General Science Part 12

143. The Oil Lamp. The simple candle of our ancestors was now replaced by the oil lamp, which gave a brighter, steadier, and more permanent illumination. The principle of the lamp is similar to that of the candle, except that the wick is saturated with kerosene or oil rather than with fat. The heat from the burning wick is sufficient to change the oil into a gas and then to set fire to the gas. By placing a chimney over the burning wick, a constant and uniform draught of air is maintained around the blazing gases, and hence a steady, unflickering light is obtained. Gases and carbon particles are set free by the burning wick. In order that the gases may burn and the solid particle glow, a plentiful supply of oxygen is necessary. If the quant.i.ty of air is insufficient, the carbon particles remain unburned and form soot. A lamp "smokes" when the air which reaches the wick is insufficient to burn the rapidly formed carbon particles; this explains the danger of turning a lamp wick too high and producing more carbon particles than can be oxidized by the air admitted through the lamp chimney.

One great disadvantage of oil lamps and oil stoves is that they cannot be carried safely from place to place. It is almost impossible to carry a lamp without spilling the oil. The flame soon spreads from the wick to the overflowing oil and in consequence the lamp blazes and an explosion may result. Candles, on the other hand, are safe from explosion; the dripping grease is unpleasant but not dangerous.

The illumination from a shaded oil lamp is soft and agreeable, but the tr.i.m.m.i.n.g of the wicks, the refilling of bowls, and the cleaning of chimneys require time and labor. For this reason, the introduction of gas met with widespread success. The illumination from an ordinary gas jet is stronger than that from an ordinary lamp, and the stronger illumination added to the greater convenience has made gas a very popular source of light.

144. Gas Burners and Gas Mantles. For a long time, the only gas flame used was that in which the luminosity resulted in heating particles of carbon to incandescence. Recently, however, that has been widely replaced by use of a Bunsen flame upon an incandescent mantle, such as the Welsbach. The principle of the incandescent mantle is very simple. When certain substances, such as thorium and cerium, are heated, they do not melt or vaporize, but glow with an intense bright light. Welsbach made use of this fact to secure a burner in which the illumination depends upon the glowing of an incandescent, solid mantle, rather than upon the blazing of a burning gas. He made a cylindrical mantle of thin fabric, and then soaked it in a solution of thorium and cerium until it became saturated with the chemical. The mantle thus impregnated with thorium and cerium is placed on the gas jet, but before the gas is turned on, a lighted match is held to the mantle in order to burn away the thin fabric. After the fabric has been burned away, there remains a coa.r.s.e gauze mantle of the desired chemicals. If now the gas c.o.c.k is opened, the escaping gas is ignited, the heat of the flame will raise the mantle to incandescence and will produce a brilliant light. A very small amount of burning gas is sufficient to raise the mantle to incandescence, and hence, by the use of a mantle, intense light is secured at little cost. The mantle saves us gas, because the c.o.c.k is usually "turned on full" whether we use a plain burner or a mantle burner. But, nevertheless, gas is saved, because when the mantle is adjusted to the gas jet, the pressure of the gas is lessened by a mechanical device and hence less gas escapes and burns. By actual experiment, it has been found that an ordinary burner consumes about five times as much gas per candle power as the best incandescent burner, and hence is about five times as expensive.

One objection to the mantles is their tendency to break. But if the mantles are carefully adjusted on the burner and are not roughly jarred in use, they last many months; and since the best quality cost only twenty-five cents, the expense of renewing the mantles is slight.

145. Gas for Cooking. If a cold object is held in the bright flame of an ordinary gas jet, it becomes covered with soot, or particles of unburned carbon. Although the flame is surrounded by air, the central portion of it does not receive sufficient oxygen to burn up the numerous carbon particles constantly thrown off by the burning gas, and hence many carbon particles remain in the flame as glowing, incandescent ma.s.ses. That some unburned carbon is present in a flame is shown by the fact that whenever a cold object is held in the flame, it becomes "smoked" or covered with soot. If enough air were supplied to the flame to burn up the carbon as fast as it was set free, there would be no deposition of soot on objects held over the flame or in it, because the carbon would be transformed into gaseous matter.

Unburned carbon would be objectionable in cooking stoves where utensils are constantly in contact with the flame, and for this reason cooking stoves are provided with an arrangement by means of which additional air is supplied to the burning gas in quant.i.ties adequate to insure complete combustion of the rapidly formed carbon particles.

An opening is made in the tube through which gas pa.s.ses to the burner, and as the gas moves past this opening, it carries with it a draft of air. These openings are visible on all gas stoves, and should be kept clean and free of clogging, in order to insure complete combustion. So long as the supply of air is sufficient, the flame burns with a dull blue color, but when the supply falls below that needed for complete burning of the carbon, the blue color disappears, and a yellow flame takes its place, and with the yellow flame the deposition of soot is inevitable.

