See also:

• ARGON (from the Gr. 6.-, privative, and Epyov, work; hence meaning " inert ")

ARGON (from the Gr. 6.-, privative, and Epyov, See also:

• WORK

work; hence meaning " inert ")  , a gaseous constituent of atmospheric See also:

• AIR (from an Indo-European root meaning " breathe," " blow ")
• AIR, or ASBEN

air . For more than a See also:

• HUNDRED

hundred years before 1894 it had been supposed that the See also:

• COMPOSITION
• COMPOSITION (Lat. compositio, from componere, to put together)

composition of the See also:

• ATMOSPHERE (Gr. fir µ6r, vapour; orkaipa, a sphere)

atmosphere was thoroughly known . Beyond variable quantities of moisture and traces of carbonic See also:

• ACID (from the Lat. root ac-, sharp; acere, to be sour)

acid, See also:

• HYDROGEN [symbol H, atomic weight x-oo8 (0=16)]

hydrogen, See also:

• AMMONIA (NH3)

ammonia, &c., the only constituents recognized were See also:

• NITROGEN [symbol N., atomic weight 14.01, 0=16]

nitrogen and See also:

• OXYGEN (symbol 0, atomic weight 16)

oxygen . The See also:

• ANALYSIS (Gr. avci and Meta, to break up into parts)

analysis of air was conducted by determining the amount of oxygen See also:

• PRESENT

present and assuming the See also:

• REMAINDER, REVERSION

remainder to be nitrogen . Since the See also:

• TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
• TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
• TIME, STANDARD

time of See also:

• HENRY
• HENRY (1129-1195)
• HENRY (c. 1108-1139)
• HENRY (c. 1174–1216)
• HENRY (Fr. Henri; Span. Enrique; Ger. Heinrich; Mid. H. Ger. Heinrich and Heimrich; O.H.G. Haimi- or Heimirih, i.e. " prince, or chief of the house," from O.H.G. heim, the Eng. home, and rih, Goth. reiks; compare Lat. rex " king "—" rich," therefore " mig
• HENRY, EDWARD LAMSON (1841– )
• HENRY, JAMES (1798-1876)
• HENRY, JOSEPH (1797-1878)
• HENRY, MATTHEW (1662-1714)
• HENRY, PATRICK (1736–1799)
• HENRY, PRINCE OF BATTENBERG (1858-1896)
• HENRY, ROBERT (1718-1790)
• HENRY, VICTOR (1850– )
• HENRY, WILLIAM (1795-1836)

Henry See also:

• CAVENDISH
• CAVENDISH, GEORGE (1500-1562?)
• CAVENDISH, HENRY (1731-1810)
• CAVENDISH, SIR WILLIAM (c. 1505-1557)

Cavendish no one seemed even to have asked the question whether the See also:

• RESIDUE (through the French, from the Lat. residuum, a remainder, from residere, to remain)

residue was, in truth, all capable of See also:

• CONVERSION (Lat. conversio, from convertere, to turn or ,change)

conversion into nitric acid . The manner in which this See also:

• CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition of complacent See also:

• IGNORANCE (Lat. ignorantia, from ignorare, not to know); want of knowledge, a state of mind which in law has important consequences. A well-known legal maxim runs: ignorantia juris non excusat ("ignorance of the law does not excuse")

ignorance came to be disturbed is instructive . Observations undertaken mainly in the See also:

• INTEREST

interest of See also:

• PROUT, SAMUEL (1783–1852)
• PROUT, WILLIAM (1785-1850)

Prout's See also:

• LAW
• LAW (0. Eng. lagu, M. Eng. lawe; from an old Teutonic root lag, " lie," what lies fixed or evenly; cf. Lat. lex, Fr. loi)
• LAW, JOHN (1671—1729)
• LAW, WILLIAM (1686-1761)

law, and extending over many years, had been conducted to determine afresh the densities of the See also:

• PRINCIPAL

principal gases--hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen . In the latter See also:

• CASE
• CASE, JOHN (d. 1600)

case, the first preparations were according to the 1 See See also:

• VICTOR
• VICTOR, GAIUS JULIUS (4th cent. A.D.)
• VICTOR, SEXTUS AURELIUS

Victor Loret, " See also:

