GAS AND STEAM and illustration of ship and hot air balloon
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THE above fanciful appellation has been given to nitrous oxide, from the very agreeable sensations excited by inhaling it. In its pure state it destroys animal life, but loses this noxious quality when inhaled, because it becomes blended with the atmospheric air which it meets in the lungs. This gas is made by putting three or four drams of nitrate of ammonia, in crystals, into a small glass retort, which being held over a spirit lamp, the crystals will melt, and the gas be evolved.
Having thus produced the gas, it is to be passed into a large bladder having a stop-cock; and when you are desirous of exhibiting its effects, you cause the person who wishes to experience them, to first exhale the atmospheric air from the lungs, and then quicklyplacing the cock in his mouth, you turn it, and bid him inhale the gas. Immediately, a sense of extraordinary cheerfulness, fanciful flights of imagination, an uncontrollable propensity to laughter, and a consciousness of being capable of great muscular exertion, supervene. It does not operate in exactly the same manner on all persons; but in most cases the sensations are agreeable, and have this important difference from those produced by wine or spirituous liquors, that they are not succeeded by any depression of mind.
Cover a long slip of wood, half-way, with sulphur, by immersion while in a melted state. Having prepared a jar of nitrous oxide gas, as in preceding experiments, light the sulphur, and plunge the wand into the jar. The gas will extinguish the flame. Withdraw the wand, light it again, and when the flame is very brilliant, immerse it again in the jar. It will this time burn with great splendour, and of a beautiful red colour.
Put about an ounce of marble in small lumps, into an eight ounce phial, with about an equal quantity of water; pour in a little muriatic acid, and carbonic acid gas will be evolved.
The apparently empty or upper part of vessels in which wine or beer is working, is filled with this deleterious gas; for its great weight prevents its ascent from the fermenting liquid. A variety of striking but simple experiments may be made with thegas in this condition. Lighted paper, or a candle dipped into it, will be immediately extinguished; and the smoke remaining in the carbonic acid gas will render its surface visible, which may be thrown into waves by agitation, like water. In consequence of the great weight of the carbonic acid gas, it may be taken from a vat of fermenting liquor, in a jug or bottle, and in the latter, if well corked, it may be conveyed to great distances; or the gas may be drawn out of a vessel by a cock, like a liquid.
The effects produced by pouring carbonic acid gas from one vessel to another, have a very singular appearance: if a lighted candle be placed in a jar, and the gas be poured upon it, the flame will be extinguished in a few seconds, though the eye is incapable of distinguishing that anything is poured out.
Make a hole through a wine cork of sufficient size to admit a smaller cork; through which make another hole, and fix it into the larger one. Tie the corks thus fixed into the neck of a bullock’s bladder, previously exhausted of air; let a tube from a bottle generating hydrogen pass very tightly through the aperture in the small cork, and the gas will distend and fill the bladder. The instant it is full, withdraw the inner cork, and either prevent the escape of the gas by means of the thumb, or cork it closely, till the operator is ready tobreathe the gas; to do which, he should put the open cork into his mouth, and takeoneinspiration, when, on immediately speaking, his voice will be remarkably shrill. The effect will pass off in a few seconds.
Provide a piece of copper wire, about ten inches long, and fix at one end of it a piece of wax taper: take a pint bottle of hydrogen, and place the mouth downwards; light the taper, introduce it into the bottle, and the gas will take fire, and burn slowly towards the mouth, where it is in contact with the air. If, however, the taper be passed up into the bottle, it will be extinguished; but, on gently withdrawing it through the burning hydrogen, the wick will be rekindled. This may be done several times in succession with the same portion of gas.
drawing of botle with sparkler in top
Provide a strong glass bottle which will contain about eight ounces, or half a pint, into which put a few pieces of zinc; then mix half an ounce of sulphuric acid with four ounces of water, and pour it into the bottle upon the zinc; fit the mouth closely with a cork, through which put a metal tube which ends upward in a fine opening: the mixture in the bottle will soon effervesce, and hydrogen gas will rise through the tube. When it has escaped for about a minute, apply a lighted paper to the tube, and the gas will burn like a candle, but with a pale flame. Its brightness may be increased to brilliance, by sifting over it a small quantity of magnesia.
Provide a bladder, fill it with hydrogen gas, to be made as for the last experiment, and fit the end of a tobacco-pipe closely into the bladder; dip the bowl of the pipe into soap and water, and,by pressing the bladder, soap-bubbles will be formed, filled with hydrogen gas; which bubbles, or balloons, will rise in the air, and keep there for some time.
