Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1871-05-24
Facts about lee.

Ice has its peculiarities. While chemical
ly it is only crystaized water, we find, in in.
yestigating the circumstances of its congela-
ton some things which surprise us, or would
if we gave them thought. The freezing point
Of fresh water ssad to be 32o Fahr. yet,
il the water is kept perfectly still, and moth
ing is thrust into 1t, the temperature may fall
to l47 or as some chemists assert, to a. be.
fore it congeals the moral to be drawn from
which is, Keep still if you do not want to
get into fix" Another of its pecullarities
is that, whilt most liquids contract on assum-
ing the solid form, water expands. 1t does
this, however, only within certain limits Till
it reaches the temperature of 30', water, in
giving up portions Of its latent heat, con-
tracts, though very moderately; between 399
and 32s (the poiut of solidi6cation,) it ex.
pands about eleven per cent, or one-ninth
of its previous bulk and this expansion is
so irresistible as to form an explosive force
nearly equal to that of gunpowder, calcuat.
ed by physicists at twenty-seven hundred
aud twenty pounds to the cubic inch.--
The reason for this departure from the
general law in the case of the soidifcation OF
water is obvious, though it has never, so far
u
dences Of design on the part of the Creator.
If water like the oils and the mineral salts,
became heavier when it became solid, it would
sink to the hottcm Of the lake, pond, or
stream, on which it formed. In a cold sea.
son, sinking as they concealed, the body or
stream of water would be wholly solid6ed,
aud would only become liquid again after
long season of excessive heat. This would
lead to the destruction of the inny tribes
which inhabit the waters, to the diminution
, of the evaporation from their surface, aud the
consequent diminishing of the rainfall to a
, lower mean of animal temperature, backward
seasons and small and imperfect crops. The
, regions where the ice sunk as it froze would
soon become bleak and barren desert.
Under the existing natural law the water
/ beneath the ice retains a temperature not
| below 32S.
/ Another popularity Of ice is its greatly in.
, creased density and tenacity under the pro-
, traeted and severe cold. Most liquids, on as.
suming the solid form, retain that form with.
, out material change, so long as the temper
ature remains below the point of liquifaction
n further decrease of temperature effecting nc
perceptible difference in their destiny but
the ice, formed at a temperature of 25' to
3O@ Fahr is as different from that which i.
found when the temperature has ranged fol
some time between 100 and IL Fahr, as chalk
4 is from granite. The ice at the lower TEN
h. perature is dense and hard as flint; it strike
a fire with the pick of the skate, and, as in St
f Petersburg, in l740, when masses Of it wer,
4 turned and bored for cannon, though but fou
. inches thick, they were loaded with iron can
b. non balls and charge of quarter Of poun'
a of powder, and fired without explosion.
!. Still another popularity of ice is that il
a the process Of freezing the impurities (salts
! etc. held in solution in the water are elimin
# ated, and only the pure water takes on th'
e crystalizing form. This is very importan
u fact, aud is often made use Of by practca
chemists in concentrating tinctures, vinegar
n alcoholic preparations, ETC., by freezing out
n the water which they contain.-Ap1fefo@'
Y joHrRai.