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Flitmore invited the travelling company to proceed to one of the chambers
located on the night side. "I think that on the shadow side we shall enjoy a
magnificent spectacle of sparkling shooting-stars and meteors," he opined.
"You forget," objected Schulze, "that the meteorites only
sparkle when they enter into the atmosphere, as a result of friction with it."
The Englishman laughed. "I forget nothing; if we see sparkling meteors, then
that's fresh proof of my supposition that all space is filled with attenuated
air."
"But then wouldn't the earth have to glow also?" asked Hank.
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"It is protected by its atmospheric envelope, which shields it from friction
with the elements of space."
Be that as he would have it, it was a fact in any case that they got to see
whole swarms of sparkling meteors, large and small. It was a delightful
display of fireworks.
"You were indeed right. Lord Flitmore," Schulze now conceded. "But it remains
a puzzle to me why, if their friction with the thin world atmosphere is
obviously enough to ignite the meteors, the earthly falling stars should begin
to sparkle only when they enter into the earth's atmosphere."
"The thing is very simple: just because before that they are not subjected to
any friction at all, or else to slight friction.
You see, I explain the procedure thus: the meteoric showers have indeed their
own movement, but the world atmosphere probably divides this movement in its
path, possibly, also, every meteor, regardless of how small it is, has its own
air envelope which it draws to itself out of the atmosphere of space; in this
way friction is eliminated or limited.
"But if the earth lands in such a meteoric shower, the
attractive force of the earth makes the meteors hurtle down at a terrific
speed; upon entering into the denser earth's atmosphere they are suddenly
deprived of their air envelope, the resistance of the air divests them of it
to a certain degree and then the friction arises which is translated into a
sudden blaze.
"If we now see sparkling meteors here, the case is certainly a different one,
in so far as no denser atmosphere causes the blaze-up but rather the
exceptionally accelerated fall. These meteors must have landed within the
sphere of attraction of a planet, perhaps of Jupiter, and are now hurtling
towards it through space at such a terrific speed that the resistance of the
relatively calm world atmosphere divests them of their air envelope, in the
event we assume such. At any rate, their friction with the world atmosphere
becomes strong enough to make them white-hot."
John Rieger listened mouth agape to these imposing arguments of his master,
which inspired him with all the greater awe since he did not understand any of
them in the least.
But thirsty for knowledge as he always was, he turned to Professor Schulze,
who knew better how to adapt himself to his understanding.
"Humbly asking your gracious permission, Mr. Professor," he began. "You say so
many highly instructive things about the motors or shooting stars; but if you
would once be so kind as to explain to me exactly what these sparkling motors
really are, I should be awfully obliged to you."
"With pleasure, my friend," replied the Professor, readily. "As you have quite
correctly observed, meteors and
shooting stars are essentially the same thing. They are larger or smaller
bodies to be found in world space. Now when the earth comes close up to them,
they are drawn to
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wards it and they hurtle with greater or lesser speed towards the air envelope
of the earth. The swifter they hurtle downwards the hotter they become, but
all the more, also, do they lose in falling power, so that farther down they
do not fall any quicker than those which fell more slowly at the outset. "The
heating may reach several thousand degrees;
that is why they begin to gleam and to melt at the surface, whereas on the
inside they remain pretty cold. When they reach the earth, they are not
particularly hot, which may be because their fall becomes slower the further
down they go.
"Most of them, however, do not even reach the earth because they have already
become so hot high up that they dissolve into gas: then they are shooting
stars. If they do reach the earth they are meteors. That's what they are also
called if they appear especially big and bright. If they exceed the brightest
stars in brilliancy they are called bolides; [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]