• LES

Les flutes egyptiennes antiques," See also:

• JOURNAL
• JOURNAL (through Fr. from late Lat. diurnalis, daily)

Journal Asiatique, 8eme serie, tome xiv., See also:

• PARIS
• PARIS (also called ALEXANDROS)
• PARIS, ALEXIS PAULIN (1800-x881)
• PARIS, BRUNO PAULIN GASTON (1839-1903)
• PARIS, FRANCOIS DE (169o-1727)
• PARIS, LOUIS PHILIPPE ALBERT
• PARIS, TREATIES OF (1814-1815)

Paris, 1889, pp . 129, 130 and 132 . 2 See also:

• CATALOGUE (a Fr. adaptation of the Gr. KaraXoyos, a register, from Karalyety, to enrol or pick out)

Catalogue descriptif et analytique du musie du See also:

• CONSERVATOIRE (the Fr. equivalent of Ital. Conservatorio, Ger. Conservatorium, from Med. Lat. conservatorium, a place where anything is preserved, Lat. conservare, to preserve)

Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles (See also:

• GHENT (Flem. Gent, Fr. Gand)

Ghent, 1880), p . 141 . 2 A Descriptive Catalogue of the Musical See also:

• INSTRUMENTS

Instruments in the See also:

• SOUTH
• SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

South See also:

• KENSINGTON

Kensington Museum. by Carl See also:

• ENGEL, ERNST (1821-1896)
• ENGEL, JOHANN JAKOB (1741-1802)

Engel (See also:

• LONDON

London, 1874), p .

143 . o I 2 3 4 5 6 Holes uncovered . convenient method devised by See also:

• VERNON
• VERNON, EDWARD (1684-1757)

Vernon See also:

• HARCOURT
• HARCOURT, SIMON HARCOURT, 1ST VISCOUNT (c. 1661-1727)
• HARCOURT, SIR WILLIAM GEORGE GRANVILLE VENABLES VERNON (1827-1904)
• HARCOURT, WILLIAM VERNON (1789-1871)

Harcourt, in which air charged with ammonia is passed over red-hot See also:

• COPPER (symbol Cu, atomic weight 63.1, H=1, or 63.6, O = 16)

copper . Under the See also:

• INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence of the See also:

• HEAT (0. E. haktu, which like " hot," Old Eng. hat, is from the Teutonic type haita, hit, to be hot; cf. Ger. hitze, heiss; Dutch, hitte, heet, &c.)

heat the atmospheric oxygen; unites with the hydrogen of the ammonia, and when the excess of the latter is removed with sulphuric acid, the See also:

• GAS

gas properly desiccated should be pure nitrogen, derived in See also:

• PART

part from the ammonia, but principally from the air . A few concordant determinations of See also:

• DENSITY (Lat. densus, thick)

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 -ro 0 6 part greater than that found by Harcourt's method (See also:

• RAYLEIGH, JOHN WILLIAM STRUTT

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 See also:

• ROSE
• ROSE (Rosa)
• ROSE, GEORGE (1744-1818)
• ROSE, HUGH JAMES (1795—1838)
• ROSE, WILLIAM STEWART (1775-1843)

rose to 1% . 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 See also:

• UNIFORM

uniform value of the density was arrived at, and this value was z % greater than that appertaining to nitrogen extracted from compounds such as nitrous See also:

• OXIDE

oxide, ammonia and ammonium nitrite . No impurity, consisting of any known substance, could be discovered capable of explaining an excessive See also:

• WEIGHT

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 See also:

• DISCHARGE (adapted from the O. Fr. discharge, modern decharge, from a med. Lat. discargare, to unload, dis- and earn care, to load, cf. " charge ")

discharge any influence upon either quality .

