General Science by Bertha May Clark (free novels TXT) 📖
- Author: Bertha May Clark
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If, on a bitter cold day, a pail of snow is brought into a warm room and a thermometer is placed in the snow, the temperature rises gradually until 32° F. is reached, when it becomes stationary, and the snow begins to melt. If the pail is put on the fire, the temperature still remains 32°F., but the snow melts more rapidly. As soon as all the snow is completely melted, however, the temperature begins to rise and rises steadily until the water boils, when it again becomes stationary and remains so during the passage of water into vapor.
We see that heat must be supplied to ice at 0° C. or 32° F. in order to change it into water, and further, that the temperature of the mixture does not rise so long as any ice is present, no matter how much heat is supplied. The amount of heat necessary to melt 1 gram of ice is easily calculated. (See Laboratory Manual.)
Heat must be supplied to ice to melt it. On the other hand, water, in freezing, loses heat, and the amount of heat lost by freezing water is exactly equal to the amount of heat absorbed by melting ice.
The number of units of heat required to melt a unit mass of ice is called the heat of fusion of water.
31. Climate. Water, in freezing, loses heat, even though its temperature remains at 0° C. Because water loses heat when it freezes, the presence of large streams of water greatly influences the climate of a region. In winter the heat from the freezing water keeps the temperature of the surrounding higher than it would naturally be, and consequently the cold weather is less severe. In summer water evaporates, heat is taken from the air, and consequently the warm weather is less intense.
32. Molding of Glass and Forging of Iron. The fire which is hot enough to melt a lump of ice may not be hot enough to melt an iron poker; on the other hand, it may be sufficiently hot to melt a tin spoon. Different substances melt, or liquefy, at different temperatures; for example, ice melts at 0° C., and tin at 233° C., while iron requires the relatively high temperature of 1200° C. Most substances have a definite melting or freezing point which never changes so long as the surrounding conditions remain the same.
But while most substances have a definite melting point, some substances do not. If a glass rod is held in a Bunsen burner, it will gradually grow softer and softer, and finally a drop of molten glass will fall from the end of the rod into the fire. The glass did not suddenly become a liquid at a definite temperature; instead it softened gradually, and then melted. While glass is in the soft, yielding, pliable state, it is molded into dishes, bottles, and other useful objects, such as lamp shades, globes, etc. (Fig. 20). If glass melted at a definite temperature, it could not be molded in this way. Iron acts in a similar manner, and because of this property the blacksmith can shape his horseshoes, and the workman can make his engines and other articles of daily service to man.
FIG. 20.—Molten glass being rolled into a form suitable for window panes.
33. Strange Behavior of Water. One has but to remember that bottles of water burst when they freeze, and that ice floats on water like wood, to know that water expands on freezing or on solidifying. A quantity of water which occupies 100 cubic feet of space will, on becoming ice, need 109 cubic feet of space. On a cold winter night the water sometimes freezes in the water pipes, and the pipes burst. Water is very peculiar in expanding on solidification, because most substances contract on solidifying; gelatin and jelly, for example, contract so much that they shrink from the sides of the dish which contains them.
If water contracted in freezing, ice would be heavier than water and would sink in ponds and lakes as fast as it formed, and our streams and ponds would become masses of solid ice, killing all animal and plant life. But the ice is lighter than water and floats on top, and animals in the water beneath are as free to live and swim as they were in the warm sunny days of summer. The most severe winter cannot freeze a deep lake solid, and in the coldest weather a hole made in the ice will show water beneath the surface. Our ice boats cut and break the ice of the river, and through the water beneath our boats daily ply their way to and fro, independent of winter and its blighting blasts.
While most of us are familiar with the bursting of water pipes on a cold night, few of us realize the influence which freezing water exerts on the character of the land around us.
Water sinks into the ground and, on the approach of winter, freezes, expanding about one tenth of its volume; the expanding ice pushes the earth aside, the force in some cases being sufficient to dislodge even huge rocks. In the early days in New England it was said by the farmers that "rocks grew," because fields cleared of stones in the fall became rock covered with the approach of spring; the rocks and stones hidden underground and unseen in the fall were forced to the surface by the winter's expansion. We have all seen fence posts and bricks pushed out of place because of the heaving of the soil beneath them. Often householders must relay their pavements and walks because of the damage done by freezing water.
