Chapter 20 Chapter Nineteen Wrestling with the Impossible

For quite a long time, Barbicane and his companions, like Moses looking at the land of Canafe, watched the lunar world from afar, silent and lost in thought; they are now getting farther and farther away from this world , never to return, the position of the projectile and the Moon has also changed, its base has turned towards the Earth. The change Barbicane perceived surprised him.If the cannonball has to orbit the satellite of the earth in an elliptical orbit, why not turn its bulky part towards the moon as the moon orbits the earth, which is a difficult point. We observed the motion of the projectile Hugh, and we were able to find that it was leaving the Moon along a curve similar to that drawn by Hugh as it approached the Moon. This ellipse is very long and probably extends all the way to the attractive force of the Earth and its satellites. That dead dead point that cancels each other out.

This was the correct conclusion Barbicane drew from his observations, and he believed that his two friends agreed with it. So many questions were raised like a heavy rain. "Where do we end up when we get back to this dead point?" asked Michel Ardan. "It is an unknown quantity!" replied Barbicane. "But I imagine that we can always come up with several hypotheses?" "There are two hypotheses," Ba and Kang replied. "Either the velocity of the projectile is too small, it will stay on the line on which the two attractive forces are equal, and remain forever..."

"Whatever the consequences, I'd rather have another scenario," Michelle replied. "Either the velocity of the projectile is considerable," went on Barbicane, "and it will follow its elliptical orbit forever round the celestial body of night." "There's not much comfort in that run," Michele said. "We shall become the lowly servants of the moon, which we have always thought of as our handmaidens! This is our future." Neither Barbicane nor Nicholl answered. "Why don't you say anything?" Michelle asked impatiently. "There's nothing to say," said Nicholl.

"Can't we figure something out?" "No, do you think we can wrestle with the impossible?" replied Barbicane. "Why not? Can a Frenchman and two Americans retreat from the words 'impossible'? "What would you like to do?" "Control the movement that is taking us away!" "control?" "Yes," Michelle said, becoming more and more excited, "to control or change this movement, and finally let it help us complete our plan." "But what to do?" "That's your business! Artillerymen can't be called artillerymen if they can't be masters of their shells. Gunners should put gunners in their barrels if they are not masters of their shells! Those are two fine scientists." No! After they got me in the shells, look! They don't know what to do now..."

"Get in!" cried Barbicane and Nicholl, "get in! What do you mean?" "Let's stop cursing!" Michelle said. "I'm not complaining! I quite liked the walk! Balls, I think, too! But if we can't land on the moon, we should do our best to land somewhere else." "We demand it too, my honor Michelle, but we can't help it." "Can't we change the motion of the projectile?" "cannot." "Can't it be slowed down, too?" "cannot." "Isn't it possible to lighten a projectile like an overloaded ship!"

"What do you want to throw?" Nicholl replied. "Our projectiles have no ballast. And, it seems to me, maybe the reduced weight will give the projectiles a greater velocity." "Smaller," Michelle said. "Bigger," Nicholl retorted. "Neither big nor small," replied Barbicane, who wanted his two friends to agree, "because we are moving in a vacuum, and there is no need to consider the weight of the object itself." "Then," said M. "There's only one thing we can do," said Cher Ardan loudly and decisively. "What is it?" Nicholl asked. "Breakfast," replied the calm and courageous Frenchman, who always resorted to this solution in his most difficult times. "Actually," so that doing it without having any effect on the direction of the projectile would at least cause us no trouble at all, but it's good for the stomach.Seriously, this Michelle is a great idea. "

So, they start eating at two in the morning, but time doesn't matter much here.Michel served the usual dishes, culminating in a lovely bottle of wine from his secret cellar.If their minds are not full of wit, let this bottle of 1863 Chambertin be sorry. After breakfast, they resumed their observations.What they had thrown out before remained at the same distance around the projectile, and it was evident that the ball, in its orbit around the moon, encountered no atmosphere, otherwise all these bodies would have changed their velocity by their own weight.Nothing can be seen on the other side of the earth.The earth has entered the "new moon" period from midnight yesterday, and a "crescent moon" will appear in two days. At this time, the moon people can use it as a clock, because the earth rotates, and any point must be 24 hours later through the same lunar meridian.

On the other side of the moon, the scenery is different.The bright moon is in the sky, and the stars are shining, but although the moonlight is bright, it can't hide the brilliance of the stars; "The moon plain looks gray, just like what you see on the earth, only the halo of Tycho Mountain is still shining, and the center of the crater is particularly bright. Dazzling, like a little sun. Barbicane could not measure the velocity of the projectile, but deduced from the principles of mechanics that the velocity must decrease gradually and regularly. In fact, if it is admitted that the cannonball revolves around the moon, its orbit must be elliptical. According to scientific proof, it must be so, and any object that revolves around a gravitational center cannot violate this law.The orbits of all celestial bodies in the universe are elliptical, whether they are satellites orbiting planets, planets orbiting the sun, or the orbit of the sun orbiting an unknown gravitational center, why the projectiles of the Cannon Club Can this law of nature be violated?

