23.(Pg. [135]) Why will not the fountain rise to the height of the water in the reservoir?
CONVERSATION XII.
ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF AIR.
OF THE SPRING OR ELASTICITY OF THE AIR. OF THE WEIGHT OF THE AIR. EXPERIMENTS WITH THE AIR PUMP. OF THE BAROMETER. MODE OF WEIGHING AIR. SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF AIR. OF PUMPS. DESCRIPTION OF THE SUCKING PUMP. DESCRIPTION OF THE FORCING PUMP.
MRS. B.
At our last meeting we examined the properties of fluids in general, and more particularly of such as are called non-elastic fluids, or liquids.
There is another class of fluids, distinguished by the name of æriform, or elastic fluids, the principal of which is the air we breathe, which surrounds the earth, and is called the atmosphere.
Emily. There are then other kinds of air, besides the atmosphere?
Mrs. B. Yes; a great variety; but they differ only in their chemical, and not in their mechanical properties; and as it is the latter we are to examine, we shall not at present inquire into their composition, but confine our attention to the mechanical properties of elastic fluids in general.