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GENERAL SCIENCE
BY
BERTHA M. CLARK, PH.D.
HEAD OF THE SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
WILLIAM PENN HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, PHILADELPHIA
NEW YORK - CINCINNATI - CHICAGO
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
1912
PREFACE
This book is not intended to prepare for college entrance examinations; it will not, in fact, prepare for any of the present-day stock examinations in physics, chemistry, or hygiene, but it should prepare the thoughtful reader to meet wisely and actively some of life's important problems, and should enable him to pass muster on the principles and theories underlying scientific, and therefore economic, management, whether in the shop or in the home.
We hear a great deal about the conservation of our natural resources, such as forests and waterways; it is hoped that this book will show the vital importance of the conservation of human strength and health, and the irreparable loss to society of energy uselessly dissipated, either in idle worry or in aimless activity. Most of us would reproach ourselves for lack of shrewdness if we spent for any article more than it was worth, yet few of us consider that we daily expend on domestic and business tasks an amount of energy far in excess of that actually required. The farmer who flails his grain instead of threshing it wastes time and energy; the housewife who washes with her hands alone and does not aid herself by the use of washing machine and proper bleaching agents dissipates energy sadly needed for other duties.
The Chapter on machines is intended not only as a stimulus to the invention of further labor-saving devices, but also as an eye opener to those who, in the future struggle for existence, must perforce go to the wall unless they understand how to make use of contrivances whereby man's limited physical strength is made effective for larger tasks.
The Chapter on musical instruments is more detailed than seems warranted at first sight; but interest in orchestral instruments is real and general, and there is a persistent desire for intelligent information relative to musical instruments. The child of the laborer as well as the child of the merchant finds it possible to attend some of the weekly orchestral concerts, with their tiers of cheap seats, and nothing adds more to the enjoyment and instruction of such hours than an intimate acquaintance with the leading instruments. Unless this is given in the public schools, a large percentage of mankind is deprived of it, and it is for this reason that so large a share of the treatment of sound has been devoted to musical instruments.
The treatment of electricity is more theoretical than that used in preceding Chapters, but the subject does not lend itself readily to popular presentation; and, moreover, it is assumed that the information and training acquired in the previous work will give the pupil power to understand the more advanced thought and method.
The real value of a book depends not so much upon the information given as upon the permanent interest stimulated and the initiative aroused. The youthful mind, and indeed the average adult mind as well, is singularly non-logical and incapable of continued concentration, and loses interest under too consecutive thought and sustained style. For this reason the author has sacrificed at times detail to general effect, logical development to present-day interest and facts, and has made use of a popular, light style of writing as well as of the more formal and logical style common to books of science.
No claim is made to originality in subject matter. The actual facts, theories, and principles used are such as have been presented in previous textbooks of science, but the manner and sequence of presentation are new and, so far as I know, untried elsewhere. These are such as in my experience have aroused the greatest interest and initiative, and such as have at the same time given the maximum benefit from the informational standpoint. In no case, however, is mental training sacrificed to information; but mental development is sought through the student's willing and interested participation in the actual daily happenings of the home and the shop and the field, rather than through formal recitations and laboratory experiments.
Practical laboratory work in connection with the study of this book is provided for in my Laboratory Manual in General Science, which contains directions for a series of experiments designed to make the pupil familiar with the facts and theories discussed in the textbook.
I have sought and have gained help from many of the standard textbooks, new and old. The following firms have kindly placed cuts at my disposal, and have thus materially aided in the preparation of the illustrations: American Radiator Company; Commercial Museum, Philadelphia; General Electric Company; Hershey Chocolate Company; Scientific American; The Goulds Manufacturing Company; Victor Talking Machine Company. Acknowledgment is also due to Professor Alvin Davison for figures 19, 23, 29, 142, and 161.
Mr. W.D. Lewis, Principal of the William Penn High School, has read the manuscript and has given me the benefit of his experience and interest. Miss. Helen Hill, librarian of the same school, has been of invaluable service as regards suggestions and proof reading. Miss. Droege, of the Baldwin School, Bryn Mawr, has also been of very great service. Practically all of my assistants have given of their time and skill to the preparation of the work, but the list is too long for individual mention.
BERTHA M. CLARK.
WILLIAM PENN HIGH SCHOOL.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. HEAT
II. TEMPERATURE AND HEAT
III. OTHER FACTS ABOUT HEAT
IV. BURNING OR OXIDATION
V. FOOD
VI. WATER
VII. AIR
VIII. GENERAL PROPERTIES OF GASES
IX. INVISIBLE OBJECTS
X. LIGHT
XI. REFRACTION
XII. PHOTOGRAPHY
XIII. COLOR
XIV. HEAT AND LIGHT AS COMPANIONS
XV. ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING
XVI. MAN'S WAY OF HELPING HIMSELF
XVII. THE POWER BEHIND THE ENGINE
XVIII. PUMPS AND THEIR VALUE TO MAN
XIX. THE WATER PROBLEM OF A LARGE CITY
XX. MAN'S CONQUEST OF SUBSTANCES
XXI. FERMENTATION
XXII. BLEACHING
XXIII. DYEING
XXIV. CHEMICALS AS DISINFECTANTS AND PRESERVATIVES
XXV. DRUGS AND PATENT MEDICINES
XXVI. NITROGEN AND ITS RELATION TO PLANTS
XXVII. SOUND
XXVIII. MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
XXIX. SPEAKING AND HEARING
XXX. ELECTRICITY
XXXI. SOME USES OF ELECTRICITY
XXXII. MODERN ELECTRICAL INVENTIONS
XXXIII. MAGNETS AND CURRENTS
XXXIV. HOW ELECTRICITY MAY BE MEASURED
XXXV. HOW ELECTRICITY IS OBTAINED ON A LARGE SCALE
INDEX
GENERAL SCIENCE
CHAPTER I
HEAT
I. Value of Fire. Every day, uncontrolled fire wipes out human lives and destroys vast amounts of property; every day, fire, controlled and regulated in stove and furnace, cooks our food and warms our houses. Fire melts ore and allows of the forging of iron, as in the blacksmith's shop, and of the fashioning of innumerable objects serviceable to man. Heated boilers change water into the steam which drives our engines on land and sea. Heat causes rain and wind, fog and cloud; heat enables vegetation to grow and thus indirectly provides our food. Whether heat comes directly from the sun or from artificial sources such as coal, wood, oil, or electricity, it is vitally connected with our daily life, and for this reason the facts and theories relative to it are among the most important that can be studied. Heat, if properly regulated and controlled, would never be injurious to man; hence in the following paragraphs heat will be considered merely in its helpful capacity.
2. General Effect of Heat. Expansion and Contraction. One of the best-known effects of heat is the change which it causes in the size of a substance. Every housewife knows that if a kettle is filled with cold water to begin with, there will be an overflow as soon as the water becomes heated. Heat causes not only water, but all other liquids, to occupy more space, or to expand, and in some cases the expansion, or increase in size, is surprisingly large. For example, if 100 pints of ice water is heated in a kettle, the 100 pints will steadily expand until, at the boiling point, it will occupy as much space as 104 pints of ice water.
The expansion of water can be easily shown by heating a flask (Fig. I) filled with water and closed by a cork through which a narrow tube passes. As the water is heated, it expands and forces its way up the narrow tube. If the heat is removed, the liquid cools, contracts, and slowly falls in the tube, resuming in time its original size or volume. A similar observation can be made with alcohol, mercury, or any other convenient liquid.
Not only liquids are affected by heat and cold, but solids also are subject to similar changes. A metal ball which when cool will just slip through a ring (Fig. 2) will, when heated, be too large to slip through the ring. Telegraph and telephone wires which in winter are stretched taut from pole to pole, sag in hot weather and are much too long. In summer they are exposed to the fierce rays of the sun, become strongly heated, and expand sufficiently to sag. If the wires were stretched taut in the summer, there would not be sufficient leeway for the contraction which accompanies cold weather, and in winter they would snap.
Air expands greatly when heated (Fig. 3), but since air is practically invisible, we are not ordinarily conscious of any change in it. The expansion of air can be readily shown by putting a drop of ink in a thin glass tube, inserting the tube in the cork of a flask, and applying heat to the flask (Fig. 4). The ink is forced up the tube by the expanding air. Even the warmth of the hand is generally sufficient to cause the drop to rise steadily in the tube. The rise of the drop of ink shows that the air in the flask occupies more space than formerly, and since the quantity of air has not changed, each cubic inch of space must hold less warm air than it held of cold air; that is, one cubic inch of warm air weighs less than one cubic inch of cold air, or warm air is less dense than cold air. All gases, if not confined, expand when heated and contract as they cool. Heat, in general, causes substances to expand or become less dense.
3. Amount of Expansion and Contraction. While most substances expand when heated and contract when cooled, they are not all affected equally by the same changes in temperature. Alcohol expands more than water, and water more than mercury. Steel wire which measures 1/4 mile on a snowy day will gain 25 inches in length on a warm summer day, and an aluminum wire under the same conditions would gain 50 inches in length.
