Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-06-08

imam tuc NdtCl. III tLstl COiultioIA -
contains about one-fourth oxygen and
three fourths nitrogen. The nitrogen
is more volatile than the oxygen and
lighter. This boils off faster than the
oxygen and so leaves the liquid heav
Ter than it was, and it begins to sink.
Finally, when little is left but the oXy-
gen. it sinks to the bottom
This liquid air is curious stuff. 1t
cannot be handled in vessels of iron,
steel, glass or rubber, for it makes all
of these substances SO brittle, by its in
tense cold, that they would snap to
pieces at the slightest provocatlon-
One of the experiments shown is to
take an ordinary tin cup and cool II 1or
a moment by holding it in the llqulu
air. When it is withdrawn it can oe
broken into bits with the fingers just
as If it We're a wafer. AS the metal
gets warm again it resumes its orul-
nary toughness. You can touch the
liquid air, if you do it with caution ana
skill, and not get hurt, although its
intense cold would destroy your fesh
as quickly as a red-hot iron. AS you
draw your fingers through the liquid
air it feels cold, but not intensely so.
tually in contact with the skin. The
heat from the fingers sets it to boiling
and there is layer of free air always
interposed between the liquid and the
fingers When woman started to
touch the liquid air with gloved fingers
she was stopped and warned that a
moments immersion under such cir
cumstances would burn her hand as if
Ill., -
let drops of the air fall upon your
hand they do not do any injury, but
bound off in the same fashion that
water drops hot about on red-hot
stove. Your hand is really red hot as
compared With the drops of liquid air
The liquid air is handled in cans of
copper or aluminium. To keep it the
cans are covered and lined with felt
and light covering of thick felt is
placed over the mouths of the cans
This covering must be left loose for if
it We're not the evaporating air would
gather within the can until it would
rend in two anything much less strong
than steel cannon. 1t is this con-
slant evaporation which keeps the air
in its liquid form. 1t takes in heat 30
slowly that a gallon can of air has
been used for experiments during a
whole evening and lasted for four or
five hours. With a can of this cold
liquid at hand one can freeze any of
the things which we are accustomed
to see in a liquid form.
This great cold has a very curious
effect upon water or anything which
contains much water. \ little water
poured into the can of liquid air is
| frozen instantly and then. if allowed
| to remain until it is at the temperature
of the liquid air, if will be found to
| have become so brittle that the APP
| parently solid cake of ice can be
| crushed and Crumbled to a fine pow
| der in the fingers \ beefsteak frozen
| in this manner may be broken up N
| the same way. although before ii was
| frozen it may have been tough enough
| for theoretical boarding house pur-
| poses. \ light rubber tennis ball inn
| mersed for moment in the liquid IT.
and then thrown against the wall
| broke into bits exactly as if it We're
! thin glass.
Mercury forms the base for a number
of interesting experiments. Prof.
Barker of Philadelphia, who has been
| SiiVH iiS Iiiuiu an III d Iluliiitti VI lt't-
lures. takes about two pounds of this
mobile metal and pours it into ham
mer-shaped wooden mould. at the Same
time standing an ordinary wooden
hammer handle in it in the mould.
Then he pours liquid air over the mer-
curry a few times and eventually takes
out the mercury. frozen solid about the
| handle, and drives nails with it as if it
We're a hammer of iron. Mr.. Triplcl
pours mercury into a trough about
eight inches long and places in each
| end of the trough some iron hooks. H.
| freezes the mercury. removes it from
the trough, and hanging it up by one
of the hooks, suspendS a 30-pound
weight from the other hook. He leaves
| it hanging while he does other expert
| mentS, and it will be 20 minutes or
more before the mercury gets warm
enough to snap in two and let the so
pound weight drop.
An interesting experiment was one
in which the air of the room waa
| actually frozen before the eyes of tn
| spectators. This was done by taking
| some of the liquid air in a glass tube
and connecting this tube to an air
| pump. AS the ordinary air pressure
was removed the liquid air boiled with
| great fury and this SO reduced the
| temperature of that remaining in the
tube that the watchers saw the air Of
the room gather in liquid drops on the
| outside of the tube and finally trickle
| down its sides and fall off During one
OF these experiments. when a consider
able quantity of the liquid air had been
spilled. a lot of it ran over the hand
| some evening gown of one of the
| women in the party. 1t wet the fabrlr
like water and dark spots appeared at
| once. 1t was easy to See that tho
| woman was worried about her gown.
and although she did not move at once
She was seen examining it carefully a
little later. BY that time the LIQUID all
had gone back into it's breatha bic form
and it left no stain.
Liquid air is not however. ALWAYS a
SAFE thing to experiment with 1t fur
nlshes such rich stores of oxygen thai
when it is in contact with combustibles
1t may explode or produce violent CON
flagrations if a match be applied Mr.
T1lpier discovered this at first by an
uncomfortable accident. He was show
ing some liquid air to party of
friends in a rest mo a,.api,,, =, =, r,