Light a stream of hydrogen gas, and it will be scarcely visible in the day-light; but place in it a small coil of platinum wire, or project a little oxide of zinc through the flame, and it will become very luminous.
One of the simplest and most beautiful experiments in aërostation, is to take a turkey’s maw, or stomach, properly prepared, and to fill it either with pure hydrogen gas, or the carburetted hydrogen produced from coal. If the balloon be then allowed to escape in the open air, it will ascend rapidly in the atmosphere: but the best method of showing the experiment, is to let the balloon off a high staircase, and observe it ascend to the cupola or light, where it will remain near the highest point till the escape of the gas allow it to descend. The prepared maw for this balloon may be purchased of any optician.
Bicarburetted hydrogen is the principal constituent of the gas burned in the streets: it is procured from coal, and the process may readily be performed on a small scale. Put about two ounces of pounded coal into an earthen retort, and fix a glass tube into the neck, terminating in an aperture of one-fifth of an inch in diameter; heat the retort red-hot, and apply the flame of a taperto the orifice of the tube, when the gas will burn with a bright white light, very different from that afforded by the combustion of hydrogen; a circumstance owing to the presence of particles of carbon in the carburet, which being intensely ignited, are highly luminous.
It is no less strange than true, that bicarburetted hydrogen, the substance which we so largely consume to illuminate our towns, is ether when united to water in one proportion, and spirit when combined with it in another; a fluid which constitutes the strength of all wines, beer, and fermented liquors.
drwaing of hand holding something over bottle
Into a half-pint glass bottle, put some zinc, granulated by being melted in a ladle, and then poured gradually into water. Add some sulphuric acid, diluted with eight parts by weight of water. Then pass a glass tube with a capillary bore, through a cork, which you have previously made to closely fit the bottle, and cork the bottle well. In a short time, the atmospheric air will be expelled, and hydrogen gas will rise through the tube; you then apply a light, and the gas will become ignited. If you now hold another glass tube, about eighteen or twenty inches long over the flame sufficiently wide to enclose the other tube very loosely (see engraving), the little speck of flame will sport along the larger tube, and musical sounds will be produced, which may be varied by using other tubes of different dimensions, and made of different materials; the wide tubes forming the lower, and the narrow tubes the upper notes.
Put a small piece or two of the phosphuret of lime into a saucer of water, when bubbles of phosphuretted hydrogen gas will rise to the surface, explode into flame, and cause a white smoke; representing, on a small scale, theignis fatuus, or will o’-the-wisp, as seen over marshy ground, or stagnant pools of water.
A light so brilliant that the eye can scarcely bear to contemplate it, is produced by the immersion of phosphorus in oxygen gas. To perform this experiment, you place a piece of phosphorus in a copper cup, of the circumference of a sixpence, which is fastened to a thick piece of iron wire, attached to a cork which fits a bottle (as in the foregoing experiment) filled with oxygen gas. Set fire to the phosphorous, and quickly plunge it into the bottle; when the splendour of the combustion will be surpassingly beautiful.
It is necessary to observe, that the heat is so excessive, that if the piece of phosphorous in this experiment be larger than a small pea, there will be great danger of breaking the bottle.
Twist a piece of fine iron wire, such as is used by piano-forte makers, round a cylindrically-shaped piece of wood or metal, which will give it a spiral form; or a broken watch-spring, which may be bought for a trifle of the watch-makers, will answer the same purpose. Fasten round one end of it some waxed cotton thread or twine, and attach the other end to a cork, which fits a glass jar or bottle, that will hold a quart, filled with oxygen gas. Having made the wire red-hot by setting light to the thread, plunge it intothe bottle. Do not cork the bottle, but let the cork merely lay on the mouth, and to prevent its being burned, a small a piece of lead should be fastened to the bottom of it. The iron will instantly begin to burn with great brilliancy, throwing out luminous scintillations.
To prevent the bottle from being broken by the sparks, a small quantity of sand should be previously poured into it.
If a glow-worm be placed in a jar of oxygen gas, in a dark room, it will shine with a far surpassing brilliancy to that which it exhibits in atmospheric air.
Attach a small piece of charcoal to the end of a copper-wire; make it red-hot, and immerse it in a jar of oxygen gas. The charcoal will burn with great brilliance, throwing out splendid scintillations. The bark of the wood converted into charcoal must be selected, otherwise there will be no scintillations.
Place in a bottle of oxygen gas a lighted taper, and it will burn with a flame of increased brilliancy.
Extinguish the taper immediately; put it into the same or another bottle of oxygen, and it will be again lighted provided a spark remain on the wick.