(" On an See also:

• ANOMALY (from Gr. lwvw)

Anomaly encountered in determining the Density of Nitrogen Gas," Proc . See also:

• ROY, WILLIAM (1726-1790)

Roy . See also:

• SOC

Soc., See also:

• APRIL

April 1894.) At this See also:

• STAGE (Fr. 6/age; from Lat. stare, to stand)

stage it became clear that the complication depended upon some hitherto unknown See also:

• BODY

body, and See also:

• PROBABILITY (Lat. probabilis, probable or credible)

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 See also:

• LORD
• LORD (O. Eng. hldford, i.e. hldfweard, the warder or keeper of bread, hlIf, loaf; the word is not represented in any other Teutonic language)
• LORD, JOHN (1810-1894)

Lord Rayleigh and See also:

• SIR

Sir See also:

• WILLIAM
• WILLIAM (1143-1214)
• WILLIAM (1227-1256)
• WILLIAM (1J33-1584)
• WILLIAM (A.S. Wilhelm, O. Norse Vilhidlmr; O. H. Ger. Willahelm, Willahalm, M. H. Ger. Willehelm, Willehalm, Mod.Ger. Wilhelm; Du. Willem; O. Fr. Villalme, Mod. Fr. Guillaume; from " will," Goth. vilja, and " helm," Goth. hilms, Old Norse hidlmr, meaning
• WILLIAM (c. 1130-C. 1190)
• WILLIAM, 13TH

William See also:

• RAMSAY, ALLAN (1686-1758)
• RAMSAY, ALLAN (1713-1784)
• RAMSAY, ANDREW MICHAEL (1686-1743)
• RAMSAY, DAVID (1749—1815)
• RAMSAY, SIR WILLIAM (1852– )
• RAMSAY, SIR WILLIAM MITCHELL (185r– )

Ramsay . The question which now pressed was as to the See also:

• CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character of the See also:

• EVIDENCE (Lat. evidentia, evideri, to appear clearly)

evidence for the universally accepted view that the so-called nitrogen of the atmosphere was all of one See also:

• KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind, that the nitrogen of the air was the same as the nitrogen of See also:

• NITRE

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 See also:

• LIME
• LIME (O. Eng. lim, Lat. limes, mud, from linere, to smear)

lime-See also:

• WATER

water, See also:

• CAUSTIC (Gr. rcavvraubs, burning)

caustic alkalies, or nitrous air; that it is unfit to support See also:

• FIRE (in O. Eng. f j'r; the word is common to West German languages, cf. Dutch vuur, Ger. Feuer; the pre-Teutonic form is seen in Sanskrit pu, pavaka, and Gr. irup; the ultimate origin is usually taken to be a root meaning to purify, cf. Lat. purus)

fire or maintain See also:

• LIFE

life in animals; and that its specific gravity is not much less than that of See also:

• COMMON

common air; so that, though the nitrous acid, by being See also:

• UNITED

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 See also:

• REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest which would refuse to undergo that See also:

• CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change . The foregoing experiments indeed, in some measure, decided this point, as much the greatest part of air let up into the See also:

• TUBE (Lat. tuba)

tube lost its See also:

• ELASTICITY

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 See also:

• SPARKS, JARED (1789-1866)

sparks over See also:

• ALKALI

alkali], till it was reduced to a small part of its See also:

• ORIGINAL

original bulk . I then, in See also:

• ORDER
• ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
• ORDER, HOLY

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 See also:

• PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place . Having by these means condensed as much as I could of the phlogisticated air, I let up some See also:

• SOLUTION (from Lat. solvere, to loosen, dissolve)

solution of See also:

• LIVER (O. Eng. lifer; cf. cognate forms, Dutch lever, Ger. Leber, Swed. lefver, &c.; the O. H. Ger. forms are libara, lipora, &c.; the Teut. word has been connected with Gr. i'prap and Lat. jecur)

liver of See also:

• SULPHUR

sulphur to absorb the dephlogisticated air; after which only a small bubble of air remained unabsorbed, which certainly was not more than See also:

• SIS (anc. Sision or Siskia, later Flaviopolis or Flavias)

sis 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 ,h 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 See also:

• MAIN (from the Aryan root which appears in " may " and " might," and Lat. magnus, great)
• MAIN (Lat. Moenus)

main bulk of the "phlogisticated air," and contained the gas afterwards named See also:

• ARGON (from the Gr. 6.-, privative, and Epyov, work; hence meaning " inert ")

argon . The announcement to the See also:

• BRITISH

British Association in 1894 by Rayleigh and Ramsay of a new gas in the atmosphere was received with a See also:

• GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good See also:

• DEAL

deal of See also:

• SCEPTICISM (o-Kesrroµai, I consider, reflect, hesitate, doubt)

scepticism .

