FLAME FROM COLD METALS.
Provide a bottle of the gas chlorine, which may be purchased of any operative chemist, and with it you may exhibit some brilliant experiments.
For example, reduce a small piece of the metal antimony to a very fine power in a mortar; place some of this on a bent card, then loosen the stopper of the bottle of chlorine, and throw in the antimony, it will take fire spontaneously, and burn with much splendour; thus exhibiting a cold metal spontaneously bursting into flame.
If, however, a lump of antimony be dropped into the chlorine, there will be no spontaneous combustion, nor immediate change: but, in the course of time, the antimony will become incrusted with a white powder, and no chlorine will be found in the bottle.
Or, provide copper in fine leaves, known as “Dutch metal;” slightly breathe on one end of a glass rod, about ten inches long, and cause one or two leaves of the metal to adhere to the damp end; then open a bottle of chlorine, quickly plunge in the leaves, when they will instantly take fire, and burn with a fine red light, leaving in the bottle a greenish-yellow solid substance.
A small lump of copper, or “Dutch metal,” will not burn as above, but will be slowly acted upon, like the antimony.
Immerse gold leaf in a jar of chlorine gas, and combustion with a beautiful green flame will take place.
PHOSPHORUS IN CHLORINE.
Put into a deflagrating spoon about four grains of phosphorus, and let it down into a bottle of chlorine, when the phosphorus will ignite instantaneously.