SCIENCE 
IS 
KNOWLEDGE. 
KNOWLEDGE 
IS 
POWER. 
A PRACTICAL JOURNAL OF 
HOME ARTS 
Vol. V. 
NEWYOEK, JANUARY, 1882. 
No. 1. 
Illustration oi Inertia. 
CUEIOUS ex- 
periment is 
sometimes per- 
formed by itiner- 
ant physicists, 
and whicii may 
be described as 
follows: A 
broom handle is 
laid horizontally 
on two annular 
bands or rings 
of paper. Then two boys are selected, 
and each having been provided with a 
razor, they are required to support the 
broom handle with these, the cutting edge 
of the razors being uppermost and in con- 
tact with the intervening paper. All being 
in readiness, the operator takes a stout 
stick, and, with all his strength, strikes 
the broom handle in the middle, when, 
much to the surprise of the spectators, 
the latter is broken into slivers, while the 
paper bands which supported it are not 
even cut by the razors. The experiment 
which is figured in our frontispiece, and 
which is based on the same principle, may 
be performed as follows : First, drive a 
needle into each end of a broom handle ; 
then, having procured two goblets, place 
each one near the edge of a chair, and 
from one to the other suspend the broom 
handle horizontally by means of the 
needles. If, now, the broom handle be 
struck a sudden and powerful blow with 
a stout stick, it will be broken and the 
goblets will remain intact. The more 
powerful the blow the more successful 
will be the experiment. The phenomenon 
is explained by the resistance of the inertia 
of the broom handle. The blow being 
given suddenly, the impulse has not the 
time to communicate itself from the mole- 
cules directly struck, to the neighboring 
ones, and the first molecules separate from 
each other before the motion can be trans- 
mitted to the goblets, which serve as a 
support. 
— Miss Margaret Hicks, who has re- 
cently graduated from the course in 
architecture at Cornell University, is said 
to be the first woman who has ever 
adopted architecture as a profession. 
I 
