Abstract
SOLAR ELECTRICAL ENERGY.—According to Dr. M. A. Veeder (Proceedings of the Rochester Academy of Sciences, vol. ii., July 1894), there is conclusive evidence that magnetic perturbations are not of thermo-electric origin, and are not connected with heat and light radiations. He holds, in short, that there is no correspondence whatever between the behaviour of magnetic storms and the manner in which thermal and luminous radiations are originated and propagated from the sun to the earth. His idea is that electrical disturbances upon the sun are transmitted to the earth not by radiation but by conduction through the impalpable dust and débris with which interplanetary space is filled. Such meteoritic particles are composed of good conducting material, and an examination of a large number of meteorites has shown Dr. Veeder that they all possess magnetic properties which might have been produced by long-continued induction. Therefore he thinks that the origin of magnetic storms is as follows:—“Particular portions of the sun's surface and cooler immediate surroundings are electrified by what has every mark of being volcanic action. The motion of rotation of the sun carrying forward these charged portions of its surface, develops currents dynamically which act inductively along lines of force wherever there is conducting material within their scope. There is no conveyance by radiation or in a manner similar to that in which heat and light are conveyed from the sun. The laws governing the process are entirely different from those of radiation, and have reference to the principles of conduction as they appear under the conditions existing in interplanetary space. It is a mode of solar action that is distinct, and that must be considered by itself.”
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Our Astronomical Column. Nature 50, 416–417 (1894). https://doi.org/10.1038/050416a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/050416a0