4. Advantages and Disadvantages of Expansion and Contraction. We owe the snug fit of metal tires and bands to the expansion and contraction resulting from heating and cooling. The tire of a wagon wheel is made slightly smaller than the wheel which it is to protect; it is then put into a very hot fire and heated until it has expanded sufficiently to slip on the wheel. As the tire cools it contracts and fits the wheel closely.
In a railroad, spaces are usually left between consecutive rails in order to allow for expansion during the summer.
The unsightly cracks and humps in cement floors are sometimes due to the expansion resulting from heat (Fig. 5). Cracking from this cause can frequently be avoided by cutting the soft cement into squares, the spaces between them giving opportunity for expansion just as do the spaces between the rails of railroads.
In the construction of long wire fences provision must be made for tightening the wire in summer, otherwise great sagging would occur.
Heat plays an important part in the splitting of rocks and in the formation of debris. Rocks in exposed places are greatly affected by changes in temperature, and in regions where the changes in temperature are sudden, severe, and frequent, the rocks are not able to withstand the strain of expansion and contraction, and as a result crack and split. In the Sahara Desert much crumbling of the rock into sand has been caused by the intense heat of the day followed by the sharp frost of night. The heat of the day causes the rocks to expand, and the cold of night causes them to contract, and these two forces constantly at work loosen the grains of the rock and force them out of place, thus producing crumbling.
The surface of the rock is the most exposed part, and during the day the surface, heated by the sun's rays, expands and becomes too large for the interior, and crumbling and splitting result from the strain. With the sudden fall of temperature in the late afternoon and night, the surface of the rock becomes greatly chilled and colder than the rock beneath; the surface rock therefore contracts and shrinks more than the underlying rock, and again crumbling results (Fig. 6).
On bare mountains, the heating and cooling effects of the sun are very striking(Fig. 7); the surface of many a mountain peak is covered with cracked rock so insecure that a touch or step will dislodge the fragments and start them down the mountain slope. The lower levels of mountains are frequently buried several feet under debris which has been formed in this way from higher peaks, and which has slowly accumulated at the lower levels.
5. Temperature. When an object feels hot to the touch, we say that it has a high temperature; when it feels cold to the touch, that it has a low temperature; but we are not accurate judges of heat. Ice water seems comparatively warm after eating ice cream, and yet we know that ice water is by no means warm. A room may seem warm to a person who has been walking in the cold air, while it may feel decidedly cold to some one who has come from a warmer room. If the hand is cold, lukewarm water feels hot, but if the hand has been in very hot water and is then transferred to lukewarm water, the latter will seem cold. We see that the sensation or feeling of warmth is not an accurate guide to the temperature of a substance; and yet until 1592, one hundred years after the discovery of America, people relied solely upon their sensations for the measurement of temperature. Very hot substances cannot be touched without injury, and hence inconvenience as well as the necessity for accuracy led to the invention of the thermometer, an instrument whose operation depends upon the fact that most substances expand when heated and contract when cooled.
6. The Thermometer. The modern thermometer consists of a glass tube at the lower end of which is a bulb filled with mercury or colored alcohol (Fig. 8). After the bulb has been filled with the mercury, it is placed in a beaker of water and the water is heated by a Bunsen burner. As the water becomes warmer and warmer the level of the mercury in the tube steadily rises until the water boils, when the level remains stationary (Fig. 9). A scratch is made on the tube to indicate the point to which the mercury rises when the bulb is placed in boiling water, and this point is marked 212 deg.. The tube is then removed from the boiling water, and after cooling for a few minutes, it is placed in a vessel containing finely chopped ice (Fig. 10). The mercury column falls rapidly, but finally remains stationary, and at this level another scratch is made on the tube and the point is marked 32 deg.. The space between these two points, which represent the temperatures of boiling water and of melting ice, is divided into 180 equal parts called degrees. The thermometer in use in the United States is marked in this way and is called the Fahrenheit thermometer after its designer. Before the degrees are etched on the thermometer the open end of the tube is sealed.
The Centigrade thermometer, in use in foreign countries and in all scientific work, is similar to the Fahrenheit except that the fixed points are marked 100 deg. and 0 deg., and the interval between the points is divided into 100 equal parts instead of into 180.
The boiling point of water is 212 deg. F. or 100 deg. C.
The melting point of ice is 32 deg. F. or 0 deg. C.
Glass thermometers of the above type are the ones most generally used, but there are many different types for special purposes.
7. Some Uses of a Thermometer. One of the chief values of a thermometer is the service it has rendered to medicine. If a thermometer is held for a few minutes under the tongue of a normal, healthy person, the mercury will rise to about 98.4 deg. F. If the temperature of the body registers several degrees above or below this point, a physician should be consulted immediately. The temperature of the body is a trustworthy indicator of general physical condition; hence in all hospitals the temperature of patients is carefully taken at stated intervals.
Commercially, temperature readings are extremely important. In sugar refineries the temperature of the heated liquids is observed most carefully, since a difference in temperature, however slight, affects not only the general appearance of sugars and sirups, but the quality as well. The many varieties of steel likewise show the influence which heat may have on the nature of a substance. By observation and tedious experimentation it has been found that if hardened steel is heated to about 450 deg. F. and quickly cooled, it gives the fine cutting edge of razors; if it is heated to about 500 deg. F. and then cooled, the metal is much coarser and is suitable for shears and farm implements; while if it is heated but 50 deg. F. higher, that is, to 550 deg. F., it gives the fine elastic steel of watch springs.
A thermometer could be put to good use in every kitchen; the inexperienced housekeeper who cannot judge of the "heat" of the oven would be saved bad bread, etc., if the thermometer were a part of her equipment. The thermometer can also be used in detecting adulterants. Butter should melt at 94 deg. F.; if it does not, you may be sure that it is adulterated with suet or other cheap fat. Olive oil should be a clear liquid above 75 deg. F.; if, above this temperature, it looks cloudy, you may be sure that it too is adulterated with fat.
8. Methods of Heating Buildings. Open Fireplaces and Stoves. Before the time of stoves and furnaces, man heated his modest dwelling by open fires alone. The burning logs gave warmth to the cabin and served as a primitive cooking agent; and the smoke which usually accompanies burning bodies was carried away by means of the chimney. But in an open fireplace much heat escapes with the smoke and is lost, and only a small portion streams into the room and gives warmth.
When fuel is placed in an open fireplace (Fig. 12) and lighted, the air immediately surrounding the fire becomes warmer and, because of expansion, becomes lighter than the cold air above. The cold air, being heavier, falls and forces the warmer air upward, and along with the warm air goes the disagreeable smoke. The fall of the colder and heavier air, and the rise of the warmer and hence lighter air, is similar to the exchange which takes place when water is poured on oil; the water, being heavier than oil, sinks to the bottom and forces the oil to the surface. The warmer air which escapes up the chimney carries with it the disagreeable smoke, and when all the smoke is got rid of in this way, the chimney is said to draw well.
As the air is heated by the fire it expands, and is pushed up the chimney by the cold air which is constantly entering through loose windows and doors. Open fireplaces are very healthful because the air which is driven out is impure, while the air which rushes in is fresh and brings oxygen to the human being.
But open fireplaces, while pleasant to look at, are not efficient for either heating or cooking. The possibilities for the latter are especially limited, and the invention of stoves was a great advance in efficiency, economy, and comfort. A stove is a receptacle for fire, provided with a definite inlet for air and a definite outlet for smoke, and able to radiate into the room most of the heat produced from the fire which burns within. The inlet, or draft, admits enough air to cause the fire to burn brightly or slowly as the case may be. If we wish a hot fire, the draft is opened wide and enough air enters to produce a strong glow. If we wish a low fire, the inlet is only partially opened, and just enough air enters to keep the fuel smoldering.
When the fire is started, the damper should be opened wide in order to allow the escape of smoke; but after the fire is well started there is less smoke, and the damper may be partly closed. If the damper is kept open, coal is rapidly consumed, and the additional heat passes out through the chimney, and is lost to use.
9. Furnaces. Hot Air. The labor involved in the care of numerous stoves is considerable, and hence the advent of a central heating stove, or furnace, was a great saving in strength and fuel. A furnace is a stove arranged as in Figure 13. The stove S, like all other stoves, has an inlet for air and an outlet C for smoke; but in addition, it has built around it a chamber in which air circulates and is warmed. The air warmed by the stove is forced upward by cold air which enters from outside. For example, cold air constantly entering at E drives the air heated by S through pipes and ducts to the rooms to be heated.
The metal pipes which convey the heated air from the furnace to the ducts are sometimes covered with felt, asbestos, or other non-conducting material in order that heat may not be lost during transmission. The ducts which receive the heated air from the pipes are built in the non-conducting walls of the house, and hence lose practically no heat. The air which reaches halls and rooms is therefore warm, in spite of its long journey from the cellar.
