An elementary manual of chemistry : abridged from Eliot and Storer's Manual, with the co-operation of the authors

Front matter

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Preface To The Abridgment

This Abridgment, which is not simply an : abridgment,, is a shorter and easier, yet a more comprehensive manual than the original one. The larger manual covers only inorganic chemistry ; the Abridgment includes the elements of what is generally called organic chemistry. The chapter on Carbon in the original manual has been subdivided and expanded, so as to comprehend the principal facts and theories of that part of chemistry which in most text-books is treated as a distinct branch under the name of organic chemistry. In this way the compounds of carbon are studied in their natural place and order, and the student has a fairer view of the whole science than he is likely to get when the great majority of the carbon compounds are studied quite apart from carbon itself and from some of its longest-known compounds, and after all the other elements.

In preparing the new chapters on the compounds of carbon, the authors have made free use of the works mentioned above, especially of the text-books of Stoeckhardt and Miller; they would also acknowledge indebtedness to Prof. Johnson's " How Crops Grow," from which several of the experiments have been taken. These experiments, as well as the others in these chapters, are such as have been found to stand the test of actual performance by students.

vi PREFACE TO THE ABRIDGMENT.

This manual is -written in the interest of no particular theory ; the typical formulae have been employed in many cases in the chapters on carbon, as affording a convenient method of representing the reactions in which the compounds take part. Teachers who desire to illustrate more fully the theory of the subject may refer to Cooke's Chemical Philosophy, from which some useful hints have been taken in preparing this Abridgment.

Teachers who put the Abridgment into the hands of their pupils will find it useful to consult the larger manual for additional facts and experiments and fuller explanations.

Preface To The Second Revised Edition

Fkom time to time since the first issue of the book, corrections have been made of such errors as have come to the notice of the authors. The present edition has been thoroughly revised. The most important changes in the first revised edition were in Chapters IX and XI, and in §§ 27, 28, 36, 63, and 76 ; some new matter was also added. In the present edition, besides minor corrections and additions, Chapter VI has been rewritten. The page numbers, however, as a rule, have not been altered, so that where the book is already in use there will be no difficulty in the way of the gradual introduction of this new edition.

Table Of Contents

PAGES

Introduction. — Subject matter of chemistry. Chemical and physical changes. Analysis and synthesis. Elements. Fact and theory .... 1-4

Chap. I. — Air. Atmospheric pressure. Analysis of air. Oxygen and nitrogen .... . . . . 4-8

Chap. II. — Oxygen. Preparation and properties of oxygen. Oxygen supports combustion. Oxides. Wide diffusion of oxygen. Oxidation . . . 9-11

Chap. III. — Nitrogen. Preparation and properties of nitrogen . . 11-13

Chap. IV. — Water. Properties of water. The gramme. Specific gravity. Ice. Steam. Analysis, electrolysis and synthesis of water. Atoms and molecules. Atomic weights. Distillation. Solution 13-22

Chap. V. — Hydrogen. Preparation of hydrogen. Properties of hydrogen. Lightness, diffusive power, inflammability of hydrogen. Hydrogen does not support combustion. Oxy-hydrogen blowpipe. Combustibles and supporters of combustion 23-30

Chap. VI.— Compounds of nitrogen with, oxygen and hydrogen. Nitrous oxide. Its composition and properties. Nitric oxide. Its preparation, properties, and composition. Nitrogen peroxide. Liquefaction of gases. Nitric anhydride. Nitrous anhydride. Chemical compounds and mechanical mixtures. Law of multiple proportions. Air a mixture. Nitric acid. Acid and alkaline reaction. Acids, bases and salts. Ammonia. Composition, source and preparation of ammonia. Preparation of ammonia water . . 30-49

Chap. VII. — Chlorhydric acid. Properties, composition and preparation of chlorhydric acid. Chlorides. Quantivalence. Aqua regia. Practical application of chemical equations ... 49-55

Chap. VIII. — Chlorine. Preparation and properties of chlorine. Chlorine unites readily with hydrogen. Certain metals burn in chlorine. Chlorine both combustible and a supporter of combustion with reference to hydrogen. Chlorine as a bleaching agent and disinfectant. Oxygen comviii CONTENTS.

