II.—QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON “CHEMISTRY,” FROM PAGE 85 TO PAGE 156, INCLUSIVE.
26. Q. Why is chlorine a substance of very great commercial importance? A. On account of its extensive use as a bleaching agent.
27. Q. Of what common article is chlorine an important constituent? A. Salt.
28. Q. What are the three most striking properties of chlorine? A. Its noticeable weight—greater than that of the air—its greenish color, and its exceedingly irritating odor.
29. Q. In connection with what two principal properties does chlorine, as a chemical agent, manifest its activities? A. Its affinity for hydrogen and its affinity for the metals.
30. Q. Of what may the substance known as bleaching-powder be spoken in a general way as consisting? A. Of lime saturated with chlorine.
31. Q. When was bromine first recognized as an elementary substance, and by whom discovered? A. In the year 1826, by Balard, a French chemist.
32. Q. Where does the substance bromine occur? A. In the brine of the ocean, and in the water of mineral springs, united with certain metals in the form of bromides.
33. Q. To what does bromine show very decided resemblances, in its chemical relations? A. To chlorine, having affinities for the same substances, only less in intensity.
34. Q. In what processes is bromine an important substance? A. In the processes of photography.
35. Q. In what form has bromine had a very wide and beneficent use, as a remedial agent? A. In the form of potassic bromide.
36. Q. What is the other member of the chemical family to which it may be said chlorine and bromine belong? A. Iodine.
37. Q. Where are all these three elements found? A. In sea water.
38. Q. From what source is iodine obtained? A. From sea weeds.
39. Q. To what are the chemical characteristics of iodine throughout closely allied? A. To those of chlorine and of bromine, only in general, iodine may be said to have weaker chemical affinities than either of the other two.
40. Q. What are two of the principal uses of iodine? A. In photographic processes, and as a remedial agent.
41. Q. What remarkable statement is made of fluorine? A. That is has never been known to be produced isolated, that is, in a separate or uncombined form.
42. Q. What property above all others is characteristic of fluorine? A. Its striking affinity for silicon.
43. Q. With what substance is fluorine never known to form any compound? A. With oxygen, which can be said of no other element.
44. Q. What are three considerations upon which the importance of oxygen depends? A. The surpassing abundance of the substance itself, the great number of compounds into which it enters, and the activity of its chemical powers.
45. Q. To whom is the first discovery of oxygen usually attributed? A. Dr. Joseph Priestly, an English clergyman and student of natural science.
46. Q. What is the most prominent compound of oxygen? A. Water.
47. Q. What are some of the remarkable properties of sulphur? A. The ease with which it melts; the readiness with which it takes fire and burns in the air; the striking blue flame produced when it burns; the choking and disagreeable odor attendant upon its combustion; and its burning when in the pure form without leaving any ashes.
48. Q. From what localities is the principal supply of sulphur for commerce obtained? A. From the volcanic districts of the island of Sicily.
49. Q. What is said as to the number of elements with which sulphur combines? A. It combines in simple form of union with a majority of the elements known.
50. Q. What are three important compounds of sulphur? A. Sulphuretted hydrogen, sulphur di-oxide, and sulphur tri-oxide.