CAROLINE.
The hydrogen combines with the oxygen, and their opposite electricities are disengaged in the form of caloric.—Yes, I think I understand it now—by the loss of this caloric, the gases are condensed into a liquid.
EMILY.
Water, then, I suppose, when it evaporates and incorporates with the atmosphere, is decomposed and converted into hydrogen and oxygen gases?
MRS. B.
No, my dear—there you are quite mistaken: the decomposition of water is totally different from its evaporation; for in the latter case (as you should recollect) water is only in a state of very minute division; and is merely suspended in the atmosphere, without any chemical combination, and without any separation of its constituent parts. As long as these remain combined, they form WATER, whether in a state of liquidity, or in that of an elastic fluid, as vapour, or under the solid form of ice.
In our experiments on latent heat, you may recollect that we caused water successively to pass through these three forms, merely by an increase or diminution of caloric, without employing any power of attraction, or effecting any decomposition.
CAROLINE.
But are there no means of decomposing water?
MRS. B.