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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (May 26, 1912)
The Omaha Sunday Bee PA1I TWO EDITORIAL PAGES ONE 10 TWELVE PAST TWO SOCIETY PAGES OSE TO TWELVE vol. xli xo. 49. A Sun Spot la Like aa Enormous Electric Dyna me. Ita Tremendous Whirl Generates aa Eaormout Magnetic Field, Just aa tha Whirling Armature of a Dynamo tha Same Sise Weald Generate. Science's Newest Discovery That Solar Cyclones Cause Our Floods, Tempests, Late Springs and Other Unseasonable Weather and That Their Effects Can Be Predicted Weeks in Advance Is Explained by Professor Garrett P. By Professor Garrett P. Serviss. THE amazing vagaries of the weather during the past few months devastating floods first in tha old world and then in the new; a warm Winter In Alaska, such as has never been known there before, coinciding with a severe Winter here; an unpreeedently early and abundant release of tbe Icebergs f-om Greenland, and their disas trous Invasion of tbe steamer lanes; a late Spring In the United States, with sudden and violent changes of temperature; snowstorms In March; cold and warm waves abruptly fol lowing each other in April and May; thunderstorms in early May; a series of terrific tornadoes sweeping whole towns to destruction in tha West and Southwest all these things reawaken Interest In the question of tbe Influence of sunspota upon the weather. Interest that l emphasised by tha fact that ouU bursts of such spots have lately oc curred, to which some observers at tribute all tbla unwonted atmos pheric disturbance. - Some go as far as to aver that they can predict great storma and weather changes by means of the spots on the sun. Among these (a Father Picard, of the-Santa Clara College Observatory, California, who ascribes sunspota to the influence of the larger planets. Inasmuch aa the positions of these planets can be foretold, and Inasmuch aa their ar- rival at certain posltlona in. their orbits is alleged to exert an in fluence upon tbe sun, tending to Bvikes Sikhs burst out. the possi bility of predictions like those that Father Plard and others have made cannot be denied, provided thai we grant their assumptions. Father Picard claims tbat bia past p-edlc-tiens have been verified "to the very date," and he makes another aeriea ' for May. and suggests that one can be made for June, based on "a great solar manifestation" which a French astronomer has foretold for that month. In view of these things it becomes highly important to review what the . leaders in astronomy have learned, and believe, concerning the influence of sunspots on the earth. First, what are sunspots? Recently it has been discovered tbat sunspots are vortexes, in which the whirling motion carries matter from the surface outward. They have been likened to waterspouts at ' sea, tbe trumpet-shaped part beta; at tbe top, and tbe material within being whirled npwari Since there la a great variety of substances in the sun, such as iron, ca'cium. silicon, sodium, copper, magnesium, and in abort almost every element known to us on the earth, and since these substances are brought into violent frictiocal contact by the whirling motion, it is believed that powerful charges of electricity are produced in the spots, and aa the charged matter hi spun around io the vortex great electric & ' ' s v.,Kr,vmm mmmKmmeifmmvmm -a ' " ,wjrT.. V -N ' ij This Magnetic Force Given Off by the Sua Spot la Conveyed by the Ether le the Atmosphere el the Earth, Thereby Diaturbing Its Equilibrium and Causing Violent Storma and Period of Uaue ual Cold aad Heat currenta are set np, which. In turn, produce in every sunspot a gigantic magnetic field. A magnetic field means a space within which lines of magnetic force are In action. ' Thua a sunspot might be regarded as resembling a tremendous dynamo, creating electric currents of ' un imaginable power. Everybody knows that a dynamo consists of two essential parts first a powerful electro magnet, which creates around Ha pole magnetic field, and second an arma ture, consisting of wires wound round an Iron wheel, or a cylindrical core, which is caused to rotate rapidly In the magnetic field. The change In the number of lines of magnetic force flowing through the colls of the rotating wires sets up a current of electricity in the coils, and this current can be led away by other wlrea Into an external circuit, by which lamps may be Illuminated ' or mechanical work done. In abort, the dynamo la a mucbln for con verting mechanical energy Into elec trical energy by means of electro magnetic induction, and tbe elec trical energy thua produced can be turned back into mechanical energy to be utilized in a different way and a different place from that id which it waa first used. While It is In the form of electrical energy it can be carried long distances by wires andf recbanged Into mechanical energy ' ' 1 " - ,, t 4H - "t -'I1 " ' ' , ,y If. f ' it l" ! Hi --J , , ' t V ' - i ' , U VfS A t J W it , ' m .-;- H OMAHA. Copyright. 1913. Serviss, the Dis' tinguished Astronomer at the place where It Is needed to do work. Now, It would appear that in a sunspot, where first a tremendous magnetic field Is produced by tbe friction of different materials brushing against one another, and then vast currents of electricity are set up by the whirling of great quan tities of matter in this magnetic Held, we have a kind of natural dynamo of the most gigantic power. Something of tha same kind appears to occur (though on a relatively very small scale) .0 a volcanic eruption, as of Vesuvius, when electrical cur rents are set In motion and tremen dous discharges of lightning occur. Thus, It is not difficult to account for the fact that the sun, when dis turbed by the outbreak of great spots, becomes a centre of Immense electrical disturbance. But the next question Is. How la this disturbance transmitted to the earth? Tbe cur rent produced by a dynamo la led away by wires, but there are no wires between tbe earth and tbe One of the First Photo graph Taken of the Solar Cy- ' clone Sur rounding a .Sun Spot. The Leaping Flame Are 100,000 Mile High, and Are a Source of the Magne tism That Affects Our Weather. - '' ' '! ' ' SUNDAY MOUSING, MAY b American-Examiner. Great Britain un. .That the solar diaturbanca nould create around tha sun an electric field aufflclently extensive to Involve the earth at a distance of 83,000,000 miles, or that this field anould act upon tha earth by Induc tion at such a distance may seen Incredible. But the difficulty may be explained In this way: The experiments which led to the Invention of wireless telegraphy have taught us that when an elec tric discharge takea plane, as when a spatk is caused to leap from a conductor, electric waves sre set up In the ethe- which speed away on all sides with tbe velocity of light. 