Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1893-09-09
MAKING LIQUID AIR.
a SCIENTIST EXPLAINS his CHEM
ichL DISCOVERIES.


Century Powerful Ga.-. Reduced 10 =
PLAID stat.
] he Pail Mali Budget of London pub
Ii~ht,i an interview with Professor James
b,swar nu what Il represented az being
u great scientific discovery that Of
faakiu5 llpuid ar Introductory In the
Interview the article says that his liq-
urta.unu~ of permanent gases and the
t-.. ai yann tu preserve great cold MARI
on,'tt the uItSt Important chemical dis
vstvsries oi the century II j. held hy
-.trutlst~ that any IYtS may be liqueted
u the pressure and cold may be- obtained
aud y,-.si ~ sufficient strength 10
Withstand rhr great prt~Sures
OF the gae.-- that may I've liquetied car
nbnir Hrld g'l- h'Iz le-'n found Ia l'a the
cheapest and rtiIi,St made and while 1t
haS ls.en known for many years that IL
cund In. lipniiied II has generally been
~ prepared only ~ small quantities for
slentiiic nSss The nss of compressed
mir ~ a motive Iubwer his presented many
difficulties the principal one being its
ti,lkinrSS hence large vessels must he
usr,i ~ order Ia get u sufficient amount
Of mbtIvr tS,wrr and Il H. har,l To make
thr~e strong enunIh and nj the same time
light M weight
Az n motive power II IL rised AT u pres
snr- nf from 600 "a 300 pounds But II
Professor Dewar has discovered an eco
nomlcal and ready way Of liqnefying II
II Will tend to solve II problem in carry
my motive power in storage bulk that
will Us nf p,r--t benefit TO the str Tents in
this line. In the talk with the represent
alive Of The Pail Mall Budget. he SAYS:
Well don't think there's very much
To say because I've told ali have TO tell
ai,out the matter in my two lectures.
but | do believe there's "a great deal more
To he learned about the subject You
sae III present we've got these gases down
/ To 2iu degrees below zero. and the lowest
/ possible temperature Is 27I degrees be
/ low If we con!d get some 80 degrees
lower down We might liquefy hydrogen
/ Hydrogen has never been liquetied in
/ free state Yet.
Now it's strange thing that air can
he made into n homogeneous fluid You
would think ~ oxygen can be liquetied
1t -lsa degrees and nitrogen not until
| I've degrees that IA yon made the air
colder AMI colder the oxygen would be
CON. liquid first and then the nitrogen
| saw that prediction made in stand
ard work only the other day Now.
dare say you will ask why the oxygen
/ don come down first
/ Stepping quickly back TO the desk Pro
feSsor Dewar took mp n pencil and began
10 draw with rapid strokes on the back
of letter The diagram when II was
t finished looked more like the law Of Oh.
minishing returns turned up on one side
than anything else that am acquainted
with While he drew he rapidly ex-
/ planned how the Influence of atmospheric
/ pressure ON the different volumes Of nj
/ trugen AMI oxygen IN air makes them
bail almost exactly AT the same tempera-
turs A. he made each point he frowned
little drawing mp the wrinkles between
/ mis- eyes Now that IN the old theo
! logical days would have been taken as
II prnyidritIai dlsIens4ltiun The strange
thing Il that when liquid air evaporates
again they are under the same pressure
Hnh the nitrogen goes oil hrst as you
would exlrNt
.Oznn- can he liqneiied by acting on
the valnr gwen OF from liquid oxygen
10y electricity Il isa splendid DARK blue
culur almost ~ dark ~ indigo Ozone
nar uDl the sIlne mnleCnle ~ oxygen
ami the electricity breaks mp three twos
into twp thret~ That Is the secret of il
/ The guser thing nbuut liuuid uZnne is
that when II gu+-' hack into gas again ii
explnirS iun wuuldI't think II. hut ii
~ stronger than dynamite ~ an explo-
sive. It's SIMPLY because the uzono goes
tack into the molecular form of oxygen
"a fast The force that comes from the
slrStricity makes II explode without
mreting with any outside body Its u
tremendous explosive
We have discovered that hquid oxy-
gen acts IA lens II II so transparent
Ia nrat, 80 to speak that even al Is
degrees below zero yUu can focus heat
on II frum one side aud light II piece of
paper 10y II OH the other You know
that's inst what happens IN the earth.
The sun heat gets focnssed on 10 the
earth through the lens formed by the
yacnnm Of space which Is - cold that II
hasn't any temperature At all-absolute
/ iy zero
| Professor Dewar gave lecture on
Liquid Air n, the Royal institution in
the presence Of the Prince OF Wales. the
Duke OF York. Lord Salisbury anl other
notable persons He showed that by the
withdrawal OF heat the air Is converted
into liquid with total iOss of chemical
properties, incapable Of supporting com
bnstion. or OF entering into combination
even wits phosphorus and sodium. while
certain physical properties remain The
conversion Of oxygen into ozone was also
described. aud the retention by oxygen
Of its peculiar optical properties al the
lowest temperature WAS demonstrated
by the very dense and well defined bands
Of ITS spectrum In ordinary conditions
oxygen shows no unreasonable thermal
absorption. but at low temperature its
thermal absorptive power becomes mani
fest
ThwRrting an Enemy.
ipx