Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1895 — WASTED ENERGY. [ARTICLE]

WASTED ENERGY.

Vfc* Wcndsrfut Power ot » Cyctonh Storm. A noted French acientist, H. Mobja, made a careful estimate of the energy expended in the pa.—age of a notable West India cyclone, which la-ted three days and nights, and the conclusion reached was that the force developed was fully equal to 473,00(i,(Wtl horse power, or at least fifteen times the power that is produosd. in tho same length of time, by' all the wi. d mills, turbines, steam engines, and all the men and animals on the surface of tho globe. “Whence comes this latent force?” he asks, and the an wer is “From tho latent heat and vapor which arises in the center of tho nurricane and is then condensed.” Applying this method of computation to mid-continent cyclonic movements with which the people of this region are familiar, some most astounding results will be reached. Suppose, for illustration, a storm is developed of sufficient extent and force to yield to tho htate of lowa an average of one inch of rainfall. To produce this the area covered by tho “low” in its movement across the valley must be from three to five times the extent of the area of precipitation, tor it shp ild be known to obtain even a moderate am nint of moisture you must milk a wide expanse of sky. On the a.orage the area of rainfall in this section of the continent does not cover one-fifth of the territory covered by the cyclone. All parts of this area feel the effects of the passing storm, but only a fraction thereof receives benefit of the rainfall There is a v ast sweep in tho circulation of winds employed In the work of wringing out a purely local shower. And the sum total of energy employed In tho production of rainfall to the extent herein described would be more than equal to the motive power required to operate all tho machinery of the world for an equal length of time.