On the Existence of Active Oxygen: Thesis Presented for the Attainment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Johns Hopkins UniversityKeiser, Edward Harrison
Science
On the Existence of Active Oxygen: Thesis Presented for the Attainment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Johns Hopkins University
Keiser, Edward Harrison
Oxygen; Thesis (Ph. D.)
Now the experiment was repeated, with the difference that during the
passage of twenty-five litres of air, a very slow current of carefully
purified carbon monoxide (made from pure sulphuric and formic acids)
was passed through three wash bottles, like those used for the air, and
containing the same substances, and then into the bell jar containing
phosphorus and air. The rate of the current was so regulated that
during the time of the experiment, which varied in different cases
from three to eight hours, three litres of carbon monoxide were used.
The same slow formation of a precipitate was noticed when the carbon
monoxide was used as in the case of air alone. At the end of the
operation we were unable to distinguish any difference between the
amounts of the small precipitates formed. They did not appear to be
as great as that found by Baumann, they were too small to permit of
accurate filtering and weighing, if we consider the nature of the
liquid in which they were present.
The only conclusion which we can draw is, as is stated in the first
paper on this subject, that carbon monoxide is not oxidized by air in
the presence of moist phosphorus.
That in our first experiments we did not obtain evidence of the
presence of carbonic of phosphorus is due to the fact that we worked
with small volumes of the gases. In those cases in which relatively
large volumes were used the slight cloudiness produced was disregarded
as the same result was obtained with air alone.
Having, therefore, been unable to obtain any evidence of the
oxidation of carbon monoxide when phosphorus undergoes slow
combustion in the presence of air and water, the second and last
of Baumann’s arguments for the existence of active oxygen becomes
untenable. Whether oxygen ever does occur in the so called active
condition still remains to be shown.
That the nascent state of an element should be due to the momentary
existence of free atoms is entirely hypothetical. Tommasi[31] has
shown that the properties of nascent hydrogen vary according to the
method by which it is formed. He regards nascent hydrogen as ordinary
molecular hydrogen plus varying quantities of heat, and he shows that
as the heat of the reaction varies so the activity of the hydrogen
varies. The same is undoubtedly true of oxygen, for it is known that
oxygen evolved by some reactions is more powerful than by others.
That we shall ever be able to show that this heat in some cases is
sufficient to dissociate the molecules of oxygen seems improbable.
Baumann[32] has recently published another paper, but has failed to
contribute either new facts or ideas on the subject.
Estimation of Carbon in Phosphorus.
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