Burn spirit of wine on a little powdered nitrate of silver.
Instantaneous Flame.
Heat together potassium and sulphur, and they will instantly burn very vividly.
Heat a little nitre on a fire-shovel, sprinkle on it flour of sulphur, and it will instantly burn. If iron filings be thrown upon red hot nitre, they will detonate and burn.
Water of Different Temperatures in the Same Vessel.
Of heat and cold, as of wit and madness, it may be said that “thin partitions do their bounds divide.” Thus, paint one half of the surface of a tin pot with a mixture of lamp black and size, and leave the other half or side bright; fill the vessel with boiling water, and by dipping a thermometer, or even the finger, into it shortly after, it will be found to cool much more rapidly upon the blackened than the bright side of the pot.
Warmth of Different Colors.
Place upon the surface of snow, as upon the window-sill, in bright daylight or sunshine, pieces of cloth of the same size and quality, but of different colors, black, blue, green, yellow and white; the black cloth will soon melt the snow beneath it, and sink downwards; next the blue, and then the green; the yellow but slightly; but the snow beneath the white cloth will be as firm as at first.