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Scientifictionist, v. 1, issue 4, April 1946
Page 19
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HEMMEL'S SCIENTIFIC SORTIES #10 FIRE IN THE EARTH As we are all aware, there is fire if not great heat beneath our feet as we move about the earth and walk up and down in it, and this great heat or fire is right there at this moment. According to the figures of some, this heat grows greater as one progresses from the surface to a greater depth and this estimated rate of rise in temperatures is estimated at 1 degree for each forty feet. I imagine they mean 1 degree Fahrenheit and even if they do not, that is the scale or table I will use in this illustrative lecture on this subterranean phenomenon that goes on subsoil, so to speak. No doubt I snared many lovers of poetry with the poetic title I affixed to this article, and by now they are well aware that we are not dealing with poetic subjects, but I am sure that by this time they are caught -- snared, so to speak, in my magical web of rhetoric and will read right on to the end, the same as the rest of you will do, fascinated, perhaps, as you go. This business of 1 degree for each forty feet is of course approximate and cannot be relied upon all over the earth but for the sake of a few succinct examples I am going to accept it for the nonce, thought this does not mean, and I do not wish anyone to infer, that I have given my official stamp of approval to the figure. The real and actual figure as revealed in my own non-extensive but accurate laboratory and field test, goes into thirty-eight decimals. But perhaps this is cumbersome and should not be used here. This one of the reasons i am not going to use it here. Suffice it to say, then, that 1 degree Fahrenheit is the table or scale we will use here in lieu or places of any other. Taking, then, a hypothetical digger, we begin. This man is equipped with a stout tool, entrenching, M5, or shovel. He proceeds to dig at a goodly rate of speed. As he turns the first spadeful, the air temperature is 72. This, if not the best temperature, might be considered as a healthful temperature, provided the humidity is also correct and no high winds of destructive nature are blowing. After a time the man reaches a depth of 120 feet and finds the thermometer reading 75F. I now feel it unnecessary to append the "F" which stands for Fahrenheit and you must read it in as you go. It should not be too difficult a task for the more alert to perform. The timeless digger has now paused to read his thermometer again and finds it indicates a figure of 375F. (The "F" was not needed; you could have read it in, but I did not wish to be precipitate, for some of you may be slow in studies). It reads 375 because he is at a depth of 12,00 feet. Before much longer he is at 60,000 feet, which you will admit, is quite a depth, and any metallic lead about his person is now melting if it is not already in a molten stage. At 300,000 feet (better than 56 miles) the temperature reads nearly 5,000 degrees, and since his shovel has now melted away, it is probably as good a time as any to stop using this hypothetical man as our example. I hope none of my readers missed the point and write irate letters demanding proof of this fantastic digger because as I stated at the beginning he is purely a hypothetical digger and not real at all. I believe you will admit I am safe from any carpers or those who might wish to split hairs over this matter. Now, although we did not take our industrious entrencher down any farther, if we go deeper and the same rule or scale applies, we can see that it does not take any considerable stretch of the imagination to realize from the center out to the surface the temperature would decrease at the rate of 1 degree Fahrenheit for each 40 feet traversed. I hope this is clear. page 19
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HEMMEL'S SCIENTIFIC SORTIES #10 FIRE IN THE EARTH As we are all aware, there is fire if not great heat beneath our feet as we move about the earth and walk up and down in it, and this great heat or fire is right there at this moment. According to the figures of some, this heat grows greater as one progresses from the surface to a greater depth and this estimated rate of rise in temperatures is estimated at 1 degree for each forty feet. I imagine they mean 1 degree Fahrenheit and even if they do not, that is the scale or table I will use in this illustrative lecture on this subterranean phenomenon that goes on subsoil, so to speak. No doubt I snared many lovers of poetry with the poetic title I affixed to this article, and by now they are well aware that we are not dealing with poetic subjects, but I am sure that by this time they are caught -- snared, so to speak, in my magical web of rhetoric and will read right on to the end, the same as the rest of you will do, fascinated, perhaps, as you go. This business of 1 degree for each forty feet is of course approximate and cannot be relied upon all over the earth but for the sake of a few succinct examples I am going to accept it for the nonce, thought this does not mean, and I do not wish anyone to infer, that I have given my official stamp of approval to the figure. The real and actual figure as revealed in my own non-extensive but accurate laboratory and field test, goes into thirty-eight decimals. But perhaps this is cumbersome and should not be used here. This one of the reasons i am not going to use it here. Suffice it to say, then, that 1 degree Fahrenheit is the table or scale we will use here in lieu or places of any other. Taking, then, a hypothetical digger, we begin. This man is equipped with a stout tool, entrenching, M5, or shovel. He proceeds to dig at a goodly rate of speed. As he turns the first spadeful, the air temperature is 72. This, if not the best temperature, might be considered as a healthful temperature, provided the humidity is also correct and no high winds of destructive nature are blowing. After a time the man reaches a depth of 120 feet and finds the thermometer reading 75F. I now feel it unnecessary to append the "F" which stands for Fahrenheit and you must read it in as you go. It should not be too difficult a task for the more alert to perform. The timeless digger has now paused to read his thermometer again and finds it indicates a figure of 375F. (The "F" was not needed; you could have read it in, but I did not wish to be precipitate, for some of you may be slow in studies). It reads 375 because he is at a depth of 12,00 feet. Before much longer he is at 60,000 feet, which you will admit, is quite a depth, and any metallic lead about his person is now melting if it is not already in a molten stage. At 300,000 feet (better than 56 miles) the temperature reads nearly 5,000 degrees, and since his shovel has now melted away, it is probably as good a time as any to stop using this hypothetical man as our example. I hope none of my readers missed the point and write irate letters demanding proof of this fantastic digger because as I stated at the beginning he is purely a hypothetical digger and not real at all. I believe you will admit I am safe from any carpers or those who might wish to split hairs over this matter. Now, although we did not take our industrious entrencher down any farther, if we go deeper and the same rule or scale applies, we can see that it does not take any considerable stretch of the imagination to realize from the center out to the surface the temperature would decrease at the rate of 1 degree Fahrenheit for each 40 feet traversed. I hope this is clear. page 19
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