seems, therefore, to be basically impossible.

When man invents an explosive some 50 times more powerful than any at present known, lie will be in a position to have a shot at the moon. After hitting the moon with a projectile, efforts, no doubt, would be made to land an individual on the moon. This problem is, however, far more difficult. The conveyance will have to be designed to withstand the shock of an explosive some 50 times as powerful as any yet. known. That difficulty overcome, there remains the problem of finding a way for the individual to survive the initial acceleration. The individual will probably have to survive a bump some 50 times as strong as if he were struck by a shell from a cannon. This bump is' equal to a fall from a height of many thousands of miles without the softening influence of the cushion of air that surrounds the world. It will be a nasty bump to survive. Possibly something new in rockets may be able to give us a method of making a trip to the moon, but tlie accelerations required in the short 250,000 miles between us and the moon are such that if we wished to get there in a reasonable time all manner of physical problems of flesh and blood would prevent us arriving alive.

Probably the time will come when mankind will be able to take pot shots at the moon. If man ever succeeds in arriving personally at the moon, he wilt be confronted with a series of other problems. In the first place, there is no nir to breathe'ou the moon. Cylinders of compressed oxygen are indicated as well as food supplies because the moon is a dead world. They will also require parasols made for preference of asbestos. When the sun is overhead the temperature on the moon is a mere 60 degrees above the boiling point of water. When there is no sun the temperature at night falls to about 200 degrees lielow freezing. Clearly the moon will never be a health resort. Other peculiarities of the moon inelude a remarkable slimming effect that would take place so far as bodily weight is concerned. An adult of, say. 12 stone, would find that the weight on the ntqon was only two stone. Some remarkable jumping feats would be possible and treading on the toes of one’s dancing partner would not be a crime. Just whether our heart and arteries would adjust themselves to these remarkable, variations is a matter that lias yet to be investigated.

Having arrived on the moor, the next problem would be to get back to earth again. It will require about twice the. energy for a given weight than that imparted to a howitzer shell to escape the moon's attraction. A supply of high explosive twice as powerful as any yet known would be required to fire the party back to earth if a reserve was required for unknown factors. A return rocket and a charge of explosive weighing many tons would have to be available on the moon. If the party succeed in getting away they are confronted with the fact that long before they enter the earth’s atmosphere they would be travelling at a very rapid pace, some miles a second. Unless some method of slowing down their vehicle were discovered, they would enter the earth's atmosphere so fast that the heat generated by friction would kill them. If they could reduce their energy derived from their speed even to half what it was the stoppage of their, motion would probably produce a 'detonation some 20 times as great as that produced by an equal weight of dynamite. Even if that were avoided, their vehicle would bury itself deep in the surface of the world. No parachutes could be devised to cheek the speed. Their landing would be in the nature of a miniature volcani; outburst. It will be seen, therefore, that flying to the moon has its hazards, whether there be a hot band or not round the world.