Not only houses are warmed by a central heating stove, but whole communities sometimes depend upon a central heating plant. In the latter case, pipes closely wrapped with a non-conducting material carry steam long distances underground to heat remote buildings. Overbrook and Radnor, Pa., are towns in which such a system is used.
10. Hot-water Heating. The heated air which rises from furnaces is seldom hot enough to warm large buildings well; hence furnace heating is being largely supplanted by hot-water heating.
The principle of hot-water heating is shown by the following simple experiment. Two flasks and two tubes are arranged as in Figure 15, the upper flask containing a colored liquid and the lower flask clear water. If heat is applied to B, one can see at the end of a few seconds the downward circulation of the colored liquid and the upward circulation of the clear water. If we represent a boiler by B, a radiator by the coiled tube, and a safety tank by C, we shall have a very fair illustration of the principle of a hot-water heating system. The hot water in the radiators cools and, in cooling, gives up its heat to the rooms and thus warms them.
In hot-water heating systems, fresh air is not brought to the rooms, for the radiators are closed pipes containing hot water. It is largely for this reason that thoughtful people are careful to raise windows at intervals. Some systems of hot-water heating secure ventilation by confining the radiators to the basement, to which cold air from outside is constantly admitted in such a way that it circulates over the radiators and becomes strongly heated. This warm fresh air then passes through ordinary flues to the rooms above.
In Figure 16, a radiator is shown in a boxlike structure in the cellar. Fresh air from outside enters a flue at the right, passes the radiator, where it is warmed, and then makes its way to the room through a flue at the left. The warm air which thus enters the room is thoroughly fresh. The actual labor involved in furnace heating and in hot-water heating is practically the same, since coal must be fed to the fire, and ashes must be removed; but the hot-water system has the advantage of economy and cleanliness.
11. Fresh Air. Fresh air is essential to normal healthy living, and 2000 cubic feet of air per hour is desirable for each individual. If a gentle breeze is blowing, a barely perceptible opening of a window will give the needed amount, even if there are no additional drafts of fresh air into the room through cracks. Most houses are so loosely constructed that fresh air enters imperceptibly in many ways, and whether we will or no, we receive some fresh air. The supply is, however, never sufficient in itself and should not be depended upon alone. At night, or at any other time when gas lights are required, the need for ventilation increases, because every gas light in a room uses up the same amount of air as four people.
In the preceding Section, we learned that many houses heated by hot water are supplied with fresh-air pipes which admit fresh air into separate rooms or into suites of rooms. In some cases the amount which enters is so great that the air in a room is changed three or four times an hour. The constant inflow of cold air and exit of warm air necessitates larger radiators and more hot water and hence more coal to heat the larger quantity of water, but the additional expense is more than compensated by the gain in health.
12. Winds and Currents. The gentlest summer breezes and the fiercest blasts of winter are produced by the unequal heating of air. We have seen that the air nearest to a stove or hot object becomes hotter than the adjacent air, that it tends to expand and is replaced and pushed upward and outward by colder, heavier air falling downward. We have learned also that the moving liquid or gas carries with it heat which it gradually gives out to surrounding bodies.
When a liquid or a gas moves away from a hot object, carrying heat with it, the process is called convection.
Convection is responsible for winds and ocean currents, for land and sea breezes, and other daily phenomena.
The Gulf Stream illustrates the transference of heat by convection. A large body of water is strongly heated at the equator, and then moves away, carrying heat with it to distant regions, such as England and Norway.
Owing to the shape of the earth and its position with respect to the sun, different portions of the earth are unequally heated. In those portions where the earth is greatly heated, the air likewise will be heated; there will be a tendency for the air to rise, and for the cold air from surrounding regions to rush in to fill its place. In this way winds are produced. There are many circumstances which modify winds and currents, and it is not always easy to explain their direction and velocity, but one very definite cause is the unequal heating of the surface of the earth.
13. Conduction. A poker used in stirring a fire becomes hot and heats the hand grasping the poker, although only the opposite end of the poker has actually been in the fire. Heat from the fire passed into the poker, traveled along it, and warmed it. When heat flows in this way from a warm part of a body to a colder part, the process is called conduction. A flatiron is heated by conduction, the heat from the warm stove passing into the cold flatiron and gradually heating it.
In convection, air and water circulate freely, carrying heat with them; in conduction, heat flows from a warm region toward a cold region, but there is no apparent motion of any kind.
Heat travels more readily through some substances than through others. All metals conduct heat well; irons placed on the fire become heated throughout and cannot be grasped with the bare hand; iron utensils are frequently made with wooden handles, because wood is a poor conductor and does not allow heat from the iron to pass through it to the hand. For the same reason a burning match may be held without discomfort until the flame almost reaches the hand.
Stoves and radiators are made of metal, because metals conduct heat readily, and as fast as heat is generated within the stove by the burning of fuel, or introduced into the radiator by the hot water, the heat is conducted through the metal and escapes into the room.
Hot-water pipes and steam pipes are usually wrapped with a non-conducting substance, or insulator, such as asbestos, in order that the heat may not escape, but shall be retained within the pipes until it reaches the radiators within the rooms.
The invention of the "Fireless Cooker" depended in part upon the principle of non-conduction. Two vessels, one inside the other, are separated by sawdust, asbestos, or other poor conducting material (Fig. 18). Foods are heated in the usual way to the boiling point or to a high temperature, and are then placed in the inner vessel. The heat of the food cannot escape through the non-conducting material which surrounds it, and hence remains in the food and slowly cooks it.
A very interesting experiment for the testing of the efficacy of non-conductors may be easily performed. Place hot water in a metal vessel, and note by means of a thermometer the rapidity with which the water cools; then place water of the same temperature in a second metal vessel similar to the first, but surrounded by asbestos or other non-conducting material, and note the slowness with which the temperature falls.
Chemical Change, an Effect of Heat. This effect of heat has a vital influence on our lives, because the changes which take place when food is cooked are due to it. The doughy mass which goes into the oven, comes out a light spongy loaf; the small indigestible rice grain comes out the swollen, fluffy, digestible grain. Were it not for the chemical changes brought about by heat, many of our present foods would be useless to man. Hundreds of common materials like glass, rubber, iron, aluminum, etc., are manufactured by processes which involve chemical action caused by heat.
CHAPTER II
TEMPERATURE AND HEAT
14. Temperature not a Measure of the Amount of Heat Present. If two similar basins containing unequal quantities of water are placed in the sunshine on a summer day, the smaller quantity of water will become quite warm in a short period of time, while the larger quantity will become only lukewarm. Both vessels receive the same amount of heat from the sun, but in one case the heat is utilized in heating to a high temperature a small quantity of water, while in the second case the heat is utilized in warming to a lower degree a larger quantity of water. Equal amounts of heat do not necessarily produce equivalent temperatures, and equal temperatures do not necessarily indicate equal amounts of heat. It takes more heat to raise a gallon of water to the boiling point than it does to raise a pint of water to the boiling point, but a thermometer would register the same temperature in the two cases. The temperature of boiling water is 100 deg. C. whether there is a pint of it or a gallon. Temperature is independent of the quantity of matter present; but the amount of heat contained in a substance at any temperature is not independent of quantity, being greater in the larger quantity.
15. The Unit of Heat. It is necessary to have a unit of heat just as we have a unit of length, or a unit of mass, or a unit of time. One unit of heat is called a calorie, and is the amount of heat which will change the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 deg. C. It is the amount of heat given out by 1 gram of water when its temperature falls 1 deg. C., or the amount of heat absorbed by 1 gram of water when its temperature rises 1 deg. C. If 400 grams of water are heated from 0 deg. to 5 deg. C., the amount of heat which has entered the water is equivalent to 5 x 400 or 2000 calories; if 200 grams of water cool from 25 deg. to 20 deg. C., the heat given out by the water is equivalent to 5 x 200 or 1000 calories.
16. Some Substances Heat more readily than Others. If two equal quantities of water at the same temperature are exposed to the sun for the same length of time, their final temperatures will be the same. If, however, equal quantities of different substances are exposed, the temperatures resulting from the heating will not necessarily be the same. If a basin containing 1 lb. of mercury is put on the fire, side by side with a basin containing an equal quantity of water, the temperatures of the two substances will vary greatly at the end of a short time. The mercury will have a far higher temperature than the water, in spite of the fact that the amount of mercury is as great as the amount of water and that the heat received from the fire has been the same in each case. Mercury is not so difficult to heat as water; less heat being required to raise its temperature 1 deg. than is required to raise the temperature of an equal quantity of water 1 deg.. In fact, mercury is 30 times as easy to heat as water, and it requires only one thirtieth as much fire to heat a given quantity of mercury 1 deg. as to heat the same quantity of water 1 deg..
