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I have tried at different times to get some one of the principal teachers of the colleges of this state to make the following calculations: 1. What is the required horse power necessary to revolve the earth on its axis once in 24 hours? 2. What horse-power is required to move the earth around the sun at the rate of 19 miles per second? 3. The total amount of horse-power energy consumed in the diurnal and annual motions of the earth? 4. The amount of horse power energy required to revolve the physical heavens in the hollow globe, thereby obtaining the same results and performing the same uses with the least amount of energy or horse-power expended? 5. The difference in the utilization of energy as compared in the two methods of utilization? If it is not asking too much of you, please answer the above in The Flaming Sword.—N. C. M., Kingston, Tex.
Contemplation of the source of supply of the vast amount of energy which would be required to keep the Copernican universe in motion, is no source of delight to the advocates of the system; neither is the question of the obvious waste of energy in such an arrangement of things. What it is that whirls the earth through space at the accredited velocity, is as much a mystery today as it was when Copernicus put forth his hypothesis. It is easy to be seen that the idea of the stationary cellular world has the decided advantage over the old system in points of conservation of energy, the principles of which are absolutely essential to cosmic perpetuity.
In making the required calculations relative to the above items we have made use of such data as are generally recognized and accepted in mechanics, physics, and astronomy. Horse-power is the unit or standard by which prime movers are measured; the equivalent of one horse-power is 33,000 foot-pounds—that is, one horse-power is capable of raising 33,000 pounds one foot in one minute. It would require sixty horse-power to raise the same number of pounds one foot in one second, or sixty feet in sixty seconds. From the basis of the value of one horse-power, it is easy to calculate the amount of energy necessary to move the earth.
It is estimated that the earth as a solid globe weighs six sextillions (6 followed by 21 ciphers) of tons, or 12,000 sextillions of pounds. Now all this weight is required to be moved at the rate of 100,320 feet in one second of time. Inasmuch as it would require 370 quintillions of horse-power to move the earth one foot in one minute, it follows that the horse-power required to move the earth 100,320 feet in one second, would be the product of 370 quintillions multiplied by 60 times 100,320, which would be nearly 2,250,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (2,250 septillions) of horse-power.
If we estimate the amount of energy required to turn the earth on its axis to be one-billionth of that required to move the earth in its orbit, we would have nearly 2,250 quadrillions of horse-power. The sum of horse-powers required to produce the diurnal and annual motions of the earth may thus be easily ascertained. This is for the earth only. As there are supposed to be seven other planets besides the asteroids, a conservative estimate of the total horse-power required to move the entire planetary system may be obtained by multiplying the total horse-power for the earth by eight, which gives the inconceivable number of nearly 20 octillions (20 with 27 ciphers added) of horse-power!
In this estimate we have not taken into consideration any resisting medium through which the earth is supposed to move. Neither have we considered the so called attraction of gravitation of the sun, which is supposed to act at right angles to the planetary orbits. It has been estimated by astronomers that the attractive force of the sun exerted upon the earth alone is so great that if we endeavor in our imagination to replace by bonds of steel the invisible gravitation which holds the earth in its orbit, it would be necessary to suppose the whole of the earth's surface covered with wires as large as telegraph wires, and only one half an inch apart from each other, in order to get a metallic connection between the earth and sun that could stand the strain. The supposed attraction of the sun for the earth is calculated to be 3,600 quadrillions of tons!
Now, we are prepared to show that the inconceivable amount of 20 octillions of horse-power necessary to keep all the planets moving is nearly 35,000 times more energy than is estimated to be generated in the giant sun 886,000 miles in diameter; 35 billions of times more energy than the combined mass of the planets could intercept; and over 4 trillions of times more energy than is required to maintain all the activities of the cellular cosmos. Proctor asserts that the sun emits as much heat in one second of time as would result from the burning of 11,600 trillions of tons of coal, but that of this enormous amount of energy, that portion utilized by the solar system—that is received by the planets, corresponds to only that due to the consumption of 50 millions of tons of coal.
It has been determined that the heat received by the earth from the sun is sufficient, if it could be all utilized, to run one horse-power solar engine, for every 4 square feet of exposed surface. The earth at the distance of 92,000,000 miles would intercept 300 trillions of horse-power of heat equivalents; and as the convex earth is supposed to receive only about one two-billionths of all energy radiated from the sun, it follows that the total horse-power energy emitted from the sun's surface would be about 600 septillions. Advocates of the Copernican idea are welcome to undertake to distribute this force in empty space and among the planets in such a way as to meet the demand for 20 octillions of horse-power—if they can!
All the planets combined are supposed to receive only about one billionth of the total amount of energy received from the sun; therefore, according to this estimate, there are allotted to all the planets but 600 trillions of the sun's horse-power—whereas, according to a conservative estimate of their weight, it would require 20 octillions of horse power to move them at their accredited velocities—nearly 35 billions of times more energy than all the planets combined could possibly receive on the basis of solar radiation.
We estimate the total horse-power generated in the central sun of the cellular cosmos to be the equivalent of one horse-power for every square foot of the earth's surface; as there are about 4,800 trillions of square feet of the earth's surface, it follows that the total horse-power is about 4,800 trillions. In this estimate we include all the qualities of energy generated at the center—photoic, scotoic, and gravic; and allow for the utilization of substances in the stars, and in the lunar and planetary systems, and for absorption of light in the atmosphere. There is no waste of energy in the cellular cosmos, because the shell of the earth intercepts all the sun's energies which pass through the atmospheres, and returns them as levic forces—as shown in the leading editorial in issue of The Flaming Sword for September 12, 1902.
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The source scans remain the record. This page preserves the periodical's argument and reported observations without presenting its conclusions as independently established results. The claims remain attributed to The Flaming Sword.
The Flaming Sword · Vol. 17, No. 29 · 5 Jun 1903 · PDF pp. 10-11