The retort now weighed 419,25 grains, consequently 5,5 grains of salt remained in it. This salt was chiefly collected about the lower part of the neck, and contained rather more water than the compact nitrate, as in some places it was crystalised.
The recipient with the fluid it contained, weighed 759 grains. It had consequently gained in weight 48 grains.
Now the 85,5 cubic inches of nitrous oxide produced, weigh about 42,5 grains; and this added to 48 and 5,5, = 96 grains; so that about 4 grains of salt and fluid were lost, probably by being carried over and deposited by the gas.[86]
As much of the fluid as could be taken out of the recipient, weighed 46 grains, and held in solution much nitrate of ammoniac with superabundance of acid. This acid required for its saturation, 3⅛ of carbonate of ammoniac (containing, as well as I could guess), about 20 per cent alkali.
The whole solution evaporated, gave 18 grains of compact nitrate of ammoniac. But reasoning from the quantity of carbonate of ammoniac employed, the free nitric acid was equal to 2,75 grains, and this must have formed 3,56 grains of salt. Consequently the salt pre-existing in the solution was about 14,44 grains.
But besides the fluid taken out of the recipient, 2 grains remained in it: let us suppose this, and the 4 grains lost, to contain 2 of salt, and,6 of free acid.
Then the undecompounded
| salt is 5,5 + 14,4 + 2 = | 21,9 |
| The free acid 2,75 + ,6 = | 3,35 |
| Gas | 42,5 |
| Water | 32,25 |
| 100 |
Now about 78,1 grains of salt were decompounded, and formed into 42,5 grains of gas, 3,35 grains acid, and 32,25 grains water.
But there is every reason to suppose, that in this process, when the hydrogene of the ammoniac combines with a portion of the oxygene of the nitric acid to form water, and the nitrogene enters into union with the nitrogene and remaining oxygene of the nitric acid, to form nitrous oxide; that water pre-existing in nitric acid and ammoniac, such as they existed in the aëriform state, is deposited with the water produced by the new arrangement, and not wholly combined with the nitrous oxide formed. Hence it is impossible to determine with great exactness, the quantity of water which was absolutely formed in this experiment.