A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things FamiliarBrewer, Ebenezer Cobham
Science
A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar
Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham
Science -- Juvenile literature
A. It injures them very much, because it _fills the pores_ of the leaf
with a _thick clammy liquid_; and, therefore, prevents the leaf from
_transpiring and absorbing_.
Q. _What EFFECT has honey-dew upon the APPEARANCE of a leaf?_
A. After a little time, the leaf (being _smothered_ and _starved_)
begins to turn a _dingy yellow_.
Q. _Are not ANTS very FOND of HONEY-DEW?_
A. Yes; and they crawl up the loftiest trees, in order to obtain it.
Q. _What is the cause of MIST (or earth-fog)?_
A. If the _night has been very calm_, a _rapid_ radiation of heat has
taken place in the earth; in consequence of which, the _air_ (resting on
the earth) _is made so cold_, that its vapour is _chilled_, and
condensed into a thick mist.
Q. _Why does not the MIST become DEW?_
A. Because the chill of the air _is so rapid_, that vapour is condensed
_faster than it can be deposited_; and (covering the earth in a mist)
_prevents any further radiation of heat_ from the earth.
Q. _When the earth can no longer RADIATE heat upwards, does it continue
to CONDENSE the vapour of the air?_
A. No; the air (in contact with the earth) becomes about _equal in
temperature_ with the surface of the earth itself; for which reason, the
mist is _not condensed into dew_, but remains _floating above the earth_
as a thick cloud.
Q. _Why does this MIST seem to RISE HIGHER and HIGHER, and yet remain
quite as dense below as before?_
A. The air _resting on the earth_ is first chilled, and _chills the air_
resting on _it_; the air which touches _this new layer of mist_ being
also _condensed_, layer is added to layer; and the mist seems to be
_rising_, when (in fact) it is only _deepening_.
Q. _Why does MIST and DEW VANISH as the SUN rises?_
A. Because the condensed vapour is _again rarefied by the heat of the
sun_, and separated into invisible particles.
Q. _Why is a DEW-DROP ROUND?_
A. Because every part of the drop _is equally balanced_; and, therefore,
there is no cause why _one part_ of the drop _should be further from the
centre_ than _another_.
Q. _Why is the DEW-DROP on a broad leaf sometimes FLATTENED?_
A. Whenever two or more drops of dew _roll together_, they make one
large _spheroid_ (or flattened drop).
Q. _Why will DEW-DROPS ROLL ABOUT CABBAGE-PLANTS, POPPIES, &c. without
wetting the surface?_
A. The leaves of cabbages and poppies are _covered with a very fine
powder_; and the dew-drop rolls over this fine powder, as a drop of rain
_over dust_, without wetting the surface.
Q. _Why does not the drop of RAIN WET the DUST over which it rolls?_
A. Because it is driven from grain to grain by _capillary repulsion_.
Q. _Why does not the DEW-DROP WET the POWDER of the CABBAGE-plant?_
A. Because it is driven from grain to grain by _capillary repulsion_.
Q. _Why will DEW-DROPS ROLL over ROSES, &c. without wetting their
petals?_
A. The leaves of a rose _contain an essential oil_, which prevents them
from absorbing the dew immediately.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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