THE SPECIFIC HEAT OF GASEOUS NEBULAE IN 

 GRAVITATIONAL CONTRACTION.* 



Francis E. Nipher. 



In former papers in these Transactions f the author has dis- 

 cussed the conditions of equilibrium in an infinite mass of 

 gas, symmetrically arranged around a centre towards which 

 it gravitates. 



Assuming at any instant a uniform temperature T through- 

 out the mass, the density S Q of the gas and the pressure P at 

 a distance i? from the centre is t 



r — _5LZL /i \ 



»~27rkB Q 2 {L) 



P = ° (2) 



where C is the constant for the gas, and Jc is the gravita- 

 tion constant. The mass within a radius i? is as Woodward 

 showed 



^= 2 -nF°- <»> 



Let the entire nebulous mass contract so that the radius of 

 the spherical mass M diminishes to i?, and each element of 

 mass initially, distant r from the centre shall finally be dis- 

 tant r, and satisfying the condition 



* Presented and read by title before The Academy of Science of St. 

 Louis, May 20, 1901. 



t Trans. Vol. IX. Nos. 4 and 7. 



% See Woodward's paper. Trans. Vol. IX. No. 3. 



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