Science for the School and Family, Part I. Natural PhilosophyHooker, Worthington
Science
Science for the School and Family, Part I. Natural Philosophy
Hooker, Worthington
Physics; Science
282. =Chimneys.=--We speak of the _draught_ of a chimney, and we
say of one that does not smoke that it _draws_ well, as if the
smoke were in some way actually drawn up. But the same principles
apply here as are developed in § 281. The smoke, which is a
combination of heated air and gases with some solid matters in a
fine state, is _forced_ up the chimney. When a chimney does not
draw well we open a door or a window for a little while until
the fire gets thoroughly agoing. Why is this? It is that we may
have denser air than there is in the room, so that the smoke may
be pushed up more forcibly. When the chimney becomes well heated
there is ordinarily no difficulty, because then the smoke in it
is not obliged to part with much of its heat to the walls of the
chimney, and therefore is so much lighter than the air in the room
that it is very easily forced upward. The principal reason that a
stove-pipe generally draws better than a chimney is that there is
much less heat expended in establishing and maintaining the upward
current. Especially is this true if the chimney be a large one. In
such a case there are both a great extent of brick and a large body
of air to be heated to establish the upward current, and these must
be kept warm in order to maintain it.[3]
[Illustration: Fig. 198.]
[Illustration: Fig. 199.]
283. =Winds.=--If you open a door of a heated room a candle held
near the floor will have its flame blown inward, while one held
near the top of the door will have its flame blown toward the cold
entry. Here you have a good illustration of the manner in which
winds are produced. Wherever the wind blows it is air pushing
out of the way other air that is warmer, in order that it may,
in obedience to gravitation, get as near the earth as possible.
Take, for example, the land and sea breezes, as they are called.
During a hot summer's day the sun heats the earth powerfully,
while the ocean receives but little of its heat. The heated land
heats the air above it; and as the air over the ocean is cooler,
and therefore heavier, it pushes upward the air of the land, for
the same reason that water pushes up oil; and as this goes on
continuously a regular current is established. The wind blows in
upon the land, as represented in Fig. 198, while the warmer air
passes upward into the higher regions of the atmosphere, and turns
toward the sea. The arrows show the course of the currents. The
resemblance of all this to the effect upon the candle held near
the open door is very obvious, the cold air from the entry blowing
in below representing the breeze from the ocean, and the warm air
of the room blowing out above representing the passage of the warm
air of the land out toward the ocean. At night this is apt to be
reversed. The earth becomes cooled, and with it the air that is
over it. The result is that the cooled air of the land now pushes
upward the warmer air of the sea, as seen in Fig. 199.
[Illustration: Fig. 200.]
[Illustration: Fig. 201.]
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