easily assisted by artificial cold in cases when gases approach near to that point of compression and temperature at which they become vapours.
On the Condensation of several Gases into Liquids[1].
[Read April 10, 1823.]
I had the honour, a few weeks since, of submitting to the Royal Society a paper on the reduction of chlorine to the liquid state. An important note was added to the paper by the President, on the general application of the means used in this case to the reduction of other gaseous bodies to the liquid state; and in illustration of the process, the production of liquid muriatic acid was described. Sir Humphry Davy did me the honour to request I would continue the experiments, which I have done under his general direction, and the following are some of the results already obtained:
Sulplhrous Acid.—Mercury and concentrated sulphuric acid were sealed up in a bent tube, and, being brought to one end, heat was carefully applied, whilst the other end was preserved cool by wet bibulous paper. Sulphurous acid gas was produced where the heat acted, and was condensed by the sulphuric acid above; but when the latter had become saturated, the sulphurous acid passed to the cold end of the tube, and was condensed into a liquid. When the whole tube was cold, if the sulphurous acid were returned on to the mixture of sulphuric acid and sulphate of mercury, a portion was reabsorbed, but the rest remained on it without mixing.
Liquid sulphurous acid is very limpid and colourless, and highly fluid. Its refractive power, obtained by comparing it in water and other media with water contained in a similar tube, appeared to be nearly equal to that of water. It does not solidify or become adhesive at a temperature of 0° F. When a tube containing it was opened, the contents did not rush out as with explosion, but a portion of the liquid evaporated rapidly, cooling another portion so much as to leave it in the fluid state at common barometric pressure. It was however rapidly dissipated, not producing visible fumes, but producing the odour of pure sulphurous acid, and leaving the tube quite dry. A
- ↑ Philosophical Transactions, 1823, p. 189; also Phil. Mag. lxii p. 416.
