Curious Transcolorations
Put half a table-spoonful of syrup of violets and three
table-spoonfuls of water into a glass; stir them well together with a
stick, and put half the mixture into another glass. If you add a few
drops of acid of vitriol into one of the glasses and stir it, it will
be changed into a crimson; put a few drops of fixed alkali dissolved
into the other glass, and when you stir it, it will change to green.
If you drop slowly into the green liquor, from the side of the glass,
a few drops of acid of vitriol, you will perceive crimson at the
bottom, purple in the middle, and green at the top; and by adding a
little fixed alkali dissolved, to the other glass, the same colours
will appear in different order.
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Astonishing Power Of Steam
If you put a small quantity of water into a tea-kettle, and place it on the fire, it will disappear in a short time, having escaped in the steam. But if its escape be prevented by stopping up the spout and crevices, it will force its way by bursting... Balloon Wheels They Are Made To Turn Horizontally: They Must Be
made two feet diameter, without any spokes, and very strong, with any number of sides. On the top of a wheel range and fix in pots, three inches diameter and seven inches high each, as many of these as there are cases on the wheel: near the bottom of ... Benzoin Is Used In Fire-works More For Its Pleasant Scent Than Any
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Take a square bottle of thin glass, and of any size. Apply it to the hole of the air-pump, and exhaust the air. The bottle will sustain the weight of the external air as long as it is able, but at length it will suddenly burst into very small partic... Caduceous Rockets They Are Such As In Rising Form Two Spiral
lines, by reason of their being placed obliquely, one opposite to the other; and their counterpoise in the centre, which causes them to rise in a vertical direction. Rockets for this purpose must have their ends choked close, without either head or bo... Calculation Of The Mass Of Water Contained In The Sea
If we would have an idea of the enormous quantity of water which the sea contains, let us suppose a common and general depth of the ocean; by computing it at only 200 fathoms, or the tenth part of a mile, we shall see that there is sufficient water ... Candle Bombs
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Put into a middling-sized bottle, with a short wide neck, three ounces of oil or spirit of vitriol, with twelve ounces of common water, and throw into it, at different times, an ounce or two of iron filings. A violent commotion will then take place,... Chinese Fountains
To make a Chinese fountain, you must have a perpendicular piece of wood, seven feet long, and two inches and a half square. Sixteen inches from the top, fix on the front a cross piece one inch thick, and two and a half broad, with the broad side upw... Composition I Saltpetre Two Ounces Flour Of Sulphur One Ounce
camphor half an ounce, yellow amber half an ounce, charcoal-dust three-fourths of an ounce, salt of Benzoin half an ounce, all powdered very fine and well mixed. II. Saltpetre twelve ounces, meal-powder three ounces, frankincense one ounce, myrrh h... Contrivance For A Watch Lamp Perfectly Safe Which Will Show The
Hour of the Night, without any trouble, to a person lying in Bed. It consists of a stand, with three claws, the pillar of which is made hollow, for the purpose of receiving a water candlestick of an inch diameter. On the top of the pillar, by means ... Cork Heavier Than Lead
Let a large piece of cork be pendent from one end of a balance beam, and a small piece of lead from the other; the lead should rather preponderate. If this apparatus be placed under a receiver on the pump, you will find that when the air is exhauste... Curious Account Of The Electric Effects Of A Russian Climate
Mr. AEpinus in a letter to Dr. Guthrie, relates the following phenomena, which took place in Russia, when a severe frost had continued for several weeks. Mr. AEpinus was sent for to the palace to see an uncommon phenomenon. On going into the apar... Curious Effects Of Oil Upon Water And Water Upon Oil
Fasten a piece of pack-thread round a tumbler, with strings of the same from each side, meeting above it in a knot at about a foot distance from the top of the tumbler. Then putting in as much water as will fill about one-third part of the tumbler, ... Curious Experiment On Rays Of Light
That the rays of light flow in all directions from different bodies, without interrupting one another, is plain from the following experiment:--Make a little hole in a thin plate of metal, and set the plate upright on a table, facing a row of lighte... Curious Experiment With A Glass Of Water
Saturate a certain quantity of water in a moderate heat, with three ounces of sugar; and when it will no longer receive that, there is still room in it for two ounces of salt of tartar, and after that for an ounce and a drachm of green vitriol, near... Curious Experiment With A Tulip
The bulb of a tulip in every respect resembles buds, except in their being produced under ground, and include the leaves and flower in miniature, which are to be expanded in the ensuing spring. By cautiously cutting in the early spring, through the ... Curious Experiments With A Viper
Many natural philosophers, in their eagerness to display the powers of science, have overlooked one of the first duties of life, humanity; and, with this view, have tortured and killed many harmless animals, to exemplify the amazing effects of the a... Curious Transcolorations
Put half a table-spoonful of syrup of violets and three table-spoonfuls of water into a glass; stir them well together with a stick, and put half the mixture into another glass. If you add a few drops of acid of vitriol into one of the glasses and s... Dancing Balls
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different Colours. Walk but a quarter of an hour in your garden, when the sun shines, with a part of your dress white, and a part black; then apply your hand to them alternately, and you will find a very great difference in their warmth. The black ... Dioptrical Paradox
Construct a machine similar to that in Fig. 25. Its effect will be, that a print, or an ornamented drawing, with any object, such as an ace of diamonds, &c. in the centre F, will be seen as an ace of clubs when placed in the machine, and viewed thro... Double Spiral Wheels For These Wheels The Block Or Nave Must Be
as long as the height of the worms, or spiral lines, but must be made very thin, and as light as possible. In this block must be fixed several spokes, which must diminish in length, from the wheel to the top, so as not to exceed the surface of a cone ... Easy And Curious Methods Of Foretelling Rainy Or Fine Weather
If a line be made of good whipcord, that is well dried, and a plummet affixed to the end of it, and then hung against a wainscot, and a line drawn under it, exactly where the plummet reaches, in very moderate weather it will be found to rise above i... Easy Method Of Making A Rain Gauge
A very simple rain gauge, and one which will answer all practical purposes, consists of a copper funnel the area of whose opening is exactly ten square inches: this funnel is fixed in a bottle, and the quantity of rain caught is ascertained by multi... Easy Method Of Obtaining Flowers Of Different Colours From The Same
Stem. Scoop out the pith from a small twig of elder, and having split it lengthwise, fill each of the parts with small seeds that produce flowers of different colours, but that blossom nearly at the same time. Surround them with earth; and then tyi... Electrified Air
Fix two or three pointed needles into the prime conductor of an electrical machine, and set the glass in motion so as to keep the prime conductor electrified for several minutes. If now, an electometer be brought within the air that is contiguous to... Example Suppose The Person Wishes His Card To Be The Twentieth
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the person deducting ten from twenty-six, there remain sixteen, and deducting seven from twenty-six, there remain nineteen; these two remainders added together make thirty-five, which you subtract from fifty-two; and there must remain seventeen for th... Experiments With Sparrows
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Adapt the end of a common tobacco-pipe to a bladder filled with hydrogen gas, and dip the bowl of the pipe into soap-suds, prepared as if for blowing up soap bubbles; squeeze out small portions of gas from the bladder into the soap-suds, and the bub... Exploding Salt
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At one end of a fine balance, hang a piece of lead, and at the other as many feathers as will poise it; then place the balance in the receiver. As the air is exhausted, the feathers will appear to overweigh the lead, and when all the air is drawn of... Fire Globes For The Water
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