The Energy System of Matter: A Deduction from Terrestrial Energy PhenomenaWeir, James, active 1883-1912
Science
The Energy System of Matter: A Deduction from Terrestrial Energy Phenomena
Weir, James, active 1883-1912
Force and energy
It will be evident that no matter where the evaporation of the aqueous
material takes place, it must be carried out at the temperature
corresponding to that location, and since the aqueous vapour itself is
not superheated in any way (being transparent to the sun's influence),
the axial energy transformed and the work energy stored in the material
per unit mass, will be simply equivalent to the latent heat of aqueous
vapour under the temperature conditions which prevail. In virtue of the
relatively high value of this latent heat under ordinary conditions, the
gas may be regarded as comparatively a very highly energised substance.
It is clear, however, that since the gas is working at its precise
temperature of evaporation, the maximum amount of energy which it can
possibly yield up at that temperature is simply this latent heat of
evaporation, and if this energy be by any means withdrawn, either in
whole or in part, then condensation corresponding to the energy
withdrawal will at once ensue. The condition of the aqueous vapour is in
fact that of a true vapour, or of a gaseous substance operating exactly
at its evaporation temperature, and unable to sustain even the slightest
abstraction of energy without an equivalent condensation. No matter in
what manner the abstraction is carried out, whether by the direct
transmission of heat from the substance or by the expansion of the gas
against gravity, the result is the same; part of the gaseous material
returns to the liquid form.
In the case of the more stable or permanent constituents of the
atmosphere, namely oxygen and nitrogen, their physical conditions are
entirely different from that of the aqueous vapour. Examination of the
Table of Properties (p. 133) shows that the evaporation temperatures of
these two substances under ordinary conditions of atmospheric pressure
are as low as -296° F. and -320° F. respectively. At an ordinary
atmospheric temperature of say 50° F. these two gases are therefore so
far above their evaporation temperature that they are in the condition
of what might be termed true gaseous substances. Although only at a
temperature of 50° F., they may be truly described as highly superheated
gases, and it is evident that they may be readily cooled from 50° F.
through wide ranges of temperature, without any danger of their
condensation or liquefaction. Oxygen and nitrogen gases thus present in
their physical condition and qualities a strong contrast to aqueous
vapour, and it is this difference in properties, particularly the
difference in evaporation temperatures, which is of vital importance in
the working of the atmospheric machine. The two gases oxygen and
nitrogen are, however, so closely alike in their general energy
properties that, in the meantime, the atmospheric mixture of the two can
be conveniently assumed to act simply as one gas--atmospheric air.
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