146. By-products of Coal Gas. Many important products besides illuminating gas are obtained from the distillation of soft coal.

Ammonia is made from the liquids which collect in the condensers; anilin, the source of exquisite dyes, is made from the thick, tarry distillate, and c.o.ke is the residue left in the clay retorts. The coal tar yields not only anilin, but also carbolic acid and naphthalene, both of which are commercially valuable, the former as a widely used disinfectant, and the latter as a popular moth preventive.

From a ton of good gas-producing coal can be obtained about 10,000 cubic feet of illuminating gas, and as by-products 6 pounds of ammonia, 12 gallons of coal tar, and 1300 pounds of c.o.ke.

147. Natural Gas. Animal and vegetable matter buried in the depth of the earth sometimes undergoes natural distillation, and as a result gas is formed. The gas produced in this way is called natural gas. It is a cheap source of illumination, but is found in relatively few localities and only in limited quant.i.ty.

148. Acetylene. In 1892 it was discovered that lime and coal fused together in the intense heat of the electric furnace formed a crystalline, metallic-looking substance called calcium carbide. As a result of that discovery, this substance was soon made on a large scale and sold at a moderate price. The cheapness of calcium carbide has made it possible for the isolated farmhouse to discard oil lamps and to have a private gas system. When the hard, gray crystals of calcium carbide are put in water, they give off acetylene, a colorless gas which burns with a brilliant white flame. If bits of calcium carbide are dropped into a test tube containing water, bubbles of gas will be seen to form and escape into the air, and the escaping gas may be ignited by a burning match held near the mouth of the test tube.

When chemical action between the water and carbide has ceased, and gas bubbles have stopped forming, slaked lime is all that is left of the dark gray crystals which were put into the water.

When calcium carbide is used as a source of illumination, the crystals are mechanically dropped into a tank containing water, and the gas generated is automatically collected in a small sliding tank, whence it pa.s.ses through pipes to the various rooms. The slaked lime, formed while the gas was generated, collects at the bottom of the tanks and is removed from time to time.

The cost of an acetylene generator is about $50 for a small house, and the cost of maintenance is not more than that of lamps. The generator does not require filling oftener than once a week, and the labor is less than that required for oil lamps. In a house in which there were twenty burners, the tanks were filled with water and carbide but once a fortnight. Acetylene is seldom used in large cities, but it is very widely used in small communities and is particularly convenient in more or less remote summer residences.

Electric Lights. The most recent and the most convenient lighting is that obtained by electricity. A fine, hairlike filament within a gla.s.s bulb is raised to incandescence by the heat of an electric current.

This form of illumination will be considered in connection with electricity.

CHAPTER XVI

MAN'S WAY OF HELPING HIMSELF

149. Labor-saving Devices. To primitive man belonged more especially the arduous tasks of the out-of-door life: the clearing of paths through the wilderness; the hauling of material; the breaking up of the hard soil of barren fields into soft loam ready to receive the seed; the harvesting of the ripe grain, etc.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 91.--Prying a stone out of the ground.]

The more intelligent races among men soon learned to help themselves in these tasks. For example, our ancestors in the field soon learned to pry stones out of the ground (Fig. 91) rather than to undertake the almost impossible task of lifting them out of the earth in which they were embedded; to swing fallen trees away from a path by means of rope attached to one end rather than to attempt to remove them single-handed; to pitch hay rather than to lift it; to clear a field with a rake rather than with the hands; to carry heavy loads in wheelbarrows (Fig. 92) rather than on the shoulders; to roll barrels up a plank (Fig. 93) and to raise weights by ropes. In every case, whether in the lifting of stones, or the felling of trees, or the transportation of heavy weights, or the digging of the ground, man used his brain in the invention of mechanical devices which would relieve muscular strain and lighten physical labor.

If all mankind had depended upon physical strength only, the world to-day would be in the condition prevalent in parts of Africa, Asia, and South America, where the natives loosen the soil with their hands or with crude implements (Fig. 94), and transport huge weights on their shoulders and heads.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 92.--The wheelbarrow lightens labor.]

Any mechanical device (Figs. 95 and 96), whereby man's work can be more conveniently done, is called a machine; the machine itself never does any work--it merely enables man to use his own efforts to better advantage.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 93.--Rolling barrels up a plank.]

150. When do we Work? Whenever, as a result of effort or force, an object is moved, work is done. If you lift a knapsack from the floor to the table, you do work because you use force and move the knapsack through a distance equal to the height of the table. If the knapsack were twice as heavy, you would exert twice as much force to raise it to the same height, and hence you would do double the work. If you raised the knapsack twice the distance,--say to your shoulders instead of to the level of the table,--you would do twice the work, because while you would exert the same force you would continue it through double the distance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 94.--Crude method of farming.]

Lifting heavy weights through great distances is not the only way in which work is done. Painting, chopping wood, hammering, plowing, washing, scrubbing, sewing, are all forms of work. In painting, the moving brush spreads paint over a surface; in chopping wood, the descending ax cleaves the wood asunder; in scrubbing, the wet mop rubbed over the floor carries dirt away; in every conceivable form of work, force and motion occur.

