The Book of Stars: Being a Simple Explanation of the Stars and Their Uses to Boy LifeCollins, A. Frederick (Archie Frederick)
Science
The Book of Stars: Being a Simple Explanation of the Stars and Their Uses to Boy Life
Collins, A. Frederick (Archie Frederick)
Astronomy -- Juvenile literature; Stars -- Juvenile literature
Since the Earth revolves round its axis once in 24 hours these tidal
waves go round the Earth and as there are two tidal waves each day
there are two high tides and two low tides at every place on the ocean,
but these are chiefly noticeable on the coasts. Fig. 112 shows the
position of the Moon and the Earth, while the wavy lines around the
Earth represent the oceans.
=Spring Tides and Neap Tides.=—Not only does the Moon’s attraction
cause the tides, but the Sun’s pull on the Earth also produces tides.
When the Sun and Moon are in a line with the Earth they pull together
and the tides are raised very high and they fall very low, and these
high and low tides are called _spring tides_.
Since we have either new Moon or full Moon, when the Sun, Earth and
Moon are in a line, the spring tides occur at these times, or twice
every month. Figs. 113 and 114 show how the spring tides are formed.
[Illustration: FIG. 113.—HOW SPRING TIDES ARE FORMED.]
[Illustration: FIG. 114.—HOW SPRING TIDES ARE FORMED.]
When the Moon is at its first quarter, as in Fig. 115, or in its last
quarter, as in Fig. 116, the Sun’s pull and the Moon’s pull oppose each
other and the high tides are lowest. These low high tides, which take
place twice a month, are called _Neap tides_.
=A Trip to the Moon.=—Many stories have been told about imaginary
trips to the Moon and what the adventurers saw after reaching their
destination.
Our story is made up of facts and the only thing we shall imagine is
that we have made the trip and set foot somewhere on the Moon. Having
performed this mental somersault we shall carefully leave out all the
hard questions about living there without air and water, for this is a
pleasure trip and we don’t want to spoil the fun with details.
On landing after our 240,000-mile trip we find that there is not only
neither air nor water, but that the Moon is stone cold; even when the
Sun shines on it, it is freezing cold, while the temperature drops to
perhaps 300 degrees below zero when the Moon’s night comes on.
Our next observation will probably be that we feel much lighter than
we did on Earth and we are lighter in the very nature of things, for
the weight of bodies on the Moon is only one-sixth as much as they are
on the Earth. This is due to the Moon being so small and light that
gravity has only one-sixth as great an attractive force there as it has
on the Earth.
Supposing we still retained on the Moon as much strength as we had on
the Earth; then every time we took a step we would cover a distance
of 15 or 20 feet; if we jumped we would sail through space with the
agility of a Harlem goat, and if we played ball and batted the sphere
fairly it would shoot off a quarter of a mile and go twice as far from
the home plate.
[Illustration: FIG. 115.—HOW NEAP TIDES ARE FORMED.]
[Illustration: FIG. 116.—HOW NEAP TIDES ARE FORMED.]
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