pounds of chlorine. Bleaching-powder. — Bromine. Occurrence and properties of bromine. Bromhydric and bromic acids. — Iodine. Source and properties of iodine. lodohydric and iodic acids. Nitrogen iodide. The chlorine group. — Fluorine. Occurrence of fluorine. Fluorhydric acid. Etching glass ..... .... ... . 55-67

Chap. IX.— Ozone. An allotropic form of oxygen. Preparation of ozone. Ozone an oxidizing, bleaching, and disinfecting agent. Antozone clouds . 63-71

Chap. X. -- Sulphur, selenium and tellurium. Source of sulphur. Action of sulphur when heated. Soft sulphur. Crystallization of sulphur. Systems of crystallization. Sulphur unites with other elements. Preparation, composition and properties of hydrogen sulphide. Sulphurous anhydride. Preparation and properties. Sulphurous acid bleaches. Sulphuric acid. Oxidizing and reducing agents. Manufacture of sulphuric acid. Properties of sulphuric acid. Sulphates. Turning sulphuric acid. Occurrence of selenium and tellurium. Sulphur, selenium and tellurium allied to oxygen 71-86

Chap. XI. — Combii atlon by volume. Product volume. Relation of combining weight to specific gravity. Molecular condition of the elementary

87-92

Chap. XII. — Phosphorus. Properties of phosphorus. Allotropic modifications of phosphorus. * Compounds of phosphorus and hydrogen. Phosphorus and oxygen. Phosphoric anhydride. Phosphoric acid. Empirical and rational formulas. Typical formulas 92-102

Chap. XIII. — Arsenic, antimony and bismuth. Properties of arsenic. Hydrogen arsenide. Arsenious anhydride Poisonous character and uses of arsenious anhydride. Other compounds of arsenic. — Antimony occurs native. Properties and uses of antimony. Compounds of antimony with hydrogen, oxygen and with chlorine. — Properties of bismuth. The nitrogen group of elements 102-108

Chap. XIV. — Carbon. Wide distribution and importance of carbon and its compounds. Allotropic modifications of carbon. Diamond. Graphite. Gas-carbon. Coke. Anthracite and bituminous coal Charcoal. Lampblack. Charcoal a reducing agent. Charcoal absorbs gases. Charcoal a disinfecting agent. Charcoal decolorizes. Carbonic acid and carbonates. Preparation and properties of carbonic acid. Solubility of carbonic acid. Carbonic acid produced in the processes of decay, fermentation and respiration. Carbon protoxide. Properties. Carbon protoxide poisonous. Reducing power and inflammability of carbon protoxide. Combustion. Luminosity of flames. All flames gas-flames. Structure of flames. Blowpipe flames. Chimneys. Kindling temperature. Carbon and sulphur. Carbon bisul- P hidB 109-135

Chap. XT. — Carbon (continued). Organic chemistry. Compounds of carbon and nitrogen. Cyanogen and cyanhydric acid. Hydrocarbons. Methyl hydride or marsh-gas. Preparation. Chloroform. Manufacture of illuminating gas. Composition of the gas. Marsh-gas series. Petroleum.

CONTENTS. j x

Alcohol. Yeast, Fermentation. Fractional distillation. Fractional condensation. The alcohols. Preparation and properties or ether The ethers. Mercaptans. Acetic acid. Preparation of vinegar. Chloral. Fatty acid series. Acetic and formic acids. Natural fats and oils. Manufacture of soap. Preparation of glycerin. Nitroglycerin. Vegetable oils. Drying oils. Essential oils. Oil of cloves. Oil of turpentine. Camphor > 135-163

Chap. XVI. — Carbon (continued). Homologous series of hydrocarbons, defiant gas or ethylene. Preparation of Dutch liquid. Olefiant-gas series. Glycols. Definition of the term alcohol. Phenyl series. Distillation of coal-tar Benzol, nitro-benzol and aniline Constitution of aniline. Aniline colors. Preparation and properties of phenic or carbolic acid ; of picric acid. Naphthalin and anthracene. Products of the destructive distillation of wood. Oil of bitter almonds. Relation of the oil of almonds to the phenyl series. Acetylene series 163- l~a

