Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-11-24
KINDLING FIRE WITH WATER.

We have all become SO accustomed
to the use of the expression setting
the river on fire. as synonym Of i'm
possibility that we have long since
recognized it as such Yet in evidence
ofthe untruth of this idea the chem
ist teaches us that it is simple mat
ter to burn water If we. have but
proper igniter. The chemist, i'll IL
lustration of this. drops piece of me-
tallic sodium upon the surface of the
water, when it bursts immediately into
flame. This experiment is attended
with some danger, however, since the
evolution of heat is 50 rapid as to i'm
mediately transform into steam that
portion of the water closely adjacent
to the sodium, and this passes off with
explosive violence. The CHI enlist will
also aver that the fire thus kindled Of
water is unquenchable by water, and
will prove it apparently in the follow
ing way: He will tie a weight to
large piece of sodium so as to cause it
to rapidly sink and then throw it into
the water. The sodium thus weighted,
before its virtue is gone, will have been
drag ged perhaps many feet below the
surface, but the combustion will pro-
coed with uniinpaired rapidity and
the result will be a violent explosion
which will project column of water
high into the air as does dynamite or
nitro lycerine when subaqueously
exploded. The philosophy of this is
as follows: Metallic sodium has such
an affinity for oxygen that it will rob
even wafer of what it demands, and
water, which consists of two ptrts of
hydrogen and one part of oxygen, be-
comes thus decomposed, the hydro
gen, which is very coni5ustible, be-
ing liberated and the oxygen going to
the metal. So much is generated by
the oxidation of the sodium that the
liberated hydrogen takes fire at once
it comes in contact with the atnios-
phere. 1t is not, therefore, the water
that IS burning but the sodium, and it
is the heat generated by this COM
bustion that causes the liberated
hydrogen to ignite
The idea OF utilizing water to bring
metals to a welding heat would seem
as preposterous at first glance as does
the feasibility of setting the river on
FIRE, but it will be seen that it has al
ready become an accomplished fact.
Those who visited the Electricity
Building at the Worlds Fair will
doubtless long remember the. water
pail forge exhibited in one of the dis
plays at that time. A workman
would pick up bolt or a horseshoe
in an ordinary pair of tongs and i'm
nerse it in an ordinary pail Of water.
The immersed part OF the metal would
at once become surrounded with
brightly luminous envelope and in
few moments when withdrawn be
found to be heated throughout to a
white or welding heat and ready for
the blacksmith attention on the
anvil. Thus the very pail which the
smith had been accustomed to
use for quenching his iron or cooling
it became a substitute for his forge fire
and would heat up his iron in much
less time.
There was, however. something back
of the WATERFALL which gave it this
remarkable property, and this was
the dynamo-electric machine. A
closer inspection would have shown
that the positive brush of the dynamo
was connected by wire to the lining
of the bucket or pail, which was of
metallic lead. and that the other or
negative brush was similarly connect
ed to the tongs with which the arti-
cles to be heated were handled. When
the latter, clutched in the jaws of the
longs. were immersed in the water,
the circuit Of the dynamo became
closed and the current flowed from
the lead lining through the water to
the iron. As tine goes on-measared
in fractions of second-the heat is
impaired to the iron. and it becomes
highly heated. even to the melting
point. The water, on the other hand,
being an exceedingly poor conductor
of heat is raised but little in temper
ature by this same process of heat
conduction.-Nelson w. Perry, in
Electricity.