We now come to the CARBONIC ACID, which we have already had many opportunities of noticing. You recollect that this acid may be formed by the combustion of carbon, whether in its imperfect state of charcoal, or in its purest form of diamond. And it is not necessary, for this purpose, to burn the carbon in oxygen gas, as we did in the preceding lecture; for you need only light a piece of charcoal and suspend it under a receiver on the water bath. The charcoal will soon be extinguished, and the air in the receiver will be found mixed with carbonic acid. The process, however, is much more expeditious if the combustion be performed in pure oxygen gas.
CAROLINE.
But how can you separate the carbonic acid, obtained in this manner, from the air with which it is mixed?
MRS. B.
The readiest mode is to introduce under the receiver a quantity of caustic lime, or caustic alkali, which soon attracts the whole of the carbonic acid to form a carbonat.—The alkali is found increased in weight, and the volume of the air is diminished by a quantity equal to that of the carbonic acid which was mixed with it.
EMILY.
Pray is there no method of obtaining pure carbon from carbonic acid?
MRS. B.
For a long time it was supposed that carbonic acid was not decompoundable; but Mr. Tennant discovered, a few years ago, that this acid may be decomposed by burning phosphorus in a closed vessel with carbonat of soda or carbonat of lime: the phosphorus absorbs the oxygen from the carbonat, whilst the carbon is separated in the form of a black powder. This decomposition, however, is not effected simply by the attraction of the phosphorus for oxygen, since it is weaker than that of charcoal; but the attraction of the alkali of lime for the phosphoric acid, unites its power at the same time.