Breaking the Chain That Binds Us to Earth 



We might escape if we could be shot into 

 space at a speed of seven miles a second 



By Charles Nevers Holmes 



MAN is chained to his Earth, his 

 planet-home. His chain is invisible, 

 but the ball is always to be seen — 

 the Earth itself. The chain itself" is ap- 

 parently without weight, while the chain's 

 ball weighs about 7,000,000,000,000,000,- 

 000,000 tons! 



This ball or Earth acts like a huge 

 magnet, drawing us towards it, and the 

 force of this terrestrial attraction is popu- 

 larly expressed in what we call our "weight." 

 Everyone of us is, therefore, chained to the 

 Earth by his "weight." Although the 

 invisible chain permits us to roam almost 

 anywhere upon the surface of our planet- 

 home, it ties us to this terrestrial home, and 

 we can no more leave our Earth than we 

 can fly through its atmosphere without 

 artificial wings. 



It is true that man, assisted by the lifting 

 power of certain gases or machinery, may 

 rise in a balloon or airplane thousands of 

 feet above his Earth's surface, and reach a 

 level where he can not breathe with com- 

 fort. His terrestrial chain can be stretched 

 somewhat, so to speak, but there is a limit 

 to this stretching. The chain is still there, 

 although he may not feel it, and for a short 

 while may forget its existence. Despite 

 twentieth century science and invention, 

 man has not yet broken his terrestrial 

 fetters. He may escape several miles above 

 the floor of his planet-home, but sooner or 

 later he has to return to that floor, some- 

 times more speedily than is safe for him. 

 Yet man might escape wholly from his 

 world, forever, and 

 the time may come 

 when he can leave 

 the earth just when 

 he pleases. All that ^ealfsSn) 



26,000 Feet per second 

 partly breaks chain 



is necessary is velocity — velocity greater 

 than that of modern war-projectiles, swift 

 as they seem to be. Such war-projectiles 

 possess a muzzle-velocity of from two to 

 three thousand feet per second, and after a 

 comparatively short flight the invisible 

 chain pulls them down to the ground. But 

 were these projectiles to travel at a far 

 higher speed, say about 26,000 feet per 

 second, they would never fall to the earth's 

 surface, unless interfered with, but would 

 travel forever around and around our 

 world. That is, the terrestrial attraction 

 would be just balanced by the velocity of 

 the projectiles. 



If this speed were further increased, if 

 a projectile were given a velocity of 37,000 

 feet, or approximately seven miles a second, 

 it would then leave the earth and never 

 in all probability be seen again. And if a 

 man were enclosed in this projectile hi 

 would, of course, escape from his planet- 

 home. So that any one of us may depart 

 our world if only an air-ship is invented 

 that can be shot from the terrestrial surface 

 with an initial velocity of 37,000 feet per 

 second. Any one embarking on such an air- 

 ship would very quickly break the chain 

 attaching him to this earth. But although 

 he would be able to leave this world, in 

 all probability he would not be able to 

 return. And a permanent exile from this 

 planet, roving around in space, might re- 

 ceive a very cold reception at the surface 

 of the Moon or a very hot one at the surface 

 of the Sun. However firmly the wander- 

 lust might be fixed upon him, he would 

 doubtless find himself longing to get back 

 home and devising means to get back again 



into the old environment and under the 

 old conditions. 



All that is necessary to enable man to escape from his planet home is velocity — velocity 

 greater than that of war projectiles and great enough to balance the terrestrial attraction 



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