The most conspicuous effect of the expansive power of freezing water is seen in rocky or mountainous regions (Fig. 21). Water easily finds entrance into the cracks and crevices of the rocks, where it lodges until frozen; then it expands and acts like a wedge, widening cracks, chiseling off edges, and even breaking rocks asunder. In regions where frequent frosts occur, the destructive action of water works constant changes in the appearance of the land; small cracks and crevices are enlarged, massive rocks are pried up out of position, huge slabs are split off, and particles large and small are forced from the parent rock. The greater part of the debris and rubbish brought down from the mountain slopes by the spring rains owes its origin to the fact that water expands when it freezes.
34. Heat Necessary to Dissolve a Substance. It requires heat to dissolve any substance, just as it requires heat to change ice to water. If a handful of common salt is placed in a small cup of water and stirred with a thermometer, the temperature of the mixture falls several degrees. This is just what one would expect, because the heat needed to liquefy the salt must come from somewhere, and naturally it comes from the water, thereby lowering the temperature of the water. We know very well that potatoes cease boiling if a pinch of salt is put in the water; this is because the temperature of the water has been lowered by the amount of heat necessary to dissolve the salt.
Let some snow or chopped ice be placed in a vessel and mixed with one third its weight of coarse salt; if then a small tube of cold water is placed in this mixture, the water in the test tube will soon freeze solid. As soon as the snow and salt are mixed they melt. The heat necessary for this comes in part from the air and in part from the water in the test tube, and the water in the tube becomes in consequence cold enough to freeze. But the salt mixture does not freeze because its freezing point is far below that of pure water. The use of salt and ice in ice-cream freezers is a practical application of this principle. The heat necessary for melting the mixture of salt and ice is taken from the cream which thus becomes cold enough to freeze.
CHAPTER IV BURNING OR OXIDATION35. Why Things Burn. The heat of our bodies comes from the food we eat; the heat for cooking and for warming our houses comes from coal. The production of heat through the burning of coal, or oil, or gas, or wood, is called combustion. Combustion cannot occur without the presence of a substance called oxygen, which exists rather abundantly in the air; that is, one fifth of our atmosphere consists of this substance which we call oxygen. We throw open our windows to allow fresh air to enter, and we take walks in order to breathe the pure air into our lungs. What we need for the energy and warmth of our bodies is the oxygen in the air. Whether we burn gas or wood or coal, the heat which is produced comes from the power which these various substances possess to combine with oxygen. We open the draft of a stove that it may "draw well": that it may secure oxygen for burning. We throw a blanket over burning material to smother the fire: to keep oxygen away from it. Burning, or oxidation, is combining with oxygen, and the more oxygen you add to a fire, the hotter the fire will burn, and the faster. The effect of oxygen on combustion may be clearly seen by thrusting a smoldering splinter into a jar containing oxygen; the smoldering splinter will instantly flare and blaze, while if it is removed from the jar, it loses its flame and again burns quietly. Oxygen for this experiment can be produced in the following way.
FIG. 22.—Preparing oxygen from potassium chlorate and manganese dioxide.
36. How to Prepare Oxygen. Mix a small quantity of potassium chlorate with an equal amount of manganese dioxide and place the mixture in a strong test tube. Close the mouth of the tube with a one-hole rubber stopper in which is fitted a long, narrow tube, and clamp the test tube to an iron support, as shown in Figure 22. Fill the trough with water until the shelf is just covered and allow the end of the delivery tube to rest just beneath the hole in the shelf. Fill a medium-sized bottle with water, cover it with a glass plate, invert the bottle in the trough, and then remove the glass plate. Heat the test tube very gently, and when gas bubbles out of the tube, slip the bottle over the opening in the shelf, so that the tube runs into the bottle. The gas will force out the water and will finally fill the bottle. When all the water has been forced out, slip the glass plate under the mouth of the bottle and remove the bottle from the trough. The gas in the bottle is oxygen.
Everywhere in a large city or in a small village, smoke is seen, indicating the presence of fire; hence there must exist a large supply of oxygen to keep all the fires alive. The supply of oxygen needed for the fires of the world
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