Science in Short ChaptersWilliams, W. Mattieu (William Mattieu)
Science
Science in Short Chapters
Williams, W. Mattieu (William Mattieu)
Science
This heat, which thus ceases to exhibit itself as _temperature_,
is otherwise occupied. Its energy is partly devoted to the work of
increasing the bulk of the water to the above-named extent, and
partly in conferring on the steam its gaseous specialty—that is,
in overcoming liquid cohesion, and substituting for it the opposite
property of internal repulsive energy which is characteristic of gases.
My reasons for thus defining and separating these two functions of the
so-called “latent” heat will be seen when we come to the philosophy of
the interesting researches of Dr. Andrews.
As already explained, all gases are now proved to be analogous to
steam, they are matter expanded and rendered self-repulsive by heat.
All _elementary_ matter may exist in either of the three forms—solid,
liquid, or gas, according to the amount of heat and pressure to which
it is subjected. I limit this wide generalization to _elementary_
substances for the following reasons:
Many compounds are made up of elements so feebly held together
that they become “dissociated” when heated to a temperature below
their boiling-point; or, their condition maybe otherwise defined by
stating that the bonds of chemical energy, which hold their elements
together, are weaker than the cohesion which binds and holds them in
the condition of solid or liquid, and are more easily broken by the
expansive energy of heat.
To illustrate this, let us take two common and well-known oils—olive
oil and turpentine. The first belongs to the class of “fixed oils,” and
second to the “volatile oils.” If we apply heat to liquid turpentine,
it boils, passes into the state of gaseous turpentine, which is easily
condensible by cooling it. If the liquid result of this condensation
is examined, we find it to be turpentine as before. Not so with the
olive oil. Just as this reaches its boiling point, the heat, which
would otherwise convert it into olive-oil vapor, begins to dissociate
its constituents, and if the temperature be raised a little higher, we
obtain some gases, but these are the products of decomposition, not
gaseous olive oil. This is called “destructive” distillation.
In olive oil, the boiling-point and dissociation point are near to each
other. In the case of glycerine, these points so nearly approximate
that, although we cannot distil it unbroken under ordinary atmospheric
pressure, we may do so if some of this pressure is removed. Under
such diminished pressure, the boiling-point is brought down below the
dissociation point, and condensible glycerine gas comes over without
decomposition.
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