Science in Short ChaptersWilliams, W. Mattieu (William Mattieu)
Science
Science in Short Chapters
Williams, W. Mattieu (William Mattieu)
Science
Similar craters and cones are formed on the surface of cinder which is
not confined by the sides of the bogie. I have seen them well displayed
on the “running-out beds” of refinery furnaces. These, when filled,
form a small lake of molten iron covered with a layer of cinder. This
cinder first skins over, as in the bogies, then small crevasses form in
this crust, and through these the fused cinder oozes from below. The
outflow from this chasm soon becomes localized, so as to form a single
crater, or a small chain of craters; these gradually develop into cones
by the accumulation of outflowing lava, so that when the whole mass has
solidified, it is covered more or less thickly with a number of such
hillocks. These, however, are much smaller than in the former case,
reaching to only one or two inches in height, with a proportionate
base. It is evident that the dimensions of these miniature volcanoes
are determined mainly by the depth of the molten matter from which
they are formed. In the case of the bogies, they are exaggerated by
the overpowering resistance of the solid iron bottom and sides, which
force all the exudation in the one direction of least resistance, viz.,
towards the centre of the thin upper crust, and thus a single crater
and a single cone of the large relative dimensions above described are
commonly formed.
The magnitude and perfection of these miniature volcanoes vary
considerably with the quality of the pig-iron and the treatment it
has received, and the difference appears to depend upon the evolution
of gases, such as carbonic oxide, volatile chlorides, fluorides, etc.
I mention the fluorides particularly, having been recently engaged
in making some experiments on Mr. Henderson’s process for refining
pig-iron, by exposing it when fused to the action of a mixture of
fluoride of calcium and oxides of iron, alumina, manganese, etc. The
cinder separated from this iron displayed the phenomena above described
very remarkably, and jets of yellowish flame were thrown up from the
craters while the lava was flowing. The flame was succeeded by dense
white vapors as the temperature of the cinder lowered, and a deposit of
snow-like, flocculent crystals was left upon and around the mouth or
crater of each cone. The miniature representation of cosmical eruptions
was thus rendered still more striking, even to the white deposit of the
haloid salts which Palmieri has described as remaining after the recent
eruption of Vesuvius.
The gases thus evolved have not yet been analytically examined, and
the details of the powerful reactions displayed in this process still
demand further study; but there can be no doubt that the combination
of silicic acid with the base of the fluor spar is the fundamental
reaction to which the evolution of the volatile fluorides, etc., is
mainly due.
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