THE JOURNEYS OF ZEPPELINS.
rye 'PUN EDITOR or THE "SPECTATOR."1
Sin,--A mathematician recently asked his pupils the following questions
:- "Assume that a Zeppelin has to travel two hundred miles from its shod at Antwerp to reach London, and that it is capable of travelling at its best speed of forty miles per hour (relatively to the air) for thirteen hours. It can therefore do the returnIourney in still air with a hundred and twenty miles 'in hand.' If it starts with a wind in its favour, which remains constant during the journey, what speed must the wind have to prevent the Zeppelin from reaching Antwerp again P
Also, what speed must the wind have if it be across the course of the Zeppelin in order to prevent it from returning to Antwerp
It is assumed that there is no delay over London, and that a shower of rain on starting back adds weight equivalent to that of the bombs dropped."
The answer to the first question works out roughly at twenty miles an hour, and the answer to the second at roughly twenty- five miles an hour. That is to say, a strong breeze makes the safe return of a Zeppelin across the sea highly improbable. It may be that the average speed of a Zeppelin is consider- ably understated at forty miles an hour. But the questions tie= to me to have an interest for a larger circle than the email class to which they were propounded.—I am, Sir, &c.,
A.
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