New Britain Herald Newspaper, June 26, 1928, Page 19

Sir Oliver Lodge. Noted British Scientist, Whe Predicts That the Moon Will Crash Into the Earth—But Not for a Million Years. i i LONDON. P some commonplace-looking man were to stop you on the street one day and whisper in your ear: “Shh! Better be careful. Did now that the earth is due to stop revolv'ing': i:: }.‘hn the moon will fall down and smash it?' You might be pardoned for thinking him a m-nll;:v.-t. i an eminent scientist—one whose labors had been crowned with the laurels of many nations—were to tell you :the :_lme thxlndx ecture platform, your attention would, g’:}r\‘:ly., lbs morz forcibly riveted. You might even worry a little s shout your own per- sonal safety, and the welfare of those dear- est and nearast to you. Such emotions, mo- mentarily at least, stir- red the audience that assembled, a week ago, in a hall off the Bromp- ton Road, to hear Sir Oliver Lodge deliver-a lecture on “The Birth of the Moon.” For Sir Oliver, eminent mathematician, author- ity on the solar system, expert on electricity and payehie investiga- tor, told the men and women present that, eventually, our earth would crumble in just such a rollajvs::. He adde ?ln im- portant “but,” ever, in the assurance that the calamity would not occur for thou- sands, perhaps millions, of years. “The spee at which the earth ro- tates,” he continued, “is gradually slowing down, owing to the friction of the tides. Each day is only a 240- millionth part of a sec- ond longer than the day before. “There was a time when the earth spun so fast that the day was only four hours long. At that time the moon was part of the earth, but it broke away and has moved slowly farther away ever since. In time the earth’s rotation will cease. and the will be reversed.” What may happen after that Sir Oliver does not attempt to forecast. Wether there will still be a civiliza- according to scientists, fs built upon seething action. A prosaic tumbler of water is a scene nf constant conflict, and also ordered movement, At one time during the period of the earth's development a gigantic fragment was thrown off. Today we call it the moon. It was hurled an approximate distance of 238,800 miles from the parent planet, and there it whirls about the e-rtfi‘ making a complete circle once each month. What holds the moon in this position? If it were to be connected with the earth by a stecl rod, that rod would have to be 400 miles thick. Otherwise it would be twisted into nothingness. The moon exerts a great pull upon the earth, and the earth exerts a similar drawing force upon the moon. Thess forces hold the two at approximately similar distances from each other. It is natural to suppose that so long as these forces remain as they are the two bodies will occupy their respective places in relation to each other. This, acience concedes, is essentially true. But the forces do NOT remain constant, and for this, among other reasons: The pull of the moon upon the earth does not substantially affect the earth’s crust. But it does effect the surface of the ocean. Hence, the tides. A stratum of water is “lifted up” by the pull of the moon, and the earth, rotating beneath this water, is in the position of rotating beneath a friction brake. Slowly, but surely, this brake is slowing up the speed of the rotating earth. This reduction of speed amounts to but one two-hundred-and- forty-millionth part of a second for a given period of time, but when calculations are pro- Jjected on a basis of time unlimited, it is seen that there will come a day when the earth must cease to rotate. What is hapenin, in the meantime? The moon is going ’ away from the earth. As the earth slows / A\l o [ NIy IE: M \\\{l\m\"" \‘hr N T i e down the moon recedes Wher the earth ¢teases to apin, the moon, which does not spin n exact relation to the earth, will rotate * around it, having always the same face set ) ~ toward it. Then the solar tides will assert their in- fluence, and if there is a man left upon the & earth he will have the singular experience of seeing the day longer than a month. When this happens everything will be reversed. The moon will no longer recede. It will begin to approach until it rejoins the parent, body and comes crashing down upon the earth. Even scientists consider it curious that thece things can happen within our sight, as it were, For the process just described as destined to happen to the earth already is happening to the neighboring planet, Mars. The latter has a moon whose month is shorter than a day. It is approaching Mars, and some day will crash into that planet. Thus science is enabled to look down the ridors of time, both Hes oo aseih & Bl % Diagram past and future, ascertain what has hap- the impact and be de- 5 of the pened, speculate on what may happen, J Rocket and deal with millions and Willions of :&rro_\w rhd' fll::r tl‘:ln":i}i‘i ‘ Which years familiarly. have vanished into the . Professor For what, after all, is a billion years of nebulons: limbe of te Robert H. eternity?” To us creaturcs of a day these past, he does not pre- - «Goddard, figures are appalling. But to the absolute tend to know. % Professor universe ‘they are only episodes in the The reason for the & of Physics great drama of creation; incidents in the ultimate collision, ex. at Clark process of evolution, stages through which plained in terms cap- *Unmiversiy, Hopes to Shoot to the worlds go. able of interpretation the Moon. It Carries a Flare in Yet, as interesting as fs this new an. by the layman, is not the Tir' Which Will Be complicated. Man, life, Released, the earth, the stars, the planets — everything, nouncement from one of the world’s most Vi!ihh"”"'fi':":i'fl‘ Be remarkable scientists, there is a still more interesting field for conjecture left open the layman. The more imaginative men, authors and painters, have een led to a contempla- tion of the solar systems by a strange fascination. . Jules Verne sent his hero e hurtling to the moon in a projactile. GH. G. Wells has undertaken like flights of fancy. Times have changed. Today science seriously contemplates attempts to estab- lish communication with other planets, and in all likelihood such an attempt will be made during the current year. Not only will science attempt this, but ae- knowledged savants consider it possible that men will he able to bridge l;u gap between the worlds. Of the several projects in hand, the most noteworthy is that of Professor Rabert H. Goddard, the Clark University. Professor Goddard is essentially 8 man of science, not given to wild announcements or to fritting away his time. He has per. fected a rocket which he believes will ba able to negotiate the distance to the moon, being given new impetus at regular in- tervals by the constant recurrenee of driv- ing_explosions. This rocket will be discharged at the moon with sueh accuracy that astronomers already have se- lected the prob- able area of its fall (should it ar- rive there) and powerful telescopes will be trained on this point when the rocket is launched. Another scientist is not satisfied with merely hitting the moon with a rocket. He wants to [ £ along, and so has designed a projectile which will include a space in which he can ride. He is fully aware that there is no life on the moon, so far as man has been able to learn, and that a human being probably cannot live in the rarefied atmosphere of this satellite, yet he is willing to make the sacrifice to increase human kflowlefi‘e If he is fortunate enough to arrive, and finds it possible to remain alive, he will set about pre- Kewspaver Foature Service, 1028 Saaes e Ve paring certain signals for those on earth. These signals will be decided upon In advance. In view of these facts it does not seem grotesque to suggest that, be- fore the moon comes crashing intu the earth, man will have visted the lunar region. And then, having done that, he may devise some method of averting the crash. Artist Louis Biedermann, Famous Tlustrator, Pictures the Catastrophe, with Gases Rising from the Earth, Houses and Temples Crumbling, Bridges and Rivers Devastated, and Searing Flames Ringing the Inhabitants About as They Seek Safety.