Conversations on Chemistry, V. 1-2 / In Which the Elements of that Science Are Familiarly Explained and Illustrated by Experiments

by Mrs. Marcet

And the snow begins to melt, therefore it must be rising above the freezing point?

MRS. B.

The heat no longer affects the thermometer, because it is wholly employed in converting the ice into water. As the ice melts, the caloric becomes latent in the new-formed liquid, and therefore cannot raise its temperature; and the thermometer will consequently remain stationary, till the whole of the ice be melted.

CAROLINE.

Now it is all melted, and the thermometer begins to rise again.

MRS. B.

Because the conversion of the ice into water being completed, the caloric no longer becomes latent; and therefore the heat which the water now receives raises its temperature, as you find the thermometer indicates.

EMILY.

But I do not think that the thermometer rises so quickly in the water as it did in the ice, previous to its beginning to melt, though the lamp burns equally well?

MRS. B.