[2] What must the
distance be in steam? what the greater distance in the more extreme
rarefactions? It is asserted that millions of cubic miles of some
comets tails would not make a cubic inch of matter solid as iron. Now,
when earth and oceans are "changed" to this sort of tenuity creations
will be more easy. We shall not be obliged to hew out our material
with broadaxes, nor blast it out with dynamite. Let us not fear that
these creations will not be permanent; they will be enough so for our
purpose. We can then afford to waste more worlds in a day than dull
stupidity can count in a lifetime.
We are getting used to this sort of work already. When we reduce
common air in a bulb to one one-thousandth of its normal density at the
sea we get the possibility of continuous incandescent electric light by
the vibration of platinum wire. When we reduce it to a tenuity of one
millionth of the normal density we get the possibility of the X rays by
vibrations of itself without any platinum wire. The greater the
tenuity the greater the creative results. For example, water in
freezing exerts an expansive, thrusting force of thirty thousand pounds
to the square inch, over two thousand tons to the square foot; an
incomprehensible force, but applicable in nature to little besides
splitting rocks. On the other hand, when water is rarefied into steam
its power is vastly more versatile, tractable, and serviceable in a
thousand ways.
Pages:
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140