Some doubted the See also:

• DISCOVERY

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 x % of a non-,oxidizable gas about See also:

• HALF

half as heavy again as nitrogen . The nearest approach to a difficulty See also:

• LAY

lay in the behaviour of liquid air, from which it was supposed, as the event proved erroneously, that such a constituent would See also:

• SEPARATE

separate itself in the solid See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form . The evidence of the existence of a new gas (named Argon on See also:

• ACCOUNT
• ACCOUNT (through O. Fr. acont, Late Lat. comptum, cornputare, to calculate)

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 See also:

• JANUARY

January 1895 . The See also:

• ISOLATION

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) See also:

• STANDING

standing over a large .quantity of weak alkali B, and the current was conveyed in wires insulated by U-shaped See also:

• GLASS
• GLASS (O.E. glees, cf. Ger. Glas, perhaps derived from an old Teutonic root gla-, a variant of glo-, having the general sense of shining, cf. " glare," " glow ")
• GLASS, STAINED

glass tubes CC passing through the liquid and See also:

• ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round the mouth of the test-tube . The inner See also:

• PLATINUM [symbol Pt, atomic weight 145.0 (0=16)]

platinum ends DD of the See also:

• WIRE (A.S. wir, a wire; cf. Swed. vire, to twist, M.H.G. wiere, a gold ornament, Lat. viriae, armlets, ultimately from the root wi, to twist, bind)

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, See also:

• MERCURY
• MERCURY (MERCU1uus)
• MERCURY (symbol Hg, atomic weight = 2oo)

mercury was placed in the bends .

With a See also:

• BATTERY (Fr. batterie, from battles, to beat)

battery of five See also:

• GROVE (O.E. graf, cf. O.E. gr(efa, brushwood, later" greave "; the word does not appear in any other Teutonic language, and the New English Dictionary finds no Indo-European root to which it can be referred; Skeat considers it connected with " grave," to
• GROVE, SIR GEORGE (182o-1900)
• GROVE, SIR WILLIAM ROBERT (1811-1896)

Grove cells and a Ruhmkorff coil of See also:

• MEDIUM

medium See also:

• SIZE

size, a somewhat See also:

• SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

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 propor- tion, the See also:

• RATE

rate of absorption was about 30 C.C. per See also:

• HOUR

hour, about See also:

• THIRTY

thirty times as fast as Cavendish could See also:

• WORK

work with the See also:

• ELECTRICAL
• ELECTRICAL (or ELECTROSTATIC) MACHINE

electrical See also:

• MACHINE
• MACHINE (through Fr. from Lat. form machina of Gr. µnxavil)

machine of his See also:

• DAY (O. Eng. dreg, Ger. Tag; according to the New English Dictionary, " in no way related to the Lat. dies")
• DAY, JOHN (1574-1640?)
• DAY, THOMAS (1748-1789)

day . Where it is available, an alternating electric current is much See also:

• SUPERIOR

superior to a battery and break . This See also:

• COMBINATION (Lat. combinare, to combine)

combination, introduced by W . See also:

• SPOTTISWOODE (SPOTTISwooD, SPOTISWOOD Or SPOTSWOOD), JOHN (1565-1639)
• SPOTTISWOODE, WILLIAM (1825-1883)

Spottiswoode, allows the absorption in the apparatus of fig . 1 to be raised to about 8o c.c. per hour, and the method is very convenient for the See also:

• PURIFICATION

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 See also:

• ADJUNCT (from Lat. ad, to, and jungere, to join)

adjunct to this apparatus is a small voltameter, with the aid of which oxygen or hydrogen can be introduced at See also:

• PLEASURE (through Fr. plaisir from Lat. placere, to please; Gr. rlbovii)

pleasure . The See also:

• GRADUAL (Med. Lat. gradualis, of or belonging to steps or degrees; gradus, step)

gradual elimination of the nitrogen is tested at a moment's See also:

• NOTICE

notice with a See also:

• MINIATURE

miniature spectroscope . For this purpose a small See also:

• LEYDEN, JOHN (1775-1811)

Leyden See also:

• JAR

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 See also:

• PRIMARY

primary See also:

• CIRCUIT (Lat. circuitus, from circum, round, and ire, to go)

circuit . When with a fairly wide slit the yellow See also:

• LINE

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, theoxygen maybe removed by cautious introduction of hydrogen .

