The Washington herald., 1909-03-07
ARCTIC COLD MARVELS
When and Where Low Temperature Creates Many
Strange Conditions

come nearer ana nearer 70 the noFln
pole. so scientific men are working to-
ward absolute zero" the point at which
heat is absent, says the New York
Herald.
Now, this means 10 the scientific man a
temperature indicating that the particles
of matter the vibration of which produces
heat are at rest. Here the captious
reader may rightly object that If this be
true it is a state which is nOnexistent on
our earth. And the captious reader is
right Since the whole earth moves snd
carries in its motion all that is in and
around the globe. nothing man can know
can be absolutely at rest. But the scien-
tific man means only the absence OF in
ternal vibration. Scientific experiments
have shown very closely what tempera-
ture by the therOmemeter that would be;
for. as heat IS Iessened in any substance,
particularly IN gas, the internal vibration
becomes reduced at a regular rate. and
If this regular ceasing were TO continue
It is easy to foretell just at what tenn
perature it would entirely come 10 an end.
Such experiments indicate that at 4e1 de-
grees below the freezing point It's heat
would cease TO shrink In volume as II
has done down 10 that point
Gas Becomes n Liquid.
To put the matter in another way. any
gas loses 1-ie1 part OF its volume for
every degree that 1t is lowered after the
freezing point. % degrees Fahrenheit.
Consequently. when 1t has been carried
4Sl degrees below that point IL would. If
such thing were possible lose all vol
ume and vanish. But practically long be
fore reaching this point OF EXTREMIST cold
any gas IS condensed TO a vapor and then
10 a liquid. and in these states the law
Of its contraction changes. which prevents
the carrying out Of the experiment.
So the point-213 degrees. CentiErade. or
459 degrees Farenhelt below zero Cor 4g1
degrees below freezing)-is taken 10 be
absolutely zero" at the temperature
where heat does not exist IN any guam
tity.
As II is thought there is no heat or
virtually no heat. throughout the realms
Of space where there exist no stellar
bodies. IL is believed that these spaces
must be nearly at the temperature of
absolute zero. But planets or other heav-
enly bodies which have lost all their
heat-as has the moon, Cor example-are
also supposed to be reduced 70 nearly this
temperature. or absence Of temperature.
And 10 this state. If scientific men are
right in believing our earth 10 be con
stantly losing portions OF It's heat our
own planet viii one day come.
Making the Experiments.
Since the time Of Faraday the attempts
10 reach this temperature have never
On F,rro ,fT
20 chemists have been by cold reduced TO
liquids and solids. The most difficult of
all. hydrogen, was HQuehed In 1898.
Briefly, the method by which all this is
done is summed up in two words. com
preston and cooling. When a gas is
compressed il retains its heat and seems
hotter, since the same amount Of heat. or
heat motion. is brought into smaller COM
pass The necessary compression is given
by making a gas chemically. that Is. gen
Grating II in confinement, IN a very small
space. Once compressed the gas is
cooled az FIRST by freezing mixtures. af-
terward by using the already cooled por-
ton In coiled pipe or other receiver TO
cool that portion which IS yet warmer.
When allowed 10 expand the compressed
gas takes up heat, and thus each cooled
portion may be used to take heat from
another
If the liquid nitrogen be evaporated II
VIII produce a temperature Of -353. Air is
hquefed at -312. Solid carbonic acid. be-
ing eyaporated. gives a temperature OF
20.
Such is the general principle. and by
using this method again and again gases
are reduced 70 the lowest possible tenn
perature. The apparatus for this purpose
nrr1hf h -fo
manufactory than a scientists labratory
fixtures
The temperature so reached IS 3e6 de-
grees below zero. still over so degrees
away from the absolute lack Of heat.
Aided by Liquid AIR.
With these facts the public has been
made familiar by the many articles con-
corning liquid air. It was a common
thing a few years ago TO see iron and
steel so chilled that they became brittle.
like glass. Lead. likewise reduced in
temperature, was hard and elastic.
though gold. platinum. silver, and copper
remained Dliable- A rubber ball broke
like an eggshel- Chemicals became in
ert or nearly so. Mercury could be frozen
so hard that IL was nodded into a ham
mer which would drive a nail Electrical
resistance virtually ceased in metals so
chilled. The very latest experiments have
brought Us still nearer to the desired
point. but to come nearer than thirty
or forty degrees 20 absolute zero seems al
present impossible.
So much for the absolute cold sought
for scientists. But in practical life the
greatest cold known is hundreds Of de-
g-ees higher than this point Long be-
fore we have reached even the greatest
cold experienced by men familiar sub
stances take on new forms. dependent
largely upon the freezing Of the water
within them. At the same low tenn
perqture, for example, eggs burst, apples
shrink. and potatoes turn black Our
thermometers become useless az com
paratively high temperatures. Mercury
freezes before reaching 40 degrees below
zero. II alcohol be used. as in d spirit
thermometer, il will remain LIQUID only
until We reach 203 degrees below. When
that point is approached other kinds
OF thermometers must be used. It Is not
so very many years ago that 166 degrees
below was said 10 be the greatest ar
tiicial cold. but to-day all OF the gases
have been lquefied except two or three
Of the Tarest. which cannot be cooled
simply because there is not enough of
mem available to be used to cool them
selves, Great progress in this act has
been made ever since the Hquefying of
hydrogen by Prof Dewar. I'm May, 1895.
when it was reduced TO 357 degrees Fab
renheit Nitrogen can be liquehed and
freezes at 353 degrees.
As to the Senses.
So far as our own senses are concern d.
We call those things cold or hot which
differ from our own temperature fabo1t
sS1z degrees) by being. respectively. above
and below; and the test Of feeling extend
over a comparatively narrow limit. Even
an ordinary winter day will sometimes
so chill iron that II VIII seem rather TO
burn" the skin than 10 chill II A,d .s