It is not definitely known how much static caloric is occluded in either of the elementary bodies, but it is believed that hydrogen possesses the greatest amount and oxygen the least. Now if we take a molecule of hydrogen containing two atoms, and under proper conditions interpose these atoms between 16 atoms of oxygen (one molecule), the phenomenon of combustion is exhibited, and a molecule of water is formed containing 18 atoms; and if one pound of hydrogen is thus consumed, the atoms of hydrogen are separated from each other to such a distance by the interposing atoms of oxygen as to unlock 34,662 units C. of static, and convert it into dynamic caloric. And if we thus bring a molecule of carbon containing 12 atoms in contact with a molecule of oxygen of 16 atoms, combustion ensues and a molecule of carbonic oxide of 28 atoms is formed, and if we then present another molecule of oxygen, combustion again takes place, and a molecule of carbonic acid, containing 44 atoms, is produced. Now, in the combustion of one pound of carbon in this manner, when the carbon is converted into carbonic oxide (CO), 2,473 units C. of static is converted into dynamic caloric; and when this CO is converted into carbonic acid (CO2) 5,607 additional units C. are unlocked. Thus by the combustion of one pound of carbon to CO2, 8,080 units C. of static caloric are changed to dynamic caloric.
When caloric is thus unlocked from its occlusion it escapes with great velocity until an equilibrium is attained, and in doing so it pushes the particles of matter out of its path. In solid bodies this produces such a high degree of molecular movement as to exhibit the phenomena of incandescence and luminosity, and in liquids increased mobility, while in gases the molecular activity may be so great as to produce the phenomena of sound and light; and the more rapidly combustion takes place the greater will be the volume and velocity of dynamic caloric escaping therefrom; consequently with a slow combustion, the phenomena produced by dynamic caloric will be different from those exhibited at a high degree.
Combustion, as I have before shown, is merely the oxidation of the material; nothing is consumed nor annihilated, and, the phenomena vary with the velocity of oxidation. Now, if we take one pound of zinc and place it in the acid cell of an electric battery, the oxygen of the acid attacks the zinc and oxide of zinc is formed. In this operation the Zn molecule containing 65 atoms is united with one molecule of oxygen of 16 atoms, forming a molecule of oxide of zinc (ZnO) of 81 atoms; and owing to the comparatively small number of oxygen atoms interposed between the 65 atoms of zinc, only 1,301 units C. of static caloric are unlocked to the pound of zinc, and the velocity of oxidation is so low, and the insulation of the vessel so perfect, that the dynamic caloric is caused to flow outward through the copper wire.
Electricity.—What is it? Why, it is dynamic caloric. Now let us take this oxide of zinc (ZnO) and place it with charcoal in a reducing apparatus which stands on an insulated table; the apparatus is then heated, the carbon vaporizes, and this vapor of carbon (C) robs the oxide of zinc (ZnO) of its oxygen, leaving metallic zinc (Zn) and carbonic oxide (CO). Now, for every pound of zinc so formed 1,301 units C. of static caloric are transferred from the charcoal to the zinc and occluded in it. Hence we find that the 1,301 units C. of caloric which we took out of the zinc, and which we call electricity, is nothing else but the 1,301 units of static caloric which was contained in the charcoal and from it set free by oxidation and transferred to the zinc in the smelting process. Let us follow this matter a little further. Charcoal is made by burning wood under such conditions as eliminate the water and hydrogen and leave the carbon as a residuum which we call charcoal. Thus we find that the caloric contained in the charcoal, transferred from the charcoal to the zinc, and from it developed into what we call electricity, was previously embodied in the wood; and if we study the laws of vegetation, we find that the atmosphere being charged with carbonic acid (CO2), the leaves of plants, shrubs, and trees, breathing, take in the CO2, the sun rays decompose the CO2, set free the oxygen, and supply the necessary amount of caloric for the condensed state of the carbon. Thus we find that the force which we term electricity, developed from the oxidation of zinc, or any other matter, by oxidation, primarily comes from the sun rays.
Coal is generally supposed to be of vegetable origin, and the caloric occluded in it is derived from the same source as that embodied in charcoal. Now when we burn coal under a steam boiler, the carbon and hydrogen are oxidized, and the static caloric set free. A portion of this caloric passes through the shell or tubes of the boilers, and increases the molecular velocity of the water; increased activity of the molecules tends to separate them to a greater distance from each other. When the molecular velocity of the water acquires the degree indicated by a temperature of 212 degrees F., the water passes from the fluid to the gaseous state, and in doing so expands to 1,696 times its bulk. Now if the steam so developed be confined under a pressure of 105 pounds to the square inch, the water will not vaporize until a molecular velocity is attained indicated by a temperature of 312° F. (Spons' "Engineering," D2, page 418), and then the expansion is only 253 times its bulk. By using this steam, in a steam engine, the caloric in the steam tends to push the molecules of which it is composed into an ultimate expansion of 1,696 times the bulk of the water from which it was generated, and this force acts upon the piston and does the work. Thus we see that the steam engine is driven by the same force which produces the phenomena accredited to electricity.
I have already shown that in what we term combustion not a particle of the ponderable matter is annihilated. Combustion is but a phenomenon resulting from a rearrangement of the particles, and so it is with the imponderable physical force caloric; it is not consumed when light and heat are produced, nor converted into power, as we are sometimes told. But whatever the phenomena produced, the aggregate amount of static and dynamic caloric is always and ever the same.
If we consider the Ritter-Plant-Faure-Battery, which is mentioned as storing electricity, we find that the phenomena exhibited by the use of this apparatus are produced by the same factor. The battery is composed of two sheets of lead, which are covered with a layer of minium (Pb3O4). The sheets are laid one upon the other with an intervening layer of felt. The pack is then rolled up in a spiral form and placed in a vessel containing acidulated water. One of the plates is connected with the positive, and the other plate with the negative pole of a battery or generator.
When the current of electricity enters the battery, the Pb3O4 on the positive plate is reduced to Pb, and the oxygen so set free attacks the Pb3O4 on the negative plate, and oxidizes it to PbO2. In this chemical action, caloric is occluded in the Pb and unlocked in the PbO2, but a much greater amount of caloric is locked up than is unlocked, although the amount of oxygen used in both cases is precisely the same, which has been fully explained in the oxidation of carbon.
Now after the battery has been thus charged and the wires disengaged, the chemical action ceases for want of the reducing agent (dynamic caloric), and the apparatus may be held at rest, or transported to any distance required. When it is desired to utilize the force thus stored, the poles are changed by grounding the positive wire, and attaching the other to the conduit through which the electricity is to flow. The chemical action is thus reversed, and the PbO2 is reduced to Pb3O4, the oxygen thus set free attacks the Pb on the other plate, oxidizing it to Pb3O4, thus unlocking all the caloric which was occluded by the first action. In a battery of this kind weighing 75 pounds, we are informed by Sir William Thomson, that one million foot pounds of force may be stored, and again set free for use.
Thus we find that the principle upon which the Faure battery is formed is not new, and the prime factor producing the phenomena is the same as has been shown to have caused all other phenomena referred to, and indeed the principle is the same as now employed by the author in the basic dephosphorizing process, i.e., caloric is occluded in phosphorus by smelting in a blast furnace, and unlocked in the converter, for the purpose of securing the fluidity of the metal during treatment. The difference being, that one is done by non-luminous, while the other is by luminous combustion.