Popular Scientific Recreations in Natural Philosphy, Astronomy, Geology, Chemistry, etc., etc., etc. Gaston Tissandier

have more than once referred to the pressure of the air which exerts a great influence upon bodies in motion, but a few experiments will make this more obvious, and clearly demonstrate the fact. We have also told you some of the properties of Solids, such as Weight, Inertia, Friction, and Resistance, or Strength. Solids also, as we have seen, occupy space, and cannot be readily compressed, nor bent to other shapes. Now the subject of the Pressure of the Air leads us to the other forms of Matter; namely, Gases and Liquids, which will be found very interesting to study.

      Fig. 38.—Blowing an egg from one glass to another.

      The force of air can very soon be shown as acting with considerable pressure upon an egg in a glass. By blowing in a claret glass containing a hard-boiled egg, it is possible to cause the egg to jump out of the glass; and with practice and strength of lungs it is not impossible to make it pass from one glass to another, as per illustration (fig. 38).

      The force of heated air ascending can also be ascertained by cutting up a card into a spiral, and holding it above the flame of a lamp (fig. 39). The spiral, if lightly poised, will turn round rapidly.

      Now let us turn to a few experiments with the air, which is composed in two gases, Oxygen and Nitrogen, of which we shall hear more when we come to Chemistry.

      Fig. 39.—Movement of heated air.

      Fig. 40.—Pressure of the air.

      It is not intended here to prosecute researches, but rather to sketch a programme for instruction, based on amusing experiments in Physics, performed without apparatus. The greater part of these experiments are probably well known, and we desire to say that we merely claim to have collected and arranged them for our descriptions. We must also add that we have performed and verified these experiments; the reader, therefore, can attempt them with every certainty of success. We will suppose that we are addressing a young auditory, and commence our course of Physics with some facts relating to the pressure of air. A wine glass, a plate, and water, will serve for our first experiments. Pour some water on the plate, light a piece of paper resting on a cork, and cover the flame with the glass which I turn upside down (fig. 40). What follows?—The water rises in the glass. Why?—Because the burning of the paper having absorbed a part of the oxygen, and the volume of confined gas being diminished, the pressure of the outer air has driven back the fluid. I next fill a goblet with water up to the brim, and cover it with a sheet of paper which touches both the edge of the glass and the surface of the water. I turn the glass upside down, and the sheet of paper prevents the water running out, because it is held in place by atmospheric pressure (fig. 41). It sometimes happens that this experiment does not succeed till after a few attempts on the part of the operator; thus it is prudent to turn the glass over a basin, so that, in case of failure, the water is not spilt. Having obtained a vase and a bottle, both quite full of water, take the bottle, holding it round the neck so that the thumb can be used as a stopper, then turn it upside down, and pass the neck into the water in the vase. Remove your thumb, or stopper, keeping the bottle in a vertical position, and you will see that the water it contains does not escape, but remains in suspension. It is atmospheric pressure which produces this phenomenon. If, instead of water, we put milk in the bottle, or some other fluid denser than water, we shall see that the milk also remains suspended in the bottle, only there is a movement of the fluid in the neck of the bottle, and on careful examination we perceive very plainly that the milk descends to the bottom of the vase, and the water rises into the bottle. Here, again, it is atmospheric pressure which maintains the fluid in the bottle, but the milk descends, because fluids are superposed according to their order of density, and the densest liquid falls to the bottom.

      This can be verified by means of the phial of the four elements, which is a plain, long, and narrow bottle, containing equal volumes of metallic mercury, salt water, alcohol, and oil. These four liquids will lie one on the top of the other without ever mixing, even if shaken.

      Another experiment as to the pressure of the air may be made (fig. 42). Take a penny and press it against some oaken bookcase or press, rub the coin against the wood for a few seconds, then press it, and withdraw the fingers. The coin will continue to adhere to the wood. The reason of this is, because by the rubbing and the pressure you have dispersed the film of air which was between the penny and the wood, and under those conditions the pressure of the atmospheric air was sufficient to keep the penny in its place.

      Fig. 41.—Pressure of the air.

      Or, again, let us now add a water-bottle and a hard-boiled egg to our appliances; we will make use of the air-pump, and easily perform another experiment. I light a piece of paper, and let it burn, plunging it into a water-bottle full of air. When the paper has been burning a few seconds I close the opening of the water-bottle by means of a hard-boiled egg, which I have previously divested of its shell, so that it forms a hermetic stopper. The burning of the paper has now caused a vacuum of air in the bottle, and the egg is gradually thrust in by the atmospheric pressure outside. Fig. 43 exhibits it slowly lengthening and stretching out as it passes through the aperture; then it is suddenly thrust completely into the bottle with a little explosive sound, like that produced by striking a paper bag expanded with air. This is atmospheric pressure demonstrated in the clearest manner, and at little cost.

      Fig. 42.—Coin adhering by pressure of air.

      If it is desired to pursue a little further the experiments relating to atmospheric pressure, it will be easy enough to add to the before-mentioned appliances a closed glass-tube and some mercury, and one will then have the necessary elements for performing Torricelli’s and Pascal’s experiments, and explaining the theory of the barometer (page 52).

      An amusing toy, well-known to schoolboys, called the “sucker,” may also be made the object of many dissertations on the vacuum and the pressure of air. It is composed of a round piece of soft leather, to the centre of which is attached a small cord. This leather is placed on the ground and pressed under foot, and when the cord is pulled it forms a cupping-glass, and is only separated with difficulty from the pavement.

      Atmospheric air, in common with other gases, has a tendency to fill any space into which it may enter. The mutual attraction of particles of air is nil; on the contrary, they appear to have a tendency to fly away from each other; this property is called “repulsion.” Air also possesses an expansive property—a tendency to press against all the sides of any vessel in which it may be enclosed. Of course the larger the vessel containing a given quantity of air, the less actual pressure it will exert on the sides of the vessel. The elasticity of air therefore decreases with increasing expansion, but it gains in elasticity or force when compressed.

      There is a law in Physics which expresses the relation between expansion and elasticity of gases, which may be said to be as follows:—

      The elasticity (of a gas) is in inverse ratio to the space it occupies, and therefore by compressing air into a small space we can obtain a great force, as in the air-gun and the pop-gun of our youthful days.

      Fig. 43.—Hard boiled egg, divested of its shell, passing through the neck of a glass bottle, under the influence of atmospheric pressure.

      In the cut below we can illustrate the principle of the pop-gun. The chamber full of air is closed by a cork and by an air-tight piston (S) at p and p. When the piston is pushed into the chamber the air is compressed between it and the stopper, which at length flies out forcibly with a loud report

      Fig.