partitions do their bounds divide." Thus, paint one half of the surface
of a tin pot with a mixture of lamp-black and size, and leave the other
half, or side, bright; fill the vessel with boiling water, and by dipping
a thermometer, or even the finger, into it shortly after, it will be found
to cool much more rapidly upon the blackened than upon the bright side of
the pot.
WARMTH OF DIFFERENT COLORS.
Place upon the surface of snow, as upon the window sill, in bright
daylight or sunshine, pieces of cloth of the same size and quality, but of
different colors, black, blue, green, yellow, and white: the black cloth
will soon melt the snow beneath it, and sink downwards; next the blue, and
then the green; the yellow but slightly; but the snow beneath the white
cloth will be as firm as at first.
SUBSTITUTE FOR FIRE.
Put into a cup a lump of quicklime, fresh from the kiln, pour water upon
it, and the heat will be very great. A pailful of quicklime, if dipped in
water, and shut closely into a box constructed for the purpose, will give
out sufficient heat to warm a room, even in very cold weather. This is the
source of steam vapor in theatrical representations.
LAUGHING GAS.
The above fanciful appellation has been given to nitrous oxide, from the
very agreeable sensations excited by inhaling it. In its pure state it
destroys animal life, but loses this noxious quality when inhaled, because
it becomes blended with the atmospheric air which it meets in the lungs.
This gas is made by putting three or four drams of nitrate of ammonia, in
crystals, into a small glass retort, which being held over a spirit lamp,
the crystals will melt, and the gas be evolved.
Having thus produced the gas, it is to be passed into a large bladder,
having a stop-cock; and when you are desirous of exhibiting its effects,
you cause the person who wishes to experience them, to first exhale
the atmospheric air from the lungs, and then quickly placing the cock
in his mouth, you turn it, and bid him inhale the gas. Immediately, a
sense of extraordinary cheerfulness, fanciful flights of imagination,
an uncontrollable propensity to laughter, and a consciousness of being
capable of great muscular exertion, supervene. It does not operate in
exactly the same manner on all persons; but in most cases the sensations
are agreeable, and have this important difference from those produced by
wine or spirituous liquors, that they are not succeeded by any depression
of mind.
FLAME FROM COLD METALS.
Provide a bottle of the gas chlorine, which may be purchased of any
operative chemist, and with it you may exhibit some brilliant experiments.
For example, reduce a small piece of the metal antimony to a very fine
powder in a mortar; place some of this on a bent card, then loosen the
stopper of the bottle of chlorine, and throw in the antimony; it will take
fire spontaneously, and burn with much splendor, thus exhibiting a cold
metal spontaneously bursting into flame.
If, however, a lump of antimony be dropped into the chlorine, there will
be no spontaneous combustion, nor immediate change; but, in the course
of time, the antimony will become incrusted with a white powder, and no
chlorine will be found in the bottle.
Or, provide copper in fine leaves, known as "Dutch metal;" slightly
breathe on one end of a glass rod, about ten inches long, and cause one
or two leaves of the metal to adhere to the damp end; then open a bottle
of chlorine, quickly plunge in the leaves, when they will instantly
take fire, and burn with a fine red light, leaving in the bottle a
greenish-yellow solid substance.
A small _lump_ of copper, or "Dutch metal," will not burn as above, but
will be slowly acted upon, like the antimony.
Immerse gold leaf in a jar of chlorine gas, and combustion with a
beautiful green flame will take place.
PHOSPHORUS IN CHLORINE.
Put into a deflagrating spoon about four grains of phosphorus, and let
it down into a bottle of chlorine, when the phosphorus will ignite
instantaneously.
Or, fold a slip of blotting-paper into a match five inches long; dip it
into oil of turpentine, drain it an instant, drop it into another bottle
of chlorine, when it will burst into a flame, and deposit much carbon.
MAGIC VAPOR.
Provide a glass tube, about three feet long and half an inch in diameter;
nearly fill it with water, upon the surface of which pour a little colored
ether; then close the open end of the tube carefully with the palm of the
hand, invert it in a basin of water, and rest the tube against the wall:
the ether will rise through the water to the upper end of the tube; pour a
little hot water over the tube, and it will soon cause the ether to boil
within, and its vapor may thus be made to drive nearly all the water out
of the tube into the basin; if, however, you then cool the tube by pouring
cold water over it, the vaporized ether will again become a liquid, and
float upon the water as before.
