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74 ILLUSTRATED WORLD
LIQUID AIR CAUSES TERRIFICALLY HEIGHTENED COMBUSTION
The demonstrator is hold ng a red-hot steel rod in liquid air. This causes the steel to burn energetical!
panded gas cools, it fills the steel chamber
containing the coiled pipe and therefore
also cools the gas that is on its way
through the pipe. Then, when the gas
that is coming through the pipe reaches
the expansion valve, it will cool still
more and will therefore be much colder
than the gas that is already in the cylinder.
Thus, it will be seen that, after
about thirty minutes continuation of this
process, liquid air will be flowing in the
pipe.
When any substance at ordinary temperature,
or even at the temperature of
ice, is brought into contact with a liquid
gas, such as air, the liquid will be found
to boil furiously until it actually subtracts
all the available heat from the substance.
The result is that some of the
liquid gas boils itself away and regains
its natural state. It may be rather confusing
for some to conceive of the meaning
of "boiling" as it is used here. But
when it is mentioned that liquid air boils
at a temperature of 382 degrees below
zero, it will readilv be understood that
this "boiling" takes place without any
perceptible heat. That is why any substance
at ordinary temperature will cause
liquid air to "boil" and subsequently to
vaporize. In fact it is utterly impossible
to devise any means whereby liquid air
can be preserved any length of time,
owing to its gradual "boiling" away.
Nature is calling it back to its original
state of existence but. to regain this
state, it needs a specific amount of heat
which it greedily robs from its surroundings
as fast as possible and vaporizes.
Thus it will be seen that liquid air, or
any liquid gas, cannot be kept in a stoppered
container. If a kettle full of liquid
air was placed on a cake of ice. it would
be found to boil as fast as water on a hot
stove.
Scientists were indeed surprised when
it was found that barley seed, after
being kept for twelve hours under liquid
hydrogen, did not lose its ability to grow,
and when planted, after being subjected
to that terrific degree of coldness,
sprouted in a perfectly normal manner.