Bend a piece of iron wire in a spiral form, and tie on to one end some cotton or flax; sprinkle some flour of sulphur on it, set it on fire, dip it into a bottle of oxygen gas, and beautiful corruscations will be thrown off the wire.
Provide a bottle of the gas chlorine, which may be purchased of any operative chemist, and with it you may exhibit some brilliant experiments.
For example, reduce a small piece of the metal antimony to a very fine power in a mortar; place some of this on a bent card, then loosen the stopper of the bottle of chlorine, and throw in the antimony, it will take fire spontaneously, and burn with much splendour; thus exhibiting a cold metal spontaneously bursting into flame.
If, however, alumpof antimony be dropped into the chlorine, there will be no spontaneous combustion, nor immediate change: but, in the course of time, the antimony will become incrusted with a white powder, and no chlorine will be found in the bottle.
Or, provide copper in fine leaves, known as “Dutch metal;” slightly breathe on one end of a glass rod, about ten inches long, and cause one or two leaves of the metal to adhere to the damp end; then open a bottle of chlorine, quickly plunge in the leaves, when they will instantly take fire, and burn with a fine red light, leaving in the bottle a greenish-yellow solid substance.
A smalllumpof copper, or “Dutch metal,” will not burn as above, but will be slowly acted upon, like the antimony.
Immerse gold leaf in a jar of chlorine gas, and combustion with a beautiful green flame will take place.
Put into a deflagrating spoon about four grains of phosphorus, and let it down into a bottle of chlorine, when the phosphorus will ignite instantaneously.
Or, fold a slip of blotting-paper into a match five inches long; dip it into oil of turpentine, drain it an instant, drop it into another bottle of chlorine, when it will burst into a flame, and deposit much carbon.
Put a little ether into a bottle of caoutchouc, close it tightly, soak it in hot water, and it will become inflated to a considerable size. These globes may be made so thin as to be transparent.
A piece of caoutchouc, the size of a walnut, has thus been extended to a ball fifteen inches in diameter; and a few years since, a caoutchouc balloon, thus made, escaped from Philadelphia, and was found 130 miles from that city.
Lay a piece of wire-gauze upon the glass chimney of a common argand gas burner, when the flame will be enlarged to twice its former dimensions, and its light fully doubled. If the experiment be made with a common argand oil-lamp, the flame will be often enlarged, but so discoloured as to yield less light.
Put caoutchoucine, or the spirit distilled from caoutchouc, or Indian rubber, into a phial, little more than sufficient to cover the bottom, and the remainder of the phial will be filled with a heavy vapour; pour this off the spirit into another phial, apply to it a piece of lighted paper, and the vapour will burn with a brilliant flame.
Let fall a few drops of ether into a large drinking-glass, and cover it with a plate for a few minutes; during this time the glass will be filled with vapour from the ether, so that, on removing the plate, and applying a piece of lighted paper at the mouth of the glass, the invisible vapour will take fire; thus proving how readily a volatile fluid, such as ether, combines with the air.
Provide a glass tube, about three feet long and half an inch in diameter, nearly fill it with water, upon the surface of which pour a little coloured ether; then close the open end of the tube carefully with the palm of the hand, invert it in a basin of water, and rest the tube against the wall: the ether will rise through the water to the upper end of the tube; pour a little hot water over the tube, and it will soon cause the ether to boil within, and its vapour may thus be made to drive nearly all the water out of the tube into the basin; if, however, you then cool the tube by pouring cold water over it, the vaporized ether will again become a liquid, and float upon the water as before.
Nearly fill a wine-glass with diluted sulphuric acid, and place in it a wire of silver and another of zinc, taking care that they do not touch each other; when the zinc will be changed by the acid, but the silver will remain inert. But, cause the upper ends of the wires to touch each other, and a stream of gas will issue from them.
Pour a little sulphuric acid upon some common salt in a saucer. Into another saucer put a mixture of about two parts of quick-lime and one of sal ammoniac, both in powder, adding to these a very small quantity of boiling water. Each saucer apart will yield an invisible gas: but the moment they are brought closely together, very visible vapours will be the result.
Put into aneau de Colognebottle two drams of chlorate of potass, and upon that salt about a dozen chips of phosphorous, and fill up the bottle with cold water: provide a glass tube which will reach to the potass, through which pour half-an-ounce, by measure, of strong sulphuric acid, when a gas will instantly rise, give to the liquid a deep yellow colour, and inflame the phosphorous in a striking manner.
Add a tea-spoonful of fuming nitric acid to two tea-spoonfuls of spirit of wine, in a cup, and the liquids will presently disappear in the form of vapour.
