As the vapor rises from the mixture and goes into the worm,
it cools and condenses. When several drops have gone down into
the cup, try lighting them. What is it that has boiled and
then condensed: the water, the alcohol, or the blueing? Or is
it a mixture of them?
[Illustration: FIG. 55. By distillation clear alcohol can be separated
from the water and red ink with which it was mixed.]
Alcohol is really made in this way, only it is already mixed in the
water in which the grains fermented and from which people then distil
it. Gasoline and kerosene are distilled from petroleum; there is a
whole series of substances that come from the crude oil, one after
the other, according to their boiling points, and what is left is the
foundation for a number of products, including paraffine and vaseline.
EXPERIMENT 40. Put some dry, fused calcium chlorid on a saucer
and set it on the plate of the air pump. This is to absorb the
moisture when you do the experiment. (This calcium chlorid
is _not_ the same as the chlorid of lime which you buy for
bleaching or disinfecting.) Fill a flask or beaker half full
of water and bring it to a boil over a Bunsen burner. Quickly
set the flask on the plate of the air pump. The water will
stop boiling, of course. Cover the flask and the saucer of
calcium chlorid with the bell jar immediately, and pump the
air out of the jar. Watch the water.
The water begins to boil again because water will boil at a lower
temperature when there is less air pressure on its surface. So
although the water is too cool to boil in the open air, it is still
hot enough to boil when the air pressure is partially removed. It is
because of this that milk is evaporated in a vacuum for canning; it is
not necessary to make it so hot that it will be greatly changed by
the heat, if the boiling is done in a vacuum. On a high mountain the
slight air pressure lets the water boil at so low a temperature that
it never becomes hot enough to cook food.
_APPLICATION 30._ Two college students were short of money and
had to economize greatly. They got an alcohol lamp to use in
cooking their own breakfasts. They planned to boil their eggs.
"Let's boil the water gently, using a low flame," one said;
"we'll save alcohol."
"It would be better to boil the eggs fast and get them done
quickly, so that we could put the stove out altogether," the
other replied.
Which was right?
_APPLICATION 31._ Two girls were making candy. They put a
little too much water into it.
"Let us boil the candy hard so that it will candy more
quickly," said one.
"Why, you wasteful girl," said the other. "It cannot get any
hotter than the boiling point anyhow, so you can't cook it any
faster. Why waste gas?"
Which girl was right?
INFERENCE EXERCISE
Explain the following:
161. Warm air rises.
162. The lid of a teakettle rattles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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