The spectrum may now be further examined with a more powerful See also:

• INSTRUMENT (Lat. instrumentum, from insincere, to build up, furnish, arrange, prepare)

instrument . The most conspicuous See also:

• GROUP

group in the argon spectrum at atmospheric pressure is that first recorded by A . Schuster (fig. a) . Water vapour and excess of oxygen in moderation do not interfere seriously with its visibility, It is of interest to See also:

• NOTE
• NOTE (Lat. nota, mark, sign, from noscere, to know)

note that the argon spectrum may be fully See also:

• DEVELOPED

developed by operating upon a miniature See also:

• SCALE
• SCALE (1) A

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 involves arrangements different from what would at first be expected . The transformer working from a public See also:

• SUPPLY (through Fr. from Lat. supplere, to fill up)

supply should give about 6000 volts on open circuit, although when the electric See also:

• FLAME (Lat. flamma; the root flag- appears in flagrare, to burn, blaze, and Gr. d, XEryew)

flame is established the voltage on the platinums is only from 1600 to 2000 . No sufficient See also:

• ADVANTAGE

advantage is attained by raising the pressure of the gases above atmosphere, but a capacious See also:

• VESSEL (O. Fr. vaissel, from a rare Lat. vascellum, dim. of vas, vase, urn)

vessel is necessary . This may consist of a glass See also:

• SPHERE (Gr. vclsa?pa, a ball or globe)

sphere of 5o litres' capacity, into the See also:

• NECK (O. Eng. hnecca; the word appears in many Teutonic languages; cf. Dutch ride, Ger. Nacken; in O. E. the common word was heals; cf. Ger. Hals)

neck of which, presented downwards, the necessary tubes are fitted . The whole of the interior See also:

• SURFACE

surface is washed with a See also:

• FOUNTAIN (Late Lat. fontana, from ions, a spring)

fountain of alkali, kept in circulation by means of a small centrifugal See also:

• PUMP

pump . In this apparatus, and with about one See also:

• HORSE (a word common to Teutonic languages in such forms as hors, hros, ros; cf. the Ger. ross)

horse-See also:

• POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power utilized 4t the transformer, the absorption of gas is 21 litres per hour (" The Oxidation of Nitrogen Gas," Trans .

Chem . Soc., 1897) . In one experiment, specially undertaken for the See also:

• SAKE

sake of measurement, the See also:

• TOTAL

total air employed was 9250 c.c., and the oxygen consumed, manipulated with the aid of partially de-aerated water, amounted to Io,82o c.c . The oxygen contained in the air would be 1942 c.c.; so that the quantities of atmospheric nitrogen and of total oxygen which enter into combination would be 7308 c.c. and 12,762 C.C. respectively . This corresponds to N+ I.75 0, the oxygen being decidedly in excess of the See also:

• PRO

pro-portion required to form nitrous acid . The argon ultimately found was 75.0 c.c., or a little more than r % of the atmospheric nitrogen used . A subsequent determination over mercury by A . M . Kellas (Proc . Roy . Soc. lix. p . 66, 1895) gave 1.186 c.c. as the amount of argon present in See also:

• LOO (formerly called " Lanterloo," Fr. lanturlu, the refrain of a popular 17th-century song)

loo c.c. of mixed atmospheric nitrogen and argon .

In the earlier stages of the inquiry, when it was important to meet the doubts which had been expressed as to the presence of the new gas in the atmosphere, See also:

• BLANK (from the Fr. blanc, white)

blank experiments were executed in which air was replaced by nitrogen from ammonium nitrite . The residual argon, derived doubtless from the water used to manipulate the gases, was but a small 43 44 45 16 47 48 49 saw — . Red I I 1I Hy F FIG . 2 . fraction of what would have been obtained from a corresponding quantity of air . The other method by which nitrogen may be absorbed on a considerable scale is by the aid of See also:

• MAGNESIUM [symbol Mg, atomic weight 24.32 (0 = 16)]

magnesium . The See also:

• METAL
• METAL (through Fr. from Lat. metallum, mine, quarry, adapted from Gr. µATaXAov, in the same sense, probably connected with ,ueraAAdv, to search after, explore, µeTa, after, aAAos, other)

metal in the form of thin turnings is charged into hard glass or See also:

