On the results of a series of experiments on the decomposition of water by the galvanic battery : with a view to obtain a constant and brilliant lime light / by N.J. Callan.

  • Callan, N. J. (Nicholas Joseph), 1799-1864.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the results of a series of experiments on the decomposition of water by the galvanic battery : with a view to obtain a constant and brilliant lime light / by N.J. Callan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    of potash, soda, or ammonia in a quart of water. If there be more than an ounce and a quarter to each quart of water, the quantity of foam will be very considerable; if there be less than an ounce, the conducting power of t.he solution will not be suffi- cient, and the quantity of the gases produced will be greatly diminished. For either of the two arrangements of the electrodes I have described, a cylindrical vessel does not answer well. For them a prismatic vessel having a rectangular bottom is the most con- venient. The inside of the iron vessel should be coated with an alloy of lead and tin, or of lead, tin and antimony, in which the proportion of tin, or of tin and antimony, is small,—first, in order to preserve it from rust; secondly, to protect it against the action of sulphuric acid, and thus render it fit for a voltameter, in which the positive electrode is platiua; the negative one, tin plates coated with an alloy of lead and tin; and the fluid through which the voltaic current passes is dilute sulphuric acid. The coated sides of the vessel may be the negative electrode. With an iron voltameter such as I have described, the mixed gases may, without the slightest danger, be inflamed as they are pro- duced by the decomposition of water, and a constant and bril- liant lime light may be obtained. The third result is a new negative element, cheaper, more durable, and one which may be made to act with greater power than the platinized silver used in Smee’s battery. It is sheet tin, coated with an alloy of lead and tin, in which the propor- tion of tin is not greater than that of lead, or of lead, tin and a small quantity of antimony. On tin plates thus coated, the dilute sulphuric acid commonly used in Since* s battery will scarcely exert any action. It may be platinized like sheet silver; or it may be coated with borax, and will then answer as well, or very nearly as well, as if it were platinized. It is evident that tin plates thus prepared are far cheaper and more durable than platinized silver; and because they can be brought nearer than platinized silver to the zinc plates without danger of touching them, they may be made to act with greater power. The fourth result is a new means of protecting iron against the action of the weather and of various corroding substances, so that iron thus protected will answer for all the purposes to which sheet lead and galvanized iron are applied. Besides the experi- ments by which I have proved the superiority of tin plates (that is, of sheet-iron plates), coated with an alloy of lead and tin, over leaden ones, as the electrodes of a voltameter, I have made many others, in order to compare the action of concentrated nitric, sulphuric and muriatic acid, as well as of dilute sulphuric and muriatic acid on lead and galvanized iron, with their action on iron coated with an alloy of lead and tin, in which the quan-