GAS FROM THE UNION OF METAL.
Nearly fill a wine-glass with diluted sulphuric acid, and place in it a
wire of silver and another of zinc, taking care that they do not touch
each other; when the zinc will be changed by the acid, but the silver will
remain inert. But cause the upper ends of the wires to touch each other,
and a stream of gas will issue from them.
CAMPHOR SUBLIMED BY FLAME.
Set a metallic plate over the flame of a spirit lamp; place upon it a
small portion of camphor under a glass funnel; and the camphor will be
beautifully sublimed by the heat of the lamp, in an efflorescent crust on
the sides of the funnel.
GREEN FIRE.
A beautiful green fire may be thus made. Take of flour of sulphur
thirteen parts, nitrate of baryta seventy-seven, oxymuriate of potassa
five, metallic arsenic two, and charcoal three. Let the nitrate of
baryta be well dried and powdered; then add to it the other ingredients,
all finely pulverized, and exceedingly well mixed and rubbed together.
Place a portion of the composition in a small tin pan, having a polished
reflector fitted to one side, and set light to it; when a splendid green
illumination will be the result. By adding a little calamine, it will burn
more slowly.
BRILLIANT RED FIRE.
Weigh five ounces of dry nitrate of strontia, one ounce and a half of
finely powdered sulphur, five drams of chlorate of potash, and four drams
of sulphuret of antimony. Powder the chlorate of potash and the sulphuret
of antimony separately in a mortar, and mix them on paper; after which add
them to the other ingredients, previously powdered and mixed. No other
kind of mixture than rubbing together on paper is required. For use, mix
with a portion of the powder a small quantity of spirits of wine, in a tin
pan resembling a cheese toaster, light the mixture, and it will shed a
rich crimson hue. When the fire burns dim and badly, a very small quantity
of finely powdered charcoal or lamp black will revive it.
PURPLE FIRE.
Dissolve chloride of lithium in spirit of wine, and when lighted, it will
burn with a purplish flame.
SILVER FIRE.
Place upon a piece of burning charcoal a morsel of the dried crystals of
nitrate of silver (not the lunar caustic), and it will immediately throw
out the most beautiful sparks that can be imagined, whilst the surface of
the charcoal will be coated with silver.
THE FIERY FOUNTAIN.
Put into a glass tumbler fifteen grains of finely granulated zinc, and
six grains of phosphorus, cut into very small pieces beneath water. Mix
in another glass, gradually, a dram of sulphuric acid, with two drams of
water. Remove both glasses into a dark room, and there pour the diluted
acid over the zinc and phosphorus in the glass; in a short time beautiful
jets of bluish flame will dart from all parts of the surface of the
mixture; it will become quite luminous, and beautiful luminous smoke will
rise in a column from the glass, thus representing a fountain of fire.
COMBUSTION WITHOUT FLAME.
Light a small _green_ wax taper; in a minute or two, blow out the flame,
and the wick will continue red hot for many hours; and if the taper
were regularly and carefully uncoiled, and the room kept free from the
current of air, the wick would burn on in this manner until the whole was
consumed. The same effect is not produced when the color of the wax is
red, on which account red wax tapers are safer than green, for the latter,
if left imperfectly extinguished, may set fire to any object with which
they are in contact.
COMBUSTION OF THREE METALS.
Mix a grain or two of potassium with an equal quantity of sodium; add a
globule of quicksilver, and the three metals, when shaken, will take fire,
and burn vividly.
TO MAKE PAPER APPARENTLY INCOMBUSTIBLE.
Take a smooth cylindrical piece of metal, about one inch and a half in
diameter, and eight inches long; wrap very closely round it a piece of
clean writing paper, then hold the paper in the flame of a spirit lamp,
and it will not take fire; but it may be held there for a considerable
time, without being in the least affected by the flame. If the paper be
strained over a cylinder of wood, it is quickly scorched.
HEAT NOT TO BE ESTIMATED BY TOUCH.
