The gas is then driven over into the pipette C and a similar operation is carried out. The difference between the resulting reading and the first reading gives the percentage of oxygen in the flue gases.
The next operation is to drive the gas into the pipette D , the gas being given a final wash in E , and then passed into the pipette C to neutralize any hydrochloric acid fumes which may have been given off by the cuprous chloride solution, which, especially if it be old, may give off such fumes, thus increasing the volume of the gases and making the reading on the burette less than the true amount.
The process must be carried out in the order named, as the pyrogallol solution will also absorb carbon dioxide, while the cuprous chloride solution will also absorb oxygen.
As the pressure of the gases in the flue is less than the atmospheric pressure, they will not of themselves flow through the pipe connecting the flue to the apparatus. The gas may be drawn into the pipe in the way already described for filling the apparatus, but this is a tedious method. For rapid work a rubber bulb aspirator connected to the air outlet of the cock G will enable a new supply of gas to be drawn into the pipe, the apparatus then being filled as already described. Another form of aspirator draws the gas from the flue in a constant stream, thus insuring a fresh supply for each sample.
The analysis made by the Orsat apparatus is volumetric; if the analysis by weight is required, it can be found from the volumetric analysis as follows:
Multiply the percentages by volume by either the densities or the molecular weight of each gas, and divide the products by the sum of all the products; the quotients will be the percentages by weight. For most work sufficient accuracy is secured by using the even values of the molecular weights.
The even values of the molecular weights of the gases appearing in an analysis by an Orsat are:
| Carbon Dioxide | 44 | |
| Carbon Monoxide | 28 | |
| Oxygen | 32 | |
| Nitrogen | 28 |
[Table 33] indicates the method of converting a volumetric flue gas analysis into an analysis by weight.