eudiometer
Date1780-1800
Inventory Number0029
ClassificationEudiometer
Subject
Maker
English
?
Cultural Region
Dimensions32 x 8 cm (12 5/8 x 3 1/8 in.)
Material
Bibliography
DescriptionGlass vessel hermetically sealed at one end and opened at the other. The open end is expanded to help support the instrument upright. Near the top of the instrument, two brass connectors are inserted in the glass to allow electrical sparks to pass through and ignite the gas inside the vessel. In the picture the eudiometer is the one on the left.
Signedunsigned
FunctionDepending on the kinds of gases needed in an experiment, the tube of this eudiometer was filled with either water or mercury and inverted in a pneumatic trough containing the same liquid. After a mixture of gases had been admitted into the tube, a spark from a Leyden jar was passed through the gas between the electrodes. Harvard Professor of chemistry John Gorham described the result: "In some cases the combination is so rapid as to produce explosion, as in the case of oxygen and hydrogen; in others it requires repeated applications of electricity, as in the production of nitric acid from a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen gases."
English
Date: circa 1785
Accessories: comes with a clamp (object 0028b)
Object number: 0028a
See also/See also