• IRON [symbol Fe, atomic weight 55.85 (0=16)]

iron tubes heated to a full red in a See also:

• COMBUSTION (from the Lat. comburere, to burn up)

combustion See also:

• FURNACE

furnace . Into this air, previously deprived of oxygen by red-hot copper and thoroughly dried, is led in a continuous stream . At this temperature the nitrogen combines with the magnesium, and thus the argon is concentrated . A still more potent absorption is afforded by See also:

• CALCIUM [symbol Ca, atomic weight 40.0 (o= x6)]

calcium prepared in situ by See also:

• HEATING

heating a mixture of magnesium dust with thoroughly dehydrated See also:

• QUICK

quick-lime . The density of argon, prepared and purified by magnesium, was found by Sir William Ramsay to be 19.941 on the 0=16 scale . The See also:

• VOLUME

volume actually weighed was 163 c.c .

Subsequently large-scale operations with the same apparatus as had been used for the principal gases gave an almost identical result (19'940) for argon prepared with oxygen . Argon is soluble in water at 12° C. to about 4.0%, that is, it is about 22 times more soluble than nitrogen . We should thus expect to find it in increased proportion in the dissolved gases of See also:

• RAIN (O.E. regn; the word is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Regen, Swed. and Dan. regn; it has been connected with Lat. rigare, to wet, Gr. 13pixeav)

rain-water . Experiment has confirmed this anticipation . The weight of a mixture of argon and nitrogen prepared from the dissolved gases showed an excess of 24 mg. over the weight of true nitrogen, the corresponding excess for the atmospheric mixture being only 11 mg . Argon is contained in the gases liberated by many thermal springs, but not in See also:

• SPECIAL

special quantity . The gas collected from the See also:

• KING
• KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
• KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
• KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
• KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
• KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
• KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
• KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
• KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
• KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
• KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
• KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)

King's See also:

• SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

Spring at See also:

• BATH
• BATH, THOMAS THYNNE
• BATH, WILLIAM

Bath gave only 1%, i.e. half the atmospheric proportion . The most remarkable See also:

• PHYSICAL

physical See also:

• PROPERTY

property of argon relates tothe See also:

• CONSTANT, BENJAMIN (1845-1902)

constant known as the ratio of specific heats . When a gas is warmed one degree, the heat which must be supplied depends upon whether the operation is conducted at a constant volume or at a constant pressure, being greater in the latter case . The ratio of specific heats of the principal gases is 1.4, which, according to the kinetic theory, is an indication that an important fraction of the See also:

• ENERGY (from the Gr. ivipyela; iv, in, ipyov, work)

energy absorbed is devoted to rotation or vibration . If, as for Boscovitch points, the whole energy is translatory, the ratio of specific heats must be 1.67 . This is precisely the number found from the velocity of See also:

• SOUND
• SOUND, THE (Danish Oresund)

sound in argon as determined by See also:

• KUNDT, AUGUST ADOLPH EDUARD EBERHARD (1839-1894)

Kundt's method, and it leaves no See also:

• ROOM

room for any sensible energy of rotatory or vibrational See also:

• MOTION (Lat. motio, from movere, to move)
• MOTION, LAWS OF

motion .

The same value had previously been found for mercury vapour by Kundt and Warburg, and had been regarded as confirmatory of the monatomic character attributed on chemical grounds to the mercury See also:

• MOLECULE (from mod. Lat. molecula, the diminutive of moles, a mass)

molecule . It may be added that See also:

• HELIUM (from Gr. i)Xcor, the sun)

helium has the same character as argon in respect of specific heats (Ramsay, Proc . Roy . Soc . 1. p . 86, 1895) . The refractivity of argon is •q61 of that of air . This See also:

• LOW, SETH (1850- )
• LOW, WILL HICOK (1853- )

low refractivity is noteworthy as strongly antagonistic to the view. at one time favoured by eminent chemists that argon was a condensed form of nitrogen represented by N3 . The viscosity of argon is 1.21, referred to air, somewhat higher than for oxygen, which stands at the See also:

• HEAD (in 0. Eng. heafad; the word is common to Teutonic languages; cf. Dutch hoofd, Ger. Haupt, generally taken to be in origin connected with Lat. caput, Gr. KerbOvi7)
• HEAD, SIR EDMUND WALKER, BART
• HEAD, SIR FRANCIS BOND, BART

head of the See also:

• LIST (O.E. lisle, a Teutonic word, cf. Dut. lust, Ger. Leiste, adapted in Ital. lista and Fr. lisle)
• LIST, FRIEDRICH (1789-1846)

list of the principal gases (" On some Physical Properties of Argon and Helium," Proc . Roy . Soc. vol. lix. p . 198, 1896) .

