Familiar Talks on Science: World-Building and Life; Earth, Air and Water.Gray, Elisha
Science
Familiar Talks on Science: World-Building and Life; Earth, Air and Water.
Gray, Elisha
Science
The mobility of the atmosphere is such that the least influence that
changes its balance will put it in motion. While we can account in a
general way for atmospheric movements, there are many problems relating
to the details that are unsolved. We find that even the "weather man"
makes mistakes in his prognostications; so true is this that it is never
safe to plan a picnic for to-morrow based upon the predictions of
to-day. The chief difficulty in the way of solving the great problems
relating to the sudden changes in the weather and temperature lies in
the fact that two-thirds or more of the earth's surface is covered with
water; thus making it impossible to establish stations for observation
that would be evenly distributed all over the earth's surface. Enough is
known, however, to make the study of meteorology a most wonderfully
interesting subject.
We have already stated that air is composed of a mixture of oxygen and
nitrogen chiefly, with a small amount of carbon dioxide. So far as the
life and health of the animal is concerned we could get along without
this latter substance, but it seems to be a necessity in the growth of
vegetation. There are other things in the air which, while they are
unnecessary for breathing purposes, it will be well for us to
understand, as some of them are things to be avoided rather than
inhaled.
As before mentioned, air contains moisture, which is a very variable
quantity. In a cold day in winter it is not more than one-thousandth
part, while in a warm day in summer it may equal one-fortieth of the
quantity of air in a given space. There is also a small amount of
ammonia, perhaps not over one-sixty-millionth. Oxygen also exists in the
air in very small quantities in another form called ozone. One way to
produce ozone is by passing an electric spark through air. Anyone who
has operated a Holtz machine has noticed a peculiar smell attending the
disruptive discharges, which is the odor of ozone. It is what chemists
call an allotropic form of oxygen, just as the diamond, graphite, and
charcoal are all different forms of carbon, and yet the chemical
differences are scarcely traceable. It is more stimulating to breathe
than oxygen and is probably produced by lightning discharges.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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