The Glaciers of the Alps: Being a narrative of excursions and ascents, an account of the origin and phenomena of glaciers and an exposition of the physical principles to which they are relatedTyndall, John
Science
The Glaciers of the Alps: Being a narrative of excursions and ascents, an account of the origin and phenomena of glaciers and an exposition of the physical principles to which they are related
Tyndall, John
Alps -- Description and travel; Glaciers -- Alps
Broadly considered, two classes of facts are presented to the
glacier-observer; the one suggestive of viscosity, and the other of the
reverse. The former are seen where _pressure_ comes into play, the
latter where _tension_ is operative. By pressure ice can be moulded to
any shape, while the same ice snaps sharply asunder if subjected to
tension. Were the result worth the labour, ice might be moulded into
vases or statuettes, bent into spiral bars, and, I doubt not, by the
proper application of pressure, a _rope_ of ice might be formed and
coiled into a _knot_. But not one of these experiments, though they
might be a thousandfold more striking than any ever made upon a glacier,
would in the least demonstrate that ice is really a viscous body.
[Illustration: Fig. 30. Moulds used in experiments with ice.]
I have here stated what I believe to be feasible. Let me now refer to
the experiments which have been actually made in illustration of this
point. Two pieces of seasoned box-wood had corresponding cavities
hollowed in them, so that, when one was placed upon the other, a
lenticular space was enclosed. A and B, Fig. 30, represent the pieces
of box-wood with the cavities in plan: C represents their section when
they are placed upon each other.
[Sidenote: ACTUAL MOULDING OF ICE.]
A _sphere_ of ice rather more than sufficient to fill the lenticular
space was placed between the pieces of wood and subjected to the action
of a small hydraulic press. The ice was crushed, but the crushed
fragments soon reattached themselves, and, in a few seconds, a lens of
compact ice was taken from the mould.
[Illustration: Fig. 31. Moulds used in experiments with ice.]
This lens was placed in a cylindrical cavity hollowed out in another
piece of box-wood, and represented at C, Fig. 31; and a flat piece of
the wood was placed over the lens as a cover, as at D. On subjecting the
whole to pressure, the lens broke, as the sphere had done, but the
crushed mass soon re-established its continuity, and in less than half a
minute a compact cake of ice was taken from the mould.
[Illustration: Fig. 32. Moulds used in experiments with ice.]
In the following experiment the ice was subjected to a still severer
test:--A hemispherical cavity was formed in one block of box-wood, and
upon a second block a hemispherical protuberance was turned, smaller
than the cavity, so that, when the latter was placed in the former, a
space of a quarter of an inch existed between the two. Fig. 32
represents a section of the two pieces of box-wood; the brass pins _a_,
_b_, fixed in the slab G H, and entering suitable apertures in the mould
I K, being intended to keep the two surfaces concentric. A lump of ice
being placed in the cavity, the protuberance was brought down upon it,
and the mould subjected to hydraulic pressure: after a short interval
the ice was taken from the mould as a smooth compact _cup_, its crushed
particles having reunited, and established their continuity.
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