Hold both hands in water which causes the thermometer to rise to ninety
degrees, and when the liquid has become still, you will be insensible to
the heat, and that the hand is touching anything. Then remove one hand
to water that causes the thermometer to rise to two hundred degrees, and
the other in water at thirty-two degrees. After holding the hands thus
for some time, remove them, and again immerse them in the water at ninety
degrees; when you will find _warmth_ in one hand and _cold_ in the other.
To the hand which had been immersed in the water at thirty-two degrees,
the water at ninety degrees will feel hot; and to the hand which had been
immersed in the water at two hundred degrees, the water at ninety degrees
will feel cool. If, therefore, the touch in this case be trusted, the same
water will be judged to be hot and cold at the _same_ time.
FLAME UPON WATER.
Fill a wine glass with cold water, pour lightly upon its surface a little
ether; light it by a slip of paper, and it will burn for some time.
ROSE-COLORED FLAME UPON WATER.
Drop a globule of potassium, about the size of a large pea, into as small
cup, nearly full of water, containing a drop or two of strong nitric
acid; the moment that the metal touches the liquid, it will float upon
its surface, enveloped with a beautiful rose-colored flame, and entirely
dissolve.
TO SET A MIXTURE ON FIRE WITH WATER.
Pour into a saucer a little sulphuric acid, and place upon it a chip of
sodium, which will float and remain uninflamed; but the addition of a drop
of water will set it on fire.
WAVES OF FIRE ON WATER.
On a lump of refined sugar let fall a few drops of phosphuretted ether,
and put the sugar into a glass of warm water, which will instantly appear
on fire at the surface, and in waves, if gently blown with the breath.
This experiment should be exhibited in the dark.
WATER FROM THE FLAME OF A CANDLE.
Hold a cold and dry bell glass over a lighted candle, and watery vapor
will be directly condensed on the cold surface; then close the mouth of
the glass with a card or plate, and turn the mouth uppermost; remove the
card, quickly pour in a little lime-water, a perfectly clear liquid, and
it will instantly become turbid and milky, upon meeting with the contents
of the glass, just as lime-water changes when dropped into a glass full of
water.
FORMATION OF WATER BY FIRE.
Put into a tea cup a little spirit of wine, set it on fire, and invert a
large bell-glass over it. In a short time, a thick watery vapor will be
seen upon the inside of the bell, which may be collected by a dry sponge.
BOILING UPON COLD WATER.
Provide a tall glass jar, filled with cold water, and place in it an air
thermometer, which will nearly reach the surface; upon the surface place a
small copper basin, into which put a little live charcoal: the surface of
the water will soon be made to boil, while the thermometer will show that
the water beneath is scarcely warmer than it was at first.
CURRENTS IN BOILING WATER.
Fill a large glass tube with water, and throw into it a few particles of
bruised amber, then hold the tube by a handle for the purpose, upright in
the flame of a lamp, and as the water becomes warm, it will be seen that
currents, carrying with them the pieces of amber, will begin to ascend in
the center, and to descend towards the circumference of the tube. These
currents will soon become rapid in their motions, and continue till the
water boils.
HOT WATER LIGHTER THAN COLD.
Pour into a glass tube, about ten inches long, and one inch in diameter,
a little water colored with pink or other dye; then fill it up gradually
and carefully with colorless water, so as not to mix them; apply heat at
the bottom of the tube, and the colored water will ascend and be diffused
throughout the whole.
The circulation of warm water may be very pleasingly shown, by heating
water in a tube similar to the foregoing; the water having diffused in it
some particles of any light substance not soluble in water.
EXPANSION OF WATER BY COLD.
All fluids, except water, diminish in bulk till they freeze. Thus, fill
a large thermometer tube with water, say of the temperature of eighty
degrees, and then plunge the bulb into pounded ice and salt, or any other
freezing mixture: the water will go on shrinking in the tube till it has
attained the temperature of about forty degrees; and then, instead of
continuing to contract till it freezes, (as in the case with all other
liquids), it will be seen slowly to expand, and consequently to rise in
the tube, until it congeals. In this case, the expansion below forty
degrees, and above forty degrees, seem to be equal; so that the water will
be of the same bulk at thirty-two degrees as at forty-eight degrees, that
is, at eight degrees above or below forty degrees.
THE CUP OF TANTALUS.