188.000 miles per second The electric wsves that we are able to produce travel thousands of miles In the fraction of a aocond Now, It Is known that In and around sunspots tremendous elec trical discharges must frequently occur, incomparably niore powerful than any we can produce with our petty instruments. And some of these solar outburst have been caught In the act of darting their waves to tbe earth. Everybody baa heard of thenorth ern lights, or tbe aurora borealia, and many have aeen these strsnge phenomena, even here In New York. Around the magnetic poles of tho ' ' .'H. 1!)1 . Rights Reserve earth thay are of constant occur rence, but they become visible In tbe temperate zones only when tbe earth's magnetism la greatly and violently disturbed. Such disturb ances generally occur colncldently ' with soma sudden outburst around a big sunspot. In fact. It b now come to be recognised that the association of sunspots , with . the la a & Well.' Strange Story, "Tha Men oa tho Moon," the Moon Folk, Highly Devel oped Ineecta, Who Live Un derground, Ex pressed .Won der That Earth Folk Should Be So Unecientinc as to Lies an tho Surface of a Planet and Be Subject to Storma and So On. Hero the Scientist Who Invaded the Moon Is Seen Sending Mag. aotic Messages to the Earth fen i firn, t.'yV3Vl-.'V akK An Auroral Cur taina Wonder ful Phenomenon Produced by a Bombardment of Magnetism From the Sun SIXGLK , aurora boreal Is Is of the moat Inti mate character, and that whenever .tbe average number and also of sunspota Increases, as It does period ically about ' every eleven' years, the number arid brilliance of the aurorl displays Increase also. When there are few sunspots there are tew ,aurorae. We may picture thla action to tha Imagination la thla way: On one side we have the sun in a state of Intense electro-magnetic activity, owing to the outburst of sunspota. On tbe other side we have tbe earth. Itself a magnetized body, and surrounded by an atmosphere whose electric condition Is subject to the slightest disturbance. A specially Intense outburst occurs oa the sun, and electric waves start off into apace, crossing the 92.0u0.O00 miles to the earth in about eight . minutes. A telegraph operator on tbe earth happen to be seated at hla instrument tending a dispatch. Suddenly it ceases to work; then sparks of fire leap from it, and be start away in alarm. The Impulse ass ' V- e COPY FIYK IT The Moat Re markable Photo graph of S Spot That Ha ' Ewer Been Mad This attare " Mee al Ml. WIU sea tiaivoraltr. Csllfermle. It shews tar. Tbe white eleaae are ealrtam vapors at eaormoaa teasperatare, from the sun baa arrived and set np wild currents upon tha earth, which flow lawlessly through the telegraph wires. At the same time the sky la the north begins to flame. Qreat sheets of lambent Are, sometlmea eolored red, wave and flicker la the sky, obscuring tbe star with their brilliance. Vast glowing column -appear to rise from tbe northern horizon in the direction of the earth s magnetic pole. In the tenita a shining circle makea Ha appear ance, appearing and disappearing as by magic Such a disturbance may last for many hours, and the tele graphs and ocean cablea may be in terrupted all over tbe earth. Thla is railed a magnetic storm, and there can no longer be any doubt that Ita source is to be sought la tbe sun. - . Tbe question, remains: How can sun spots affect auch - things as winds, rains, storma and warm and ' cold waves? A magnetic storm Is , not a storm In the ordinary meaning of that word. But It has been ob served that clouds are more preva lent in times of great auroral ac tivity, and tbla givea a clue to the manner In which electrical Impulses from tbe sua may directly affect tbe general state of tbe weather. The effect of electric discharges le to "ionize" the air through which they pass. This mesas that Inconceiv ably minute center are formed In it which bear a charge ot negative 'ilectriclty, and these negatively charged "corpuscles,' as they are called, become centers of condensa tion of moisture. Thus tbe state ot, the air aa to clearness or cloudiness may be affected by the electrlo waves emanating from the sun. Tbe condensation of the moisture seta up other activities. Air cur rents are produced; difference of barometric pressure result: winds spring up; cold i)r is brought Into temperate regions from tbe polar areas, resulting in a cold wave; or, as a final result or tbe electrical change, warm air flows over colder regiona, and thus sa extraordinary melting of ice and snow is produced in high northern latitude. Tbe latest ana spot maximum, tbat Is, the period when aun spot were most numerous, occurred la 190. we are now at a point la thla cycle when the spots of a new period are beginning to appear, and it Usually happena that at the be ginning of such a period the electro magnetic effect of the sun are most noticed. Aa a whole, the tempera ture of the earth la lower at the time of maximum aunspoUedness, but at such time continual and sadden change are going on which pro duce similar changes on tbe earth. The result is the production of ex traordinary atonn.