Conversations on Natural Philosophy, in which the Elements of that Science are Familiarly Explained Part 23

_Mrs. B._ Your reasoning has some plausibility, but I am sorry to be obliged to add, that it is quite erroneous; for the nearer any part of the surface of a body is to the centre of attraction, the more strongly it is attracted; because it is then nearest to the whole ma.s.s of attracting matter. In regard to its effects, you might consider the whole power of gravity, as placed at the centre of attraction.

_Emily._ But were you to penetrate deep into the earth, would gravity increase as you approached the centre?

_Mrs. B._ Certainly not; I am referring only to any situation on the surface of the earth. Were you to penetrate into the interior, the attraction of the parts above you, would counteract that of the parts beneath you, and consequently diminish the power of gravity in proportion as you approach the centre; and if you reached that point, being equally attracted by the parts all around you, the effects of gravity would cease, and you would be without weight.

_Emily._ Bodies, then, should weigh less at the equator than at the poles, since they are more distant from the centre of gravity in the former than in the latter situation?

_Mrs. B._ And this is really the case; but the difference of weight would be scarcely sensible, were it not augmented by another circ.u.mstance.

_Caroline._ And what is this singular circ.u.mstance, which seems to disturb the laws of nature?

_Mrs. B._ One that you are well acquainted with, as conducing more to the preservation than the destruction of order,--the centrifugal force.

This we have just observed to be strongest at the equator; and as it tends to drive bodies from the centre, it is necessarily opposed to, and must lessen the power of gravity, which attracts them towards the centre. We accordingly find that bodies weigh lightest at the equator, where the centrifugal force is greatest; and heaviest at the poles, where this power is least: the weight being diminished at the equator, by both the causes mentioned.

_Caroline._ Has the experiment been made in these different situations?

_Mrs. B._ Louis XIV. of France, sent philosophers both to the equator, and to Lapland, for this purpose: the severity of the climate, and obstruction from the ice, have hitherto rendered every attempt to reach the pole abortive; but the difference of gravity at the equator, and in Lapland is very perceptible.

_Caroline._ Yet I do not comprehend how the difference of weight could be ascertained, for if the body under trial decreased in weight, the weight which was opposed to it in the opposite scale must have diminished in the same proportion. For instance, if a pound of sugar did not weigh so heavy at the equator as at the poles, the leaden pound which served to weigh it, would not be so heavy either; therefore they would still balance each other, and the different force of gravity could not be ascertained by this means.

_Mrs. B._ Your observation is perfectly just: the difference of gravity in bodies situated at the poles, and at the equator, cannot be ascertained by weighing them; a pendulum was therefore used for that purpose.

_Caroline._ What, the pendulum of a clock? how could that answer the purpose?

_Mrs. B._ A pendulum consists of a line, or rod, to one end of which a weight is attached, and by the other end it is suspended to a fixed point, about which it is made to vibrate. When not in motion, a pendulum, obeying the general law of attraction, hangs like a plumb line, perpendicular to the surface of the earth, but if you raise the pendulum, gravity will bring it back to its perpendicular position. It will, however, not remain stationary there, for the momentum it has acquired during its descent, will impel it onwards, and if un.o.bstructed, it will rise on the opposite side to an equal height; from thence it is brought back by gravity, and is again forced upwards, by the impulse of its momentum.

_Caroline._ If so, the motion of a pendulum would be perpetual, and I thought you said, that there was no perpetual motion on the earth.

_Mrs. B._ The motion of a pendulum is opposed by the resistance of the air in which it vibrates, and by the friction of the part by which it is suspended: were it possible to remove these obstacles, the motion of a pendulum would be perpetual, and its vibrations perfectly regular; each being of equal distance, and performed in equal times.

_Emily._ That is the natural result of the uniformity of the power which produces these vibrations, for the force of gravity being always the same, the velocity of the pendulum must consequently be uniform.

_Caroline._ No, Emily, you are mistaken; the force is not every where the same, and therefore the effect will not be so either. I have discovered it, Mrs. B.; since the force of gravity is less at the equator than at the poles, the vibrations of the pendulum will be slower at the former place than at the latter.

_Mrs. B._ You are perfectly right, Caroline; it was by this means that the difference of gravity was discovered, and the true figure of the earth ascertained.

