The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-03-01
LECTURE ON LIQUID AIR
BIZ. DIR. u. u. BOET WOOD At NORTH
EEFIELD HAIL.

| One ofthe Most Interesting Lectures lin
| the Sheffield Course Given Inst Night
-Practical Demonstrations win
Liquid Air.
North Sheffield hall, packed to the
doors and beyond was darkened last
evening for the stereopticon views nee
essary to the introduction to Dr. B. B.
Boltwood's twiceSdeferred lecture on
liquid air. The delays occurred because
of the rule of express companies pro-
hibiting the carriage of the commodity.
DR.. Boltwood said that the fear Of liquid
air was groundless-that it was as
harmless as any gas.
The first slide on the stareopticon
showed a tube filed with carbon dox-
ide. The evaporation of this was shown
to be analogous to that of liquid air.
The next slides showed diagrams Illus
trative of the processes of manufacture,
and the last slides Showed scenes in
the factory of the American Refrigerat-
tory is not less than thirty gallons per
working hour, and never over forty as
the manufacture has as yet progressed
beyond the experimental stage.
Then the lights were turned up and
the audience, large proportion of
which stood till the close of the lecture,
breathlessly awaited the first sight of
liquid air. The air shown was at about
the temperature minus 1858 Fahrenheit,
or minus 214 centigrade. 1t appeared
more like water, rather turbid, crowned
with heavy, opaque smoke, beautifully
white, than anything else familiar to
the audience. Poured on jar of water,
it fioated and the only perceptible
change was above the surface of the
water. The smoke-like substance over
flowed the jar, but, unlike smoke, sank
at once to the table instead of floating
away.
The next experiment showed the in
fluence of liquid air on alcohol. An
open flask of alcohol was submerged in
a jar of liquid air for perhaps five min
utes. At the end Of this time it was
found to be frozen solid and a bulb of
it held it's form when the flask was
broken. Meanwhile a change was OBJ
served in the jar of water mentioned
above Bubbles Of oxygen, of an indie
scribable eilvery whitensss, began to
sink slowly toward the bottom of the
jar, rising more rapidly as they fioated
toward the surface of the water and
never quite reaching the bottom. These
became larger and eventually ceased to
appear as evaporation continued.
Rubber balls Of the size of oranges,
hollow and air-tight, over which liquid
air was poure6 decreased to half their
former size and burst like torpedoes
when dropped Rubber bands similarly
treated became as brittle as glass, as
did strips of tin
A kettle of liquid air had every ap-
pearance of boiling, and ''boiled' faster
on ice than on the table, and fastest
over flame, An egg, a potato and
round of steak submerged in liquid air
became like glass, and were crumbled to
pieces with hammer. A stick was
plunged in mercury and after liquid air
had been poured over the two for about
ten minutes the mercury was found to
have been transformed into a hammer
head for which the stick formed SER
viceable handle The hammer was used
In subsequent experiments.
Professor Boltwood then discussed the
of the product. He
showed that it was not, in it's original
state, inf1ammable. AS the oxygen be-
came freed, however, different result
was observed. A smoudering match
famed as brightly as calcium light
when plunged into the top of the fluid.
Felt and cotton soaked In the liquid air
partly evaporated exploded with white
lash.
DIR. Boltwood said that he had been |
,ften asked IL 1t was possible to pre-
serve liquid air under high pressure. He !
said pressure of $4,000 pounds to the |
iqlkre inch showed little difference in |
A corked tube containing |
/ little of the fluid exploded loudly. |
LAST of all, spray of beautiful roses
vas immersed in liquid'air. Its appear |
lnce did not change, but the flowers |
rumbled to dust at the slightest touch. |
Then the largest crowd Of the course |
vent away well pleased.