Speaker 1: Radiant energy. The kinds of energy are very few, although
the methods of using, applying, and manifesting same are innumerable.
Let us begin with one of the best known forms
of energy, namely heat. Heat was formally regarded as a
very fine fluid or substance called caloric, which was supposed
to enter into substance and then manifest the phenomenon of heat.
This idea has long been relegated to the scrap pile
of science. The present theory, which is supported by a
mass of evidence obtained through investigation and experimentation, is that
heat is a form of energy arising from the vibratory
motions of the particles of substance, a mode of motion.
The degrees of heat are termed temperature. Temperature depends upon
the rate of the heat vibrations of the particles of substance,
either arising from the original motion of the particles, or
else from vibrations or motion aroused in them by transmission
from particles of other bodies of substance, these vibrations being contagious.
Temperature then means the measure of the vibrations of the particles.
All bodies of substance have some degree of temperature some
degree of heat vibration of its particles. Science has a
pleasant scientific friction of an absolute zero at the degree
of four hundred and ninety one below zero fahrenheit. But
this is merely an imaginary something with which the grown
up children of science amuse themselves. When two bodies are
brought near each other, the nearness being comparative and in
some cases meaning a distance of millions of miles, heat
is transmitted from the warmer to the cooler body until
the temperatures are equalized, that is, until the two bodies
vibrate in unison. In physics, we are taught that the
transmission of heat may be accomplished in three ways, although
the writer is of the opinion that the three ways
are but three forms of one way. The first form
is called conduction, whereby the vibration or heat is conveyed
along a body of substance from its warmer to its
cooler parts, for instance, an iron poker with one end
in the fire. The second form is called convection, whereby
the visible motion of heated substance moving along the air
for instance hot air, hot water, steam, et cetera, either
by means of pipes or by allowing them to pass
freely through the air. The third form is called radiation,
whereby the vibrations are believed to be transformed into waves
of the ether, which will be spoken of later. In
addition to what has been said on the subject in
our chapter entitled the Paradox of Science, the writer thinks
that a little consideration will show us that the same
rule operates in all of the above cases, and that
conduction and convection are but forms of radiation. For instance,
in conduction, there must be a few particles first set
into vibration, the saying gradually passing on to the others
farther and farther away. Passing, how by contact replies physics.
But the particles are never in absolute contact. There always
is plenty of space between them, and so there must
be some kind of waves passing through the space between them,
which space is not filled with air or other form
of substance, but only with the ether or something that
takes its place, So that after all, conduction is but
a form of radiation, and the same rule will apply
in the case of convection. Heat arises from several causes,
all of which, however, manifest through the vibration of the
particles of the body evidencing the heat. These causes may
be stated as one original motion of the particles of
a body of substance, arising from some workings of the
law of attraction and including motion arising from chemical action, combustion, etc.
Two from transmission or contagion from some other body of substance,
the particles of which are vibrating at the rate of heat.
Three from interrupted motion, including friction both of the moving
body with the air or other substance, and the friction
of a current or electricity passing through the body. In
each of the above cases, the actual and immediate cause
of the heat is the vibration of the particles of
the substance manifesting the heat. Although the transmitted vibratory waves
or the interrupted motion friction, current, etc. May have been
the instigator or provoker of such vibration, the interrupted motion, friction,
or wave does not produce the heat, but merely arouses
or provokes the increased vibration of the particles that really
manifest the heat. At the least, Remember, the heat is
in the particles of the body that feels or experiences it.
The vibrations of heat seem to have the properties of
causing the molecules to draw further apart and to manifest
less attraction or more repulsion, whichever way one cares to
express it. This moving away of the molecules tends to
cause the body to increase in volume or size, and
occasions what is known as expansion in substance. In this way,
heat transforms solids into liquids, liquids into gases or vapors,
the change being wholly a matter of the relative distances
of the molecules. Magnetism is another form of energy and
is generally believed to be a part of the phenomena
of electricity, if indeed not a form of electricity itself.
Science knows very little about the nature of magnetism, but
in a general way holds to the theory that it results
from the vibration or motion of the particles of substance.
As do all other forms of energy, the magnet genetic
qualities of a body may be increased or decreased by
motion affecting the relation of the molecules, which fact has
been regarded as having some bearing on the theory. Electricity
is a form of energy that science regards as also
arising from the vibration or motion of the particles of substance.
