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XXIX.—On the Determination of Heights, by the Boiling Point of Water

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2013

James D. Forbes Esq.
Affiliation:
Professor of Natural Philosophy in theUniversity of Edinburgh.

Extract

It was observed by Fahrenheit, that the boiling point of water depends on the height of the barometer, the pressure of the air hindering the conversion of water into steam by a resistance which must be overcome by an increase of heat. Deluc and De Saussure contrived apparatuses for making the observation in the open air, and at great heights, and appear to have contemplated the substitution of the thermometer for the barometer upon occasion. They, as well as Dr Horsley, Sir George Schuckburgh, and Mr Cavendish, seem to have regarded the question as one which concerned the fixity of the point used in graduating thermometers, and its requisite corrections, rather than as applicable to barometric purposes generally.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1844

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References

page 409 note * Modifications de l'Atmosphere, tom. ii.

page 409 note † Voyages, § 1275, 2011.

page 409 note ‡ Phil. Trans, vol. lxiv.

page 409 note § Ibid. vol. lxix.

page 409 note ∥ Ibid. vol. lxvii. p. 816.

page 409 note ¶ Meteorological Essays, 2d edit. p. 127.

page 410 note * Phil. Trans, vol. cxx. p. 183.

page 410 note † Ibid. p. 192.

page 410 note ‡ Ibid. vol. cx. p. 295.

page 413 note * He says,—“Having occasion last summer of visiting Caernarvon, which would afford an opportunity of trying the instrument on the known height of Snowdon, and being aware that in 3550 feet the variations of the boiling temperature were not to be considered uniform, as they might in small elevations, on which alone I had before tried the experiment, I wished to provide myself previously with a table for making the necessary correction, and from Dr Ure's paper was supplied with data for calculation.”—Phil. Trans. 1820, p. 295. The table given from Ure's law of tensions gives a gradually increasing number of feet, corresponding to every degree that the thermometer falls.

page 414 note * Phil. Trans., vol. lxiv., p. 226.