You have seen what becomes of the bullet
that strikes the iron target. It is flattened out of all shape;
sometimes it is even melted into a thin film. Its motion has been turned
into heat. Therefore, I maintain that if our Projectile had struck that
bolide, its velocity, suddenly checked, would have given rise to a heat
capable of completely volatilizing it in less than a second."
"Not a doubt of it!" said the Captain. "President," he added after a
moment, "haven't they calculated what would be the result, if the Earth
were suddenly brought to a stand-still in her journey, through her
orbit?"
"It has been calculated," answered Barbican, "that in such a case so
much heat would be developed as would instantly reduce her to vapor."
"Hm!" exclaimed Ardan; "a remarkably simple way for putting an end to
the world!"
"And supposing the Earth to fall into the Sun?" asked the Captain.
"Such a fall," answered Barbican, "according to the calculations of
Tyndall and Thomson, would develop an amount of heat equal to that
produced by sixteen hundred globes of burning coal, each globe equal in
size to the earth itself. Furthermore such a fall would supply the Sun
with at least as much heat as he expends in a hundred years!"
"A hundred years! Good! Nothing like accuracy!" cried Ardan.
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