| Reference number | AP/70/4 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Unpublished paper, 'On the straining of Earth due to secular cooling' by Charles Davison |
| Creator | Davison; Charles (1858-1940); British mathematician; seismologist |
| Date | 1894 |
| Description | Davison writes: 'If the coefficient of dilatation (e) and the conductivity (k) are constant at every point within the earth, and if the temperature (V) was initially the same throughout, the depth of the surface of zero strain after 100 million years is 2.17 miles, the total volume of the crust folded and crushed above that surface is about 184,500 cubic miles, and the mean thickness of the crushed rock spread over the whole surface of the earth is 4.95 ft. (taking e = 0.0000057, k = 400, V = 7000° F .). The smallness of these figures has been claimed by some geologists as a new and strong argument against the contraction theory of mountain evolution.'
Includes two graphs relating to the depth of surface of zero strain over time.
Subject: Mathematics / Physics / Chemistry
Received 10 January 1894. Read 15 February 1894. Communicated by [John Henry] Poynting.
Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 55 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society as 'On the straining of the Earth resulting from secular cooling'.
A version of this paper was published in Davison in The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science: Davison, Charles. 'On the straining of the earth resulting from secular cooling.' The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, volume 41, number 249 (1896), pp. 133-138. |
| Extent | 13p |
| Format | Manuscript |
| Physical description | Ink on paper |
| Digital images | View item on Science in the Making |
| Access status | Open |
| Related material | DOI: 10.1080/14786449608620824 |
| DOI: 10.1098/rspl.1894.0025 |
| DOI: 10.1098/rsta.1887.0008 |
| DOI: 10.1098/rsta.1887.0007 |
| Related records in the catalogue | RR/12/73 |
| RR/12/74 |
| RR/12/75 |
| RR/12/76 |
| RR/12/77 |
| RR/12/78 |
| RR/12/79 |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | Name | Dates |
| NA7852 | Poynting; John Henry (1852 - 1914) | 1852 - 1914 |