Aeroplanes

by James Slough Zerbe

This motion is greatly accentuated by the surface of the earth, independently of its uneven contour. If a ball is thrown through the air, its dynamic force is measured by its impact. So with light, and heat. In the space between the planets it is very cold. The sunlight, or the rays from the sun are there, just the same as on the earth.

Unless the rays come into contact with something, they produce no effect. When the beams from the sun come into contact with the atmosphere a dynamic force is exerted, just the same as when the ball struck an object. When the rays reach the earth, reflection takes place, and these reflected beams act on the air under different conditions.

CHANGING ATMOSPHERE.—If the air is full of moisture, as it may be at some places, while comparatively dry at other points, the reflection throughout the moist area is much greater than in the dry places, hence evaporation will take place and whenever a liquid vaporizes it means heat.

On the other hand, when the vapor is turning to a liquid, condensation takes place, and that means cooling. If the air should be of the same degree of saturation throughout,—that is, have the same amount of moisture everywhere, there would be few winds. These remarks apply to conditions which exist over low altitudes all over the earth.

But at high altitudes the conditions are entirely different. As we ascend the air becomes rarer. It has less moisture, because a wet atmosphere, being heavier, lies nearer the surface of the earth. Being rarer the action of sunlight on the particles is less intense. Reflection and refraction of the rays acting on the light atmosphere do not produce such a powerful effect as on the air near the ground.

All these conditions—the contour of the earth; the uneven character of the moisture in the air; the inequalities of the convection currents; and the unstable, tenuous, elastic nature of the atmosphere, make the trials of the aviator a hazardous one, and it has brought out numerous theories connected with bird flight. One of these assumes that the bird, by means of its finely organized sense, is able to detect rising air currents, and it selects them in its flight, and by that means is enabled to continue in flight indefinitely, by soaring, or by flapping its wings.

ASCENDING CURRENTS.—It has not been explained how it happens that these particular "ascending currents" always appear directly in the line of the bird flight; or why it is that when, for instance, a flock of wild geese which always fly through space in an A-shaped formation, are able to get ascending air currents over the wide scope of space they cover.

ASPIRATE CURRENTS.—Some years ago, in making experiments with the outstretched wings of one of the large soaring birds, a French sailor was surprised to experience a peculiar pulling motion, when the bird's wings were held at a certain angle, so that the air actually seemed to draw it into the teeth of the current.

It is known that if a ball is suspended by a string, and a jet of air is directed against it, in a particular way, the ball will move toward the jet, instead of being driven away from it. A well known spraying device, called the "ball nozzle," is simply a ball on the end of a nozzle, and the stream of water issuing is not effectual to drive the ball away.

From the bird incident alluded to, a new theory was propounded, namely, that birds flew because of the aspirated action of the air, and the wings and body were so made as to cause the moving air current to act on it, and draw it forwardly.