geneous atoms against the powerful force of chemical affinity, work is done as truly as it is in separating molecules from one another against the force of cohesion, or in separating a stone from the earth against the force of gravity.
77. Heat, as we have seen, is very frequently influential in performing this separation, and its energy is spent in so doing; but other energetic agents produce chemical decomposition as well as heat. For instance, certain rays of the sun decompose carbonic acid into carbon and oxygen in the leaves of plants, and their energy is spent in the process; that is to say, it is spent in pulling asunder two such powerfully attracting substances against the affinity they have for one another. And, again, the electric current is able to decompose certain substances, and of course its energy is spent in the process.
Therefore, whenever two powerfully attracting atoms are separated, energy is spent in causing this separation as truly as in separating a stone from the earth, and when once the separation has been accomplished we have a species of energy of position just as truly as we have in a head of water, or in a stone at the top of a house.
78. It is this chemical separation that is meant when we speak of coal as a source of energy. Coal, or carbon, has a great attraction for oxygen, and whenever heat is applied the two bodies unite together. Now oxygen, as it exists in the atmosphere, is the common inheritance of all, and if, in addition to this, some of us possess coal in our cellars, or in pits, we have thus secured a store of