This pretty toy may be purchased at any optician's for two or three
shillings. It consists of a cup, in which is placed a standing human
figure, concealing a syphon, or bent tube with one end longer than the
other. This rises in one leg of the figure to reach the chin, and descends
through the other leg, through the bottom of the cup to a reservoir
beneath. If you pour water in the cup, it will rise in the shorter leg by
its upward pressure, driving out the air before it through the longer leg;
and when the cup is filled above the bend of the syphon, (that is, level
with the chin of the figure,) the pressure of the water will force it over
into the longer leg of the syphon, and the cup will be emptied: the toy
thus imitating Tantalus of mythology, who is represented by the poets as
punished in Erebus with an insatiable thirst, and placed up to the chin in
a pool of water, which, however, flowed away as soon as he attempted to
taste it.
THE MAGIC WHIRLPOOL.
Fill a glass tumbler with water, throw upon its surface a few fragments
or thin shavings of camphor, and they will instantly begin to move, and
acquire a motion both progressive and rotary, which will continue for a
considerable time. During these rotations, if the water be touched by any
substance which is at all greasy, the floating particles will quickly
dart back, and as if by a stroke of magic, be instantly deprived of their
motion and vivacity.
In like manner, if thin slices of cork be steeped in sulphuric ether in a
closed bottle for two or three days, and then placed upon the water, they
will rotate for several minutes, like the camphor; until the slices of
cork having discharged all their ether, and become soaked with water, they
will keep at rest.
If the water be made hot, the motion of the camphor will be more rapid
than in cold water, but it will cease in proportionately less time. Thus,
provide two glasses, one containing water at fifty-eight degrees, and the
other at two hundred and ten degrees; place raspings of camphor upon each
at the same time; the camphor in the first glass will rotate for about
five hours, until all but a very minute portion has evaporated, while the
rotation of the camphor in the hot water will last only nineteen minutes:
about half the camphor will pass off, and the remaining pieces, instead
of being dull, white, and opaque, will be vitreous and transparent, and
evidently soaked with water. The gyrations, too, which at first will be
very rapid, will gradually decline in velocity, until they become quite
sluggish.
The stilling influence of oil upon waves has become proverbial: the
extraordinary manner in which a small quantity of oil instantly spreads
over a very large surface of troubled water, and the stealthy manner in
which even a rough wind glides over it, must have excited the admiration
of all who have witnessed it.
By the same principle a drop of oil may be made to stop the motion of
the camphor, as follows: Throw some camphor, both in slices and in small
particles, upon the surface of water, and while they are rotating, dip
a glass rod into oil of turpentine, and allow a single drop thereof to
trickle down the inner side of the glass to the surface of the water; the
camphor will instantly dart to the opposite point of the liquid surface,
and cease to rotate. If a piece of hard tallow or lard be employed, the
motion of the camphor will be more slowly stopped than by oil or fluid
grease, as the latter spreads over the surface of the water with greater
rapidity.
If a few drops of sulphuric or muriatic acid be let fall into the water,
they will gradually stop the motion of the camphor; but if camphor be
dropped into nitric acid diluted with its own bulk of water, it will
rotate rapidly for a few seconds, and then stop.
If a piece of the rotating camphor be attentively examined with a lens,
the currents of the water can be well distinguished, jetting out, chiefly
from the corners of the camphor, and bearing it round with irregular force.
The currents, as given out by the camphor, may also be seen by means of
the microscope; a drop or two of pure water being placed upon a slip of
glass, with a particle of camphor floating upon it. By this means the
current may be detected, and it will be seen that they cause the rotations.
Or a flat watch-glass, called a _lunar_, may be employed, raised a few
inches, and supported on a wire ring, kept steady by thrusting one end
into an upright piece of wood, like a retort stand. Then put the camphor
and water in the watch-glass, and place under the frame a sheet of white
paper, so that it may receive the shadow of the glass, camphor, &c., to
be cast by a steady light, placed above, and somewhat on one side of the
watch glass. On observing the shadow, which may be considered a magnified
representation of the object itself, the rotations and currents can be
distinguished.
ARTIFICIAL FIRE BALLS.
Put thirty grains of phosphorus into a bottle, which contains three or
four ounces of water. Place the vessel over a lamp, and give it a boiling
heat. Balls of fire will soon be seen to issue from the water, after
the manner of an artificial fire-work, attended with the most beautiful
coruscations.
