The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-03-01
TT DEvouRs LIKE FIRE.
Strange and Beautiful Effects Pro- duoed by Fluorine-Recent Re
 searches Into the Nature of A. Hither-

|
 | duoed by Fluorine--Recent Re-
 searches Into the Nature of @ Hither-
 to Poorly Known Chemical Element | The alchemists of the middle ages
 believed that somewhere in the uni verse was to be found a universal sol
 vent which would dissolve the most refractory substances as readily as wa ter dlssolves sugar. They named their solvent liquor alkahest, and what time | they could spare from the search after the elixir of life and the philosophers
 stone was spent in the endeavor to op- tain it. Science has yet to prove, oy
 the way, that there was not more method in the madness of the alchem-
 ists than is generally supposed, for in | the remarkable substance nuorlHe chemists possess Q material that ap- proximates very closely to a universal solvent Its chemical energy IS so | fierce that, except gold. and platinum, nothing can resist it. and even gold and platinum succumb to fluorlne Tn | time. The mere contact Of most sup stances with fluorine is sufficient 70 cause, not mere solution, but hght' flame and fierce detonations Dull, ln- ert flint takes fire when exposed to vapor and becomes brilliant mean | descent mass Lampback bursts into | flame, while charcoal burns With | bright scintillations. Only the dla- | mond is able to resist this powerful i solvent to which it does not succump even at high temperatures. The sim- | liar element silicon, which can be ob- | tained in crystalline form closely re-
 sembling the diamond, gives magnifi-
 cent display in the presence of f1uorine, the crystals becoming white-hot and l throwing showers of fiery spangles in all directions. The heat is so intense
 that the crystals melt showing that
 their temperature has reached twelve
 hundred degrees Centigrade Phos- | phorus combines fiercely with f1uorine. | Prussian blue, on account of the cyan
 ogen it contains, burns, with beauti-
 full pink flame; while from a crystal of | iodine placed in fluorine vapor heavy l liquid distils with pale flame. This | liquid-an iodine sof fuorine-etches glass, and if thrown into water hisses | like hot iron when exposed to tluorine; even iron rust behaves in similar l manner. Nearly all metals are raised to vivid incandescence in a current of
 the gas many appearing very beauti- ful, especially aluminium and zinc. If
 the latter be slightly warmed it bursts into a white flame too dazzling to gaze at or describe.
 Although it has been known in vari-
 ous states of combination for many
 years, having been first discovered by
 Schwankhardt, of Nuremburg, in 1870,
 and rediscovered by Scheele in 1771, flu-
 brine was not obtained as fluorine in
 the free state until about six years ago,
 when the French chemist Moissan suc-
 ceeded in isolating 1t by employing a
 current of electricity from twenty six
 or twenty eight Bunsen batteries, The current was passed through the conn I pound of f1Iorine and hydrogen known
 as hydrofluoric acid, which is similar to hydrochloric acid, To improve the
 conductivity of the hydrof1uorlc acid. it was necessary to dissolve another
 compound in the liquid. As will read : fly be imagined, 1t is not so difficult to obtain free fluorine as to keep it when : obtained. Every parteof the apparatus
 used by M. Moissani was made of plat l; mum, with screwjoints and washers of . lead, which swell on contact with flu brine, all the stoppers being of fuor- !, spar. Fluorine has powerful affinity , for silicon. one of the principal constit-
 uents of glass, so thaat it was impossi- ble to use glass vessels or tubes to con- tain the gas,
 AS regards the chemical nature of fluorine, it is gas at ordinary temper atures, and is the lightest member of the series of clements containing ohlor- I inc, bromine and iodine. The attrao-
 tion of fiuorine for hydrogen exceeds , that of chlorine, and is so great that if a slow current of fluorine gas , be passed into tube of fiuorspar con- , taining drop of water a dark fog is , produced, which changes presently tc blue vapor consisting of ozone the , condensed form of oxygen. The last
 named substance appears to be one oi 1.-the few materials which has no affinity for fluorine; nothing is observed tt
 take place between them even wher
 they are heated up to one thousand de
 grees Fahrenheit.
 So far all experiments had been con- ducted with fluorine gas, which, at the
 time it was isolated, resisted all at
 tempts to reduce it to the liquid state : Six years ago, however, there was nc laboratory-such as that at the Roya Institution-having powerful machine
 ry for producing liquid air or liqui6
 oxygen at the command of the investi- gator; in fact liquid air itself was
 practically unknown. By the aid ot l this weapon, Professors Dewar and : Moissan have succeeded in liquefyine
 fluorine. At the extremely low tenn
 perature of liquid oxygen it was found that fluorine did not attack glass, ant , it was possible to use glass vessels tt < hold the newly liquefied element.-C
 F. Townsend in Knowledge.