Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 8.djvu/89

Rh the continual disturbances prevent this arrangement from taking place, but in the sun's enormously extended atmosphere (if, indeed, our luminary be not nearly all gaseous) it appears to hold, inasmuch as the upper portion of this atmosphere, dealing with known elements, apparently consists entirely of hydrogen. Various other vapors are, however, as we have seen, injected from below the photosphere into the solar atmosphere on the occasion of great disturbances, and Mr. Lockyer has asked the question, whether we have not here a true indication of the relative densities of these various vapors derived from the relative heights to which they are injected on such occasions.

This question has been asked, but it has not yet received a definite solution, for chemists tell us that the vapor densities of some of the gases injected into the sun's atmosphere on the occasion of disturbances are, as far as they know from terrestrial observations, different from those which would be indicated by taking the relative heights attained in the atmosphere of the sun. Mr. Lockyer has attempted to bring this question a step nearer to its solution by showing that the vapors at the temperatures at which their vapor densities have been experimentally determined are not of similar molecular constitution, whereas in the sun we get an indication, from the fact that all the elements give us line spectra, that they are in similar molecular states.

Without, however, attempting to settle this question, I may remark that we have here an interesting example of how two branches of science—physics and chemistry—meet together in solar research.

It had already been observed by Kirchhoff that sometimes one or more of the spectral lines of an elementary vapor appeared to be reversed in the solar spectrum, while the other lines did not experience reversal. Mr. Lockyer succeeded in obtaining an explanation of this phenomenon. This explanation was found by means of the method of localization already mentioned.

Hitherto, when taking the spectrum of the electric spark between the two metallic poles of a coil, the arrangements were such as to give an average spectrum of the metal of these poles; but it was found that, when the method of localization was employed, different portions of the spark gave a different number of lines, the regions near the terminals being rich in lines, while the midway regions give comparatively few.

If we imagine that in the midway regions the metallic vapor given off by the spark is in a rarer state than that near the poles, we are thus led to regard the short lines which cling to the poles as those which require a greater density or nearness of the vapor-particles before they make their appearance; while, on the other hand, those which extend all the way between the two poles come to be regarded as those which will continue to make their appearance in vapor of great tenuity.

Now, it was remarked that these long lines were the very lines