THE SPECIFIC HEAT OF GASEOUS NEBULAE IN 

 GRAVITATIONAL CONTRACTION.* 



Francis E. Nipher. 



In former papers in these Transactions t 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 5^ of the gas and the pressure P^ at 

 a distance R^ from the centre is % 



_ CTq 

 P - " ('2) 



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

 tion^ coe 

 showed 



tion^ constant. The mass within a radius R^ is as Woodward 



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 i\ from the centre shall finally be dis- 

 tant r, and satisfying the condition 



r R ^ 



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

 Louis, May 20, 1901. 



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



X ",See Woodward's paper. Trans. Vol. IX. No. 3. 



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