ASTRONOMERS like to scare their hearers from time to time, like the old-fashioned nurse telling children about ogres, with pictures of the end of the world. It may be burnt up by the exploding sun, or frozen by the sun’s extinction (though the latter is less probable); it may lose all its air by radiation into space, and chemical absorption into the earth. But, at the close, the audience is reassured that their fear of its happening in a million years is baseless—that the earth has at least ten million years of existence ahead—and they go away relieved.
Tag: Science And Mechanics
Underground Nests, 1936
Underground Nests for War Airplanes
THE next war, all agree, will be a war in the air; and the advantage will be with the force striking the first blow. Obviously, the attack will be made on the fixed air bases of the other army, since that will inflict most damage from a military point of view. An airplane on the ground is quite helpless; and its hangars and shops are vulnerable. During the late war, battleships were kept at their bases to protect them while not engaged in battle with similar foes; but the ship always floats, while the airplane must spend most of its time grounded. (Science and Mechanics, Feb, 1936)
Flame Tank, 1936