Chap. XVII. — Carbon (continued). Organic compounds the direct product of the growth of animals and plants. Sugar. Manufacture of sugar. Properties of cane-sugar. Dextrose or grape-sugar. Levulose or fruit-sugar. Lactose or milk-sugar. Fermentation. Fermented and distilled liquors. Starch, occurrence and properties of. Dextrin. Gluten. Bread. Properties of cellulose or woody fibre. Vegetable parchment. Gun-cotton. Gum. Pectose. Balsams. Resins. Character and solubility of the resins. Gum-resins. Caoutchouc and gutta-percha. Fossil resins. Vegetable acids. Preparation and properties of oxalic acid. Malic acid. Source, preparation and uses of tartaric acid. Citric acid. Varieties and properties of tannic acid Gallic acid. Vegetable alkaloids. Opium. Strychnine. Organic coloring matters. Dyeing. Illustration of methods of dyeing. Indigo. Indigo dyeing. Physiological chemistry. Complexity of the chemical substances concerned in the vital functions. Properties of albumin. Fibrin. Casein. Milk, butter and cheese. Gelatin and glue. Decay of organic substances. Antiseptic and preservative agents 176-204

Chap. XVIII. — Silicon and boron. Abundance of silicon. Silicic an

hydride or silica. Water-glass. Silicates. Various sorts of glass. Silica is attacked by fluorhydric acid. Silicon fluoride and tluosilicic acid Allotropic modifications of silicon. Silicon in organic compounds. — Occurrence of boron in nature. Boracic acid and boracic anhydride ... 204-208

Chap. XIX. — Sodium. Abundance of the element. Common salt or sodium chloride. Manufacture of salt. Solubility of common salt. Sodium sulphate. Glauber's salt. Manufacture of sodium carbonate. Reverberatory furnace. '* Bicarbonate of soda." The metal sodium. Sodium decomposes water. Sodium hydrate or caustic soda. Soap. Cleansing action of soap. Formation of salts. Borax. Other compounds of sodium 209-219

Chap. XX. — Potassium. Source of potassium compounds. Potash and pearlash. Potassium carbonate. Potassium hydrate. Uses of caustic potash. The metal potassium. Potassium decomposes water. Burns in carbonic acid. Potassium cyanide a reducing agent. Potassium ferro- and ferri-cyanide. Potassium nitrate formed in nature. Oxidizing power of potassium nitrate. Gunpowder. Potassium chlorate. Potassium tartrate 219-228

X CONTENTS.

Chap. XXI. — Ammonium salts. The group of atoms, ammonium. Ammonia-water. Ammonium chloride. Ammonium sulphate. Ammonium nitrate. Ammonium carbonates and sulphides. Isomorphism . . . 228-231

Chap. XXII. — Lithium, rubidium, caesium and thallium.

Properties of lithium. Spectrum analysis. Occurrence and properties of rubidium, caesium and thallium .... 231-234

Chap. XXIII. — SilTer. Ores of silver. Properties of the metal. The term metal. Silver nitrate. Silver chloride. Other silver salts. Photography. — The alkali group 234-241

Chap. XXIV. — Calcium, barium, strontium and lead. Calcium. Calcium carbonate. Stalactites and stalagmites. Calcium oxide. Calcium hydrate. Air-slaked lime. Milk of lime. Mortar. Lime as a base. Calcium sulphate. Gypsum and plaster of Paris. Hardness of water. Phosphates of calcium. Calcium chloride. Calcium hypochlorite. Oxygen from bleaching-powder.— Sirontium and barium resemble calcium. Flame colored by salts of strontium and barium. — Ores of lead. The metal lead. Separation of lead and silver. Action of air and water on lead. Oxides of lead. Lead sulphide. Salts of lead . ... ... 241-250

Chap. XXV.— Magnesium, zinc, and cadmium. Various natural compounds of magnesium. The metal. Oxide of magnesium. Suits of magnesium.— Ores of zinc. Properties of metallic zinc. The galvanic-current. The lead-tree. Electro-chemical relations of the elements. The terms negative and positive. Salts of zinc. — Cadmium 251-257