17. Specific Heat. We know that different substances are differently affected by heat. Some substances, like water, change their temperature slowly when heated; others, like mercury, change their temperature very rapidly when heated. The number of calories needed by 1 gram of a substance in order that its temperature may be increased 1 deg. C. is called the specific heat of a substance; or, specific heat is the number of calories given out by 1 gram of a substance when its temperature falls 1 deg. C. For experiments on the determination of specific heat, see Laboratory Manual.
Water has the highest specific heat of any known substance except hydrogen; that is, it requires more heat to raise the temperature of water a definite number of degrees than it does to raise the temperature of an equal amount of any other substance the same number of degrees. Practically this same thing can be stated in another way: Water in cooling gives out more heat than any other substance in cooling through the same number of degrees. For this reason water is used in foot warmers and in hot-water bags. If a copper lid were used as a foot warmer, it would give the feet only .095 as much heat as an equal weight of water; a lead weight only .031 as much heat as water. Flatirons are made of iron because of the relatively high specific heat of iron. The flatiron heats slowly and cools slowly, and, because of its high specific heat, not only supplies the laundress with considerable heat, but eliminates for her the frequent changing of the flatiron.
18. Water and Weather. About four times as much heat is required to heat a given quantity of water one degree as to heat an equal quantity of earth. In summer, when the rocks and the sand along the shore are burning hot, the ocean and lakes are pleasantly cool, although the amount of heat present in the water is as great as that present in the earth. In winter, long after the rocks and sand have given out their heat and have become cold, the water continues to give out the vast store of heat accumulated during the summer. This explains why lands situated on or near large bodies of water usually have less variation in temperature than inland regions. In the summer the water cools the region; in the winter, on the contrary, the water heats the region, and hence extremes of temperature are practically unknown.
19. Sources of Heat. Most of the heat which we enjoy and use we owe to the sun. The wood which blazes on the hearth, the coal which glows in the furnace, and the oil which burns in the stove owe their existence to the sun.
Without the warmth of the sun seeds could not sprout and develop into the mighty trees which yield firewood. Even coal, which lies buried thousands of feet below the earth's surface, owes its existence in part to the sun. Coal is simply buried vegetation,—vegetation which sprouted and grew under the influence of the sun's warm rays. Ages ago trees and bushes grew "thick and fast," and the ground was always covered with a deep layer of decaying vegetable matter. In time some of this vast supply sank into the moist soil and became covered with mud. Then rock formed, and the rock pressed down upon the sunken vegetation. The constant pressure, the moisture in the ground, and heat affected the underground vegetable mass, and slowly changed it into coal.
The buried forest and thickets were not all changed into coal. Some were changed into oil and gas. Decaying animal matter was often mixed with the vegetable mass. When the mingled animal and vegetable matter sank into moist earth and came under the influence of pressure, it was slowly changed into oil and gas.
The heat of our bodies comes from the foods which we eat. Fruits, grain, etc., could not grow without the warmth and the light of the sun. The animals which supply our meats likewise depend upon the sun for light and warmth.
The sun, therefore, is the great source of heat; whether it is the heat which comes directly from the sun and warms the atmosphere, or the heat which comes from burning coal, wood, and oil.
CHAPTER III
OTHER FACTS ABOUT HEAT
20. Boiling. Heat absorbed in Boiling. If a kettle of water is placed above a flame, the temperature of the water gradually increases, and soon small bubbles form at the bottom of the kettle and begin to rise through the water. At first the bubbles do not get far in their ascent, but disappear before they reach the surface; later, as the water gets hotter and hotter, the bubbles become larger and more numerous, rise higher and higher, and finally reach the surface and pass from the water into the air; steam comes from the vessel, and the water is said to boil. The temperature at which a liquid boils is called the boiling point.
While the water is heating, the temperature steadily rises, but as soon as the water begins to boil the thermometer reading becomes stationary and does not change, no matter how hard the water boils and in spite of the fact that heat from the flame is constantly passing into the water.
If the flame is removed from the boiling water for but a second, the boiling ceases; if the flame is replaced, the boiling begins again immediately. Unless heat is constantly supplied, water at the boiling point cannot be transformed into steam.
The number of calories which must be supplied to 1 gram of water at the boiling point in order to change it into steam at the same temperature is called the heat of vaporization; it is the heat necessary to change 1 gram of water at the boiling point into steam of the same temperature.
21. The Amount of Heat Absorbed. The amount of heat which must be constantly supplied to water at the boiling point in order to change it into steam is far greater than we realize. If we put a beaker of ice water (water at 0 deg. C.) over a steady flame, and note (1) the time which elapses before the water begins to boil, and (2) the time which elapses before the boiling water completely boils away, we shall see that it takes about 5-1/4 times as long to change water into steam as it does to change its temperature from 0 deg. C. to 100 deg. C. Since, with a steady flame, it takes 5-1/4 times as long to change water into steam as it does to change its temperature from 0 deg. C. to the boiling point, we conclude that it takes 5-1/4 times as much heat to convert water at the boiling point into steam as it does to raise it from the temperature of ice water to that of boiling water.
The amount of heat necessary to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 deg. C. is equal to 1 calorie, and the amount necessary to raise the temperature 100 deg. C. is equal to 100 calories; hence the amount of heat necessary to convert 1 gram of water at the boiling point into steam at that same temperature is equal to approximately 525 calories. Very careful experiments show the exact heat of vaporization to be 536.1 calories. (See Laboratory Manual.)
22. General Truths. Statements similar to the above hold for other liquids and for solutions. If milk is placed upon a stove, the temperature rises steadily until the boiling point is reached; further heating produces, not a change in temperature, but a change of the water of the milk into steam. As soon as the milk, or any other liquid food, comes to a boil, the gas flame should be lowered until only an occasional bubble forms, because so long as any bubbles form the temperature is that of the boiling point, and further heat merely results in waste of fuel.
We find by experiment that every liquid has its own specific boiling point; for example, alcohol boils at 78 deg. C. and brine at 103 deg. C. Both specific heat and the heat of vaporization vary with the liquid used.
23. Condensation. If one holds a cold lid in the steam of boiling water, drops of water gather on the lid; the steam is cooled by contact with the cold lid and condenses into water. Bottles of water brought from a cold cellar into a warm room become covered with a mist of fine drops of water, because the moisture in the air, chilled by contact with the cold bottles, immediately condenses into drops of water. Glasses filled with ice water show a similar mist.
In Section 21, we saw that 536 calories are required to change 1 gram of water into steam; if, now, the steam in turn condenses into water, it is natural to expect a release of the heat used in transforming water into steam. Experiment shows not only that vapor gives out heat during condensation, but that the amount of heat thus set free is exactly equal to the amount absorbed during vaporization. (See Laboratory Manual.)
We learn that the heat of vaporization is the same whether it is considered as the heat absorbed by 1 gram of water in its change to steam, or as the heat given out by 1 gram of steam during its condensation into water.
24. Practical Application. We understand now the value of steam as a heating agent. Water is heated in a boiler in the cellar, and the steam passes through pipes which run to the various rooms; there the steam condenses into water in the radiators, each gram of steam setting free 536 calories of heat. When we consider the size of the radiators and the large number of grams of steam which they contain, and consider further that each gram in condensing sets free 536 calories, we understand the ease with which buildings are heated by steam.
Most of us have at times profited by the heat of condensation. In cold weather, when there is a roaring fire in the range, the water frequently becomes so hot that it "steams" out of open faucets. If, at such times, the hot water is turned on in a small cold bathroom, and is allowed to run until the tub is well filled, vapor condenses on windows, mirrors, and walls, and the cold room becomes perceptibly warmer. The heat given out by the condensing steam passes into the surrounding air and warms the room.
There is, however, another reason for the rise in temperature. If a large pail of hot soup is placed in a larger pail of cold water, the soup will gradually cool and the cold water will gradually become warmer. A red-hot iron placed on a stand gradually cools, but warms the stand. A hot body loses heat so long as a cooler body is near it; the cold object is heated at the expense of the warmer object, and one loses heat and the other gains heat until the temperature of both is the same. Now the hot water in the tub gradually loses heat and the cold air of the room gradually gains heat by convection, but the amount given the room by convection is relatively small compared with the large amount set free by the condensing steam.
25. Distillation. If impure, muddy water is boiled, drops of water will collect on a cold plate held in the path of the steam, but the drops will be clear and pure. When impure water is boiled, the steam from it does not contain any of the impurities because these are left behind in the vessel. If all the water were allowed to boil away, a layer of mud or of other impurities would be found at the bottom of the vessel. Because of this fact, it is possible to purify water in a very simple way. Place over a fire a large kettle closed except for a spout which is long enough to reach across the stove and dip into a bottle. As the liquid boils, steam escapes through the spout, and on reaching the cold bottle condenses and drops into the bottle as pure water. The impurities remain behind in the kettle. Water freed from impurities in this way is called distilled water, and the process is called distillation (Fig. 19). By this method, the salt water of the ocean may be separated into pure drinking water and salt, and many of the large ocean liners distill from the briny deep all the drinking water used on their ocean voyages.