Put three or four grains of iodine into a small clean Florence oil flask, and close it with a cork. Warm the flask gently over a candle, or before the fire, and the iodine will become converted into a beautiful violet-coloured vapour, which condenses again into brilliant metallic crystals, when the flask is suffered to become cold. The experiment may be repeated with the same flask for any number of times.
Or, upon a small sheet of any metal, place a few grains of iodine, and add a chip of dry phosphorous; when the latter will inflame, and the iodine pass off in a violet vapour.
Provide a moistened bladder, tie a piece of tobacco-pipe firmly into its neck, twisting it so as to expel the common air. This may be fitted to any vessel by means of the pipe, which may be fixed in the cork of a bottle containing gas, and closely luted with putty or clay, or powdered lime and white of egg.
To introduce substances into gases, a deflagrating spoon is required. It may be bought for half-a-crown; but an instrument equally useful may be made as follows: cut a piece of sheet copper somewhat larger than a sixpence, and bend it into a shallow, cup-like form; twist four fine brass wires, each nine inches long, tightly together, leaving an inch at the extremities, which must be spread to hold the copper, as the strings or chains of a balance support the scale-pan. To complete it, take a piece of sheet-lead, the size of a penny-piece; make a hole through the centre large enough to admit the twisted wires, but, at the same time, retaining them firmly in their position: then, if the wires will not rest in the lead by adhesion, the hole may be enlarged, the wire put in, and secured by a piece of solder. The spoon being then let down through the mouth of a bottle, the circular piece of lead rests upon and stops the mouth.
Invert a glass goblet over a cup of hot water, when the vapour or steam will be seen to rise in it, to condense upon the cold glass,and then to run down its inside; thus showing that steam is vaporized water, and will, when the heat is abstracted from it, become water again.
The steam-engine is much more intelligible than its name first suggests. That part by which the machinery is set in motion, may be compared to a syringe, or squirt, the rod of which is driven up and down by steam admitted above and below, one end of the rod being connected with the machinery to be worked. Thus, the piston is made to turn the wheels of a railway carriage, or the paddles of a steam-boat.
The elastic force of the steam, or vapour, by which the rod is driven up and down, may be explained by this simple experiment. Provide a test tube, put into it a little water, hold the thumb over the mouth, and cause the water to boil by holding it over a spirit-lamp. There will soon be felt a pressure against the thumb; when, if the tube be dipped into cold water, the thumb being still held at the end, a kind of suction will be felt against it. Now, the tube resembles the cylinder of the steam-engine, in which the piston moves up and down; to imitate which, wrap a little tow about the end of a piece of stick, grease it with tallow, and fit it moderately tight into the tube; when the water is made to boil, the stick will be raised, and when the end is dipped into cold water, the stick will fall as the piston rises and falls in the cylinder.
Nearly fill a retort with water, and boil it over a lamp; then immerse the beak into a tumbler of cold water, and the disengagedsteam will raise the water to the boiling temperature, though it be at a distance from the source of heat.
Fill a kettle with water, and set it on the fire; fix a long metal tube to the spout, and as soon as the water boils, the steam will pass into the tube, and being condensed into water, will drip at the other end of the tube, which corresponds with the worm in the still; it soon, however, becomes as hot as the water, and then the condensation will cease: but, were the tube passed through cold water, as is the worm of the still in a tub, the whole water in the kettle might be boiled away, but reproduced in the tube, and collected from it without the loss of a drop. This simple process resembles distillation, and the kettle and tube the still.
Provide a number of little glass bulbs, put into each a drop of water, and seal it up; if it be then put into the flame of a candle, or the fire, the heat will soon convert the water into steam, and cause the bulb to burst with a loud report.
Observe attentively the steam that escapes from the spout of a tea-kettle, at the moment the water begins to boil, and you will perceive the steam to be condensed in minute drops on the interior edges of the spout. A few moments afterwards, provided the water continue to boil, the spout of the kettle will become perfectly dry; and, at the same time, close to it, there will be a certain space, say from one-half to three-fourths of an inch,throughout which not a particle of steam will be perceptible. This may be easily explained. When the water in the kettle begins to boil, the spout being cooler than the steam issuing from it, a portion of that steam is condensed. As more steam escapes, the metal soon becomes as hot as the steam, will no longer condense it, and the spout becomes dry. By this time the steam will displace the air immediately opposite the orifice of the spout, whence it will issue dry and invisible. As it is cooled by mixing with the surrounding air, it assumes its well-known cloudy appearance.
cherubs again