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An Inquiry Into the Nature of the Simple Bodies of Chemistry
An Inquiry Into the Nature of the Simple Bodies of Chemistry Author:David Low Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: III. SIMPLE BODIES OF CHEMISTRY. I. HYDROGEX. Hydrogen, when obtained in the separate state, exists as an aeriform fluid, at every known temperature, and u... more »nder every degree of pressure. It is then transparent, colourless, and without odour, and is highly elastic, and the lightest of known bodies, and the most powerful refractor of light, in proportion to its density, of any other substance. Its density is sensibly tth part of that of oxygen ; and the specific gravity of the latter being held to be 111, that of hydrogen gas will be -0693, which agrees with the most recent determinations by direct experiment, within a quantity inappreciable by the most delicate instruments. It is irrespirable in the pure state, so that an animal quickly perishes when confined in it; yet, if it be merely substituted for azote in atmospheric air, the mixture may be breathed for a time without other inconvenience than its tendency to produce sleep. A lighted body, when immersed in this fluid, is instantly extinguished/ But it is itself inflammable; and when kindled in common air, by the application of an ignited body, it burns tranquilly with a feeble flame. But if the hydrogen and oxygen gases be previously mixed together in certain proportions, and if a body heated to bright redness be applied, or if an electric spark be passed through the mixture, the gases combine on the instant with a flash of light,and loud explosion. In these cases they combine with detonation, but when they are heated to a high temperature without ignition, they combine slowly and without explosion. By the heat evolved by the combustion of this substance, an intense temperature is produced, and when the jet of the mixed gases, in the state of ignition, is thrown upon a mass of quicklime, the earthy body emits a light s...« less