The Liquefaction of Gases/Historical Statement Respecting the Liquefaction of Gases
III. HISTORICAL STATEMENT RESPECTING
THE LIQUEFACTION OF GASES[1].
I WAS not aware at the time when I first observed the liquefaction of chlorine gas[2], nor until very lately, that any of the class of bodies called gases, had been reduced into the fluid form; but, having during the last few weeks sought for instances where such results might have been afforded without the knowledge of the experimenter, I was surprised to find several recorded cases. I have thought it right therefore to bring these cases together, and only justice to endeavour to secure for them a more general attention, than they appear as yet to have gained. I shall notice in chronological order, the fruitless, as well as the successful, attempts, and those which probably occurred without being observed, as well as those which were remarked and described as such.
Carbonic Acid, &c.—The Philosophical Transactions for 1797, contain, p. 222, an account of experiments made by Count Rumford, to determine the force of fired gun-powder. Dissatisfied both with the deductions drawn, and the means used previously, that philosopher proceeded to fire gunpowder in cylinders of a known diameter and capacity, and closed by a valve loaded with a weight that could be varied at pleasure. By making the vessel strong enough and the weight sufficiently heavy, he succeeded in confining the products within the space previously occupied by the powder. The Count's object induced him to vary the quantity of gunpowder in different experiments, and to estimate the force exerted only at the moment of ignition, when it was at its maximum. This force which he found to be prodigious, he attributes to aqueous vapour intensely heated, and makes no reference to the force of the gaseous bodies evolved. Without considering the phenomena which it is the Count's object to investigate, it may be remarked, that in many of the experiments made by him, some of the gases, and especially carbonic acid gas, were probably reduced to the liquid state. The Count says,
"When the force of the generated elastic vapour was sufficient to raise the weight, the explosion was attended by a very sharp and surprisingly loud report; but when the weight was not raised, as also when it was only a little moved, but not sufficiently to permit the leather stopper to be driven quite out of the bore, and the elastic fluid to make its escape, the report was scarcely audible at the distance of a few paces, and did not at all resemble the report which commonly attends the explosion of gunpowder. It was more like the noise which attends the breaking of a small glass tube, than any thing else to which it could be compared. In many of the experiments, in which the elastic vapour was confined, this feeble report attending the explosion of the powder, was immediately followed by another noise totally different from it, which appeared to be occasioned by the falling back of the weight upon the end of the barrel, after it had been a little raised, but not sufficiently to permit the leather stopper to be driven quite out of the bore. In some of these experiments a very small part only of the generated elastic fluid made its escape, in these cases the report was of a peculiar kind, and though perfectly audible at some considerable distance, yet not at all resembling the report of a musket. It was rather a very strong sudden hissing, than a clear distinct and sharp report."
In another place it is said, "What was very remarkable in all these experiments, in which the generated elastic vapour was completely confined, was the small degree of expansive force which this vapour appeared to possess, after it had been suffered to remain a few minutes, or even only a few seconds, confined in the barrel; for upon raising the weight, by means of its lever, and suffering this vapour to escape, instead of escaping with a loud report it rushed out with a hissing noise, hardly so loud or so sharp as the report of a common air-gun, and its effects against the leather stopper, by which it assisted in raising the weight, were so very feeble as not to be sensible." This the Count attributes to the formation of a hard mass, like a stone, within the cylinder, occasioned by the condensation of what was, at the moment of ignition, an elastic fluid. Such a substance was always found in these cases; but when the explosion raised the weight and blew out the stopper, nothing of this kind remained.
The effects here described both of elastic force and its cessation on cooling, may evidently be referred as much to carbonic acid and perhaps other gases as to water. The strong sudden hissing observed as occurring when only a little of the products escaped, may have been due to the passage of the gases into the air, with comparatively but little water, the circumstances being such as were not sufficient to confine the former, though they might the latter; for it cannot be doubted but that in similar circumstances, the elastic force of carbonic acid would far surpass that of water. Count Rumford says, that the gunpowder made use of, when well shaken together, occupied rather less space than an equal weight of water. The quantity of residuum before referred to, left by a given weight of gunpowder, is not mentioned, so that the actual space occupied by the vapour of water, carbonic acid, &c., at the moment of ignition, cannot be inferred; there can, however, be but little doubt that when perfectly confined they were in the state of the substances, in M. Cagniard de la Tour's experiments[3].
