any direct experiment, and doubtless such an experiment would be very difficult, but there exists a datum which is very nearly its equivalent. This has been furnished by the theory of sound. It deserves much confidence because of the exactness of the conditions which have led to its establishment. It consists in this:
Atmospheric air should rise one degree Centigrade when by sudden compression it experiences a reduction of volume of .[1]
Experiments on the velocity of sound having been made in air under the pressure of 760 millimetres of mercury and at the temperature of 6°, it is only to these two circumstances that our datum has reference. We will, however, for greater facility, refer it to the temperature 0°, which is nearly the same.
Air compressed , and thus heated one degree, differs from air heated directly one degree only in its density. The primitive volume being supposed
- ↑ M. Poisson, to whom this figure is due, has shown that it accords very well with the result of an experiment of MM. Clement and Desormes on the return of air into a vacuum, or rather, into air slightly rarefied. It also accords very nearly with results found by MM. Gay-Lussac and Welter. (See note, p. 87.)
