On Molecular and Microscopic Science, Volume 1 (of 2)Somerville, Mary
History
On Molecular and Microscopic Science, Volume 1 (of 2)
Somerville, Mary
Matter -- Constitution; Microscopy; Natural history
The change of oxygen into ozone is not the only instance of
Allotropism,—that is to say, the existence of the same substance in two
states differing from each other in every respect,—for ozone itself is
allotropic. Professor Schönbein has discovered that there are two kinds
of ozone standing to one another in the relation of positively and
negatively active oxygen; namely ozone and antozone, which neutralize
each other into common oxygen when brought into contact. In this respect
they are analogous to electricity, and, like electricity too, one kind
cannot be produced without a simultaneous development of the other.
When a metal, such as silver for example, is oxidized or rusts, it gives
polarity to the atoms of oxygen in the atmosphere and divides them into
the opposite states of ozone and antozone; the ozone combines with the
silver and rusts or oxidizes it, at the same time that the antozone is
dissolved in the moisture or aqueous vapour in the air and forms
peroxide of hydrogen. The oxidized or rusted silver, as well as every
other oxidized substance, is an ozonide, while the peroxide of hydrogen
is an antozonide.
Since both kinds of ozone are produced during the decomposition of water
by electricity, and as sea air is always found to contain more or less
free ozone, the ocean is probably an antozonide, for all the antozone
formed by electricity during thunderstorms must be either dissolved in
the sea-water, or carried into it in the form of peroxide of hydrogen by
the rain. Ozone must be exceedingly abundant in the zone of calms and
light breezes near the equator known as the variables, which is subject
to heavy rains and violent thunderstorms, and also in the regions of the
monsoons. On land one of the benefits arising from these formidable
phenomena is the production of ozone, which oxidizes decomposing organic
matter and hastens its decay, while the antozone, which is dissolved in
the atmospheric vapour, forms the peroxide of hydrogen and frees the air
from the antagonist principle.
The peroxide of hydrogen thus produced is a transparent colourless
inodorous liquid with a metallic taste, and contains one equivalent of
hydrogen and two of oxygen. It retains its liquid state under a great
degree of cold, and mixes with water in any proportion. It has a strong
bleaching property, instantly destroying vegetable colour. If exposed
suddenly to a temperature of boiling water it is decomposed with violent
explosion, and readily gives off oxygen at 59° Fahr. The mere touch of
an oxidized metal, as the oxide of silver, completely and
instantaneously decomposes it, and oxygen gas is evolved by the union of
the ozone and antozone so rapidly as to produce a kind of explosion
attended by an intense evolution of heat.
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