When allowed to remain a few minutes, or even seconds, the expansive force at first observed, diminished exceedingly, so as scarcely to surpass that of the air in a charged air-gun. Of course all that was due to the vaporization of water and some of the other products would cease, as soon as the mass of metal had absorbed the heat, and they would concrete into the hard substance found in the cylinder: but it does not seem too much to suppose, that so much carbonic acid was generated in the combustion, as would, if confined, on the cooling of the apparatus, have been equal to many atmospheres, but that being condensible, a part became liquid, and thus assisted in reducing the force within, to what it was found to be.
Ammonia.—I find the condensation of ammoniacal gas referred to in Thomson's System, first edition, i. 405, and other editions; Henry's Chemistry, i. 237; Accum's Chemistry, i. 310; Murray's Chemistry, ii. 73; and Thenard's Traité de Chimie, ii. 133. Mr. Accum refers to the experiments of Fourcroy and Vauquelin, Ann. de Chimie, xxix. 289, but has mistaken their object. Those chemists used highly saturated solution of ammonia, see pp. 281, 286, and not the gas; and their experiments on gases, namely, sulphurous acid gas, muriatic acid gas, and sulphuretted hydrogen gas, they state were fruitless, p. 287. "All we can say is, that the condensation of most of these gases was above three fourths of their volume."
Thomson, Henry, Murray, and, I suppose, Thenard, refer to the experiments of Guyton de Morveau, Ann. de Chimie, xxix. 291, 297. Thomson states the result of liquefaction at a temperature of -45°, without referring to the doubt, that Morveau himself raises, respecting the presence of water in the gas; but Murray, Henry, and Thenard, in their statements notice its probable presence. Morveau's experiment was made in the following manner: a glass retort was charged with the usual mixture of muriate of ammonia, and quick lime, the former material being sublimed, and the latter carefully made from white marble, so as to exclude water as much as possible. The beak of the retort was then adapted to an apparatus consisting of two balloons, and two flasks successively connected together, and luted by fat lute. The balloons were empty, the first flask contained mercury, the second, water. Heat was then applied to the retort, and the first globe cooled to -21.25°C., aqueous vapours soon rose, which condensed as water in the neck of the retort, and as ice in the first balloon. Continuing the heat, ammoniacal gas was disengaged, and it escaped by the last flask containing water, without anything being perceived in the second balloon. This balloon was then cooled to -43.25°C., and then drops of a fluid lined its interior, and ultimately united at the bottom of the vessel. When the thermometer in the cooling mixture stood at -36.25°C., the fluid already deposited preserved its state, but no further portions were added to it; reducing the temperature again to -41°C., and hastening the disengagement of ammoniacal gas, the liquid in the second balloon augmented in volume. Very little gas escaped from the last flask, and the pressure inwards was such as to force the oil of the lute into the balloon where it congealed. Finafly, the apparatus was left to regain the temperature of the atmosphere, and as it approached to it, the liquid of the second balloon became gaseous. The fluid in the first balloon became liquid, as soon as the temperature had reached -21.25°C.
M. Morveau remarks on this experiment, that it appears certain that ammoniacal gas made as dry as it can be, by passing into a vessel in which water would be frozen, and reduced to a temperature of -21°C.. condenses into a liquid at the temperature of -48°C., and resumes its elastic form again as the temperature is raised; but he proposes to repeat the experiment and examine whether a portion of the gas so dried, when received over mercury would not yield water to well calcined potash, "for as it is seen that water charged with a little of the gas, remained liquid in the first balloon, at a temperature of -21°, it is possible that a much smaller quantity of water united to a much larger quantity of the gas, would become capable of resisting a temperature of -48°C.
Sir H. Davy, who refers to this experiment in his Elements of Chemical Philosophy, p. 267, urges the uncertainty attending it, on the same grounds that Morveau himself had done; and now that the strength of the vapour of dry liquid ammonia is known, it cannot be doubted that M. Morveau had obtained in his second balloon only a very concentrated solution of ammonia in water. I find that the strength of the vapour of ammonia dried by potash, is equal to about that of 6.5 atmospheres at 50° F[4]. and according to all analogy it would require a very intense degree of cold, and one at present beyond our means, to compensate this power and act as an equivalent to it.
