Читать книгу The Romance of Modern Geology. Describing in simple but exact language the making of the earth with some account of prehistoric animal life онлайн

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The whole of the great globe which we call the earth is in this state of strain; and it is always liable to rifts within itself and to readjustments of the weights of its own parts. It is not so easy to understand how a great globe spinning through space can be in a state of strain, or can attempt to readjust the weight of its parts, as in the instances we have just given of the quivering jelly or the solid cathedral tower. Perhaps another illustration may help us. We will presume that nearly everybody is acquainted with the modern rubber-cored golf ball. The modern golf ball, as those who are aware who either intentionally or unintentionally have cut through its outer cover, consists first of a small hard core. Round this is wound very tightly some two hundred yards of elastic. The tighter this is wound the better, or at any rate the more "bouncing" will be the resulting ball of india-rubber elastic. But consider what is the usual condition of this rubber-wound ball. Like our jelly it is always in a state of stretch or strain. Even when covered with the outer shell which completes the golf ball, the whole ball is still, we might say, in a state of strain or tension. That is one of the reasons why it bounces, and why it flies better than the old solid ball off the face of a golf club. But if you were to keep a golf ball for a hundred years these strains in its interior would alter and adjust themselves. One result would certainly be that the golf ball might lose its elasticity. Another result would be that its shape would slightly alter.