Probably air-bubbles caused the ice to appear
to have a greater volume than it really possessed, the true expansion
being about nine per cent. of the volume of the water at 4 deg.C. The
expansion of water in freezing he employed in order to compress air to
a greater extent than he had been able otherwise to compress it.
Having nearly filled a tube with water, but left a little air above,
and then having sealed the top of the tube, he froze the water from
the bottom upwards, so that in expanding it compressed the air to
one-tenth of its former volume.
Magnetism and electricity came in for some share of Boyle's attention.
He carried out a number of experiments on magnetic induction, and
found that lodestones, as well as pieces of iron, when heated and
allowed to cool, became magnetized by the induction of the earth. His
later experiments with exhausted receivers were not made with his
first pump, but with a two-barrelled pump, in which the pistons were
connected by a cord passing over a large fixed pulley, so that, when
the receiver was nearly exhausted, the pressure of the air on the
descending piston during the greater part of the stroke nearly
balanced that on the ascending piston. In this respect the pump
differed only from Hawksbee's in having the pulley and cord instead of
the pinion and two racks. It also resembled Hawksbee's pump in having
self-closing valves in the pistons and at the bottom of the cylinders,
which, in this pump, had their open ends at the top. The pistons were
alternately raised and lowered by the feet of the operator, which were
placed in stirrups, of which one was fixed on each piston. The lower
portions of the barrels were filled with water, through which the air
bubbled, and this, occupying the clearance, enabled a much higher
degree of exhaustion to be produced than could be obtained without its
employment.
In 1665 Boyle was nominated Provost of Eton, but declined to accept
the appointment. His "Hydrostatical Paradoxes," published about this
time, contain all the ordinary theorems respecting the pressure of
fluids under the action of gravity demonstrated experimentally.
In 1677 Boyle printed, at his own expense, five hundred copies of the
four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles in the Malayan tongue. This
was but one of his many contributions towards similar objects.
On November 30, 1680, the Royal Society chose Boyle for President. He,
however, declined to accept the appointment, because he had
conscientious objections to taking the oath required of the President
by the charter of the Society.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account