It is transmitted, like heat, by conduction and radiation, the
waves tending to provoke similar vibrations in the particles of substances,
receiving them. By many careful investigators, Electricity is believed to
be very closely related to the phenomenon called light, both
having much in common, Science seems to be discovering new
points of resemblance between them, and it is possible that
in the near future they will be seen to be
but varying forms of the same thing. The purposes of
this book do not call for an extended consideration of
the properties of electricity, the same being served by a
consideration of its nature being ade akin to that of
the other forms of energy, namely vibration or motion in
or among the particles of matter. Light is a form
of energy, the study of which is of the greatest
interest to science, for the reason that the field seems
to be widening out continuously and reaching out into the
territory formally thought to be the special region of electricity,
and in another direction, it seems to be reaching out
into the territory of heat, the latter being considered by
many to be but a form of light in its
lower vibrations. In fact, the writer of this book so
considers the subject, and for the purposes of this book,
in latter chapters, he will combine electricity, heat, and light,
including also the phenomena known as the X rays, Becquerel rays,
radium waves, et cetera, as forms of light. The combined
forms of energy to be called radiant energy. In this combination,
he believes that he is in line with the latest
and best thought of modern science. However, he does not
insist upon his readers following this idea, and so if
they prefer they may think of each of these forms
as separate and distinct, and yet not run contrary to
the line of thought of the book. Light is not
the simple thing that it is considered to be by
the general public. It is composed of many parts, qualities,
and manifestations. Its rays, when separated by the spectrum, are
seen to consist of waves or vibrations of differing degrees
of rate and intensity. The lower range contains the heat rays,
and it is interesting to know that there are rays
of heat too far down in the scale to be
evidenced by human senses that may be distinguished by delicate instruments.
But there are rays still further down in the scale
that are known to exist theoretically that cannot be registered
even by the finest instruments. To gain an idea of
the delicacy of these instruments, let us remember that Professor
Langley has an instrument called the bolometer that is so
delicate that it registers a change of temperature of one
millionth of a degree and will register the heat of
a candle one in one half miles distance from it.
Light vibrations arise from combustion, friction, electricity, et cetera, causing
the particles to assume increased motion. Let us consider the
report of the spectrum. Beginning with waves or vibrations far
below the sensibility of man, the scale shows in advance
until the first warm vibration of iron was reached. This
first indication of warmth comes when the vibrations reach the
rate of thirty five trillion per second. Then gradually they
increase until a dull red glow is noticed the lowest
visible light ray when the vibrations are four hundred and
fifty trillion per second. Then come the orange rays, then
the golden yellow then the pure yellow, then the greenish yellow,
then the pure green, then the greenish blue, then the
ocean blue, then the cyanic blue, then the indigo, then
the violet, the latter evidencing when the vibrations reach the
rate of seven hundred and fifty trillion per second. Then
come the ultraviolet rays, invisible to human sight but evidenced
by chemical media. In this ultraviolet region lies the X
rays et cetera, and also the actinic rays that produce photographs,
sunburn one's face and blister the nose, that cause violent
explosions in chemicals, that transform forms of substance that are
employed to cure skin diseases, et cetera. These actinate or
chemical rays have an important role to play in plant life,
for they act upon the green leaves of the plant,
causing a chemical change by which carbonic acid and water
are transformed into sugar and starches. Some of the rays
of the ultraviolet region of life penetrate substances formally considered
solid and impenetrable, and some of them, emitted from radium
et cetera, would destroy organic life if applied in sufficient quantities.
Some of them are practically waves of electricity, so that
light and electricity are seen to be closely related. To
give one an idea of the differences produced by different
rates of vibration, let us imagine a mass of iron
shaped like a great top, capable of being impelled to
spin at a constantly increasing rate of speed by some
mighty will. At first, it is seen as a slowly
spinning top, manifesting nothing but slow motion to our senses.
Now imagine our top spinning at a rate doubling each second.
The first second, the top spins at the rate of
two revolutions per second, we notice no change, except that
we can see the movement. The next second, the revolutions
are doubled to four per second, then doubling each second,
we have, respectively revolutions of eight per second, then sixteen,
and then in the fifth second, thirty two per second.
