ANARCHY IN A STAR

Shannon News, 13 July 1926, Page 4

ANARCHY IN A STAR

A HURLY-BUKLY OF ATOMS. Dealing with “The Constitution and Evolution of the Stars," in the first of a series of public lectures at King's College, Strand (London), Professor A. S. Eddington, professor of astronomy at Cambridge University, said that the double star Capella had a density little greater than that of air, and a temperature at the centre of some 7,000,000 deg, and at the outside of between 5000 and 6000 deg. “The inside of the star,’ said Professor Eddington, "is a hurly-burly of atoms, electrons, and ether waves.” He added: “We have to call to aid the most recent discoveries of atomic physics to follow the intricacies of the dance. Try to picture the tumult. Dishevelled atoms tearing along at 50 million miles a second, with only a few tatters left of their elaborate cloaks of j electrons, torn from them in the scrimmage. . The lost electrons arc I speeding a hundred times faster to find new resting places. A thousand narrow shaves happen to the electron 'in tenths of a second; sometimes there is a rude side-slip at a curve, but the electron still goes on with Increased or decreased energy. Then comes a worse slip than usual; the electron is fairly caught and attached to the atom. Elsewhere two of the atoms are meeting full tilt and rebounding, with further disaster to their scanty remains of vesture. And what is the result of all this bustle? Very little. Unless we have in mind an extremely long stretch of time, the general state of the star remains steady.