convenient method devised by Vernon Harcourt, in which air charged with ammonia is passed over red-hot copper. Under the influence of the heat the atmospheric oxygen unites with the hydrogen of the ammonia, and when the excess of the latter is removed with sulphuric acid, the gas properly desiccated should be pure nitrogen, derived in part from the ammonia, but principally from the air. A few concordant determinations of density having been effected, the question was at first regarded as disposed of, until the thought occurred that it might be desirable to try also the more usual method of preparation in which the oxygen is removed by actual oxidation of copper without the aid of ammonia. Determinations made thus were equally concordant among themselves, but the resulting density was about 11000 part greater than that found by Harcourt’s method (Rayleigh, Nature, vol. xlvi. p. 512, 1892). Subsequently when oxygen was substituted for air in the first method, so that all (instead of about one-seventh part) of the nitrogen was derived from ammonia, the difference rose to 12%. Further experiment only brought out more clearly the diversity of the gases hitherto assumed to be identical. Whatever were the means employed to rid air of accompanying oxygen, a uniform value of the density was arrived at, and this value was 12% greater than that appertaining to nitrogen extracted from compounds such as nitrous oxide, ammonia and ammonium nitrite. No impurity, consisting of any known substance, could be discovered capable of explaining an excessive weight in the one case, or a deficiency in the other. Storage for eight months did not disturb the density of the chemically extracted gas, nor had the silent electric discharge any influence upon either quality. (“On an Anomaly encountered in determining the Density of Nitrogen Gas,” Proc. Roy. Soc., April 1894.)
At this stage it became clear that the complication depended upon some hitherto unknown body, and probability inclined to the existence of a gas in the atmosphere heavier than nitrogen, and remaining unacted upon during the removal of the oxygen—a conclusion afterwards fully established by Lord Rayleigh and Sir William Ramsay. The question which now pressed was as to the character of the evidence for the universally accepted view that the so-called nitrogen of the atmosphere was all of one kind, that the nitrogen of the air was the same as the nitrogen of nitre. Reference to Cavendish showed that he had already raised this question in the most distinct manner, and indeed, to a certain extent, resolved it. In his memoir of 1785 he writes:—
“As far as the experiments hitherto published extend, we scarcely know more of the phlogisticated part of our atmosphere than that it is not diminished by lime-water, caustic alkalies, or nitrous air; that it is unfit to support fire or maintain life in animals; and that its specific gravity is not much less than that of common air; so that, though the nitrous acid, by being united to phlogiston, is converted into air possessed of these properties, and consequently, though it was reasonable to suppose, that part at least of the phlogisticated air of the atmosphere consists of this acid united to phlogiston, yet it may fairly be doubted whether the whole is of this kind, or whether there are not in reality many different substances confounded together by us under the name of phlogisticated air. I therefore made an experiment to determine whether the whole of a given portion of the phlogisticated air of the atmosphere could be reduced to nitrous acid, or whether there was not a part of a different nature to the rest which would refuse to undergo that change. The foregoing experiments indeed, in some measure, decided this point, as much the greatest part of air let up into the tube lost its elasticity; yet, as some remained unabsorbed, it did not appear for certain whether that was of the same nature as the rest or not. For this purpose I diminished a similar mixture of dephlogisticated [oxygen] and common air, in the same manner as before [by sparks over alkali], till it was reduced to a small part of its original bulk. I then, in order to decompound as much as I could of the phlogisticated air [nitrogen] which remained in the tube, added some dephlogisticated air to it and continued the spark until no further diminution took place. Having by these means condensed as much as I could of the phlogisticated air, I let up some solution of liver of sulphur to absorb the dephlogisticated air; after which only a small bubble of air remained unabsorbed, which certainly was not more than 1120 of the bulk of the dephlogisticated air let up into the tube; so that, if there be any part of the dephlogisticated air of our atmosphere which differs from the rest, and cannot be reduced to nitrous acid, we may safely conclude that it is not more than 1120 part of the whole.”
Although, as was natural, Cavendish was satisfied with his result, and does not decide whether the small residue was genuine, it is probable that his residue was really of a different kind from the main bulk of the “phlogisticated air,” and contained the gas afterwards named argon.
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Fig. 1. |
The announcement to the British Association in 1894 by Rayleigh and Ramsay of a new gas in the atmosphere was received with a good deal of scepticism. Some doubted the discovery of a new gas altogether, while others denied that it was present in the atmosphere. Yet there was nothing inconsistent with any previously ascertained fact in the asserted presence of 1% of a non-oxidizable gas about half as heavy again as nitrogen. The nearest approach to a difficulty lay in the behaviour of liquid air, from which it was supposed, as the event proved erroneously, that such a constituent would separate itself in the solid form. The evidence of the existence of a new gas (named Argon on account of its chemical inertness), and a statement of many of its properties, were communicated to the Royal Society (see Phil. Trans. clxxxvi. p. 187) by the discoverers in January 1895. The isolation of the new substance by removal of nitrogen from air was effected by two distinct methods. Of these the first is merely a development of that of Cavendish. The gases were contained in a test-tube A (fig. 1) standing over a large quantity of weak alkali B, and the current was conveyed in wires insulated by U-shaped glass tubes CC passing through the liquid and round the mouth of the test-tube. The inner platinum ends DD of the wire may be sealed into the glass insulating tubes, but reliance should not be placed upon these sealings. In order to secure tightness in spite of cracks, mercury was placed in the bends. With a battery of five Grove cells and a Ruhmkorff coil of medium size, a somewhat short spark, or arc, of about 5 mm. was found to be more favourable than a longer one. When the mixed gases were in the right proportion, the rate of absorption was about 30 c.c. per hour, about thirty times as fast as Cavendish could work with the electrical machine of his day. Where it is available, an alternating electric current is much superior to a battery and break. This combination, introduced by W. Spottiswoode, allows the absorption in the apparatus of fig. 1 to be raised to about 80 c.c. per hour, and the method is very convenient for the purification of small quantities of argon and for determinations of the amount present in various samples of gas, e.g. in the gases expelled from solution in water. A convenient adjunct to this apparatus is a small voltameter, with the aid of which oxygen or hydrogen can be introduced at pleasure. The gradual elimination of the nitrogen is tested at a moment’s notice with a miniature spectroscope. For this purpose a small Leyden jar is connected as usual to the secondary terminals, and if necessary the force of the discharge is moderated by the insertion of resistance in the primary circuit. When with a fairly wide slit the yellow line is no longer visible, the residual nitrogen may be considered to have fallen below 2 or 3%. During this stage the oxygen should be in considerable excess. When the yellow line of nitrogen has disappeared, and no further contraction seems to be in progress, the oxygen maybe removed by cautious introduction of hydrogen. The spectrum may now be further examined with a more powerful instrument. The most conspicuous group in the argon spectrum at atmospheric pressure is that first recorded by A. Schuster (fig. 2). Water vapour and excess of oxygen in moderation do not interfere seriously with its visibility. It is of interest to note that the argon spectrum may be fully developed by operating upon a miniature scale, starting with only 5 c.c. of air (Phil. Mag. vol. i. p. 103, 1901).
The development of Cavendish’s method upon a large scale
