Conversations on Chemistry Part 38

CAROLINE.

And does the process for procuring it require nothing but heating the coals, and conveying the gas through tubes?

MRS. B.

Nothing else; except that the gas must be made to pa.s.s, immediately at its formation, through two or three large vessels of water, in which it deposits some other ingredients, and especially water, tar, and oil, which also arise from the distillation of coals. The gas-light apparatus, therefore, consists simply in a large iron vessel, in which the coals are exposed to the heat of a furnace,--some reservoirs of water, in which the gas deposits its impurities,--and tubes that convey it to the desired spot, being propelled with uniform velocity through the tubes by means of a certain degree of pressure which is made upon the reservoir.

EMILY.

What an admirable contrivance! Do you not think, Mrs. B., that it will soon get into universal use?

MRS. B.

Most probably, as to the lighting of streets, offices, and public places, as it far surpa.s.ses any former invention for that purpose; but as to the interior of private houses, this mode of lighting has not yet been sufficiently tried to know whether it will be found generally desirable, either in regard to economy or convenience. It may, however, be considered as one of the happiest applications of chemistry to the comforts of life; and there is every reason to suppose that it will answer the full extent of public, expectation.

I have another experiment to show you with hydrogen gas, which I think will entertain you. Have you ever blown bubbles with soap and water?

EMILY.

Yes, often, when I was a child; and I used to make them float in the air by blowing them upwards.

MRS. B.

We shall fill some such bubbles with hydrogen gas, instead of atmospheric air, and you will see with what ease and rapidity they will ascend, without the a.s.sistance of blowing, from the lightness of the gas. --Will you mix some soap and water whilst I fill this bladder with the gas contained in the receiver which stands on the shelf in the water-bath?

CAROLINE.

What is the use of the bra.s.s-stopper and turn-c.o.c.k at the top of the receiver?

MRS. B.

It is to afford a pa.s.sage to the gas when required. There is, you see, a similar stop-c.o.c.k fastened to this bladder, which is made to fit that on the receiver. I screw them one on the other, and now turn the two c.o.c.ks, to open a communication between the receiver and the bladder; then, by sliding the receiver off the shelf, and gently sinking it into the bath, the water rises in the receiver and forces the gas into the bladder. (PLATE IX. fig. 1.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate IX. Vol. I. p. 228

Fig. 1. Apparatus for transferring gases from a Receiver into a bladder.

Fig. 2. Apparatus for blowing Soap bubbles.]

CAROLINE.

Yes, I see the bladder swell as the water rises in the receiver.

MRS. B.

I think that we have already a sufficient quant.i.ty in the bladder for our purpose; we must be careful to stop both the c.o.c.ks before we separate the bladder from the receiver, lest the gas should escape.

--Now I must fix a pipe to the stopper of the bladder, and by dipping its mouth into the soap and water, take up a few drops--then I again turn the c.o.c.k, and squeeze the bladder in order to force the gas into the soap and water at the mouth of the pipe. (PLATE IX. fig. 2.)

EMILY.

There is a bubble--but it bursts before it leaves the mouth of the pipe.

MRS. B.

We must have patience and try again; it is not so easy to blow bubbles by means of a bladder, as simply with the breath.

CAROLINE.

Perhaps there is not soap enough in the water; I should have had warm water, it would have dissolved the soap better.

EMILY.

Does not some of the gas escape between the bladder and the pipe?

MRS. B.

No, they are perfectly air tight; we shall succeed presently, I dare say.

CAROLINE.

Now a bubble ascends; it moves with the rapidity of a balloon. How beautifully it refracts the light!

EMILY.

It has burst against the ceiling--you succeed now wonderfully; but why do they all ascend and burst against the ceiling?

MRS. B.

Hydrogen gas is so much lighter than atmospherical air, that it ascends rapidly with its very light envelope, which is burst by the force with which it strikes the ceiling.

Air-balloons are filled with this gas, and if they carried no other weight than their covering, would ascend as rapidly as these bubbles.

CAROLINE.

Yet their covering must be much heavier than that of these bubbles?

MRS. B.

Not in proportion to the quant.i.ty of gas they contain. I do not know whether you have ever been present at the filling of a large balloon.

The apparatus for that purpose is very simple. It consists of a number of vessels, either jars or barrels, in which the materials for the formation of the gas are mixed, each of these being furnished with a tube, and communicating with a long flexible pipe, which conveys the gas into the balloon.

EMILY.

But the fire-balloons which were first invented, and have been since abandoned, on account of their being so dangerous, were constructed, I suppose, on a different principle.

MRS. B.

They were filled simply with atmospherical air, considerably rarefied by heat; and the necessity of having a fire underneath the balloon, in order to preserve the rarefaction of the air within it, was the circ.u.mstance productive of so much danger.