"Then," asked Nicholl, "what would happen if the earth's motion were to stop suddenly?"
"Her temperature would be raised to such a pitch," said Barbicane, "that she would be at once reduced to vapor."
"Well," said Michel, "that is a way of ending the earth which will greatly simplify things."
"And if the earth fell upon the sun?" asked Nicholl.
"According to calculation," replied Barbicane, "the fall would develop a heat equal to that produced by 16,000 globes of coal, each equal in bulk to our terrestrial globe."
"Good additional heat for the sun," replied Michel Ardan, "of which the inhabitants of Uranus or Neptune would doubtless not complain; they must be perished with cold on their planets."
"Thus, my friends," said Barbicane, "all motion suddenly stopped produces heat. And this
