I hoped for a
moment that this change in the action of the force would settle a
problem we had never been able to determine. Our experiments proved
that apergy acts in a straight line when once collected in and
directed along a conductor, and does not radiate, like other forces,
from a centre in all directions. It is of course this radiation--
diffusing the effect of light, heat, or gravity over the surface of a
sphere, which surface is proportionate to the square of the
radius--that causes these forces to operate with an energy inversely
proportionate, not to the distance, but to its square. We had no
reason to think that apergy, exempt as it is from this law, would be
at all diminished by distance; and this view the rate of acceleration
as I rose from the Earth had confirmed, and my entire experience has
satisfied me that it is correct. None of our experiments, however, had
indicated, or could well indicate, at what rate this force can travel
through space; nor had I yet obtained any light upon this point. From
the very first the current had been continuous, the only interruption
taking place when I was not five hundred miles from the Earth's
surface.
Pages:
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99