Chap. XXVI. — Aluminum, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt and nickel. Abundance of aluminum. Properties of the metal. Alumina. Aluminum hydrate. Lakes. Mordants. Aluminum sulphate. Alums. Aluminum silicates. Earthenware.— Glucinum — Indium.— Ores of chromium. Chromium sesquioxlde. Chromium sulphate and chrome alum. Chromic anhydride and chromic acid. — Compounds of manganese. Potassium permanganate.— Ores of iron. Extraction of iron from its ores. Cast-iron. The blast-furnace. "Wrought-iron. Puddling. Steel. The Bessemer process Oxides and hydrates of iron. Ferrous and ferric salts. Ferrous sulphate or copperas. Method of reducing indigo. Iron silicate. Ferro- and ferri-cyanides. Prussian blue. Iron sulphides.— Cobalt and nickel. —The sesquioxlde group. — Uranium . . . 258-274

Chap. XXVII. — Copper and mercury. Occurrence of copper in nature. Ores of copper. Properties of copper. Alloys of copper. Oxides of copper. Copper sulphate. Copper acetates. —Ores of mercury. Properties of the metal. Oxides of mercury. Chlorides of mercury. Amalgams. Detection of mercury . 274-279

Chap. XXVIII. — Tin Ores of tin. Properties of the metal. Alloys of tin. Compounds of tin ... 279-281

Chap. XXIX. — Gold and Platinum. Occurrence of gold in nature. Gold a noble metal. Alloys of gold. Salts of gold. — Occurrence of platinum. Uses of platinum. Platinum black, and platinum sponge. Platinum group . 281-285

Equivalent weights. Nomenclature, Quantivalence. Graphic symbols. Oxidation and reduction. Volumetric interpretation of symbols. Coincidence of atomic weight and unit-volume weight. Electrical relations of the atoms . . 28$~'.94

CONTENTS. x i

Cliap. XXX. — Atomic weights and classification of the elements. Alphabetical list of the elements. Groups of the elements 295-296

Appendix. Glass-tubing. Cutting and cracking glass. Bending, drawing and closing glass-tubes. Blowing bulbs. Lamps. The Bunsen burner. Wire-gauze lamps. Blast-lamps. Bellows. Blowpipes. Caoutchouc tubing and stoppers. CorKs and cork-cutters. Iron-stand, sand-bath and wire-gauze. Triangles. Pneumatic trough. Gas-holders. Deflagrating-spoon. Platinum foil and wire. Filtering. Folding filters. Drying gases. Water-bath. Self-regulating gas-generator. Glass retorts. Flasks. Beakers. Test-tubes. Test-glasses. Pipettes. Measuring-glasses. Porcelain dishes and crucibles. Rings to support round-bottomed vessels. Crucibles. Iron retort. Tongs. Furnaces. Mortars. Spatulas. Thermometers. The metrical system of weights and measures. Table for the conversion of grammes into grains, centimetres into inches and litres into quarts. Table for the conversion of degrees of the centigrade scale into degrees of Fahrenheit's scale. Order-list of chemicals and apparatus i-xlr elementary Manual of Chemistry.

INTRODUCTION".

1. The various objects which, constitute external nature present to the observing eye an infinite variety of quality and circumstance. Some bodies are hard, others soft ; some are brittle, others tough or elastic. Some natural objects are endowed with life, — they grow ; others are lifeless, — they may be moved, but do not move themselves. Some bodies are in a state of incessant change ; while others are so immovable and unchangeable that they seem everlasting. In the midst of this infinite diversity of external objects, where lies the. domain of Chemistry ? "What is the subject-matter of this science 1

When air moves in wind, when water moves in tides or in the fall of rain or snow, the air and water remain air and water still ; their constitution is not changed by the motion,' however frequent or however great. A bit of granite, thrown off from the ledge by frost, is still a bit of granite, and no new or altered thing. If a solid piece of iron be reduced to filings, each finest morsel is metallic iron still, of the same substance as the original piece, as will appear to the eye, if a morsel be sufficiently magnified under the microscope. The melted, fluid lead in the hot crucible, and the solid lead of the cold bullet cast from it, are the same in substance, only differing in respect 1

2 CHEMICAL CHANGES. [§ 2.

to temperature. In all these cases, the changes are external and non-essential, not intimate and constitutional : they are called physical changes.

