A similar calculation holds true with regard to the water-vapor and
oxygen. For convenience in calculating, the amounts of water-vapor and
carbon dioxide residual in the chamber are usually expressed in grams,
while the oxygen is expressed in liters. Hence, before making the
additions or subtractions from the amount of oxygen admitted, the
variations in the amount of oxygen residual in the system should be
converted from liters to grams. This is done by dividing by 0.7.
CONTROL EXPERIMENTS WITH BURNING ALCOHOL.
After having brought to as high a degree of perfection as possible the
apparatus for determining carbon dioxide, water, and oxygen, it becomes
necessary to submit the apparatus to a severe test and thus demonstrate
its ability to give satisfactory results under conditions that can be
accurately controlled. The liberation of a definite amount of carbon
dioxide from a carbonate by means of acid has frequently been employed
for controlling an apparatus used for researches in gaseous exchange,
but this only furnishes a definite amount of carbon dioxide and throws
no light whatever upon the ability of the apparatus to determine the
other two factors, water-vapor and oxygen. Some of the earlier
experimenters have used burning candles, but these we have found to be
extremely unsatisfactory. The necessity for an accurate elementary
analysis, the high carbon content of the stearin and paraffin, and the
possibility of a change in the chemical composition of the material all
render this method unfit for the most accurate testing. As a result of a
large number of experiments with different materials, we still rely upon
the use of ethyl alcohol of known water-content. The experiments with
absolute alcohol and with alcohol containing varying amounts of water
showed no differences in the results, and hence it is now our custom to
obtain the highest grade commercial alcohol, determine the specific
gravity accurately, and burn this material. We use the Squibb
pyknometer[28] and thereby can determine the specific gravity of the
alcohol to the fifth or sixth decimal place with a high degree of
accuracy. Using the alcoholometric tables of Squibb[29] or Morley,[30]
the percentage of alcohol by weight is readily found, and from the
chemical composition of the alcohol can be computed not only the amount
of carbon dioxide and water-vapor formed and oxygen absorbed by the
combustion of 1 gram of ethyl hydroxide containing a definite known
amount of water, but also the heat developed during its combustion.
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