Fig. 24.—General arrangement of the apparatus employed by Pictet for liquefying gases.
Pictet, in his researches, effected the direct liquefaction of many gases which up to that time had not been liquefied. He employed the apparatus used for the manufacture of ice on a large scale, employing the vaporisation of liquid sulphurous anhydride, which may be liquefied by pressure alone. This anhydride is a gas which is transformed into a liquid at the ordinary temperature under a pressure of several atmospheres (see Note 27), and boils at -10° at the ordinary atmospheric pressure. This liquid, like all others, boils at a lower temperature under a diminished pressure, and by continually pumping out the gas which comes off by means of a powerful air-pump its boiling point falls as low as -75°. Consequently, if on the one hand we force liquid sulphurous anhydride into a vessel, and on the other hand pump out the gas from the same vessel by powerful air-pumps, then the liquefied gas will boil in the vessel, and cause the temperature in it to fall to -75°. If a second vessel is placed inside this vessel, then another gas may be easily liquefied in it at the low temperature produced by the boiling liquid sulphurous anhydride. Pictet in this manner easily liquefied carbonic anhydride, CO2 (at -60° under a pressure of from four to six atmospheres). This gas is more refractory to liquefaction than sulphurous anhydride, but for this reason it gives on evaporating a still lower temperature than can be attained by the evaporation of sulphurous anhydride. A temperature of -80° may be obtained by the evaporation of liquid carbonic anhydride at a pressure of 760 mm., and in an atmosphere rarefied by a powerful pump the temperature falls to -140°. By employing such low temperatures, it was possible, with the aid of pressure, to liquefy the majority of the other gases. It is evident that special pumps which are capable of rarefying gases are necessary to reduce the pressure in the chambers in which the sulphurous and carbonic anhydride boil; and that, in order to re-condense the resultant gases into liquids, special force pumps are required for pumping the liquid anhydrides into the refrigerating chamber. Thus, in Pictet's apparatus (fig. [24]), the carbonic anhydride was liquefied by the aid of the pumps E F, which compressed the gas (at a pressure of 4–6 atmospheres) and forced it into the tube K, vigorously cooled by being surrounded by boiling liquid sulphurous anhydride, which was condensed in the tube C by the pump B, and rarefied by the pump A. The liquefied carbonic anhydride flowed down the tube K into the tube H, in which it was subjected to a low pressure by the pump E, and thus gave a very low temperature of about -140°. The pump E carried off the vapour of the carbonic anhydride, and conducted it to the pump F, by which it was again liquefied. The carbonic anhydride thus made an entire circuit—that is, it passed from a rarefied vapour of small tension and low temperature into a compressed and cooled gas, which was transformed into a liquid, which again vaporised and produced a low temperature.
Inside the wide inclined tube H, where the carbonic acid evaporated, was placed a second and narrow tube M containing hydrogen, which was generated in the vessel L from a mixture of sodium formate and caustic soda (CHO2Na + NaHO = Na2CO3 + H2). This mixture gives hydrogen on heating the vessel L. This vessel and the tube M were made of thick copper, and could withstand great pressures. They were, moreover, hermetically connected together and closed up. Thus the hydrogen which was evolved had no outlet, accumulated in a limited space, and its pressure increased in proportion to the amount of it evolved. This pressure was recorded on a metallic manometer R attached to the end of the tube M. As the hydrogen in this tube was submitted to a very low temperature and a powerful pressure, all the necessary conditions were present for its liquefaction. When the pressure in the tube H became steady—i.e. when the temperature had fallen to -140° and the manometer R indicated a pressure of 650 atmospheres in the tube M—then this pressure did not rise with a further evolution of hydrogen in the vessel L. This served as an indication that the tension of the vapour of the hydrogen had attained a maximum corresponding with -140°, and that consequently all the excess of the gas was condensed to a liquid. Pictet convinced himself of this by opening the cock N, when the liquid hydrogen rushed out from the orifice. But, on leaving a space where the pressure was equal to 650 atmospheres, and coming into contact with air under the ordinary pressure, the liquid or powerfully compressed hydrogen expanded, began to boil, absorbed still more heat, and became still colder. In doing so a portion of the liquid hydrogen, according to Pictet, passed into a solid state, and did not fall in drops into a vessel placed under the outlet N, but as pieces of solid matter, which struck against the sides of the vessel like shot and immediately vaporised. Thus, although it was impossible to see and keep the liquefied hydrogen, still it was clear that it passed not only into a liquid, but also into a solid state. Pictet in his experiments obtained other gases which had not previously been liquefied, especially oxygen and nitrogen, in a liquid and solid state. Pictet supposed that liquid and solid hydrogen has the properties of a metal, like iron.
Fig. 25.—Cailletet's apparatus for liquefying gases.