WEIGHT LIMITS: AIR, LAND, WATER

Evening Post, Issue 51, 2 March 1931, Page 8

WEIGHT LIMITS: AIR, LAND, WATER

Pending the completion of further experiments at the National Physical Laboratory, the report of the Court of Inquiry into the airship disaster (R101) will not be published. The delay encourages the hope that the report may contain some of the latest teachings of science, told .in popular language. For instance, what is the limit to the size of airships? Because it is lighter than air, the airship can evidently be built in much greater size than the aeroplane, but both have limits, depending in part on the materials used. The general principle is that, in similar bodies, the strength of the cross-sec-tion varies as the square of linear dimension, but the weight varies as the cube. , So, as size progresses, weight defeats strength. .That is one reason why the biggest' thing that flies in Nature is not nearly as big as the biggest thing that walks. And, because of the flotation power of water, • there is a swimming animal much bigger than any land animal. Contrary to popular belief, the prehistoric reptiles could not match our whale for size. According to Professor Julian Huxley— - Tho largest animals are whales, some of which considerably exceed one hundred tons weight. They ajc not only the largest existing animals, but by far tho -largest which have ever existed. The idea of limitless size in, aeroplanes, or even airships, is negated by the facts of physics. The present generation ' will see the new giant Cunardcr in the water. No generation will ever see it fly.