_Emily._ But how do they contrive to regulate their time in the equatorial and polar regions? for, since in our part of the earth the pendulum of a clock vibrates exactly once in a second, if it vibrates faster at the poles, and slower at the equator, the inhabitants must regulate their clocks in a manner different from us.

_Mrs. B._ The only alteration required is to lengthen the pendulum in one case, and to shorten it in the other; for the velocity of the vibrations of a pendulum depends on its length; and when it is said that a pendulum vibrates quicker at the pole than at the equator, it is supposed to be of the same length. A pendulum which vibrates seconds in this lat.i.tude is about 39-1/7 inches long. In order to vibrate at the equator in the same s.p.a.ce of time, it must be somewhat shorter; and at the poles, it must be proportionally lengthened.

The vibrations of a pendulum, resemble the descent of a body on an inclined plane, and are produced by the same cause; now you must recollect, that the greater the perpendicular height of such a plane, in proportion to its length, the more rapid will be the descent of the body; a short pendulum ascends to a greater height than a larger one, in vibrating a given distance, and of course its descent must be more rapid.

I shall now, I think, be able to explain to you the cause of the variation of the seasons, and the difference in the length of the days and nights in those seasons; both effects resulting from the same cause.

In moving round the sun, the axis of the earth is not perpendicular to the plane of its...o...b..t. Supposing this round table to represent the plane of the earth's...o...b..t, and this little globe, the earth; through this I have pa.s.sed a wire, representing its axis and poles. In moving round the table, I do not hold the wire perpendicular to it, but obliquely.

_Emily._ Yes, I understand, the earth does not go round the sun in an upright position, its axis is slanting or oblique; and, it of course, forms an angle with a line drawn perpendicular to the plane of the earth's...o...b..t.

_Mrs. B._ All the lines, which you learnt in your last lesson, are delineated on this little globe; you must consider the ecliptic as representing the plane of the earth's...o...b..t; and the equator, which crosses the ecliptic in two places, then shows the degree of obliquity of the axis of the earth; which amounts to 23-1/2 degrees, very nearly.

The points in which the ecliptic intersects the equator, are called the equinoctial points.

But I believe I shall render the effects of the obliquity of the earth's axis clearer to you, by the revolution of the little globe round a candle, which shall represent the sun. (Plate IX. fig. 2.)

As I now hold it, at A, you see it in the situation in which it is in the midst of summer, or what is called the summer solstice, which is on the 21st of June.

_Emily._ You hold the wire awry, I suppose, in order to show that the axis of the earth is not upright?

_Mrs. B._ Yes; in summer, the north pole is inclined towards the sun. In this season, therefore, the northern hemisphere enjoys much more of his rays than the southern. The sun, you see, now s.h.i.+nes over the whole of the north frigid zone, and notwithstanding the earth's diurnal revolution, which I imitate by twirling the ball on the wire, it will continue to s.h.i.+ne upon it as long as it remains in this situation, whilst the south frigid zone is at the same time completely in darkness.

_Caroline._ That is very strange; I never before heard that there was constant day or night in any part of the world! How much happier the inhabitants of the north frigid zone must be than those of the southern; the first enjoy uninterrupted day, while the last are involved in perpetual darkness.

_Mrs. B._ You judge with too much precipitation; examine a little further, and you will find, that the two frigid zones share an equal fate.

We shall now make the earth set off from its position in the summer solstice, and carry it round the sun; observe that the pole is always inclined in the same direction, and points to the same spot in the heavens. There is a fixed star situated near that spot, which is hence called the north polar star. Now let us stop the earth at B, and examine it in its present situation; it has gone through one quarter of its...o...b..t, and is arrived at that point at which the ecliptic cuts, or crosses, the equator, and which is called the autumnal equinox.

_Emily._ The sun now s.h.i.+nes from one pole to the other, just as it would constantly do, if the axis of the earth were perpendicular to its...o...b..t.