A man does work when he walks, a woman does work when she rocks in a chair--although here the work is less than in walking. On a windy day the work done in walking is greater than normal. The wind resists our progress, and we must exert more force in order to cover the same distance. Walking through a plowed or rough field is much more tiring than to walk on a smooth road, because, while the distance covered may be the same, the effort put forth is greater, and hence more work is done. Always the greater the resistance encountered, the greater the force required, and hence the greater the work done.

The work done by a boy who raises a 5-pound knapsack to his shoulder would be 5x4, or 20, providing his shoulders were 4 feet from the ground.

The amount of work done depends upon the force used and the distance covered (sometimes called displacement), and hence we can say that

Work = force multiplied by distance, or _W = f d_.

151. Machines. A glance into our machine shops, our factories, and even our homes shows how widespread is the use of complex machinery.

But all machines, however complicated in appearance, are in reality but modifications and combinations of one or more of four simple machines devised long ago by our remote ancestors. These simple devices are known to-day, as (1) the lever, represented by a crowbar, a pitchfork; (2) the inclined plane, represented by the plank upon which barrels are rolled into a wagon; (3) the pulley, represented by almost any contrivance for the raising of furniture to upper stories; (4) the wheel and axle, represented by cogwheels and coffee grinders.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 95.--Primitive method of grinding corn.]

Suppose a 600-pound bowlder which is embedded in the ground is needed for the tower of a building. The problem of the builder is to get the heavy bowlder out of the ground, to load it on a wagon for transportation, and finally to raise it to the tower. Obviously, he cannot do this alone; the greatest amount of force of which he is capable would not suffice to accomplish any one of these tasks. How then does he help himself and perform the impossible? Simply, by the use of some of the machine types mentioned above, ill.u.s.trations of which are known in a general way to every schoolboy. The very knife with which a stick is whittled is a machine.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 96.--Separating rice grains by flailing.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 97.--The principle of the lever.]

152. The Lever. Balance a foot rule, containing a hole at its middle point _F_, as shown in Figure 97. If now a weight of 1 pound is suspended from the bar at some point, say 12, the balance is disturbed, and the bar swings about the point _F_ as a center. The balance can be regained by suspending an equivalent weight at the opposite end of the bar, or by applying a 2-pound weight at a point 3 inches to the left of _F_. In the latter case a force of 1 pound actually balances a force of 2 pounds, but the 1-pound weight is twice as far from the point of suspension as is the 2-pound weight. The small weight makes up in distance what it lacks in magnitude.

Such an arrangement of a rod or bar is called a lever. In any form of lever there are only three things to be considered: the point where the weight rests, the point where the force acts, and the point called the fulcrum about which the rod rotates.

The distance from the force to the fulcrum is called the force arm.

The distance from the weight to the fulcrum is called the weight arm; and it is a law of levers, as well as of all other machines, that the force multiplied by the length of the force arm must equal the weight multiplied by the length of the weight arm.

Force force arm = weight weight arm.

A force of 1 pound at a distance of 6, or with a force arm 6, will balance a weight of 2 pounds with a weight arm 3; that is,

1 6 = 2 3.

Similarly a force of 10 pounds may be made to sustain a weight of 100 pounds, providing the force arm is 10 times longer than the weight arm; and a force arm of 800 pounds, at a distance of 10 feet from the fulcrum, may be made to sustain a weight of 8000 pounds, providing the weight is 1 foot from the fulcrum.

153. Applications of the Lever. By means of a lever, a 600-pound bowlder can be easily pried out of the ground. Let the lever, any strong metal bar, be supported on a stone which serves as fulcrum; then if a man exerts his force at the end of the rod somewhat as in Figure 91 (p. 154), the force arm will be the distance from the stone or fulcrum to the end of the bar, and the weight arm will be the distance from the fulcrum to the bowlder itself. The man pushes down with a force of 100 pounds, but with that amount succeeds in prying up the 600-pound bowlder. If, however, you look carefully, you will see that the force arm is 6 times as long as the weight arm, so that the smaller force is compensated for by the greater distance through which it acts.

At first sight it seems as though the man's work were done for him by the machine. But this is not so. The man must lower his end of the lever 3 feet in order to raise the bowlder 6 inches out of the ground.

He does not at any time exert a large force, but he accomplishes his purpose by exerting a small force continuously through a correspondingly greater distance. He finds it easier to exert a force of 100 pounds continuously until his end has moved 3 feet rather than to exert a force of 600 pounds on the bowlder and move it 6 inches.

By the time the stone has been raised the man has done as much work as though the stone had been raised directly, but his inability to put forth sufficient muscular force to raise the bowlder directly would have rendered impossible a result which was easily accomplished when through the medium of the lever he could extend his small force through greater distance.