Commercially, distillation is a very important process. Turpentine, for example, is made by distilling the sap of pine trees. Incisions are cut in the bark of the long-leaf pine trees, and these serve as channels for the escape of crude resin. This crude liquid is collected in barrels and taken to a distillery, where it is distilled into turpentine and rosin. The turpentine is the product which passes off as vapor, and the rosin is the mass left in the boiler after the distillation of the turpentine.
26. Evaporation. If a stopper is left off a cologne bottle, the contents of the bottle will slowly evaporate; if a dish of water is placed out of doors on a hot day, evaporation occurs very rapidly. The liquids which have disappeared from the bottle and the dish have passed into the surrounding air in the form of vapor. In Section 20, we saw that water could not pass into vapor without the addition of heat; now the heat necessary for the evaporation of the cologne and water was taken from the air, leaving it slightly cooler. If wet hands are not dried with a towel, but are left to dry by evaporation, heat is taken from the hand in the process, leaving a sensation of coolness. Damp clothing should never be worn, because the moisture in it tends to evaporate at the expense of the bodily heat, and this undue loss of heat from the body produces chills. After a bath the body should be well rubbed, otherwise evaporation occurs at the expense of heat which the body cannot ordinarily afford to lose.
Evaporation is a slow process occurring at all times; it is hastened during the summer, because of the large amount of heat present in the atmosphere. Many large cities make use of the cooling effect of evaporation to lower the temperature of the air in summer; streets are sprinkled not only to lay the dust, but in order that the surrounding air may be cooled by the evaporation of the water.
Some thrifty housewives economize by utilizing the cooling effects of evaporation. Butter, cheese, and other foods sensitive to heat are placed in porous vessels wrapped in wet cloths. Rapid evaporation of the water from the wet cloths keeps the contents of the jars cool, and that without expense other than the muscular energy needed for wetting the cloths frequently.
27. Rain, Snow, Frost, Dew. The heat of the sun causes constant evaporation of the waters of oceans, rivers, streams, and marshes, and the water vapor set free by evaporation passes into the air, which becomes charged with vapor or is said to be humid. Constant, unceasing evaporation of our lakes, streams, and pools would mean a steady decrease in the supply of water available for daily use, if the escaped water were all retained by the atmosphere and lost to the earth. But although the escaped vapor mingles with the atmosphere, hovering near the earth's surface, or rising far above the level of the mountains, it does not remain there permanently. When this vapor meets a cold wind or is chilled in any way, condensation takes place, and a mass of tiny drops of water or of small particles of snow is formed. When these drops or particles become large enough, they fall to the earth as rain or snow, and in this way the earth is compensated for the great loss of moisture due to evaporation. Fog is formed when vapor condenses near the surface of the earth, and when the drops are so small that they do not fall but hover in the air, the fog is said "not to lift" or "not to clear."
If ice water is poured into a glass, a mist will form on the outside of the glass. This is because the water vapor in the air becomes chilled by contact with the glass and condenses. Often leaves and grass and sidewalks are so cold that the water vapor in the atmosphere condenses on them, and we say a heavy dew has formed. If the temperature of the air falls to the freezing point while the dew is forming, the vapor is frozen and frost is seen instead of dew.
The daily evaporation of moisture into the atmosphere keeps the atmosphere more or less full of water vapor; but the atmosphere can hold only a definite amount of vapor at a given temperature, and as soon as it contains the maximum amount for that temperature, further evaporation ceases. If clothes are hung out on a damp, murky day they do not dry, because the air contains all the moisture it can hold, and the moisture in the clothes has no chance to evaporate. When the air contains all the moisture it can hold, it is said to be saturated, and if a slight fall in temperature occurs when the air is saturated, condensation immediately begins in the form of rain, snow, or fog. If, however, the air is not saturated, a fall in temperature may occur without producing precipitation. The temperature at which air is saturated and condensation begins is called the dew point.
28. How Chills are Caused. The discomfort we feel in an overcrowded room is partly due to an excess of moisture in the air, resulting from the breathing and perspiration of many persons. The air soon becomes saturated with vapor and cannot take away the perspiration from our bodies, and our clothing becomes moist and our skin tender. When we leave the crowded "tea" or lecture and pass into the colder, drier, outside air, clothes and skin give up their load of moisture through sudden evaporation. But evaporation requires heat, and this heat is taken from our bodies, and a chill results.
Proper ventilation would eliminate much of the physical danger of social events; fresh, dry air should be constantly admitted to crowded rooms in order to replace the air saturated by the breath and perspiration of the occupants.
29. Weather Forecasts. When the air is near the saturation point, the weather is oppressive and is said to be very humid. For comfort and health, the air should be about two thirds saturated. The presence of some water vapor in the air is absolutely necessary to animal and plant life. In desert regions where vapor is scarce the air is so dry that throat trouble accompanied by disagreeable tickling is prevalent; fallen leaves become so dry that they crumble to dust; plants lose their freshness and beauty.
The likelihood of rain or frost is often determined by temperature and humidity. If the air is near saturation and the temperature is falling, it is safe to predict bad weather, because the fall of temperature will probably cause rapid condensation, and hence rain. If, however, the air is not near the saturation point, a fall in temperature will not necessarily produce bad weather.
The measurement of humidity is of far wider importance than the mere forecasting of local weather conditions. The close relation between humidity and health has led many institutions, such as hospitals, schools, and factories, to regulate the humidity of the atmosphere as carefully as they do the temperature. Too great humidity is enervating, and not conducive to either mental or physical exertion; on the other hand, too dry air is equally harmful. In summer the humidity conditions cannot be well regulated, but in winter, when houses are artificially heated, the humidity of a room can be increased by placing pans of water near the registers or on radiators.
30. Heat Needed to Melt Substances. If a spoon is placed in a vessel of hot water for a few seconds and then removed, it will be warmer than before it was placed in the hot water. If a lump of melting ice is placed in the vessel of hot water and then removed, the ice will not be warmer than before, but there will be less of it. The heat of the water has been used in melting the ice, not in changing its temperature.
If, on a bitter cold day, a pail of snow is brought into a warm room and a thermometer is placed in the snow, the temperature rises gradually until 32 deg. F. is reached, when it becomes stationary, and the snow begins to melt. If the pail is put on the fire, the temperature still remains 32 deg.F., but the snow melts more rapidly. As soon as all the snow is completely melted, however, the temperature begins to rise and rises steadily until the water boils, when it again becomes stationary and remains so during the passage of water into vapor.
We see that heat must be supplied to ice at 0 deg. C. or 32 deg. F. in order to change it into water, and further, that the temperature of the mixture does not rise so long as any ice is present, no matter how much heat is supplied. The amount of heat necessary to melt 1 gram of ice is easily calculated. (See Laboratory Manual.)
Heat must be supplied to ice to melt it. On the other hand, water, in freezing, loses heat, and the amount of heat lost by freezing water is exactly equal to the amount of heat absorbed by melting ice.
The number of units of heat required to melt a unit mass of ice is called the heat of fusion of water.
31. Climate. Water, in freezing, loses heat, even though its temperature remains at 0 deg. C. Because water loses heat when it freezes, the presence of large streams of water greatly influences the climate of a region. In winter the heat from the freezing water keeps the temperature of the surrounding higher than it would naturally be, and consequently the cold weather is less severe. In summer water evaporates, heat is taken from the air, and consequently the warm weather is less intense.
32. Molding of Glass and Forging of Iron. The fire which is hot enough to melt a lump of ice may not be hot enough to melt an iron poker; on the other hand, it may be sufficiently hot to melt a tin spoon. Different substances melt, or liquefy, at different temperatures; for example, ice melts at 0 deg. C., and tin at 233 deg. C., while iron requires the relatively high temperature of 1200 deg. C. Most substances have a definite melting or freezing point which never changes so long as the surrounding conditions remain the same.
But while most substances have a definite melting point, some substances do not. If a glass rod is held in a Bunsen burner, it will gradually grow softer and softer, and finally a drop of molten glass will fall from the end of the rod into the fire. The glass did not suddenly become a liquid at a definite temperature; instead it softened gradually, and then melted. While glass is in the soft, yielding, pliable state, it is molded into dishes, bottles, and other useful objects, such as lamp shades, globes, etc. (Fig. 20). If glass melted at a definite temperature, it could not be molded in this way. Iron acts in a similar manner, and because of this property the blacksmith can shape his horseshoes, and the workman can make his engines and other articles of daily service to man.
33. Strange Behavior of Water. One has but to remember that bottles of water burst when they freeze, and that ice floats on water like wood, to know that water expands on freezing or on solidifying. A quantity of water which occupies 100 cubic feet of space will, on becoming ice, need 109 cubic feet of space. On a cold winter night the water sometimes freezes in the water pipes, and the pipes burst. Water is very peculiar in expanding on solidification, because most substances contract on solidifying; gelatin and jelly, for example, contract so much that they shrink from the sides of the dish which contains them.