The spectrum shows remarkable peculiarities . According to circumstances, the See also:

• COLOUR (Lat. color, connected with celare, to hide, the root meaning, therefore, being that of a covering)

colour of the See also:

• LIGHT

light obtained from a See also:

• PLUCKER, JULIUS (18or-1868)

Plucker. vacuum tube changes " from red to a See also:

• RICH, BARNABE (c. 1540-1617)
• RICH, CLAUDIUS JAMES (1787-1821)
• RICH, JOHN (1692-1761)
• RICH, PENELOPE, LADY (c. 1562–1607)
• RICH, RICHARD, 1ST BARON RICH (1490?-1567)

rich See also:

• STEEL, FLORA ANNIE (1847– )

steel See also:

• BLUE (common in different forms to most European languages)

blue," to use the words of See also:

• CROOKES, SIR WILLIAM (1832– )

Crookes, who first described the phenomenon . A third spectrum is distinguished by J . M . Eder and See also:

• EDWARD

Edward Valenta . The red spectrum is obtained at moderately low pressures (5 mm.) by the use of a Ruhmkorff coil without a jar or air-See also:

• GAP

gap . The red lines at 7056 and 6965 (Crookes) are characteristic . The blue spectrum is best seen at a somewhat See also:

• LOWER

lower pressure (r mm. to 2.5 mm.), and usually requires a Leyden jar to be connected to the secondary terminals . In some conditions very small causes effect a transition from the one spectrum to the other . The course of electrical events attending the operation of a Ruhmkorff coil being extremely complicated, special interest attaches to some experiments conducted by See also:

• JOHN
• JOHN (1167–1216)
• JOHN (1290-c. 1320)
• JOHN (1296-1346)
• JOHN (1371–1419)
• JOHN (1468-1532)
• JOHN (1801-1873)
• JOHN (Heb. llni')
• JOHN (ZAPOLYA) (1487-1540)
• JOHN, 4TH MARQUESS OF TWEEDDALE (c. 1695-1762)
• JOHN, DON (1545-1578)
• JOHN, DON (1629–1679)
• JOHN, GOSPEL OF ST
• JOHN, or HAYS (1513–1571)
• JOHN, THE APOSTLE
• JOHN, THE EPISTLES OF

John See also:

• TROWBRIDGE

Trowbridge and T . W . See also:

• RICHARDS, ALFRED BATE (182o-1876)
• RICHARDS, HENRY BRINLEY (1819-1865)
• RICHARDS, WILLIAM TROST (1833-1905)

Richards, in which the source of power was a secondary battery of 5000 cells .

At a pressure of I mm. the red glow of argon was readily obtained with a voltage of 2000, but not with much less . After the discharge was once started, the difference of potentials at the terminals of the tube varied from 63o volts upwards . The introduction of a capacity between the terminals of the See also:

• GEISSLER, HEINRICH (1814-1879)

Geissler tube, for example two plates of metal 1600 sq. cm. in See also:

• AREA

area separated by a glass See also:

• PLATE

plate cm. thick, made no difference in the red glow so See also:

• LONG, GEORGE (1800-1879)
• LONG, JOHN DAVIS (1838– )

long as the connexions were good and the See also:

• CONDENSER

condenser was quiet . As soon as a spark-gap was introduced, or the condenser began to emit the humming sound See also:

• PECULIAR

peculiar to it, the beautiful blue glow so characteristic of argon immediately appeared . (Phil . Mag. xhii• p . 77, 1897.) The behaviour of argon at low temperatures was investigated by K . S . Olszewski (Phil . Trans., 1895, p . 253) . The following results are extracted from the table given by him: Name .