However, in an elliptical orbit, the center of gravity always occupies one of the two centers of the ellipse.Therefore, the satellite is sometimes closer to its gravitational center, and sometimes farther away from it.The point where the earth is closest to the sun is called perihelion, and the point farthest from the sun is called aphelion.As for the Moon, its closest point to Earth is called perigee, and its furthest point from Earth is called apogee.If the projectile really becomes a lunar satellite, we should enrich the language of astronomy, and so on, calling the place closest to the moon "perilunar point" and the place farthest from the moon "aphelonian point". .

The velocity of the projectile is greatest at the "perilunar point" and the smallest at the "perilunar point", and it is clear that the projectile is now moving towards the "aphelonous point".Barbicane naturally had reason to think that the velocity of the projectile would gradually decrease until it reached the aphelion, and then increase gradually as it approached the moon.If the aphelion of the projectile coincides with the dead point where the gravitational forces of the earth and the moon are equal, its velocity is even zero. Barbicane was studying the consequences of these different situations one by one, and was trying to find a way out, when he was suddenly interrupted by the cry of Michel Ardan.

"Alas!" exclaimed Michel, "we must admit that we are complete fools!" "I have no objection," replied Barbicane, "but why?" "Because we have a very simple way to slow us down from the moon, but we don't use it." "any solution?" "Using the recoil of our rocket." "It's true," said Nicholl. "It is true that we have not used this power till now," said Barbicane, "but we will use it in the future." "When?" Michelle asked. "When it is necessary to use it. Note, my friends, that in the position of the projectile and the inclination of the lunar surface, our rocket can only change its direction, not to align it with the moon, but to deflect it. The moon. Aren't you determined to go to the moon?" "Of course," Michelle replied. "Wait a little longer, please. By an unexplained effect, the base of the projectile is gradually turning towards the Earth. It is probable that at the dead point, where the two gravitational forces are equal, the top of its cone will be absolutely aligned with the Moon. At this time, We want its speed to be zero. This will be our moment of action. Maybe with a rocket we can land directly on the moon." "Okay:" Michelle exclaimed. "We haven't done this in the past, we haven't been able to do it the first time through the dead point because the velocity of the projectile itself was too high at that time. "That makes sense," said Nicholl. "Let us wait patiently a little longer," continued Barbicane, "we must have all our aces at our disposal, and, after going through such a stage of sorrow and disappointment, I am beginning to believe that we will reach our goal." Purpose!" This conclusion won the applause of Michel Ardan.None of these three brave lunatics thought of the resolution they had just made: No!The moon is most likely uninhabitable!Nevertheless, they still want to do everything possible to get to the moon! Now there is only one problem left to be solved: When will the projectile reach the dead point where the two gravitational forces are equal?At this moment, the three travelers can put all their eggs in one basket. To calculate this moment, Barbicane had only to refer to his travel notes and indicate the height of the projectile at several latitudes of the Moon, with an error of at most a few seconds.Therefore, the time for the projectile to reach the dead point from the South Pole should be equal to the time from the dead point to the North Pole.Now that the times of passage through various points are carefully recorded, it is easy to calculate the moment. Barbicane calculated that the projectile should reach the dead point at one o'clock in the morning on December 8th.It is now three o'clock in the morning on December 7th.Therefore, if the projectile is not disturbed, it will reach the designated point after twenty-two hours: the dead point. In order to slow down the speed of the shell landing on the moon, the rocket has long been arranged.Now these three brave men are going to make them have the opposite effect.In any case, the rocket is ready and ready to launch when the time comes. "Since there is nothing to do now," said Nicholl, "I'm going to make a suggestion." "What advice?" asked Barbicane. "I suggest sleeping." "Sleep!" exclaimed Michel Ardan. "We haven't closed our eyes for forty hours," said Nicholl.Hours of sleep restore all our strength. " "I don't sleep," Michelle retorted. 