V. Trofimov. Application of Aerology to Ballistics
Full Text
V. Trofimov.—Application of Aerology to Ballistics. (Ed. of the Commission for Special Artillery Experiments.) Pg., 1920. (“Artillery Journal,” 1920, Nos. 3–4).
The study of the upper layers of the atmosphere, besides being of general interest, is of enormous importance for a number of special questions. The World War and the successes of artillery, especially long-range artillery, set aerology new tasks, and the work of the military engineer-technologist V. M. Trofimov is undoubtedly of particular significance now, when we have so few manuals on aerology.
In a short (37 pp.) article the author gives the basic concepts concerning the atmosphere, its structure and composition, and thermodynamic processes, proceeding from the polytropic change of state, and he dwells in especially great detail on the statics of the atmosphere.
Applying the hypothesis of the constancy of the temperature gradient (for the troposphere) or the constancy of temperature (for the stratosphere), the author derives the dependence among pressure, temperature, density, and altitude in the form of six equations, into which two parameters enter: \(Z\)—the height of the homogeneous atmosphere, and \(Kg\)—a quantity connected with the polytropic exponent. Of especially great interest is the solution of the problem for the mean annual state of the atmosphere and the approximate application of the general expressions in determining pressure and density for an altitude of 10 kilometers and above 10 kilometers. The last pages contain tables of meteorological elements according to the results of ascents by balloons and kites and, what is especially important, schemes for calculating the necessary quantities. In compiling the article, the latest achievements of science were taken into account, including the works of Bjerknes.
Despite the abundance of mathematical material, the article is read easily and with great interest. Some difficulty is presented by the notation for determining the elements of humidity, taken from the technology of gases; quite unexpectedly, in the middle of the article the notation for density is changed.
V. Pryanishnikov.