Michael Faraday's The Chemical History of a Candle

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Lecture Five 115 go through the limewater, or I can force the air out of my lungs through this tube, which goes to the bottom, and so shows its effect upon the limewater. You will observe that, however long I draw the external air into the limewater, and then through it to my lungs, I shall produce no effect upon the water. It does not make the limewater turbid but if I throw the air from my lungs through the limewater, several times in succession, you will see how white and milky the water is getting, showing the effect which expired air has upon it. And now you begin to know that the atmosphere which we have spoiled by respiration is spoiled by carbon dioxide, and you see it here in contact with the limewater. Let us now go a little further. What is all this process going on within us which we cannot do without, either day or night. If we restrain our respiration, as we can to a certain extent, we should destroy ourselves. When we are asleep, the organs of respiration, and the parts that are associated with them, still go on with their action—so necessary is this process of respiration to us, this contact of the air with the lungs. I must tell you, in the briefest possible manner, what this process is. We consume food: the food goes through that strange set of vessels and organs within us, and is brought into various parts of the body, into the digestive parts especially. The air that we inhale is drawn into the lungs, absorbed into the bloodstream, and transported
116 The Chemistry History of a Candle throughout the body so that the oxygen and the food come close together. In the body a curious, wonderful change takes place: the oxygen combines with the carbon (not carbon in a free state, but, as in this case, placed ready for action at the moment), and makes carbon dioxide, and is so thrown out into the atmosphere, and thus this singular result takes place. The oxygen can thus act upon the food, producing precisely the same results in kind as we have seen in the case of the candle. The candle combines with parts of the air, forming carbon dioxide, and evolves heat; we may thus look upon the food as fuel. Let us consider sugar, which will serve my purpose. It is a compound of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, similar to a candle, as containing the same elements, although not in the same proportion—the proportions being as shown in this table: Sugar: C 12 H 22 O 11 Proportion of Elements by Mass carbon (C) 72 hydrogen (H) 11 oxygen (O) 18 This is, indeed a very curious thing, which you can well remember. For the oxygen and hydrogen are in exactly the proportions which form water, so that sugar may be said to be compounded of seventy-two parts of carbon and ninety-nine parts of water; and it is the carbon in the sugar that combines with the oxygen carried in the air by the process
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Michael Faraday’s T he Chemic al
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Contents Lectures Preface • vii I
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Preface In this companion book to o
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2 The Chemistry History of a Candle
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10 The Chemistry History of a Candl
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Guide to Lecture One A CANDLE: SOUR
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Guide to Lecture One 15 So, the hea
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Guide to Lecture One 17 This action
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Guide to Lecture One 19 is delayed
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Lecture One A CANDLE: SOURCES OF IT
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Lecture One 23 that nicely-formed e
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Lecture One 25 before long it will
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Lecture One 27 part above. Now, let
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Lecture One 29 is only able to take
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Lecture Two BRIGHTNESS OF THE FLAME
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Lecture Two 43 through the tube to
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Lecture Two 45 larger wicks, we mus
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Lecture Two 47 of the filings I hav
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Lecture Two 49 can judge for yourse
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Guide to Lecture Three PRODUCTS OF
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Guide to Lecture Three 53 and water
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Guide to Lecture Three 55 us water,
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Guide to Lecture Three 57 that ther
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Lecture Three PRODUCTS OF COMBUSTIO
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Lecture Three 61 always the same, e
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Lecture Three 63 inside by the cond
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Michael Faraday's The Chemical History of a Candle

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