'Well,' went on Nicholl, 'then it's up to each other, I'm going to sleep! " Nicholl lay on the sofa and soon fell asleep like a 48mm shell. "This Nicholl has a good sense," said Barbicane at once, "and I want to follow his example." After a while, his deep bass came to the accompaniment of the captain's baritone. "To be sure," said Michel Ardan, when he saw that he was alone, "these practical men sometimes have ideas in season." Then Michele stretched out his long legs too, and, using his thick arms as heads, fell asleep hastily. But their sleep is neither long nor restful.The hearts of the three people were really heavy. After a few hours, around seven o'clock in the morning, they got up at the same time. The projectile is always getting farther and farther away from the moon, and its conical part is turned more and more towards the moon.This is a hitherto unexplained phenomenon, which fortunately fits exactly what Barbicane's plan required. With seventeen hours to go, the time for action is approaching. The day seemed long.No matter how brave the three travelers were, they were still very excited when the decisive moment approached: either they landed on the moon, or they orbited the moon forever in a constant orbit.They counted the time from hour to hour and felt that time was passing slowly.Barbicane and Nicholl were lost in their figures.Michelle walked back and forth among the narrow ring walls, gazing greedily at the impassive moon. Sometimes memories from Earth flashed through their minds very quickly.They revisited the friends of the Cannon Club, one of the closest being Maston.The honorable secretary is probably at his post in the Rocky Mountains right now.What would he have thought if he had seen a projectile in the mirror of a great telescope?He saw the projectile disappear at the Moon's South Pole, and then see it reappear at the North Pole!The projectile is now a satellite of a satellite!Maston has even sent out this unexpected news to the whole world. Could it be that this is the end of this great cause?  …· However, the day passed without incident.Midnight on Earth has come.It will start on December 8th.In one hour, we will reach the dead dead point where the two gravitational forces are equal.What is the velocity of the projectile now?We can't estimate yet.But the figures calculated by Barbicane are infallible. At one o'clock in the morning, the velocity of the projectile should be zero, and it must be zero. In addition, another phenomenon can also be used as a sign that the projectile has reached the dead point.Here, the gravitational forces of the Earth and the Moon are completely canceled out.Objects no longer have "weight".This rare fact, which had so surprised Barbicane and his companions on the arrival, should be reproduced under the same conditions on the return.It is time for them to act. The conical top of the projectile has turned visibly toward the Moon.The shell had to be oriented so that it could take advantage of the full recoil of the rocket, and we, the three travelers, had good luck, so to speak.If the velocity of the projectile were absolutely zero at the dead point, no force, however small, could propel it toward the moon, where it would land. "Twelve fifty-five," said Nicholl. "All ready," replied Michel Ardan, holding a ready fuse to the gas-lamp flame. "Wait a minute," said Bikang, his watch in his hand. Precisely at this moment, gravity suddenly no longer has any effect.The travelers also realized that their own gravity had completely disappeared.Even if they haven't reached the dead still point, at least they are not far from the dead still point! ... "One o'clock!" said Barbicane. Michel Ardan brought the ignited fuse close to a fuse connected to the rocket.Due to lack of air, no explosion was heard in the room.Barbicane saw a cloud of smoke through the porthole, but the combustion was immediately extinguished. A vibration was visibly felt inside the projectile. The three friends looked at each other, held their breath, and listened silently.In the absolute silence, we could almost hear their hearts beating. "Are we landing already?" Michel Ardan finally asked. "No," replied Nicholl, "since the base of the projectile has not turned towards the moon!" At this moment Barbicane suddenly left the window, and turning to his two companions, his face was terribly pale, his brows were scowled, and his lips were tightly shut. "We've landed!" he said. "Ah! Landing on the moon?" cried Michel Ardan. "To the earth!" replied Barbicane. "Damn it!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, and then he added, with a philosopher's touch: "Very good! We were very suspicious when we entered the cannonball, and it would be difficult to get out of here." It's not easy!" In fact, the dreaded descent had already begun.The velocity of the projectile itself carried it to the other side of the dead point, and the explosion of the rocket could not slow down its velocity.This speed, which once carried the projectile across the dead line when it came, will also carry it when it returns.Physics requires that the projectile re-pass each point on its elliptical orbit through which it has passed. It was a terrible descent from a height of seventy-eight thousand leagues, and no force could moderate its speed.According to the laws of ballistics, the projectile must hit the earth at a speed equal to the speed at which it left the Columbia, that is, "the last sixteen kilometers per second." For comparison, it has been calculated that a body thrown from the bell tower of Notre-Dame de Paris, which is only 200 feet high, reaches the road at a speed of 120 leagues an hour.Here, too, the projectile would hit the earth at fifty-seven thousand six hundred leagues an hour. "We're done," said Nicholl calmly. "Very well, if we die," replied Barbicane, with a tone that resembled religious fervor, "our travels will be more successful! God will tell us his secrets directly. In that other world, The soul knows all without machines or instruments! It has become one with eternal wisdom!" "Well said!" replied Michel Ardan, "a whole other world will certainly give us great comfort, so that we will no longer feel sorry for this tiny celestial body called the Moon!" Barbicane folded his arms across his breast in a sublime gesture of resignation. "Let us obey the arrangement of heaven!" he said.