2. When iron is exposed to the weather, it becomes covered with a brownish, earthy coating, which bears no outward resemblance to the original iron ; and, if exposed long enough, the metal completely disappears, being wholly changed into this very different substance, rust. A piece of coal burns in the grate and soon vanishes, leaving nothing but a little ashes. Dead vegetable or animal matters, buried in the ground, soon putrefy, decay, and disappear. So, too, the fragment of granite which frost has broken from the ledge, exposed for centuries to the action of air and rain, becomes changed ; it " weathers," and after a time could no longer be recognized as granite. All these changes involve alterations in the intimate constitution of the bodies which undergo them : they are called chemical changes.

Experiment 1. — Mix thoroughly 3 grammes (for Tables of the Metrical System of Weights and Measures, see Appendix) of coarsely-powdered sulphur with 8 grammes of copper-filings or fine turnings. Pig. l. Put the mixture into a tube of hard glass, No. 3,

about 12 centimetres long, and closed at one end. (For the manipulation of tubing, see Appendix, §§ 1-4.) Hold the tube by the open end with the wooden nippers, as in Fig. 1, and i heat the mixture over the gas-lamp (Appendix, § 5), until it suddenly glows vividly at the instant when the copper and sulphur combine.

Before heat was applied, the mixture of the two substances was simply mechanical, and the copper might have been completely separated from the sulphur, by due care and patience ; but, during the ignition, the copper and sulphur have united chemically, and there has been formed a substance, which, while containing both, has no external resemblance to either. In the new body the eye can detect neither copper nor sulphur.

Processes by which the whole character and appearance of

§ 3.] ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS. 3

the bodies concerned are changed, as in this experiment, so that essentially new bodies are formed from the old, are chemical processes. It is the function of the chemist, on the one hand, to investigate the action of each substance on every other, and to study the properties of the combinations resulting from this action ; and, on the other, to separate compound bodies into their simpler constituents : he further seeks the general . laws by which the intimate combinations of matter are controlled. "With these ends in view, he endeavors to pull to pieces, or, in ^technical language, to analyze, every natural substance on which he lays hands. Having thus found out the composition of the substance, he seeks to put it together again, or to recompose it out of its constituent parts. By one or both of these two processes, — analysis (unloosing) and synthesis (putting together), — the chemist studies all substances.

3. The first question which the chemist asks himself concerning every natural substance is, Of lohat is it composed 1 He then attempts to resolve the substance into simpler constituents. If he succeeds in decomposing it, he obtains the answer to this first question ; if the body can not be decomposed by any known method of analysis, the substance must be regarded as being already at its simplest. Such simple bodies are called elements. Secondly, the chemist asks, How does this new substance comport itself when brought into contact with other substances already familiar ? There are sixty-four substances which are, at present, admitted to be simple, primary substances, or elements ; other elementary substances may hereafter be discovered, and substances which are now regarded as elements may hereafter be found to be compound ; so that the number of the substances consideied as elements is subject to change. Of compound bodies, formed by the union of these elements with each other, we find a series, numbering many thousands, in the inorganic kingdom of nature, comprising all the diversified mineral constituents of the earth's crust; while another series, far more complex in composition, and almost innumerable in multitude, exists in the vegetable and animal world. The task of the chemist in thoroughly answering his second question

1 FACT AND THEORY. [§ 4.

would clearly be endless, were it not for the existence of general properties common to extensive groups of both elementary and compound bodies, and of general laws which chemical processes invariably obey.

While, therefore, the chemist seeks the answers to the two fundamental questions above stated, he is at the same time inquiring what relations exist between the properties of a body and its composition ; and he is also studying that natural and invariable sequence of chemical phenomena, which, when fully known, will constitute the perfeet science of chemistry.

4. Generalizations from observed facts, so long as they are uncertain and incomplete, are called hypotheses and theories ; when tolerably complete and reasonably certain, they are called laws. The attention of the student should be constantly directed to the keen discrimination between facts and the speculations founded upon those facts ; between the actual evidence of our trained senses brought intelligently to bear upon chemical phenomena, and the reasonings and abstract conclusions based upon this evidence ; between, in short, that which we may know and that which we may believe.