of the water, I find that it tastes a little acid to the mouth: it is impregnated with carbonic acid; and if I now apply a little lime-water to it, that will give us a test of its presence. This water will make the lime-water turbid and white, which is proof of the presence of carbonic acid.
Then it is a very weighty gas—it is heavier than the atmosphere. I have put their respective weights at the lower part of this table, along with, for comparison, the weights of the other gases we have been examining:—
Pint. | Cubic Foot. | |
Hydrogen, | 34 grains. | 112 ounce. |
Oxygen, | 11910 " | 113 " |
Nitrogen, | 10410 " | 116 " |
Air, | 10710 " | 115 " |
Carbonic acid, | 1613 " | 11916 " |
A pint of it weighs 1613 grains, and a cubic foot weighs 1910 ounce, almost two ounces. You can see by many experiments that this is a heavy gas. Suppose I take a glass containing nothing else but air, and from this vessel containing the carbonic acid I attempt to pour a little of this gas into that glass;