New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-20
STILL MORE INTENSE COLD.
DEwAR OUTDoNE by oLszEwsKI.
CHEMIST GETS WITHIN NINE DEGREES
OF, "AHSOIL-TE ZEEO.,

CHEMIST GETS WITHIN NINE DEGREES
OF ABSOLUTE ZERO"
More than two years ago Professor James Dewar
created sensation In London 10y his brilliant popu
lar lectures on the liquefacon Of gases and 10y his
experiments in the same field of which the cu-
mination was his freezing air until IL became solid
Owing to an unfortunate controversy which ensued
in regard the originality Of the English chemists
work and the amount of credit due him. and to
other causes. public attention was soon afterward
diverted from the general subject But some re-
cent researches Of the Polish chemist Olszewski'
who has been able TO produce more intense cold
than any one else, calculated TO excite ircsh
interest in that particular line of experiment
No scientist ever attempts to say what Is the
highest temperature which man Will ever be able
10 produce. But there has been a genera DISPOSE
ton to conccdc the possibility Of prescribing the
lowest attainabe temperature. In fact. various
considerations have led the wise men to fix 273 de-
erees below zero on the Centigrade scale G5s de-
eroes FahrenheU. as absolute zero This Is sup
posed to represent the cold Of interstear space
and hence a limitation which Nature has imposed
not only upon man. but also upon herself 80 long
as the experimcntcrs still remained At consider
able distance from that barrier there was not much
question whether the latter could ever Ice passed
But within the last few years rs the investigators
kept getting nearer and nearer to IT, the possibility
Of so doing has come 10 be more widely rccosnlz"l
| Olszewskrs latest achievements invest the problem
with wonderful destinations
When in 1871 Pictet. of Geneva. Switzerland
! uquofcd oxygen he was able 10 obtain tempera-
ture of minus 1870 Centgradc In the liquid jacket
surrounding the tube containing the gas besides
which. place the oxygen under enormous
pressure about 7.joD pounds 10 the square men
| Canletet. a French chemist. obtained the same re-
suit by different means; and as the boiling OF
eyaporating point OF oxygen. when in open air is
now put al minus 1874 Centgrade II IS evident th"t
nearly twenty years ago 1t least that degree oi
cold was produced by human means TO hlueN
nitrogen it was necessary to produce temperature
of 1914 below zero And air was frozen al about -l'
helou, There is some room FOR doubt perhaps
whether either Cailctet or Pictet ever reduced
HYDROGEN 10 a liquid form although they h'"'
great efforts 10 do so. and believed that they sue
cocded or an infnitcsimal scale lhere II some
question about Dcwar's success in that direction.
| TOO. But Olszewski's claim to have hquehcd Inc
iibts, gas known I'm terrcs trial Laboratories l. I'M
disputcd And he estimates the temperature ~
which it changed back into vapor al as De'o" A'o'
Cenfigrade which comes within dV degrees u ""-
solut. zero.' But that achievement was Il n'.'''
Of history eighteen months "Ho' Gnu "V
gone a step further.
Tn. element belium nominally metal. hut known
only in the condition Of was supposed 10 'N''
only i'm the sun. and few much more instant 9'
until early I'm the year lSS fof sS''id nun. ~
80 chico, Of All Investigation regarding the ne"
substance which Professor Ramsay had iouhu III
~ mineral clevi,c was to determine Whether "
,u, wa Identical with the hellum OF the sun
o,d whether II was p single or a double gas i"'"
inouiries arose TO the various I''P''"
hIiur, The fact that il was about twice as "e"'y
a. hydrogen excited hope that II coul1 -, ~, sl,i
a., 80, .s ,,to a liquid more easily And OlsZ.WShl
has been trying 10 accomplish Su' a. b.. ,r,'ri-e
ar he has not succeeded. what ID ~ r
I'm, in recointing his attempts he incldehiSn he
Veals tie fact that DE- so' l,i,- t,i,+ of nv
SrDDen and within degrees OF ao7oiu,s 49,, 49,,
As he gives sign OF having aniiuDi.' -, .,or.
prise. some Interesting T'N'"''"'' mag
in The near future . ,.. .i.s. NJ
The general process employed ID tn's III . iv
work needs LITTLE description Inc PIn''P',s ,.
volved are well known. When any suo-,a., i o,,,n
from a liquid 20 gaseous COM rom the environ
m,S 'rhs l. known as the latent heat or cFAP-
NIL, Ther. is familiar Illustration OF NE
grafton, 10, thrrmomctcr bulb bc tightly
rravar"J with thin muslin and he immersed IN W.T.
boying the same temperature as that Of me room
III h7cb ,b. test is made 40 change will be- op-
ia A. trst But when the instrument j. wiz
m fh h, ,nercury in the bulb will bee chilled enouth
so that the shining thread up IN tIf ,,re
| tract several degrees II more No.a.' c6',rp.
Ike ether be used instead OF water tnr ,fsI. .tgS
would be even greater me ap ~ fre,7.r bi,-
ing gases arranged IKE ~ lfe-'i,'li1 sd
49,, r,,ich smaller scale. The gas 10 DE condcs''
is placed in an inner tupe ,,,." ,or ' IL niacod in
larger cylindrical vessel. iu when me lup' u IN
are used IN succession. each producing MOI
! ,id man tho last in order TO guef{ oNl gen arg
pr ' the cooling Jacket consisted Of liquid air
Pict@t aware that liquid would c'aporate niofS
! a
ar-tight fittings with his tacketins vessel ana '.gi
attarIed an air pump When the latter was pul
T., oneration II enhanced the cooling effect pe"ar'
oiez.uski and other eXperimeutcrs now resort 10 '
| ~. evuedienf There is another physical law, a.
80 Close parallei 10 the one just mcnuoucl Oh
! which advantage H. taken II e volatile supSl
v,hethcr In the liqud or gaseous state, j. 'iI,ay.
under Intense pressure. and the latter DC suuu,ns
rao,.ed th l0uid tor gas T. itself greatly coOleu
49, i.s own extension. And il IT, practicthle, pt
c9urse 10 arrange the apparatus 80 as 10 carry tH'
| ax~ansion hevOnd the normal point 10y creating "a
@i'..n IN The vessel. In fact. Pcici arranged MS
| air nunp so that. without disconncctng II hut 10y
merely reversing its action. II could De uscu HrSt
| 10 COMPRESS and then 10 suck " 90, L.
| OlsZeWski surrounded the tHpe III Whl'H HIS ne
~, - confined with Two ia rketing vessels Into
ne outer one ne admitted liquid oxygen from an adj
| ,acent reservoir and then put on MS alrpuml mus
yoducinp The pressure 10 about one iour-hundfcHti
| ~ an a,mo-phcrc and the temperatur" 10 minus
90 degrers The inner Jacket. A. that time. con
.arad ordnarv air (Which had been carefully dried
ga ,rovisi,n was made for the admission OF NOR"
,bro,irb q branch tube when the original stO'k
shanId shrink Slowly the air lilueicd and hlled
~ innermost Of the surrounding vessels Then the
,uun was applied here. and evaporation effected
,,rIr~ a pressure OF about one seventy -utin OF an
et,nosuherc 4 cold few more degrees intens" i"-
Sni,ed The helium itself was under pressure OF
| ia stmospheres or 100 pounds 10 the mon. ana
yrhsr n had been chilled - the temperature OF the
| fciiirc air the pressure suddenly released so
,bat The effect Of il expansion should bc added
| faniace'e ana Poisson formula. he thinks the
| frmpcrature 81 the helum was reduced 10 z-'s De-
! low zero {.