Sulphurous Acid Gas.—It is said that sulphurous acid gas has been condensed into a fluid by Monge and Clouet, but I have not been able to find the description of their process. It is referred to by Thomson, in his System, first edition, ii. 24, and in subsequent editions; by Henry, in his Elements, i. 341; by Accum, in his Chemistry, i. 319; by Aikin, Chemical Dictionary, ii. 391; by Nicholson, Chemical Dictionary, article, gas (Sulphurous acid); and by Murray, in his System, ii. 405. All these authors mention the simultaneous application of cold and pressure, but Thomson alone refers to any authority, and that is Fourcroy, ii. 74.
It is curious that Fourcroy does not, however, mention condensation as one of the means employed by Monge and Clouet, but merely says the gas is capable of liquefaction at 28° of cold. "This latter property," he adds, "discovered by citizens Monge and Clouet, and by which it is distinguished from all the other gases, appears to be owing to the water which it holds in solution, and to which it adheres so strongly as to prevent an accurate estimate of the proportions of its radical and acidifying principles."
Notwithstanding Fourcroy's objection, there can be but little reason to doubt that Monge and Clouet did actually condense the gas, for I have since found that from the small elastic force of its vapour at common temperatures (being equal to that of about two atmospheres only[5]) a comparatively moderate diminution of temperature is sufficient to retain it fluid at common pressure, or a moderate additional pressure to retain it so at common temperature; so that whether these philosophers applied cold only as Fourcroy mentions, or cold and pressure, as stated by the other chemists, they would succeed in obtaining it in the liquid form.
Chlorine.—M. de Morveau, whilst engaged on the application of the means best adapted to destroy putrid effluvia and contagious miasmata, was led to the introduction of chlorine as the one most excellent for this purpose; and he proposed the use of phials, containing the requisite materials, as sources of the substance. One described in his Traité des Moyens de désinfecter l'air (1801), was of the capacity of two cubical inches nearly; about 62 grains of black oxide of manganese in coarse powder was introduced, and then the bottle two-thirds filled with nitro-muriatic acid; it was shaken, and in a short time chlorine was abundantly disengaged. M. Morveau remarks upon the facility with which the chlorine is retained in these bottles; one, thus prepared, and forgotten, when opened at the end of eight years, gave an abundant odour of chlorine.
I had an impression on my mind that M. de Morveau had proposed the use of phials similarly charged, but made strong, well stoppered, and confined by a screw in a frame, so that no gas should escape, except when the screw and stopper were loosened; but I have searched for an account of such phials without being able to find any. If such have been made, it is very probable that in some circumstances, liquid chlorine has existed in them, for as its vapour at 60° F. has only a force of about four atmospheres[6], a charge of materials might be expected frequently to yield much more chlorine than enough to fill the space, and saturate the fluid present; and the excess would of course take the liquid form. If such vessels have not been made, our present knowledge of the strength of the vapour of chlorine will enable us to construct them of a much more convenient and portable form than has yet been given to them.
Arseniuretted Hydrogen.—This is a gas which it is said has been condensed so long since as 1805. The experiment was made by Stromeyer, and was communicated, with many other results relating to the same gas, to the Göttingen Society, Oct. 12, 1805. See Nicholson's Journal, xix. 382; also, Thenard Traité de Chimie, i. 373; Brande's Manual, ii. 212; and Annales de Chimie, lxiv. 303. None of these contain the original experiment; but the following quotation is from Nicholson's Journal. The gas was obtained over the pneumatic apparatus, by digesting an alloy of fifteen parts tin and one part arsenic, in strong muriatic acid. "Though the arsenicated hydrogen gas retains its aëriform state under every known degree of atmospheric temperature and pressure, Professor Stromeyer condensed it so far as to reduce it in part to a liquid, by immersing it in a mixture of snow and muriate of lime, in which several pounds of quick-silver had been frozen in the course of a few minutes." From the circumstance of its being reduced only in part to a liquid, we may be led to suspect that it was rather the moisture of the gas that was condensed than the gas itself; a conjecture which is strengthened in my mind from finding that a pressure of three atmospheres was insufficient to liquefy the gas at a temperature of 0° F.