If water contracted in freezing, ice would be heavier than water and would sink in ponds and lakes as fast as it formed, and our streams and ponds would become masses of solid ice, killing all animal and plant life. But the ice is lighter than water and floats on top, and animals in the water beneath are as free to live and swim as they were in the warm sunny days of summer. The most severe winter cannot freeze a deep lake solid, and in the coldest weather a hole made in the ice will show water beneath the surface. Our ice boats cut and break the ice of the river, and through the water beneath our boats daily ply their way to and fro, independent of winter and its blighting blasts.
While most of us are familiar with the bursting of water pipes on a cold night, few of us realize the influence which freezing water exerts on the character of the land around us.
Water sinks into the ground and, on the approach of winter, freezes, expanding about one tenth of its volume; the expanding ice pushes the earth aside, the force in some cases being sufficient to dislodge even huge rocks. In the early days in New England it was said by the farmers that "rocks grew," because fields cleared of stones in the fall became rock covered with the approach of spring; the rocks and stones hidden underground and unseen in the fall were forced to the surface by the winter's expansion. We have all seen fence posts and bricks pushed out of place because of the heaving of the soil beneath them. Often householders must relay their pavements and walks because of the damage done by freezing water.
The most conspicuous effect of the expansive power of freezing water is seen in rocky or mountainous regions (Fig. 21). Water easily finds entrance into the cracks and crevices of the rocks, where it lodges until frozen; then it expands and acts like a wedge, widening cracks, chiseling off edges, and even breaking rocks asunder. In regions where frequent frosts occur, the destructive action of water works constant changes in the appearance of the land; small cracks and crevices are enlarged, massive rocks are pried up out of position, huge slabs are split off, and particles large and small are forced from the parent rock. The greater part of the debris and rubbish brought down from the mountain slopes by the spring rains owes its origin to the fact that water expands when it freezes.
34. Heat Necessary to Dissolve a Substance. It requires heat to dissolve any substance, just as it requires heat to change ice to water. If a handful of common salt is placed in a small cup of water and stirred with a thermometer, the temperature of the mixture falls several degrees. This is just what one would expect, because the heat needed to liquefy the salt must come from somewhere, and naturally it comes from the water, thereby lowering the temperature of the water. We know very well that potatoes cease boiling if a pinch of salt is put in the water; this is because the temperature of the water has been lowered by the amount of heat necessary to dissolve the salt.
Let some snow or chopped ice be placed in a vessel and mixed with one third its weight of coarse salt; if then a small tube of cold water is placed in this mixture, the water in the test tube will soon freeze solid. As soon as the snow and salt are mixed they melt. The heat necessary for this comes in part from the air and in part from the water in the test tube, and the water in the tube becomes in consequence cold enough to freeze. But the salt mixture does not freeze because its freezing point is far below that of pure water. The use of salt and ice in ice-cream freezers is a practical application of this principle. The heat necessary for melting the mixture of salt and ice is taken from the cream which thus becomes cold enough to freeze.
CHAPTER IV
BURNING OR OXIDATION
35. Why Things Burn. The heat of our bodies comes from the food we eat; the heat for cooking and for warming our houses comes from coal. The production of heat through the burning of coal, or oil, or gas, or wood, is called combustion. Combustion cannot occur without the presence of a substance called oxygen, which exists rather abundantly in the air; that is, one fifth of our atmosphere consists of this substance which we call oxygen. We throw open our windows to allow fresh air to enter, and we take walks in order to breathe the pure air into our lungs. What we need for the energy and warmth of our bodies is the oxygen in the air. Whether we burn gas or wood or coal, the heat which is produced comes from the power which these various substances possess to combine with oxygen. We open the draft of a stove that it may "draw well": that it may secure oxygen for burning. We throw a blanket over burning material to smother the fire: to keep oxygen away from it. Burning, or oxidation, is combining with oxygen, and the more oxygen you add to a fire, the hotter the fire will burn, and the faster. The effect of oxygen on combustion may be clearly seen by thrusting a smoldering splinter into a jar containing oxygen; the smoldering splinter will instantly flare and blaze, while if it is removed from the jar, it loses its flame and again burns quietly. Oxygen for this experiment can be produced in the following way.
36. How to Prepare Oxygen. Mix a small quantity of potassium chlorate with an equal amount of manganese dioxide and place the mixture in a strong test tube. Close the mouth of the tube with a one-hole rubber stopper in which is fitted a long, narrow tube, and clamp the test tube to an iron support, as shown in Figure 22. Fill the trough with water until the shelf is just covered and allow the end of the delivery tube to rest just beneath the hole in the shelf. Fill a medium-sized bottle with water, cover it with a glass plate, invert the bottle in the trough, and then remove the glass plate. Heat the test tube very gently, and when gas bubbles out of the tube, slip the bottle over the opening in the shelf, so that the tube runs into the bottle. The gas will force out the water and will finally fill the bottle. When all the water has been forced out, slip the glass plate under the mouth of the bottle and remove the bottle from the trough. The gas in the bottle is oxygen.
Everywhere in a large city or in a small village, smoke is seen, indicating the presence of fire; hence there must exist a large supply of oxygen to keep all the fires alive. The supply of oxygen needed for the fires of the world comes largely from the atmosphere.
37. Matches. The burning material is ordinarily set on fire by matches, thin strips of wood tipped with sulphur or phosphorus, or both. Phosphorus can unite with oxygen at a fairly low temperature, and if phosphorus is rubbed against a rough surface, the friction produced will raise the temperature of the phosphorus to a point where it can combine with oxygen. The burning phosphorus kindles the wood of the match, and from the burning match the fire is kindled. If you want to convince yourself that friction produces heat, rub a cent vigorously against your coat and note that the cent becomes warm. Matches have been in use less than a hundred years. Primitive man kindled his camp fire by rubbing pieces of dry wood together until they took fire, and this method is said to be used among some isolated distant tribes at the present time. A later and easier way was to strike flint and steel together and to catch the spark thus produced on tinder or dry fungus. Within the memory of some persons now living, the tinder box was a valuable asset to the home, particularly in the pioneer regions of the West.
38. Safety Matches. Ordinary phosphorus, while excellent as a fire-producing material, is dangerously poisonous, and those to whom the dipping of wooden strips into phosphorus is a daily occupation suffer with a terrible disease which usually attacks the teeth and bones of the jaw. The teeth rot and fall out, abscesses form, and bones and flesh begin to decay; the only way to prevent the spread of the disease is to remove the affected bone, and in some instances it has been necessary to remove the entire jaw. Then, too, matches made of yellow or white phosphorus ignite easily, and, when rubbed against any rough surface, are apt to take fire. Many destructive fires have been started by the accidental friction of such matches against rough surfaces.
For these reasons the introduction of the so-called safety match was an important event. When common phosphorus, in the dangerous and easily ignited form, is heated in a closed vessel to about 250 deg. C., it gradually changes to a harmless red mass. The red phosphorus is not only harmless, but it is difficult to ignite, and, in order to be ignited by friction, must be rubbed on a surface rich in oxygen. The head of a safety match is coated with a mixture of glue and oxygen-containing compounds; the surface on which the match is to be rubbed is coated with a mixture of red phosphorus and glue, to which finely powdered glass is sometimes added in order to increase the friction. Unless the head of the match is rubbed on the prepared phosphorus coating, ignition does not occur, and accidental fires are avoided.
Various kinds of safety matches have been manufactured in the last few years, but they are somewhat more expensive than the ordinary form, and hence manufacturers are reluctant to substitute them for the cheaper matches. Some foreign countries, such as Switzerland, prohibit the sale of the dangerous type, and it is hoped that the United States will soon follow the lead of these countries in demanding the sale of safety matches only.
39. Some Unfamiliar Forms of Burning. While most of us think of burning as a process in which flames and smoke occur, there are in reality many modes of burning accompanied by neither flame nor smoke. Iron, for example, burns when it rusts, because it slowly combines with the oxygen of the air and is transformed into new substances. When the air is dry, iron does not unite with oxygen, but when moisture is present in the air, the iron unites with the oxygen and turns into iron rust. The burning is slow and unaccompanied by the fire and smoke so familiar to us, but the process is none the less burning, or combination with oxygen. Burning which is not accompanied by any of the appearances of ordinary burning is known as oxidation.
The tendency of iron to rust lessens its efficiency and value, and many devices have been introduced to prevent rusting. A coating of paint or varnish is sometimes applied to iron in order to prevent contact with air. The galvanizing of iron is another attempt to secure the same result; in this process iron is dipped into molten zinc, thereby acquiring a coating of zinc, and forming what is known as galvanized iron. Zinc does not combine with oxygen under ordinary circumstances, and hence galvanized iron is immune from rust.