Then we begin to notice a change. When the revolutions
reach thirty two per second. The friction of the moving
top on the air causes it to give forth a
very low, deep base note of sound. This note is
like a low, deep hum, and is the lowest possible
of perception by the human hearing. Although it is possible
that some of the lower forms of life may be
conscious of still lower vibrations. The six second, the revolutions
reach sixty four, and the low note has grown much
higher in the scale. The seven second records a rate
of one hundred and twenty eight, and the note has
correspondingly increased. Then, as the seconds pass, we have successively
two hundred and fifty six, five hundred and twelve, one
thousand and twenty four, two thousand and forty eight, four
thousand and ninety six, eight thousand, one hundred and ninety two,
sixteen thousand, in three hundred eighty four thirty two thousand,
seven hundred sixty eight, the latter in the fifteenth second,
and representing the highest note recognizable by the human ear,
although it is believed that some of the lower animals
may recognize sounds too acute for our sense of hearing.
During this increase in revolutions, from the fifth second to
the fifteenth the sound note has risen rapidly in the scale,
from the low sullen hum on through the notes of
the musical scale and beyond the range of instruments, until
the shrillness becomes so intense as to be almost unbearable,
and finally terminating in a shrill, piercing shriek like the
squeak of the bat, only long drawn out. Then, from
the termination of the sound, by reason of the rate
of vibration having become too high, silence reigns for thirty
seconds absolute silence, in spite of the rapidly increasing rate
of vibrations, in fact, because of it. When the forty
fifth second is reached and the revolutions have reached the
rate of thirty five trillion, one hundred and eighty four billion,
three hundred and seventy two million, eighty eight thousand, eight
hundred and thirty two per second, our top begins to
emit heat rays, increasing each second. Then a little later,
a dull, dim glow may be noticed. Then, as the
seconds fly, the dull glow manifests a deep dark red color,
such as one notices in the iron of the blacksmith's shop.
Soon after it begins to glow, then on and on,
as the seconds fly, the deep red grows lighter and brighter,
gradually changing into orange, then into yellow, then into green,
then into blue, then into indigo, then into violet, and
then into the color of white heat. Then this white
heat changes into a still more dazzling white, and then
a white impossible to describe, appears so bright, clear and
brilliant that the eye cannot bear the sight. Then suddenly
the intense brightness is succeeded by absolute darkness, and the
moving top cannot be seen by the eye, and yet
it moves on. The highest recorded chemical rays of light
are estimated to equal a rate of vibration of one quadrillion,
eight hundred and seventy five trillion per second. The vibration
of the lowest shade of red light is estimated at
four hundred and fifty trillion, and the highest of violet
at seven hundred and fifty trillion per second. So we
may imagine what the highest line on the spectrum is like,
still vibrating our top, which has become now a mass
of vaporized iron, rapidly tending towards still more ethereal forms.
It has passed out from the region of light waves
into another unknown region of vibrations, in which region, however,
exists the vibrations known to us as the X rays,
et cetera. It is throwing off great quantities of electrons.
If we were to use a floor rescent screen, we
would be able to observe the phenomena of the rankin
rays and similar manifestations of radiant energy, on and on
vibrates the top of what we once called iron, cold iron,
warm iron, hot iron, melted iron, gaseous iron, etherealized iron.
If you like what it is like now, the imagination
of man cannot conceive. Still the revolutions continue doubling each
second what is being produced. The imagination cannot conceive of
what this state of substance now being reached is like.
By a scientific form of poetry, we might think of
it as melting into energy, pure energy, if there were
such a thing. Long since it has been resolved into
its original particles, its corpuscles, and perhaps into the stuff
from which particles are made. But we must let the
curtain drop. The wildest fancy cannot follow the dance of
substance any further. The theory of the transmission of vibrations
of radiant energy by means of waves in the ether
or something that takes the place of the ether has
been mentioned in other parts of the book. Referring again
to it, the writer would say that he thinks it's
probable that the waves coming in contact with the countless
corpuscles in the Earth's atmosphere communicate a high rate of
motion to them, the result being that they take on
the vibrations immediately and pass along with the wave current.
The result being that much that we consider as waves
of light, heat, and electricity are but streams of these
corpuscles in which vibrations have been awakened by the waves.
This idea will help to explain some of the phenomena
of light, which seemed more understandable under the old light
corpuscle theory of Newton than under the wave theory of
recent years. The ideas advanced merely for the purpose of
setting down the thought, for it plays no important part
in the theory of the book. Another matter that should not
be overlooked in connection with light and heat and electricity
is that particles absorb or catch the vibrations in different
degrees their receptivity depending upon their particular vibratory mode or
custom of their kind. If unable to absorb the vibrations,
they reflect them. Substance of any particular kind absorb heat
in the degree of its atomic weight. In the next
chapter we shall learn something of the law of attraction.
That wonderful law that makes possible any motion or radiant
energy