scholarly journals Thermodynamics and Sources of Solar Heat, 1846–1862

1982 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank A. J. L. James
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Long Period ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Laws Of Thermodynamics ◽  
William Thomson ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection ◽  
Lord Kelvin ◽  
Geological Sciences

In 1859 Charles Darwin in chapter nine of the Origin of Species showed how he had calculated that the age of the Weald was three hundred million years and that consequently the age of the earth was considerably greater than that. Darwin of course needed such a long period of time for the process of evolution by natural selection to occur. Arguments which showed that the earth could not be that old would therefore cast serious doubt on his theory. Such views were advanced in 1862 by William Thomson, later Lord Kelvin, professor of Natural Philosophy at Glasgow. He specifically challenged the result of Darwin's calculation of the age of the Weald by arguing that the sun could not have emitted its heat and light for that length of time. The consequences of this assertion for the biological and geological sciences for the remainder of the nineteenth century have already been delineated by Burchfield. What I wish to do in this paper is to show that the theoretical basis of Thomson's 1862 assertion had not been specifically developed as a response to Darwin, but that it was a consequence of the formulation of the first two laws of thermodynamics. I shall also show that Thomson's work was not done in isolation but that the question of the maintenance of solar energy was a serious concern of a number of physicists who had formulated the laws of thermodynamics.

The Gibbs-Thomson Equation

2020 ◽  
pp. 109-140
Author(s):  
Brian Cantor
Keyword(s):  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Bulk Material ◽  
Equilibrium Shape ◽  
Surface Adsorption ◽  
Internal Interface ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
The Third ◽  
The World ◽  
William Thomson ◽  
Lord Kelvin

The external surface of a material has an atomic or molecular structure that is different from the bulk material. So does any internal interface within a material. Because of this, the energy of a material or any grain or particle within it increases with the curvature of its bounding surface, as described by the Gibbs-Thomson equation. This chapter explains how surfaces control the nucleation of new phases during reactions such as solidification and precipitation, the coarsening and growth of particles during heat treatment, the equilibrium shape of crystals, and the surface adsorption and segregation of solutes and impurities. The Gibbs-Thomson was predated by a number of related equations; it is not clear whether it is named after J. J. Thomson or William Thomson (Lord Kelvin); and it was not put into its current usual form until after Gibbs’, Thomson’s and Kelvin’s time. J. J. Thomson was the third Cavendish Professor of Physics at Cambridge University. He discovered the electron, which had a profound impact on the world, notably via Thomas Edison’s invention of the light bulb, and subsequent building of the world’s first electricity distribution network. William Thomson was Professor of Natural Philosophy at Glasgow University. He made major scientific developments, notably in thermodynamics, and he helped build the first trans-Atlantic undersea telegraph. Because of his scientific pre-eminence, the absolute unit of temperature, the degree Kelvin, is named after him.

Background to the Joule-Mayer Controversy

1970 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-225 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
University Library ◽  
William Thomson ◽  
George Boole ◽  
Lord Kelvin

A COLLECTION of letters to William Thomson, F.R.S. (Lord Kelvin), Professor of Natural Philosophy at Glasgow University from 1846-1899, which is now in the possession of Glasgow University Library, seems not to have been available to the biographers of Thomson, Tait, Joule and Maxwell. The correspondence dates mainly from the period 1850-1870 and includes 102 letters from J. P. Joule, 95 from P. G. Tait, 24 from J. C. Maxwell, 5 from H. Helmholz, and many others from Thomson’s colleagues on the Atlantic Cable project—Varley, Fleeming Jenkin, Osborne, etc. There is also a number of letters from Thomson to various correspondents, notably including 16 to George Boole, dating from 1845-1848.

Setting up Copernicus? Astronomy and Natural Philosophy in Giambattista Capuano da Manfredonia's Expositio on the Sphere

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 290-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Shank
Keyword(s):  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
The Earth

AbstractIn 1499, while Copernicus studies in Bologna, the commentary on Sacrobosco's Sphere by the Padua master Francesco Capuano da Manfredonia first appears in print. It will be revised and reprinted several times thereafter. Like Copernicus, Capuano has a high view of astronomy and mingles astronomical and physical considerations (flies moving on wheels, men on ships, impetus, comets, raptus). Also, Capuano offers a flawed argument against a two-fold (diurnal and zodiacal) motion of the Earth. Multiple thematic resonances between Capuano's commentary and De revolutionibus, I, 5-11, suggest the hypothesis that Copernicus is answering Capuano, whose work was owned by Joachim Rheticus, if not Copernicus himself.

scholarly journals Mantle Rayleigh waves from the Kamchatka earthquake of November 4, 1952*

1954 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-479
Author(s):  
Maurice Ewing ◽  
Frank Press
Keyword(s):  
Internal Friction ◽  
Rayleigh Waves ◽  
Shear Velocity ◽  
Velocity Curve ◽  
The Core ◽  
Long Period ◽  
A Value ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Dispersion Data ◽  
Kamchatka Earthquake

Abstract Mantle Rayleigh waves from the Kamchatka earthquake of November 4, 1952, are analyzed. The new Palisades long-period vertical seismograph recorded orders R6–R15, the corresponding paths involving up to seven complete passages around the earth. The dispersion data for periods below 400 sec. are in excellent agreement with earlier results and can be explained in terms of the known increase of shear velocity with depth in the mantle. Data for periods 400-480 sec. indicate a tendency for the group velocity curve to level off, suggesting that these long waves are influenced by a low or vanishing shear velocity in the core. Deduction of internal friction in the mantle from wave absorption gives a value 1/Q = 370 × 10−5 for periods 250-350 sec. This is a little over half the value reported earlier for periods 140-215 sec.

scholarly journals Long-period changes of the air temperature in Tatarstan and their forecast till the end of the 21st century

2019 ◽  
pp. 94-107
Author(s):  
Yuri P. Perevedentsev ◽  
Konstantin M. Shantalinskii ◽  
Boris G. Sherstukov ◽  
Alexander A. Nikolaev
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Ocean Surface ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Climate Fluctuations ◽  
Long Period ◽  
The Earth

Long-term changes in air temperature on the territory of the Republic of Tatarstan in the 20th–21st centuries are considered. The periods of unambiguous changes in the surface air temperature are determined. It is established that the average winter temperature from the 1970s to 2017, increased in the Kazan region by more than 3 °C and the average summer temperature increased by about 2 °C over the same period. The contribution of global scale processes to the variability of the temperature of the Kazan region is shown: it was 37 % in winter, 23 % in summer. The correlation analysis of the anomalies of average annual air temperature in Kazan and the series of air temperature anomalies in each node over the continents, as well as the ocean surface temperature in each coordinate node on Earth for 1880 –2017, was performed. Long-distance communications were detected in the temperature field between Kazan and remote regions of the Earth. It is noted that long-period climate fluctuations in Kazan occur synchronously with fluctuations in the high latitudes of Asia and North America, with fluctuations in ocean surface temperature in the Arctic ocean, with fluctuations in air temperature in the Far East, and with fluctuations in ocean surface temperature in the Southern hemisphere in the Indian and Pacific oceans, as well as air temperature in southern Australia. It is suggested that there is a global mechanism that regulates long-term climate fluctuations throughout the Earth in the considered interval of 200 years of observations. According to the CMIP5 project, climatic scenarios were built for Kazan until the end of the 21st century.

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