CHANNEL ICEBERGS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 17 April 1944, Page 2

CHANNEL ICEBERGS

GERMAN CLAIM DISCOUNTED

N.Z. EXPERTS SCEPTICAL Wellington, This Day. It was recently reported from London that the Germans claim to be using a new chemical which, contained in a projectile, produces a temperature of 364 degrees Fahrenheit, below freezing at the point of impact, and 204 degrees below freezing at a point distant 500 yards. Everything within the area, it i s declared, is killed by the intense cold, and it is claimed that by this means icebergs have been formed in the Channel. Experts to whom this project was put unanimously stated that the idea was fantastic in the extreme. There is no known chemical or method whereby these low temperatures can be produced on a scale capable of producing the results claimed. Moreover, the energy required would be so huge it would represent the combined efforts of many power-houses working night and day for a long period. A representative of the Dominion Laboratory slated that the scheme was fantastic in the extreme. “It would be easier to boil the water in the Channel,” he declared, “there is no known chemical capable of producing the results claimed.” When asked if it might be possible that the Germans had solved how to use the power in uranium for the purpose, he said, “it is most unlikely, it would require a large amount of the material, far more than could possibly be produced. The scheme is absurd if only on account of the huge power required. It can be calculated that in order to freeze the amount of water claimed, energy equivalent to that stored in 35.000,000 gallons of petrol would be necessary. When that had been done it would be necessary to cool the water another couple of hundred of degrees of so. It should be obvious that no projectile is capable of storing sufficient energy to attain that end. Actu-

ally less energy would be required to bring an equivalent amount of water to boiling point.” Even if the claims referred to air temperature, he explained. it could be shown that the energy required would be equivalent to that contained in millions of gallons of petrol. “These scheme is. in fact, a reminder of a fantastic story for boys during the last war,” added this expert, "in which the Germans invented a cold ray for freezing the Baltic. It would seem, therefore, that the idea is not An expert on weather declared that it was ridiculous to imagine that man could hope to produce an area of local cold in the open as great as that mentioned. He pointed out that if an area of 500 yards radius was reduced to 204 degrees Fahrenheit below zero, there would be an outside area still at low temperatures extending for several miles. It would, in fact, be an interesting solution in the control of climate. A dozen projectiles could control the weather in a not inconsiderable area. "The idea sounds all right for the ice cream enthusiasts. A few ounces of the stuff m a cupboard in the home should turn it into a worthwhile refrigerator. As a reality, however. I am very sceptical about it all.” lie said Mr A. S. Mitchell, secretary. New Zealand Refrigeration Association, when asked for hi s views on the subject. stated: — "The fantastic claims made by German Radio National in regard to the production of icebergs by the use of a new chemical creating temperatures of -332 deg. F. at point of impact, and -172 dea. F. at a distance of 500 yards, are unlikely to have any substantial basis in fact. The temperatures quoted are in common production both in industry and the laboratory, but here the greatest care is taken to insulate against solar heat, the sun being the greatest enemy of the iceberg. In the English Channel, also, we have the Gulf Stream, in which no berg could live long. “The fact that water when frozen is itself an effective insulator, places definite limitations upon the rate of aggregation of ice masses; while this is equally true in converse. The efficiency o. r methods of heat elimination at the temperatures of the order quoted is so low.” Mr Mitchell concluded, “that the phenomena claimed could only be possible by the concentration of power in amounts not yet available to man. and by the suspension of known physical laws. Nature is still in business ” Mention of power from uranium refers to a theoretically perfect method of obtaining vast supplies of power from the atomic structure of this metal. A product of uranium called U 235 liberates energy by smashing its atomic structure to pieces when in contact with water. -The result is sufficient power from 1 ounce of U 235 to boil 1000 tons of water. The snag is that only microscopic amounts have so far been made. It has been estimated that it would take nearly a million years to produce lib. of the material, and the cost would run into thousands of millions of pounds. If the Germans had solved the problem of producing U 235 it is unlikely they would use its power as a refrigerant to make icebergs in the English Channel, when it could be used directly for generating vast quantities of heat —or as an explosive several million times more powerful than any at present known to science