UTAH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 103 
IS ELECTRIC AIR HEATING FEASIBLE? 
BY JOSEPH F. MERRILL. 
(Abstract). 
During the winter season the atmosphere of Salt Lake 
City has become uncomfortably smoky. A demand has 
arisen for the elimination of this smoke. The question 
arises, is there any feasible way of doing this? 
Among the suggestions made for the elimination of 
the smoke nuisance in Salt Lake City is the installation of 
steam electric generating plants at the coal mines and 
the transmission of the electric energy to the city to be 
used for heating purposes. The question arises as to the 
feasibility of this method. 
Heat, of course, is a form of energy and is convertible 
into other forms—electric, for example—and other forms 
of energy are convertible into heat energy. Further, 
energy is a measurable entity. The usually employed 
units of mechanical, heat and electric energy and power 
and the relations between them are the following: 
mechanical, foot-pound and horse-power; electrical, watt 
and kilowatt; heat, calorie and British thermal unit. 
1 ft. pound—the energy expended in overcoming a 
force of 1 Ib. through a distance of 1 ft. 
1 hp.—33000 ft. fb. per minute. 
1 hp.—746 watts—0.746 kw. 
1 B. t. u.—778 ft. Ib. 
i Kip? hie S8000R60 LS onas Be us 
778 
1 kw. hr.— 2245 3412 B. t. u. 
0.746 
These numerical relations enable us to express elec-. 
trical energy in terms of heat units or heat in terms of 
electrical units, etc. 
Now, suppose the most modern and efficient steam- 
electric plants yet designed were built at the Carbon 
County Coal Mines one hundred miles away and the power 
