European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 17, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse How fast humans have gone Apollo a 24,791 Mph concorde 1,215 Mph hydroplane 345 Mph dragster 288.7 Mph speedboat 229 Mph skier 139 Mph 41 bicyclist 65.5 Mph it Racehorse 43.3 Mph runner 26.3 Mph swimmer 5 Mph not drawn to scale. The ancient human urge to go Ever faster takes Many forms As this sampling of world Speed records shows. Scientists say there Are no limits on speeds at which astronauts May be Able to travel in future. Humans love testing their Speed limits As Ray Yeilding eased stick Back Dagger shaped nose of his sr-71 Blackbird lifted skyward. Suddenly to those watching from ground spy plane and its human cargo a Yeilding and navigator Joseph Vida a seemed to Point straight up. Then it was gone. It disappeared Over Palmdale Calif. An hour later it had Laid a sonic Boom across entire continent. Yeilding and Vida set four world airspeed records March 6, including fastest flight Between los Angeles and Washington 64 minutes and 20 seconds. The two air Force lieutenant colonels travelled at an average Speed of 2,145 Mph a slightly faster than a 7.62mm Cartridge fired from an m14 Rifle. Literally faster than a speeding Bullet. A when you re at an Altitude of More than 80,000 feet you done to have much sensation of Speed a Yeilding says. A there Are no Clouds whizzing past window. But you do notice that mileage gauge is ticking off really fast. You hit your destination in a something in human spirit likes to go fast. A Speed is second oldest animal craving in our nature a . Lawrence once remarked to a Friend. The British hero of 1916 Arab revolt against Turkey in world War i later lionized As Lawrence of Arabia a delighted in romping through English Countryside on his motorcycle at 80 to 100 Mph. Lawrence a death in a motorcycle Accident a he swerved to avoid two boys on bicycles a has not dissuaded legions of Speed enthusiasts who have followed in his tire tracks. 1 have a theory that people feel More alive when they re in motion a says John Thompson who has chronicled history of automobile Rac my for Road amp track Magazine. A i think its like National geographic Mountain climbing idea of doing More than last person going a Little farther and a Little humans probably began racing when they started walking upright. On horseback they went even faster. But it was Industrial revolution with its wonderful machines that put horsepower under hoods of automobiles and increased Many a Speed. As years passed humans devised new ways to go fast. In 1979 Stan Barrett an american set record for fastest land vehicle with wheels 739.666 Mph. Supplementing his 48,000-horsepower rocket engine was a sidewinder missile. In 1903, some recycled bicycle parts gave Speed hungry humans a whole new realm in which they could Speed air. The first 120-foot flight in Wright Brothers contraption attained an airspeed of 30 Mph a about half velocity of today a roller coasters. Because air resistance is something travellers done to have to worry about in space ultimate frontiers of Speed belong to astronauts. The fastest that humans have Ever travelled is 24,791 Mph a record set by Crew of Apollo x during its return trip from Moon on May 26, 1969. Where will it end How fast will humans be Able to go in future no one knows. Theoretical physicists say there Are no known limits to Speed that objects or humans can attain. A body does no to respond to velocity itself a says Carter Alexander of air Force school of aerospace Medicine. A after All we re All aboard a planet that a travelling through space at 18,500 feet per second. You Only feel velocity when you re speeding up or slowing Down or Here a another one to Ponder. Einsteins theory of relativity holds that time would slow Down for a body approaching Speed of Light a More than 186,000 Miles a second. Alexander speculates that it May be possible for future astronauts travelling at such speeds to arrive at their destinations younger than when they started a just As science fiction writers have been predicting for years. A we done to have real things that will go that fast yet but maybe someday we will a says Alexander. A theoretically it would be possible to exceed Speed of Light which would have effect of making one relatively younger in National geographic acid Rains effect not irreversible to Canadian scientists have found a that populations of Lake Trout Deci i mated by acid rain will rebound b once nearby emissions of Fulfur dioxide Are reduced. In a study that underlines resiliency of Freshwater ecosystems scientists also found that zooplankton insects invertebrates and other creatures driven away by rising acidity Levels return quickly and abundantly As water Quality improves. A controlling emissions at source not Only protects Freshwater ecosystems but also allows fairly rapid recovery of lakes indigent species said John m. Gunn a biologist with Ontario ministry of natural resources and co author of report. Gunn and Wendel Keller of Ontario ministry of environment monitored pm Levels and wildlife populations in White Pine Lake about 65 Miles North of Sudbury Ontario from 1978 to 1988. Sudbury an industrialized Center of smelting is Canadas largest source of Fulfur dioxide emissions they said. But because of government regulations and advances in technology regions Fulfur emissions have fallen from 2.2 million tons a year in 1960s to 718,000 tons in 1988. The pm level in White Pine Lake was 5.4 in 1980, making it highly toxic and harmful to wildlife. Lake Trout can survive but cannot reproduce once pm Levels pass 5.5. Distilled water has a pm of 7 and is Neutral readings less than 7 Are acidic higher Are Alkine. Like Many lakes White Pine naturally neutralizes acidity caused by acid rain. So As Fulfur dioxide emissions declined so did White Pines acidic Levels. Now lakes pm is 5.9, still acidic but a level More tolerable to Lake Trout and species has rebounded. A fall we have to do is Stop inputs and Lake systems will come Back a Gunn said. For 40 years homing pigeons have been followed with air planes tracked by radio fitted with frosted Contact lenses and had tiny magnets fixed to their backs. But scientists despite continuing studies still Haven to figured out How they find their Way Home. For example in a recent Experiment several italian pigeons were treated with an aesthetic that blocked their sense of smell on theory that odor detection was important to their navigational system. It worked. Disoriented Birds flew off in every direction. But when same Experiment was repeated on German pigeons they flew Home without hesitation. Another Puzzle surrounds so called a Bermuda Triangle for homing pigeons discovered by biologists at Cornell University. The researchers found that homing pigeons raised in Ithaca n. Y. A Cornellus Home a can to find their Way Home when released from a certain spot 90 Miles North of University. The same Birds released anywhere else can. Meanwhile Birds raised elsewhere have no difficulty at All flying Home from that spot. Charles Walcott a biologist at Cornell said he has no explanation for problem. But he said inexplicable pattern of All Pigeon experiments suggests that pigeons like humans May depend on any one of a number of different navigational cues depending on where they were raised. Compiled from wire reports june 17, 1990 sunday Page 9