Decay is a process of oxidation; the tree which rots slowly away is undergoing oxidation, and the result of the slow burning is the decomposed matter which we see and the invisible gases which pass into the atmosphere. The log which blazes on our hearth gives out sufficient heat to warm us; the log which decays in the forest gives out an equivalent amount of heat, but the heat is evolved so slowly that we are not conscious of it. Burning accompanied by a blaze and intense heat is a rapid process; burning unaccompanied by fire and appreciable heat is a slow, gradual process, requiring days, weeks, and even long years for its completion.
Another form of oxidation occurs daily in the human body. In Section 35 we saw that the human body is an engine whose fuel is food; the burning of that food in the body furnishes the heat necessary for bodily warmth and the energy required for thought and action. Oxygen is essential to burning, and the food fires within the body are kept alive by the oxygen taken into the body at every breath by the lungs. We see now one reason for an abundance of fresh air in daily life.
40. How to Breathe. Air, which is essential to life and health, should enter the body through the nose and not through the mouth. The peculiar nature and arrangement of the membranes of the nose enable the nostrils to clean, and warm, and moisten the air which passes through them to the lungs. Floating around in the atmosphere are dust particles which ought not to get into the lungs. The nose is provided with small hairs and a moist inner membrane which serve as filters in removing solid particles from the air, and in thus purifying it before its entrance into the lungs.
In the immediate neighborhood of three Philadelphia high schools, having an approximate enrollment of over 8000 pupils, is a huge manufacturing plant which day and night pours forth grimy smoke and soot into the atmosphere which must supply oxygen to this vast group of young lives. If the vital importance of nose breathing is impressed upon these young people, the harmful effect of the foul air may be greatly lessened, the smoke particles and germs being held back by the nose filters and never reaching the lungs. If, however, this principle of hygiene is not brought to their attention, the dangerous habit of breathing through the open, or at least partially open, mouth will continue, and objectionable matter will pass through the mouth and find a lodging place in the lungs.
There is another very important reason why nose breathing is preferable to mouth breathing. The temperature of the human body is approximately 98 deg. F., and the air which enters the lungs should not be far below this temperature. If air reaches the lungs through the nose, its journey is relatively long and slow, and there is opportunity for it to be warmed before it reaches the lungs. If, on the other hand, air passes to the lungs by way of the mouth, the warming process is brief and insufficient, and the lungs suffer in consequence. Naturally, the gravest danger is in winter.
41. Cause of Mouth Breathing. Some people find it difficult to breathe through the nostrils on account of growths, called adenoids, in the nose. If you have a tendency toward mouth breathing, let a physician examine your nose and throat.
Adenoids not only obstruct breathing and weaken the whole system through lack of adequate air, but they also press upon the blood vessels and nerves of the head and interfere with normal brain development. Moreover, they interfere in many cases with the hearing, and in general hinder activity and growth. The removal of adenoids is simple, and carries with it only temporary pain and no danger. Some physicians claim that the growths disappear in later years, but even if that is true, the physical and mental development of earlier years is lost, and the person is backward in the struggle for life and achievement.
42. How to Build a Fire. Substances differ greatly as to the ease with which they may be made to burn or, in technical terms, with which they may be made to unite with oxygen. For this reason, we put light materials, like shavings, chips, and paper, on the grate, twisting the latter and arranging it so that air (oxygen in the air) can reach a large surface; upon this we place small sticks of wood, piling them across each other so as to allow entrance for the oxygen; and finally upon this we place our hard wood or coal.
The coal and the large sticks cannot be kindled with a match, but the paper and shavings can, and these in burning will heat the large sticks until they take fire and in turn kindle the coal.
43. Spontaneous Combustion. We often hear of fires "starting themselves," and sometimes the statement is true. If a pile of oily rags is allowed to stand for a time, the oily matter will begin to combine slowly with oxygen and as a result will give off heat. The heat thus given off is at first insufficient to kindle a fire; but as the heat is retained and accumulated, the temperature rises, and finally the kindling point is reached and the whole mass bursts into flames. For safety's sake, all oily cloths should be burned or kept in metal vessels.
44. The Treatment of Burns. In spite of great caution, burns from fires, steam, or hot water do sometimes occur, and it is well to know how to relieve the suffering caused by them and how to treat the injury in order to insure rapid healing.
Burns are dangerous because they destroy skin and thus open up an entrance into the body for disease germs, and in addition because they lay bare nerve tissue which thereby becomes irritated and causes a shock to the entire system.
In mild burns, where the skin is not broken but is merely reddened, an application of moist baking soda brings immediate relief. If this substance is not available, flour paste, lard, sweet oil, or vaseline may be used.
In more severe burns, where blisters are formed, the blisters should be punctured with a sharp, sterilized needle and allowed to discharge their watery contents before the above remedies are applied.
In burns severe enough to destroy the skin, disinfection of the open wound with weak carbolic acid or hydrogen peroxide is very necessary. After this has been done, a soft cloth soaked in a solution of linseed oil and limewater should be applied and the whole bandaged. In such a case, it is important not to use cotton batting, since this sticks to the rough surface and causes pain when removed.
45. Carbon Dioxide. _A Product of Burning._ When any fuel, such as coal, gas, oil, or wood, burns, it sends forth gases into the surrounding atmosphere. These gases, like air, are invisible, and were unknown to us for a long time. The chief gas formed by a burning substance is called carbon dioxide (CO_2) because it is composed of one part of carbon and two parts of oxygen. This gas has the distinction of being the most widely distributed gaseous compound of the entire world; it is found in the ocean depths and on the mountain heights, in brilliantly lighted rooms, and most abundantly in manufacturing towns where factory chimneys constantly pour forth hot gases and smoke.
Wood and coal, and in fact all animal and vegetable matter, contain carbon, and when these substances burn or decay, the carbon in them unites with oxygen and forms carbon dioxide.
The food which we eat is either animal or vegetable, and it is made ready for bodily use by a slow process of burning within the body; carbon dioxide accompanies this bodily burning of food just as it accompanies the fires with which we are more familiar. The carbon dioxide thus produced within the body escapes into the atmosphere with the breath.
We see that the source of carbon dioxide is practically inexhaustible, coming as it does from every stove, furnace, and candle, and further with every breath of a living organism.
46. Danger of Carbon Dioxide. When carbon dioxide occurs in large quantities, it is dangerous to health, because it interferes with normal breathing, lessening the escape of waste matter through the breath and preventing the access to the lungs of the oxygen necessary for life. Carbon dioxide is not poisonous, but it cuts off the supply of oxygen, just as water cuts it off from a drowning man.
Since every man, woman, and child constantly breathes forth carbon dioxide, the danger in overcrowded rooms is great, and proper ventilation is of vital importance.
47. Ventilation. In estimating the quantity of air necessary to keep a room well aired, we must take into account the number of lights (electric lights do not count) to be used, and the number of people to occupy the room. The average house should provide at the minimum 600 cubic feet of space for each person, and in addition, arrangements for allowing at least 300 cubic feet of fresh air per person to enter every hour.
In houses which have not a ventilating system, the air should be kept fresh by intelligent action in the opening of doors and windows; and since relatively few houses are equipped with a satisfactory system, the following suggestions relative to intelligent ventilation are offered.
1. Avoid drafts in ventilation.
2. Ventilate on the sheltered side of the house. If the wind is blowing from the north, open south windows.
48. What Becomes of the Carbon Dioxide. When we reflect that carbon dioxide is constantly being supplied to the atmosphere and that it is injurious to health, the question naturally arises as to how the air remains free enough of the gas to support life. This is largely because carbon dioxide is an essential food of plants. Through their leaves plants absorb it from the atmosphere, and by a wonderful process break it up into its component parts, oxygen and carbon. They reject the oxygen, which passes back to the air, but they retain the carbon, which becomes a part of the plant structure. Plants thus serve to keep the atmosphere free from an excess of carbon dioxide and, in addition, furnish oxygen to the atmosphere.
49. How to Obtain Carbon Dioxide. There are several ways in which carbon dioxide can be produced commercially, but for laboratory use the simplest is to mix in a test tube powdered marble, or chalk, and hydrochloric acid, and to collect the effervescing gas as shown in Figure 24. The substance which remains in the test tube after the gas has passed off is a solution of a salt and water. From a mixture of hydrochloric acid (HCl) and marble are obtained a salt, water, and carbon dioxide, the desired gas.
50. A Commercial Use of Carbon Dioxide. If a lighted splinter is thrust into a test tube containing carbon dioxide, it is promptly extinguished, because carbon dioxide cannot support combustion; if a stream of carbon dioxide and water falls upon a fire, it acts like a blanket, covering the flames and extinguishing them. The value of a fire extinguisher depends upon the amount of carbon dioxide and water which it can furnish. A fire extinguisher is a metal case containing a solution of bicarbonate of soda, and a glass vessel full of strong sulphuric acid. As long as the extinguisher is in an upright position, these substances are kept separate, but when the extinguisher is inverted, the acid escapes from the bottle, and mixes with the soda solution. The mingling liquids interact and liberate carbon dioxide. A part of the gas thus liberated dissolves in the water of the soda solution and escapes from the tube with the outflowing liquid, while a portion remains undissolved and escapes as a stream of gas. The fire extinguisher is therefore the source of a liquid containing the fire-extinguishing substance and further the source of a stream of carbon dioxide gas.
