The Chemical History of a Candle by Michael Faraday
page 33 of 119 (27%)
page 33 of 119 (27%)
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other side, just to shew you what is going on. You see that the sides of
the jar become cloudy, and the light begins to burn feebly. It is the products, you see, which make the light so dim, and this is the same thing which makes the sides of the jar so opaque. If you go home and take a spoon that has been in the cold air, and hold it over a candle--not so as to soot it--you will find that it becomes dim, just as that jar is dim. If you can get a silver dish, or something of that kind, you will make the experiment still better. And now, just to carry your thoughts forward to the time we shall next meet, let me tell you that it is _water_ which causes the dimness; and when we next meet. I will shew you that we can make it, without difficulty, assume the form of a liquid. LECTURE III. PRODUCTS: WATER FROM THE COMBUSTION--NATURE OF WATER--A COMPOUND--HYDROGEN. I dare say you will remember that when we parted we had just mentioned the word "products" from the candle. For when a candle burns we found we were able, by nice adjustment, to get various products from it. There was one substance which was not obtained when the candle was burning properly, which was charcoal or smoke; and there was some other substance that went upwards from the flame which did not appear as smoke, but took some other form, and made part of that general current which, ascending from the candle upwards, becomes invisible, and escapes. There were also other products to mention. You remember that in that rising current having its |
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