The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-03-09
WONDERS OF LIQUID AIR
4 LECTURE BY PROFESSOR BRAD-
 LEY OF WESLEYAN.
Hyperion Thronged With n Highly Inforested Audience-New Experi- ments and Facts-Audtenee Permitted to Handle the Strange Product.


 ments and Facts-Audienee Permitted
 to Handle the Strange Product,
 Hyperion theater contained very few vacant seats last evening when A. Max cy Hitler introduced Professor w. P. Bradley of Wesleyan, who was to lec- ture on Liquid Air as a contribution to the University Extension course. MT. Hitler announced during the introduce tion that the lecture scheduled to be given by pr. Van Dyke had been can- celled because the lecturer was too i'll to appear
 Professor Bradley prefaced his regu- lar lecture by a few remarks on the manufacture and transportation of liquid air, illustrated by stereopticon views. Among these were photographs of the factory of the General Liquid Air and Refrigerating company's factory, diagrams of the machinery used and a diagram of the receptacle used on the stage. The latter showed two concen- tric shells, with non-conducting layer between them formed of felt. A small tube was seen in the top of the inner she'll through which the evaporated liquid air might escape. Near this was valve so adjusted as to open at pres sure of six pounds to the square inch. Professor Bradley said that this pre- vented any danger in the transportation of the element. Proceeding with the lecture, he said:
 Liquid air was first made in the lab oratory of MT. Trippler, it's inventor. The second factory in point of age Is that of the General Liquid Air and Re frigerating company of New York city. The youngest factory really in opera tion is in Boston,
 MT. Trippler says liquid air is air with the heat taken out of it. We know water as liquid, gas and a solid There is no chemical difference in these stages. The only difference is one of temperature There is an analogy be- tween air and water in this respect. Air we have known only in the gaseous state, Professor Dewar of the Royal Inctitute is the only chemist who has ever solidif1ed air. Liquid air we shall consider The air I show tonight is at 312 degrees below zero. The heat pro- duced by bicycle pump is due to com pression rather than friction. One pumping up his wheel is crudely per forming the first act of the compression necessary to produce liquid air. The skeptical may be convinced by taking the same number of strokes into empty air and noticing the comparative ab- sence of heat
 "The best non-conductor for liquid air is vacuum. Professor Dewar has invented bulb which is excellent for transporting liquid air on small scale. This consists really of two glass bulbs with vacuum between, and common neck"
 Prof. Bradley then filled two Dewan bulbs with liquid air and they were passed among the audience. Through these transparent bulbs the liquid air was seen, most resembling. water with slight bluish tinge, resembling con densed blue sky" as Prof. Brady said the color of air giving the sky its blue on clear days. Continuing, he said:
 "The process used in producing the liquid air shown here tonight is what is called the four stage compressor pro- cess. By series of alternate expan- sion and compression in the liquifier air becomes liquid. It is not the pres sure that liquifies the air. It is rather the cold produced by releasing com pressed air along the pipes whence it has just been released. Liquid air is now produced at the rate of thirty-five gallons an hour, at cost of six cents gallon. Monopoly enables the manu- lecturers to charge $5 per gallon"
 Prof. Bradley, afte? treating beef to a liquid air immersion, explained the re- suit by saying that the beef was ap- parently ice because it was really ice He said that all beef was four-fifths water, and that therefore the beef felt like ice, acted like ice, and was prac- tically ice. He said roses were also largely composed of water and proved it by bathing rose in liquid air, when it's leaves snapped like ice-f1akes touch- ed or shaken.
 Experiments in freezing mercury and alcohol followed. Prof. Bradley said that between the freezing points of liquid air and of alcohol there was a range of 110 degrees-and greater in the case of mercury. hammer of mercury was frozen in short time, the mercury freezing at 40 degrees. Prof. Bradley put his hand into the liquid air and explained the immunity from disaster by saying that the diff ference in the temperature between his hand and the liquid prevented the lat ter from really touching his hand at all. The vapor produced by contact formed @ glove between the two. Again he mentioned an analogy between air and water He said drops of water on a I, red hot stove did not really touch the stove at first, being buoyed up by the vapor generated by difference in tenn perature. Liquid air "boiled'' on a block of ice Rubber balls and high grade tin plate became as brittle as egg shells This fragility was temporary, the materials regaining their ''life'' almost immedia- ately. Leather, gold silver and plati- mum were said not to be susceptible to this influence. He said further: "Wa- ter is lighter than liquid oxygen, but [ heavier than liquid nitrogen, these two , last being the component parts of li- quid air. So liquid air fioated on wa ter until evaporation Subjugated the | lighter element until it sank in spher- icles by slow degrees. Wool, a compar- atively uninflammable material, dipped l in liquid air, burned instantly with 9 1 brilliant fash Other incombustibleS |