Charcoal is made by heating wood, for a long time, out of contact with the air. The volatile gases are thus driven off from the wood; what is left is C, and a small quantity of mineral matter which remains as ash when the coal is burned.
45. Lamp-black is prepared as in Experiment 26, or by igniting turpentine (C1OH16), naphtha, and various oils, and collecting the C of the smoke. It is used for making printers' ink, India ink, etc. A very pure variety is obtained from natural gas.
Bone-black, or animal charcoal, is obtained by distilling bones, i.e. by heating them in retorts into which no air is admitted. The C is the charred residue.
Gas Carbon is formed in the retorts of the gas-house. See page 182. It is used to some extent in electrical work.
46. Coke is the residue left after distilling soft coal. It is tolerably pure carbon, with some ash and a little volatile matter. It burns without flame. 47. Mineral Coal is fossilized wood or other vegetable matter. Millions of years ago trees and other vegetation covered the earth as they do to-day. In certain places they slowly sank, together with the land, into the interior of the earth, were covered with sand, rock, and water, and heated from the earth's interior. A slow distillation took place, which drove off some of the gases, and converted vegetable matter into coal. All the coal dug from the earth represents vegetable life of a former period. Millions of years were required for the transformation; but the same change is in progress now, where peat beds are forming from turf.
Coal is found in all countries, the largest beds being in the United States. From the nature of its formation, coal varies much in purity.
Anthracite, or hard coal, is purest in carbon, some varieties having from 90 to 95 per cent. This represents most complete distillation in the earth; i.e. the gases have mostly been driven off. It is much used in New England.
48. Bituminous, or soft coal, crocks the hands, and burns rapidly with much flame and smoke. The greater part of the coal in the earth is bituminous. It represents incomplete distillation. Hence, by artificially distilling it, illuminating gas is made. See page 180. It is far less pure C than anthracite.
49. Cannel Coal is a variety of bituminous coal which can be ignited like a candle. This is because so many of the gases are still left, and it shows cannel to be less pure C than bituminous coal.
50. Lignite, Peat, Turf, etc., are still less pure varieties of C. Construct a table of the naturally occurring forms of this element, in the order of their purity. Carbon forms the basis of all vegetable and animal life; it is found in many rocks, mineral oils, asphaltum, natural gas, and in the air as CO2.