On new compounds of carbon and hydrogen, and on certain other products obtained during the decomposition of oil by heat / [Michael Faraday].

  • Faraday, Michael, 1791-1867
Date:
1825
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On new compounds of carbon and hydrogen, and on certain other products obtained during the decomposition of oil by heat / [Michael Faraday]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    liquid it may, like water and some saline solutions, be cooled much below that point before any part becomes solid. It contracts very much on congealing, 9 parts in bulk be- coming 8 very nearly ; hence its specific gravity in that state is about 0.956. At o° it appears as a white or transparent substance, brittle, pulverulent, and of the hardness nearly of loaf sugar. It evaporates entirely when exposed to the air. Its boiling point in contact with glass is 1860. The specific gravity of its vapour, corrected to a temperature of 6o°, is nearly 40 Hydrogen being 1; for 2.3 grains became 3.52 cubic inches of vapour at 2120. Barometer 29.98. Other experiments gave a mean approaching very closely to this result. It does not conduct electricity. This substance is very slightly soluble in water; very soluble in fixed and volatile oils, in ether, alcohol, &c.; the alcoholic solution being precipitated by water. It burns with a bright flame and much smoke. When admitted to oxygen gas, so much vapour rises as to make a powerfully detona- ting mixture. When passed through a red hot tube it gra- dually deposits carbon, yielding carburetted hydrogen gas. Chlorine introduced to the substance in a retort exerted but little action until placed in sun-light, when dense fumes were formed, without the evolution of much heat; and ulti- mately much muriatic acid was produced, and two other substances, one a solid crystalline body, the other a dense thick fluid. It was found by further examination, that neither of these were soluble in water; that both were soluble in alcohol—the liquid readily, the solid with more difficulty. Both of them appeared to be triple compounds of chlorine, B