The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-03-10
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WORLDS COOLEST THING.
NOT FEET But LIQUID HYDROGEN,
PROF. DEWAR SAYS.

His Discoveries ENpOunded-A Dis
tinguished Audience Learns the
Uses of Temperatures Four Hun
dred Degrees Below Zero.
From the London News.
At the Royal Institution Prof. Dewar
recently gave the first Friday evening dis
course of this season. His subject. LID
uid Hydrogen" attracted a very large
audience which included Lord Lister, Lord
Rayleigh Lord Rose Mr.. Justice Stir
ling, Sir William Crookes. Sir Henry Ros-
coe. Sir James Crichton-B Browne, Sir Alex
ander Binnie and Mr.. w. H. Preece. Sir
Frederick Bramwell was in the chair. The
| occasion was one of great interest because
1t was TO have been the first time that by
| drogen in liquid state had ever been ex-
hibited before an audience in a lecture
| theater. Habitues of the Royal Tnstitu
ton are by this time quite accustomed to
seeing liquid oxygen and liquid air pro-
duced by the pint at the bidding of the
Wizard of Albemarle Street" as the IA
| nous Scotch professor has been called.
| They were even familiar with the sight
| of a frozen slab, somewhat resembling a
block of ice, though of a more blush tint,
| which was in reality solid atmospheric
air." but never before had they set eyes
| on that elusive substance, liquid hydro
| gen.
Prof. Dewar was, however, unable to
| show any liquid hydrogen to the large au-
dience which filled the theater. His as
| sistants were hard at work trying to col
| lect some of the substance in the labora-
IaIa fla la col
ing with the subject in the theater; but
all their efforts were unavailing, and the
| spectators were forced 10 depart without
| witnessing any of the experiments which
| had been arranged. The lecturer had, in
| fact, to describe the experiments instead
| of actually performing them. Prof. De-
war explained the enormous difficulties
which beset the investigator who sought
| to produce hydrogen in a liquid state, and
showed that, though all precautions might
| be taken, the liquid could even then not
| be obtained, owing to the impurities in the
shape of air, etc, which collected round
| the nozzle whence the liquid gas should
| flow. To get rid of these impurities they
would have to be heated for several hours,
| and, of course, the audepce would not
wait for so long a period. At the com
| meucement of the lecture liquid hydrogen
| was flowing freely, but gradually the inn
purities killed it and prevented any more
| being obtained, while what had been OBJ
| tanned quickly evaporated. Prof. Dewar
| said he hoped on some future occasion to
| exhibit for the first time, liquid hydrogen
| in the Royal Institution.
| 1t was on Tuesday, May 10, 1898. that
| Prof. Dewar, in the chemical laboratory
| of the Royal Institution, succeeded for the
| first time in liquifying hydrogen and heli-
| UNI, the only two gases which had up till
| then resisted all attempts made by chem
| lists to render them liquid and to change
| them from the gaseous to the liquid state.
| Some of the text books state that certain
| investigators have indeed accomplished the
hquefaction of hydrogen. All that these
| have seen, however, was a momentary
mist inside a glass tube which they took
to be the long sought for liquid. Prof.
| Dewar has produced the liquefied gas in
quite appreciate quantities, and has thus
been able TO investigate its properties.
| Before dealing further with the liquefac
| ton of hydrogen it may perhaps be of in
| terest to glance at the scale of low tenn
peratures. One might be apt to think that
! the coolest temperature on the globe would
| be found at the poles, but this is not the
| case for here the water circulation. tends
| 10 bring heat from the equator. The aver
| age winter temperature Of the Arctic le-
| gions seldom goes lower than As degrees
| below zero on the Fahrenheit thermome-
| ter. In "Fartherest North" Nansen men
| tons that greatly exaggerated reports of
| the Arctic cold are an circulation. Accord
| ing TO him, the general day tempeTa ture
| was about 40 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit be-
| low zero 81 was clothed yesterday" he
writes, "as usual as regards the leg draw
ers, knickerbockers, stockings, frieze leg
| gins, snow socks, and moccasins; my body
| covering consisted of an ordinary shirt,
| a wolfskn cape, and sealskin jacket,
and l sweated like a horse To-day l sat
| STILL driving, with only thin ducks above
my ordinary legwear, and on my body
| wooden shirt, vest, Iceland wooden Jersey,
frieze coat and a sealskin one. 1 found
| the temperature quite pleasant, and even
| perspired a little to-day, too" This Is
| easy to understand il we remember that
| dry cold is more borne than a damp one,
| and that Nansen was pretty well Injured to
| the sensations of the northern lands.
The coolest place in the world is Werko-
| jansk In January the mean temperature
there is SO degrees Fahrenheit below zero,
while all the year through the thermome-
| ter never rises beyond degrees above
| zero. Probably the greatest cold ever real
| lied by man is 81 degrees Fahrenheit be-
| low zero. During an Arctic expedition Capt
Mares once saw his thermometer descend
to this very TOW point, and he was doubt
| less glad enough 10 see it get back to the
normal AGAIN
The temperatures with which we are
| dealing in this Arctic are, as will be seen,
| far below the greatest cold ever experience
| ed on the earth. At 229 degrees F, below
| zero the gas oxygen is reduced to a LIQUID;
| at 322 degrees the air of our atmosphere
| changes from an invisible gas into a visi-
| bic and easily, handled liquid while at
| $40 degrees air becomes frozen solid, re-
| sembling a mass Of ice. Going down still
| lower on the Fahrenheit scale we find that
the Critical point" of hydrogen is 391 de-
grees; that is to say, until this temperature
| is reached no amount of pressure will re-
| duce the gas to the liquid state. The boil
ing point Of the liquid is probably about
420 T. The zero of absolute tempera tuTe Is
461 F., or 273 degrees on the centlgrade
| scale. A gas loses 1913 of its volume for
every degree 10 which lis temperature is
lowered. Thus. at 273 degrees below freez-
Ing point the volume of gas would be re-
duced TO nothing.
Whether the chemist will ever reach this
extreme limit of cold is very doubtful for