This water will make the lime-water turbid and white, which is
proof of the presence of carbonic acid.
Then it is a very weighty gas--it is heavier than the atmosphere. I have
put their respective weights at the lower part of this table, along with,
for comparison, the weights of the other gases we have been examining:--
Pint. Cubic Foot.
Hydrogen, . . . . 3/4 grains. 1/12 ounce.
Oxygen, . . . . 11-9/10 " 1-1/2 "
Nitrogen, . . . . 10-1/10 " 1-1/4 "
Air,. . . . . . 10-7/16 " 1-3/8 "
Carbonic acid, . . 16-1/3 " 1-9/10 "
A pint of it weighs 16-1/3 grains, and a cubic foot weighs 1-9/10 ounce,
almost two ounces. You can see by many experiments that this is a heavy
gas. Suppose I take a glass containing nothing else but air, and from this
vessel containing the carbonic acid I attempt to pour a little of this gas
into that glass; I wonder whether any has gone in or not. I cannot tell by
the appearance, but I can in this way [introducing the taper]. Yes, there
it is, you see; and if I were to examine it by lime-water, I should find
it by that test also. I will take this little bucket, and put it down into
the well of carbonic acid--indeed, we too often have real wells of
carbonic acid--and now, if there is any carbonic acid, I must have got to
it by this time, and it will be in this bucket, which we will examine with
a taper.
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