Chlorine.—The most remarkable and direct experiments I have yet met with in the course of my search after such as were connected with the condensation of gases into liquids, are a series made by Mr. Northmore, in the years 1805·6. It was expected by this gentleman "that the various affinities which take place among the gases under the common pressure of the atmosphere, would undergo considerable alteration by the influence of condensation;" and it was with this in view that the experiments were made and described. The results of liquefaction were therefore incidental, but at present it is only of them I wish to take notice. Mr. Northmore's papers may be found in Nicholson's Journal, xii. 368, xiii. 233. In the first is described his apparatus, namely, a brass condensing pump; pear-shaped glass receivers, containing from three and a half to five cubic inches, and a quarter of an inch thick; and occasionally a syphon gauge. Sometimes as many as eighteen atmospheres were supposed to have been compressed into the vessel, but it is added, that the quantity cannot be depended on, as the tendency to escape even by the side of the piston, rendered its confinement very difficult.
Now that we know the pressure of the vapour of chlorine, there can be no doubt that the following passage describes a true liquefaction of that gas. "Upon the compression of nearly two pints of oxygenated muriatic acid gas in a receiver, two and a quarter cubic inches capacity, it speedily became converted into a yellow fluid, of such extreme volatility, under the common pressure of the atmosphere, that it instantly evaporated upon opening the screw of the receiver; I need not add, that this fluid, so highly concentrated, is of a most insupportable pungency." "There was a trifling residue of a yellowish substance left after the evaporation, which probably arose from a small portion of the oil and grease used in the machine," &c. xiii. 234.
Muriatic Acid.—Operating upon muriatic acid, Mr. Northmore obtained such results as induced him to state he could liquefy it in any quantity, but as the pressure of its vapour at 50° F. is equal to about 40 atmospheres[7], he must have been mistaken. The following is his account: "I now proceeded to the muriatic acid gas, and upon the condensation of a small quantity of it, a beautiful green-coloured substance adhered to the side of the receiver, which had all the qualities of muriatic acid; but upon a large quantity, four pints, being condensed, the result was a yellowish green glutinous substance, which does not evaporate, but is instantly absorbed by a few drops of water; it is of a highly pungent quality, being the essence of muriatic acid. As this gas easily becomes fluid, there is little or no elasticity, so that any quantity may be condensed without danger. My method of collecting this and other gases, which are absorbable by water, is by means of an exhausted Florence flask, (and in some cases an empty bladder) connected by a stop cock with the extremity of the retort." xiii, 235. It seems probable that the facility of condensation, and even combination, possessed by muriatic acid gas in contact with oil of turpentine, may belong to it under a little pressure, in contact with common oil, and thus have occasioned the results Mr. Northmore describes.
Sulphurous Acid Gas.—With regard to this gas, Mr. Northmore says, "having collected about a pint and a half of sulphurous acid gas, I proceeded to condense it in the three cubic inch receiver, but after a very few pumps the forcing piston became immoveable, being completely choked by the operation of the gas. A sufficient quantity had, however, been compressed to form vapour, and a thick slimy fluid, of a dark yellow colour, began to trickle down the sides of the receiver, which immediately evaporated with the most suffocating odour upon the removal of the pressure." xiii. 236. This experiment, Mr. Northmore remarks, corroborates the assertion of Monge and Clouet, that by cold and pressure they had condensed this gas. The fluid above described was evidently contaminated with oil, but from its evaporation on removing the pressure, and from the now ascertained low pressure of the vapour of sulphurous acid, there can be no hesitation in admitting that it was sulphurous acid liquefied.
The results obtained by Mr. Northmore, with chlorine gas and sulphurous acid gas, are referred to by Nicholson, in his Chemical Dictionary, 8vo. Articles, Gas (muriatic acid oxygenized) and Gas (sulphurous acid); and that of chlorine is referred to by Murray, in his System, ii. 550; although at page 405 of the same volume, he says that, only sulphurous acid "and ammonia of these gases that are at natural temperatures permanently elastic, have been found capable of this reduction."