51. Carbon. Although carbon dioxide is very injurious to health, both of the substances of which it is composed are necessary to life. We ourselves, our bones and flesh in particular, are partly carbon, and every animal, no matter how small or insignificant, contains some carbon; while the plants around us, the trees, the grass, the flowers, contain a by no means meager quantity of carbon.
Carbon plays an important and varied role in our life, and, in some one of its many forms, enters into the composition of most of the substances which are of service and value to man. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, the wood and coal we burn, the marble we employ in building, the indispensable soap, and the ornamental diamond, all contain carbon in some form.
52. Charcoal. One of the most valuable forms of carbon is charcoal; valuable not in the sense that it costs hundreds of dollars, but in the more vital sense, that its use adds to the cleanliness, comfort, and health of man.
The foul, bad-smelling gases which arise from sewers can be prevented from escaping and passing to streets and buildings by placing charcoal filters at the sewer exits. Charcoal is porous and absorbs foul gases, and thus keeps the region surrounding sewers sweet and clean and free of odor. Good housekeepers drop small bits of charcoal into vases of flowers to prevent discoloration of the water and the odor of decaying stems.
If impure water filters through charcoal, it emerges pure, having left its impurities in the pores of the charcoal. Practically all household filters of drinking water are made of charcoal. But such a device may be a source of disease instead of a prevention of disease, unless the filter is regularly cleaned or renewed. This is because the pores soon become clogged with the impurities, and unless they are cleaned, the water which flows through the filter passes through a bed of impurities and becomes contaminated rather than purified. Frequent cleansing or renewal of the filter removes this difficulty.
Commercially, charcoal is used on a large scale in the refining of sugars, sirups, and oils. Sugar, whether it comes from the maple tree, or the sugar cane, or the beet, is dark colored. It is whitened by passage through filters of finely pulverized charcoal. Cider and vinegar are likewise cleared by passage through charcoal.
The value of carbon, in the form of charcoal, as a purifier is very great, whether we consider it a deodorizer, as in the case of the sewage, or a decolorizer, as in the case of the refineries, or whether we consider the service it has rendered man in the elimination of danger from drinking water.
53. How Charcoal is Made. Charcoal may be made by heating wood in an oven to which air does not have free access. The absence of air prevents ordinary combustion, nevertheless the intense heat affects the wood and changes it into new substances, one of which is charcoal.
The wood which smolders on the hearth and in the stove is charcoal in the making. Formerly wood was piled in heaps, covered with sod or sand to prevent access of oxygen, and then was set fire to; the smoldering wood, cut off from an adequate supply of air, was slowly transformed into charcoal. Scattered over the country one still finds isolated charcoal kilns, crude earthen receptacles, in which wood thus deprived of air was allowed to smolder and form charcoal. To-day charcoal is made commercially by piling wood on steel cars and then pushing the cars into strong walled chambers. The chambers are closed to prevent access of air, and heated to a high temperature. The intense heat transforms the wood into charcoal in a few hours. A student can make in the laboratory sufficient charcoal for art lessons by heating in an earthen vessel wood buried in sand. The process will be slow, however, because the heat furnished by a Bunsen burner is not great, and the wood is transformed slowly.
A form of charcoal known as animal charcoal, or bone black, is obtained from the charred remains of animals rather than plants, and may be prepared by burning bones and animal refuse as in the case of the wood.
Destructive Distillation. When wood is burned without sufficient air, it is changed into soft brittle charcoal, which is very different from wood. It weighs only one fourth as much as the original wood. It is evident that much matter must leave the wood during the process of charcoal making. We can prove this by putting some dry shavings in a strong test tube fitted with a delivery tube. When the wood is heated a gas passes off which we may collect and burn. Other substances also come off in gaseous form, but they condense in the water. Among these are wood alcohol, wood tar, and acetic acid. In the older method of charcoal making all these products were lost. Can you give any uses of these substances?
54. Matter and Energy. When wood is burned, a small pile of ashes is left, and we think of the bulk of the wood as destroyed. It is true we have less matter that is available for use or that is visible to sight, but, nevertheless, no matter has been destroyed. The matter of which the wood is composed has merely changed its character, some of it is in the condition of ashes, and some in the condition of invisible gases, such as carbon dioxide, but none of it has been destroyed. It is a principle of science that matter can neither be destroyed nor created; it can only be changed, or transformed, and it is our business to see that we do not heedlessly transform it into substances which are valueless to us and our descendants; as, for example, when our magnificent forests are recklessly wasted. The smoke, gases, and ashes left in the path of a raging forest fire are no compensation to us for the valuable timber destroyed. The sum total of matter has not been changed, but the amount of matter which man can use has been greatly lessened.
The principle just stated embodies one of the fundamental laws of science, called the law of the conservation of matter.
A similar law holds for energy as well. We can transform electric energy into the motion of trolley cars, or we can make use of the energy of streams to turn the wheels of our mills, but in all these cases we are transforming, not creating, energy.
When a ball is fired from a rifle, most of the energy of the gunpowder is utilized in motion, but some is dissipated in producing a flash and a report, and in heat. The energy of the gunpowder has been scattered, but the sum of the various forms of energy is equal to the energy originally stored away in the powder. The better the gun is, the less will be the energy dissipated in smoke and heat and noise.
CHAPTER V
FOOD
55. The Body as a Machine. Wholesome food and fresh air are necessary for a healthy body. Many housewives, through ignorance, supply to their hard-working husbands and their growing sons and daughters food which satisfies the appetite, but which does not give to the body the elements needed for daily work and growth. Some foods, such as lettuce, cucumbers, and watermelons, make proper and satisfactory changes in diet, but are not strength giving. Other foods, like peas and beans, not only satisfy the appetite, but supply to the body abundant nourishment. Many immigrants live cheaply and well with beans and bread as their main diet.
It is of vital importance that the relative value of different foods as heat producers be known definitely; and just as the yard measures length and the pound measures weight the calorie is used to measure the amount of heat which a food is capable of furnishing to the body. Our bodies are human machines, and, like all other machines, require fuel for their maintenance. The fuel supplied to an engine is not all available for pulling the cars; a large portion of the fuel is lost in smoke, and another portion is wasted as ashes. So it is with the fuel that runs the body. The food we eat is not all available for nourishment, much of it being as useless to us as are smoke and ashes to an engine. The best foods are those which do the most for us with the least possible waste.
56. Fuel Value. By fuel value is meant the capacity foods have for yielding heat to the body. The fuel value of the foods we eat daily is so important a factor in life that physicians, dietitians, nurses, and those having the care of institutional cooking acquaint themselves with the relative fuel values of practically all of the important food substances. The life or death of a patient may be determined by the patient's diet, and the working and earning capacity of a father depends largely upon his prosaic three meals. An ounce of fat, whether it is the fat of meat or the fat of olive oil or the fat of any other food, produces in the body two and a quarter times as much heat as an ounce of starch. Of the vegetables, beans provide the greatest nourishment at the least cost, and to a large extent may be substituted for meat. It is not uncommon to find an outdoor laborer consuming one pound of beans per day, and taking meat only on "high days and holidays."
The fuel value of a food is determined by means of the bomb calorimeter (Fig. 26). The food substance is put into a chamber A and ignited, and the heat of the burning substance raises the temperature of the water in the surrounding vessel. If 1000 grams of water are in the vessel, and the temperature of the water is raised 2 deg. C., the number of calories produced by the substance would be 2000, and the fuel value would be 2000 calories.[A] From this the fuel value of one quart or one pound of the substance can be determined, and the food substance will be said to furnish the body with that number of heat units, providing all of the pound of food were properly digested.
[Footnote A: As applied to food, the calorie is greater than that used in the ordinary laboratory work, being the amount of heat necessary to raise the temperature of 1000 grams of water 1 deg. C., rather than 1 gram 1 deg. C.]
TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF CALORIES FURNISHED BY ONE POUND OF VARIOUS FOODS FOOD CALORIES FOOD CALORIES Leg of lean mutton 790 Carrots 210 Rib of beef 1150 Lettuce 90 Shad 380 Onion 225 Chicken 505 Cucumber 80 Apples 290 Almonds 3030 Bananas 460 Walnuts 3306 Prunes 370 Peanuts 2560 Watermelons 140 Oatmeal 4673 Lima beans 570 Rolled wheat 4175 Beets 215 Macaroni 1665
57. Varied Diet. The human body is a much more varied and complex machine than any ever devised by man; personal peculiarities, as well as fuel values, influence very largely the diet of an individual. Strawberries are excluded from some diets because of a rash which is produced on the skin, pork is excluded from other diets for a like reason; cauliflower is absolutely indigestible to some and is readily digested by others. From practically every diet some foods must be excluded, no matter what the fuel value of the substance may be. |
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