Rollo's Philosophy. [Air]

"No, I believe not; at least I do not; and I don't know that any body does."

"How do they know, then, how high it is?" said Rollo.

"The philosophers have calculated in some way or other, though I don't exactly know how. I believe they have ascertained how great the pressure of the air is here at the surface of the earth, and have calculated in some way, from that, how high the air must be to produce such a pressure."

"And how high must it be?" said Nathan.

"Why, between thirty and forty miles," said Rollo; "father told us once."

"And yet," continued his father, "water, thirty or forty feet deep, would produce as great a pressure as a column of air of thirty or forty miles. That is, the air around presses about as heavily, and would force a jet of air through a hole with about as much force, as water would, coming out at the bottom of a dam, as high as a common three-story house."

These explanations were all very interesting to Rollo and to his mother; but Nathan found it rather hard to understand them all, and he began to be somewhat restless and uneasy. At length he said,—

"And now, father, haven't you almost done telling about the air?"

"Why, yes," said his father; "I have told you enough for this time; only you must remember it all."

"I don't think I can remember it quite all," said Nathan.

"Well, then, remember the general principle, at any rate," said his father, "which is this—that we live at the bottom of a vast ocean of air, and that the lower portions of this air are pressed down by the load of all the air above; that, being so pressed, the lower air is condensed,—so that we live in the midst of air that is pressed down, and condensed, by the load of all that is above it; and that, consequently, whenever the air is taken away, even in part, from any place, as you removed some of it from the china closet, the pressure upon the air outside forces the air in through every opening it can find."

"I think that is a little too much for me to remember," said Nathan.

Nathan's father and mother laughed on hearing this, though Nathan did not know what they were laughing at. His father told him that he could not expect him to remember all; and that, to pay him for his particular attention, he would tell him a story.

So he took Nathan up in his lap, and told him a very curious story of a boy, who went about the yard with a little dog upon one of his shoulders, a cat upon the other, and a squirrel on his head. The squirrel was tame.

QUESTIONS

Why cannot experiments be performed upon the pressure of air, as conveniently as upon the pressure of water? How did Rollo's father contrive to remove a part of the air from the china closet? Where did they expect that the air would be forced into the closet? How were they to make this effect visible? Did the experiment succeed? Suppose the key-hole had been stopped up; where would the air have been forced in? Suppose all the crevices had been closed. Is water compressible? Is air compressible? What is the shape of a cylinder? What is a piston? How might air be compressed by means of a cylinder and piston? What was the general principle which Rollo's father stated, in conclusion?

CHAPTER VI.

BALLOONING

The next evening, Rollo and Nathan had another conversation with their father, respecting air. When they were all seated, he commenced as follows:—

"I told you yesterday, that air may be compressed by force, while water cannot be. It has another property, which is in some respects the reverse of this. It springs back into its original bulk, when the pressure is removed."

"How?" said Nathan; "I don't exactly understand you."

"Why, you remember what I said about the experiment with the iron cylinder and a piston to fit it."

"Yes, sir," said Rollo.

"What was the experiment?" said his father.

"Why, if a man were to press the piston down hard, he could crowd the air all into the lower half of the cylinder."

"Yes," replied his father. "Now, the property I am going to tell you about this evening is this—that, if the man lets go of the piston rod, the air that is condensed into the bottom of the cylinder, will spring up, and force the piston up again. This property is called elasticity. It is sometimes called the expansive force of the air. For it is a force tending to expand the air, that is, to swell it out into its original dimensions. This is another great difference between air and water.

"Now, as all the air around us," continued Rollo's father, "is pressed down very heavily, and is condensed a great deal, it is all the time endeavoring to expand; and it would expand, were it not that the great burden of the air above it keeps it condensed. But water is not compressed, and has no tendency to expand. The water of Rollo's dam, for instance, had all the weight of the atmosphere resting upon it, but it did not compress it at all, and so it did not tend to expand.

"And now," said his father, "I cannot perform any experiment, to show you that air tends strongly to expand or swell out into a great space, while water does not; but I can make a supposition, which will illustrate it. Suppose we had a large, but very thin, glass bottle, filled with water, and put down upon the floor in the middle of this room. Suppose, also, that we had another bottle, of the same size and shape, filled with air, and we put that down upon the floor by the side of the other; both bottles being stopped very tight. Now, if we could by any means suddenly take away all the air from the room, so that there should be nothing around the bottles, then the bottle of water would remain just as it is, for the glass would have nothing to support but the weight of the water, and it would be strong enough for that. But the bottle of air would fly all to pieces; for that would not rest quietly, like the water, satisfied with the space which it already has, and only pressing with its own weight upon the sides of the glass; but it would immediately expand with so much force as to break the thin glass all to pieces."

"Would it!" exclaimed Rollo and Nathan together. "And would it make a loud noise?"

"Yes," replied their father, "I presume it would make a loud explosion; that is, if the air in the room around it could by any means be all at once and suddenly removed.

"And so you must remember," he continued, "that there are two very remarkable differences between air and water. Air may be condensed by pressure, and, as it exists all around us, is greatly condensed by the pressure of the air above, and it may be compressed more. And air is expansive, while water is not. Whenever the pressure upon it is removed, it suddenly expands, or spreads out in all directions."

"O dear me!" said Nathan, with a sigh.

"What is the matter?" said his father.

"Why, I can't understand it very well."

"Can't you?" said his father. "Well, I must admit that you are rather too young to study pneumatics."

"Pneumatics?" repeated Rollo.

"Yes," said his father; "that is the name of this science."

"Then it sailed slowly away."—Page 85 (#x2_x_2_i136).

"What, the science of air?" said Rollo.

"Yes," said his father, "the science which treats of air, and of all other compressible and expansive fluids. But let me think. I must try to tell you something which Nathan can understand and be interested in. If I had a very light feather, I could let him perform an experiment."

"Would a little down do?" said Rollo's mother.

"Yes," replied his father, "that would be better than a feather."

Mrs. Holiday then went and brought a little down, and handed it to Rollo's father. Now, there was a lamp upon the table, of a peculiar kind, called a study lamp. It had a glass tube, called a chimney, around the wick, and consequently around the flame itself, being round, like a ring.

Rollo's father told Nathan to hold the down over the top of this glass chimney, and then to let it go.

Nathan did so. The little tuft of down was wafted up into the air, quite high above the lamp, and then it sailed slowly away, and fell down upon the table.

"I know what makes it rise," said Rollo. "It is the heat. The heat makes it rise."

"Do you think so?" said his father. "Then take the down, and lay it gently upon the hearth, before the fire, as near as you can."

Rollo did so. He had to take his hand away very quick, for it was quite hot there. The little tuft remained quietly upon the hearth where he placed it.

"There," said his father, "is not that a hotter place than it was over the lamp?"

"Yes, sir," said Rollo.