See also:

• CRITICAL (in alphabetical order of authors)

Critical Critical Boiling Freezing See also:

• TEMPERA (the Italian term), or DISTEMPER

Tempera- Pressure, Point, Point, See also:

• TURE

ture, Cent . Atmos . Cent . Cent . Nitrogen . -146.0 35'0 -194'4 -214.0 Argon —I2I.0 50.6 -187.0 -189.6 Oxygen -118.8 5o•8 -182.7 The smallness of the See also:

• INTERVAL

interval between the boiling and freezing points is noteworthy . From the manner of its preparation it was clear at an See also:

• EARLY
• EARLY, JUBAL ANDERSON (1816-1894)

early stage that argon would not combine with magnesium or calcium at a red heat, nor under the influence of the electric discharge with oxygen, hydrogen or nitrogen . Numerous other, attempts to induce combination also failed . Nor does it appear that any well-defined See also:

• COMPOUND
• COMPOUND (from Lat. componere, to combine or put together)

compound of argon has yet been prepared . It was Argon See also:

• ZINC

zinc Hydrogen 478 found, however, by M . P . E .

See also:

• BERTHELOT, MARCELLIN PIERRE EUGENE (1827–1907)

Berthelot that under the influence of the silent electric discharge, a mixture of See also:

• BENZENE, C6H6

benzene vapour and argon underwent contraction, with formation of a gummy product from which the argon could be recovered . The facts detailed in the original memoir led to the conclusion that argon was an See also:

• ELEMENT (Lat. elementum)

element or a mixture of elements, but the question between these alternatives was See also:

• LEFT

left open . The behaviour on liquefaction, however, seemed to prove that in the latter case either the proportion of the subordinate constituents was small, or else that the various constituents were but little contrasted . An See also:

• ATTEMPT (Lat. adtemptare, attentare, to try)

attempt, somewhat later, by Ramsay and J . See also:

• NORMAN
• NORMAN, SIR HENRY WYLIE (1826-1904)

Norman Collie to separate argon by See also:

• DIFFUSION (from the Lat. diffundere; dis-, asunder, and fundere, to pour out)

diffusion into two parts, which should have different densities or refractivities, led to no distinct effect . More recently Ramsay and M . W . Travers have obtained evidence of the existence in the atmosphere of three new gases, besides helium, to which have been assigned the names of neon, krypton and xenon . These gases agree with argon in respect of the ratio of the specific heats and in being non-oxidizable under the electric spark . As originally defined, argon included small proportions of these gases, but it is now preferable to limit the name to the principal constituent and to regard the newer gases as " companions of argon." The physical constants associated with the name will scarcely be changed, since the proportion of the " companions " is so small . Sir William Ramsay considers that probably the volume of all of them taken together does not exceed Thth part of that of the argon . The physical properties of these gases are given in the following table (Prot .

Roy . Soc. lxvii. p . 331, 1900) : Helium . Neon . Argon . Krypton . Xenon . Refractivities .1238 .2345 •968 1.449 2.364 (air = 1) 1.98 9'97 19.96 40.88 64 Densities (0=16) Boiling points c . 6° 1 ? 86.9° 121.33° 163.9° at 76o mm. abs . abs. abs. abs . Critical See also:

• TERN (Norsk taerne, tende or tende; Swedish tarna; Dutch Stern1)

tern- ? below 155.6° 210.5° 287.7° peratures 68° abs. abs. abs. abs .

Critical pres- ? ? 40.2 41'24 43'5 slues metres. metres. metres . Weight of 'c.c . ? ? I.2I2 2.155 3.52 of liquid gm. gm. gm . The glow obtained in vacuum tubes is highly characteristic, whether as seen directly or as analysed by the spectroscope . Now that liquid air is available in many laboratories, it forms an advantageous starting-point in the preparation of argon . Being less volatile than nitrogen, argon accumulates relatively as liquid air evaporates . That the proportion of oxygen in-creases at the same time is little or no See also:

• DRAWBACK

drawback . The following analyses (Rayleigh, Phil.Mag., See also:

• JUNE

June 1903) of the vapour arising from liquid air at various stages of the evaporation will give an See also:

• IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

idea of the course of events: Percentage of Percentage of Argon as a Percentage Oxygen . Argon. of the Nitrogen and ce on Argon .