Abstract
IF, according to the accepted kinetic theory of gases, the velocities of molecules “vary between zero and infinity” (Maxwell): it must certainly result that frequently enormous velocities are accidentally attained by even gross molecules, and this produces no perceptible disturbance measured by us. It would be admittedly almost puerile to ask how high a velocity might normally be possessed by a large number of particles of matter (as an à priori question, that is), provided the particles be perfectly elastic, so that there is no jar at their encounters, but the movement goes on with perfect smoothness, so that its existence may escape detection by the senses. Moreover there is no resistance in space to free motion of material particles.
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PRESTON, S. On the Velocity of Propagation of Gravitation Effects. Nature 48, 103 (1893). https://doi.org/10.1038/048103a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/048103a0
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