MODERN SCIENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18943, 14 February 1925, Page 7 (Supplement)

MODERN SCIENCE.

ITEMS OF INTEREST. THE attack on the atom SCIENTIFIC: MEN'S .RACE. - Scientists all over the world are at tempting to break down the structure o the atom. A race is pi oceeding bctwcci the lending scientific men of the Urea Powers. lhe ciiseovei er of a- method o breaking down the atom and releasim atomic power will prooaoiv be an evei greater benefactor to humanity than th discoverer ol the steam engine. .England's champion in the battle i I>r. Wall, of bhcltieid I Diversity. Tin attempt to break down the atom, recentt; stopped wink! more powerful iipparatu was installed, has now been renewed, tin full power oi electrical energy deyelopet by the great Sheflteld pov.ci stations i now being applied to the tank in hand. Dr. Wall, tho great electrician, who j inn king this experiment, lia.i written ■> simple scientific explanation ot what lie i doing in the November number of Dis covery. The article includes a lull tech nival explanation of his apparatus. 'J'hu great question which interests th public 'is: this experiment en th atom prove dangerous The answer i that the suggestion that it. would lead t< the end of the. world is entirely ground ] VJ .s, On tho other hand, there is quit a possibility that the intrepid scientis and his laboratory may be blown up. _ 1 this happens, ho will not be the firs martyr in tho great cause of science, bit he is facing his danger with the knowled go that if lie succeeds, vhcthei ho i killed oi- not, the knowledge so gainei niav mean opening the gates to one of th most extraordinary eras of progress tha human minds can imagine. '•lf we arc able to extract energy fron the atom by an economical process, say a London paper, "all matter may b looked upon as a possible store of torrifi energy and intense beat, and common cla; or earth may become a fuel that wil .supersede coal and oil. the discover of means of utilising atomic energy ma; not bo an unmixed blessing, as the i;c\ power may easily bo utilised for purpose of warfare. If. however, it becomes practical force, there is little doubt tha it will be of -enormous service to human hy." SAILING ON AIR AND WATER. A new river-boat that has been built 01 the Thames seems to rival the Rotor shi] as a means of converting air into chca] power. The Rotor ship sails bv th action of the wind on large rotatinj cylinders. The new river-boat is driyei li'y a three horse-power engine, whiel pumps air at high pressure through row ( .f small holes in the bottom of the hull In this way a good speed is attained ii return for low engine-power, the ordinar; friction between the hull and the wnte being greatly reduced by tho fact tha two-thirds of the boat's length is sailiiij on a cushion of air bubbles. It is elaime< for this invention of an Australian ongin eer that it will he particularly useful n shallow rivers, where the propeller of ai ordinary launch would be fouled by weed; THE HUMAN ENGINE. According to a bulletin issued by th American Bureau of Mines, it it wer possible to enclose a man so that he couh breathe perfectly while no heat oscapei from his body lie would quickly die. The normal temperature of the humai body is about 98.5 degrees Fahrenheit but whenever we move or work, am even when V'o sit still, the bodily pre cesses generate heat which must be give: off. If it were not the body would bi come overheated, and in a very shor time tho person'would die. Experiment showed that an atmospheric lemperatur< of 157 degrees Fahrenheit could be bonn only for 45 minutes. In other words, tie human body, like all other engines, mus be cooled regularly in order to mako r woik properly. CATHEDRAL SAVED BY A DIVER. The fascinating story of the saving o Winchester Cathedral Is told by Si Francis Fox in " Sixty Years of Engineer ing." The problem, as the great enginee conceived it, was to remove from beneatl its foundations the eight-foot layer of we peat on the top of which the building wa foundering, and insert in its place cemen or concrete based solidly on the grave flint and chalk below. This work was carried out. in the cours< of five and a half years, by one man, i marine diver, Mr. W. A. Walker, work ing in complete darkness. He picked tin peat by sections from under the walls and embedded- in its place, concrete am cement which he himself had to take down from the surface. In any record o heroic craftmanship this feat woult assuredly claim one of the highest places, CONSONANTS AND THE TELEFHGNI That a syllable ending in " ng " is th< most difficult speech-sound for the ordinary ear to grasp is shown be recent invest iga tion.s made by Dr. V. 0. Knudsen. "S, " W," and " Y." oil the. other hand, an easy to grasp, and score high in a hearnif test.. A large audience, was tested in ;u acoustically poor auditorium. An an nouncer called out at intervals a suoees sion of meaningless syllables while severa hundred auditors recorded what the; thought they heard. (July 43 per cent, o the audience raught such expressions a: " 'ting " and " liong.'*" but 90 to 100 pet cent, wore right on sounds like "wis' or " vox." (/hangers made in tho choir, fi auditorium ami nnnouncing personne did not alter the results markedly, demon striding that the sound, and not tin hitman factor, is paramount in these tests TREES AS RADIO TRANSMITTERS. slaking living trees talk is the successful test, just completed by forest rangers is tin: big timber reserve ai, .Snoqualrnie, iu the Elided States. Instead of carrying burdensome wire for antennae, two rangers found they could induce the multitude of limbs of fir and hemlocks to do the, work. Driving a copper nail into tin base of the trunk and connecting it jo the radio transmitter started_ every twig and leal functioning. Radio messages have to date- been sent, by means of trees, two or three miles. More; experiments are in progress in the woods to increase the efficiency of the method. By such means any station may easily be notified l,y radiograms instead of utilising the present system of telephones. A forest ranger may he half a nolo from a phone in an expediency, and by simply attaching his radio set to a. tall tree instantaneous eornmunciufion is certain. A peculiar feature, of the trro-antennue is that the higher the altitude the better are the waves si nf out. SUNSPOTS AND LAKES. One way in which the coming and going oi sunspots sheet the earth's climate is proved clearly by recent inve.stigations of their effect, on the level of .some of (he largo lakes of tropical Africa. Whenever I hero has been a period of increased sunspot activity the level of these lakes has '""■ en raised. When, on tho other hand, fhe sun's face lias been ichitiveiy cleared sunspots the level of these lakes, lias gone down. The reason why tho lakes rise when the sunspots are greatest iu number is believed to bo because the sunspots decrease the amount of heat radiated by the, sun. En.-, results in a decrease in the evapor.-i----*i>ii oi Wider from the lakes. Koppen has pioved that the temperature of the earth's atmosphere in the tropics averages one and one-tenth degrees Fahrenheit, cooler when the number of sunspots is greatest. One and one-tenth degrees is not much difference in temperature, to he sure. But the effect of even so .slight a change, as this is sufficient to affect the lakes. Whenever tho atmosphere is warmed by 20 degrees Fahrenheit, it is enabled thereby to about double the quantity of water.