_Mrs. B._ Because the inclination of the axis is now neither towards the sun, nor in the contrary direction; at this period of the year, the days and nights are equal in every part of the earth. But the next step she takes in her orbit, you see, involves the north pole in darkness, whilst it illumines that of the south; this change was gradually preparing as I moved the earth from summer to autumn; the arctic circle, which was at first entirely illumined, began to have short nights, which increased as the earth approached the autumnal equinox; and the instant it pa.s.sed that point, the long night of the north pole commences, and the south pole begins to enjoy the light of the sun. We shall now make the earth proceed in its...o...b..t, and you may observe that as it advances, the days shorten and the nights lengthen, throughout the northern hemisphere, until it arrives at the winter solstice, on the 21st of December, when the north frigid zone is entirely in darkness, and the southern has uninterrupted daylight.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE X.]

_Caroline._ Then, after all, the sun which I thought so partial, confers his favours equally on all.

_Mrs. B._ Not so either: the inhabitants of the torrid zone have much more heat than we have, as the sun's rays fall perpendicularly twice in the course of a year, on every place within the tropics, while they s.h.i.+ne more or less obliquely on the rest of the world, and almost horizontally at the poles; for during their long day of six months, the sun moves round their horizon without either rising or setting; the only observable difference, is that it is more elevated by a few degrees at mid-day, than at midnight.

_Emily._ To a person placed in the temperate zone, in the situation in which we are in England, the sun will s.h.i.+ne neither so obliquely as it does on the poles, nor vertically as at the equator; but its rays will fall upon him more obliquely in autumn, and winter, than in summer.

_Caroline._ And therefore, the inhabitants of the temperate zones, will not have merely one day, and one night, in the year, as happens at the poles, nor will they have equal days, and equal nights, as at the equator; but their days and nights will vary in length, at different times of the year, according as their respective poles incline towards, or from the sun, and the difference will be greater in proportion to their distance from the equator.

_Mrs. B._ We shall now follow the earth through the other half of her orbit, and you will observe, that now exactly the same changes take place in the southern hemisphere, as those we have just remarked in the northern. Day commences at the south pole, when night sets in at the north pole; and in every other part of the southern hemisphere the days are longer than the nights, while, on the contrary, our nights are longer than our days. When the earth arrives at the vernal equinox, D, where the ecliptic again cuts the equator, on the 21st of March, she is situated, with respect to the sun, exactly in the same position, as in the autumnal equinox; and the only difference with respect to the earth, is, that it is now autumn in the southern hemisphere, whilst it is spring with us.

_Caroline._ Then the days and nights are again every where equal.

_Mrs. B._ Yes, for the half of the globe which is enlightened, extends exactly from one pole to the other, the sun has just risen to the north pole, and is just setting to the south pole; but in every other part of the globe, the day and night is of twelve hours length; hence the word equinox, which is derived from the Latin, meaning equal night.

As our summer advances, the days lengthen in the northern hemisphere, and shorten in the southern, till the earth reaches the summer solstice, when the north frigid zone is entirely illumined, and the southern is in complete darkness; and we have now brought the earth again to the spot from whence we first accompanied her.

_Emily._ This is indeed a most satisfactory explanation of the cause of the different lengths of our days and nights, and of the variation of the seasons; and the more I learn, the more I admire the simplicity of means by which such wonderful effects are produced.

_Mrs. B._ I know not which is most worthy of our admiration, the causes, or the effects of the earth's revolution round the sun. The mind can find no object of contemplation more sublime, than the course of this magnificent globe, impelled by the combined powers of projection and attraction, to roll in one invariable course, around the source of light and heat: and what can be more delightful than the beneficent effects of this vivifying power on its attendant planet. It is at once the grand principle which animates and fecundates nature.

_Emily._ There is one circ.u.mstance in which this little ivory globe appears to me to differ from the earth; it is not quite dark on that side of it which is turned from the candle, as is the case with the earth when neither moon nor stars are visible.

_Mrs. B._ This is owing to the light of the candle, being reflected by the walls of the room, on every part of the globe, consequently that side of the globe, on which the candle does not directly s.h.i.+ne, is not in total darkness. Now the skies have no walls to reflect the sun's light on that side of our earth which is in darkness.

_Caroline._ I beg your pardon, Mrs. B., I think that the moon, and stars, answer the purpose of walls in reflecting the sun's light to us in the night.

_Mrs. B._ Very well, Caroline; that is to say, the moon and planets; for the fixed stars, you know, s.h.i.+ne by their own light.