TO MELT STEEL AS EASILY AS LEAD.
Make a piece of steel red in the fire, then hold it with a pair of pincers
or tongs; take in the other hand a stick of brimstone, and touch the piece
of steel with it. Immediately after their contact, you will see the steel
melt and drop like a liquid.
TO TELL A LADY IF SHE IS IN LOVE.
Put into a phial some sulphuric ether, color it red with orchanet, then
saturate the tincture with spermaceti. This preparation is solid ten
degrees above freezing point, and melts and boils at twenty degrees. Place
the phial which contains it in a lady's hand, and tell her that if in
love, the solid mass will dissolve. In a few minutes the substance will
become fluid.
AN EGG PUT INTO A PHIAL.
To accomplish this seemingly incredible act, requires the following
preparation: You must take an egg and soak it in strong vinegar; and
in process of time its shell will become quite soft, so that it may be
extended lengthways without breaking; then insert it into the neck of
a small bottle, and by pouring cold water upon it, it will reassume
its former figure and hardness. This is really a complete curiosity,
and baffles those who are not in the secret to find out how it is
accomplished. If the vinegar used to saturate the egg is not sufficiently
strong to produce the required softness of shell, add one teaspoonful
of strong acetic acid to every two tablespoonfuls of vinegar. This will
render the egg perfectly flexible, and of easy insertion into the bottle,
which must then be filled with cold water.
TO ASTONISH A LARGE PARTY.
With some lycopodium, powder the surface of a large or small vessel of
water; you may then challenge any one to drop a piece of money into the
water, and that you will get it with the hand without wetting your skin.
The lycopodium adheres to the hand, and prevents its contact with the
water. A little shake of the hand, after the feat is over, will dislodge
the powder.
TEST PAPERS.
On the otherwise barren rocks which fringe the shore of the Cape de
Verd Islands, grows the archil--a famous seaweed or lichen, renowned
among dyers. By a particular process of manufacture, this archil yields
a beautiful blue pigment, known in the chemical laboratory by the name
of _litmus_. Few colors are more fugitive than litmus. Being a fine
violet-blue, it is changed to red by so minute a portion of any acid,
that it becomes, when properly applied, _a test_ of the presence of the
latter substance. As it is so frequently desirable to know whether a fluid
be acid or alkaline, one of the first practical lessons to a student in
chemistry, is to prepare litmus test paper, thus: Put into a flask half
an ounce of litmus, and three ounces of water; let them remain together
in a warm place for a few hours, then filter the dark blue liquid from
its impurities, divide the solution obtained into two parts, pour one
portion into a saucer, and soak strips of white writing paper in it until
it has acquired a distinct blue color. If not colored enough by once
dipping and drying, repeat the operation. When dry, preserve these strips
in a box, labeled "Blue litmus test papers." These serve to _test_ any
fluid, to ascertain if it has an _acid_ reaction. It is instructive to
learn how very small a portion of any acid in water will be indicated by
the reddening of the litmus. With the second portion of the fluid, mix,
cautiously, a few drops of lemon juice, until it is red; then color paper
as before. When dry, this "red litmus test paper" serves to indicate the
presence of alkalies, a class of bodies opposed to acids. Red litmus test
paper, on being put into any fluid that is _alkaline_, such as lime-water,
is immediately restored to its original blue color. Put the ashes of a
cigar into water, the liquid, when "tested," will indicate the presence of
an alkali. Test some stale milk. If your blue paper becomes red, the milk
is sour; it is acid.
INFINITE DIVISIBILITY OF MATTER.
Dissolve a single grain of copper in about one dram of nitric acid, and
dilute the solution with about one ounce of water, when it will be evident
that a single drop of the mixture must contain an almost immeasurably
small portion of copper. Yet, if the blade of a knife be dipped into it,
it will become covered with a coat of copper; thus showing that the copper
can be infinitely divided without any alteration in its properties.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 4: See also page 84.]
[Footnote 5: All experiments marked thus, *, should be performed on the
hob of the grate, to permit the fumes to escape up the chimney.]
AMUSEMENTS
IN
ELECTRICITY, GALVANISM AND MAGNETISM.
[Illustration]
THE ORIGIN OF GALVANISM.