Take the stopper out of a bottle and endeavor to pour water into it
rapidly and see what happens. (See Fig. 1.) One of the laws in Physics
is that no two bodies can occupy the same space at the same time. After
doing this experiment, you will come to the conclusion that the bottle
does contain something, and that “something” is matter, and that matter
is air. There is in the bottle probably as important a thing as you
could possibly conceive of, because even this earth without its ocean of
air would be a world of desolation; for air sustains life itself, and
when agitated, develops great strength. It may be whirled about into a
hurricane blast and assume such violent proportions that villages will
be swept away, and great waves of water will be raised, upon which ships
can be tossed about like so much chaff. We all know that air can become
so cold that great suffering will be caused, and so hot that it will
make life almost unbearable. We really live in an ocean of air.
[Illustration:
Fig. 1
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 2
]