Carbonic Acid.—Another experiment in which it is very probable that liquid carbonic acid has been produced, is one made by Mr. Babbage, about the year 1813. The object Mr. Babbage had in view, was to ascertain whether pressure would prevent decomposition, and it was expected that either that would be the case, or that decomposition would go on, and the rock be split by the expansive force of carbonic acid gas. The place was Chudley rocks, Devonshire, where the limestone is dark and of a compact texture. A hole, about 30 inches deep and two inches in diameter, was made by the workmen in the usual way, it penetrated directly downwards into the rock; a quantity of strong muriatic acid, equal to perhaps a pint and a half, was then poured in, and immediately a conical wooden plug, that had previously been soaked in tallow, was driven hard into the mouth of the hole. The persons about then retired to a distance to watch the result, but nothing apparent happened, and, after waiting some time, they left the place. The plug was not loosened at the time, nor was any further examination of the state of things made: but it is very probable that if the rock were sufficiently compact in that part, the plug tight, and the muriatic acid in sufficient quantity, that a part of the carbonic acid had condensed into a liquid, and thus, though it permitted the decomposition, prevented that development of power which Mr. Babbage expected would have torn the rock asunder.
Oil Gas Vapour.—An attempt has been made by Mr Gordon, within the last few years, and is still continued, to introduce condensed gas into use in the construction of portable, elegant, and economical gas lamps. Oil gas has been made use of, and, I believe, as many as thirty atmospheres have been thrown into vessels, which, furnished with a stop cock and jet, have afterwards allowed of its gradual expansion and combustion. During the condensation of the gas in this manner, a liquid has been observed to deposit from it. It is not, however, a result of the liquefaction of the gas, but the deposition of a vapour (using the terms gas and vapour in their common acceptation) from it, and when taken out of the vessel it remains a liquid at common temperatures and pressures; may be purified by distillation, in the ordinary way, and will even bear a temperature of 170° F. before it boils, at ordinary pressure. It is the substance referred to by Dr Henry, in the Philosophical Transactions, 1821, p. 159.
There is no reason for believing that oil gas, or olefiant gas, has, as yet, been condensed into a liquid, or that it will take that form at common temperatures under a pressure of five, or ten, or even twenty atmospheres. If it were possible, a small, safe, and portable gas lamp would immediately offer itself to us, which might be filled with liquid without being subject to any greater force than the strength of its vapour, and would afford an abundant supply of gas as long as any of the liquid remained. Immediately upon the condensation of cyanogen, which takes place at 50° F. at a pressure under four atmospheres, I made such a lamp with it. It succeeded perfectly, but, of course, either the expense of the gas, the faint light of its flame, or its poisonous qualities, would preclude its application. But we may, perhaps, without being considered extravagant, be allowed to search in the products of oil, resins, coal, &c., distilled, or otherwise treated, with this object in view, for a substance, which being a gas at common temperatures and pressure, shall condense into a liquid, by a pressure of from two to six or eight atmospheres, and which being combustible, shall afford a lamp of the kind described[8].
Atmospheric Air.—As my object is to draw attention to the results obtained in the liquefaction of gases before the date of those described in the Philosophical Transactions for 1823, I need not, perhaps, refer to the notice given in the Annals of Philosophy, N.S. vi. 66, of the supposed liquefaction of atmospheric air, by Mr. Perkins, under a pressure of about 1100 atmospheres, but as such a result would be highly interesting, and is the only additional one on the subject I am acquainted with, I am desirous of doing so, as well also to point out the remarkable difference between that result and those which are the subject of this and the other papers referred to. Mr. Perkins informed me that the air upon compression disappeared, and in its place was a small quantity of a fluid, which remained so when the pressure was removed, which had little or no taste, and which did not act on the skin. As far as I could by inquiry make out its nature, it resembled water, but if upon repetition it be found really to be the product of compressed common air, then its fixed nature shews it to be a result of a very different kind to those mentioned above, and necessarily attended by far more important consequences.
- ↑ [From The Quarterly Journal of Science, vol. xvi. (January 1824), pp. 229-240.]
- ↑ Phil. Transactions, 1823, pp. 160, 189.
- ↑ See vol. xv. p. 145, of this Journal.
- ↑ Philosophical Transactions, 1823, p. 197.
- ↑ Philosophical Transactions, 1823, p. 192.
- ↑ Ibid. p. 198.
- ↑ Philosophical Transactions, 1823, p. 198.
- ↑ In reference to the probability of such results, see a paper "On Olefiant Gas." Annals of Philosophy, N.S. iii. 37.