How to Become a Scientist.
Chemistry, optics, pneumatics, mechanics, and mathematics, all contribute their share towards furnishing recreation and sport for the social gathering, or the family fireside. The magical combinations and effects of chemistry have furnished an almost infinite variety of pleasant experiments, which may be performed by our youthful friends with great success if a little care be taken; and the other branches of natural science are nearly as replete with interest.
The following repertoire of such tricks and illusions will be found exceedingly complete, although pains have been taken to select only the best and most startling of them. A large number are entirely new, but are described with sufficient clearness to enable any person of ordinary intelligence to become expert in them, with a little practice.
Chemical Amusements.
Chemistry is one of the most attractive sciences. From the beginning to the end the student is surprised and delighted with the developments of the exact discrimination, as well as the power and capacity, which are displayed in various forms of chemical action. Dissolve two substances in the same fluid, and then, by evaporation or otherwise, cause them to reassume a solid form, and each particle will unite with its own kind, to the entire exclusion of all others. Thus, if sulphate of copper and carbonate of soda are dissolved in boiling water, and then the water is evaporated, each salt will be reformed as before. This phenomenon is the result of one of the first principles of the science, and as such is passed over without thought; but it is a wonderful phenomenon, and made of no account, only by the fact that it is so common and so familiar.
It is by the action of this same principle, “chemical affinity,” that we produce the curious experiments with
Sympathetic Inks.
By means of these, we may carry on a correspondence which is beyond the discovery of all not in the secret. With one class of these inks, the writing becomes visible only when moistened with a particular solution. Thus, if we write to you with a solution of the sulphate of iron, the letters are invisible. On the receipt of our letter, you rub over the sheet a feather or sponge, wet with a solution of nut-galls, and the letters burst forth into sensible being at once, and are permanent.
2. If we write with a solution of sugar of lead, and you moisten with a sponge or pencil, dipped in water impregnated with sulphureted hydrogen, the letters will appear with metallic brilliancy.
3. If we write with a weak solution of sulphate of copper, and you apply ammonia, the letters assume a beautiful blue. When the ammonia evaporates, as it does on exposure to the sun, the writing disappears, but may be revived again as before.
4. If you write with the oil of vitriol very much diluted, so as to prevent its destroying the paper, the manuscript will be invisible except when held to the fire, when the letters will appear black.
5. Write with cobalt dissolved in diluted muriatic acid; the letters will be invisible when cold, but when warmed they will appear a bluish green.
We are almost sure that our secrets thus written will not be brought to the knowledge of a stranger, because he does not know the solution which was used in writing, and, therefore, does not know what to apply to bring out the letters.
To Light a Candle Without Touching the Wick.
Let the candle burn until it has a good long snuff; then blow it out with a sudden puff, a bright wreath of white smoke will curl up from the hot wick. Now, if a flame be applied to this smoke, even at a distance of two or three inches from the candle, the flame will run down the smoke and rekindle the wick in a very fantastic manner. To perform this experiment nicely, there must be no draught or “banging” doors while the mystic spell is rising.
Magic Milk.
Lime-water is quite transparent, and clear as common spring water; but if we breathe or blow into it, the bright liquid becomes opalescent and as white as milk.
The best way to try this simple experiment is to put some powdered quicklime into a wine bottle full of cold water; shake them well together, now and then, for a day; then allow the bottle to remain quiet till the next day, when the clear lime-water may be poured off from the sediment. Now fill a wine-glass or tumbler with the lime-water thus made, and blow through the liquid with a glass tube, a piece of new tobacco-pipe, or a clean straw, and in the course of a minute or so—as the magicians say—“the water will be turned into milk.” By means of this pastime “Wise Men” can ascertain which young ladies are in love and which young gentlemen are not. With a shrewd guess they present, as a test, a glass of lime-water to the one and of pure water to the other, with unerring effect.
The Mimic Vesuvius.
This experiment is a demonstration of the heat and light which are evolved during chemical combination. The substance phosphorus has a great affinity for oxygen gas, and wherever it can get it from it will, especially when aided by the application of heat. To perform this experiment, put half a drachm of solid phosphorus into a Florence oil-flask, holding the glass slantingly, that the phosphorus may not take fire and break the glass; pour upon it a gill and a half of water, and place the whole over a tea-kettle lamp, or any common lamp filled with spirits of wine; light the wick, which should be about half an inch from the flask; and as soon as the water is boiling hot, streams of fire, resembling sky-rockets, will burst at intervals from the water; some particles will also adhere to the sides of the glass, immediately displaying brilliant rays, and thus continue until the water begins to simmer, when a beautiful imitation of the aurora borealis will commence and gradually ascend until it collects into a pointed cone at the mouth of the flask; after a half a minute, blow out the flame of the lamp, and the apex of fire that was formed at the mouth of the flask will rush down, forming beautiful illumined clouds of fire, rolling over each other for some time; and when these disappear, a splendid hemisphere of stars will present itself. After waiting a minute or two, light the lamp again, and nearly the same phenomena will be displayed as at the beginning. Let a repetition of lighting and blowing out the lamp be made for three or four times, so that the number of stars may be increased; and after the third or fourth act of blowing out the lamp, the internal surface of the flask will be dry. Many of the stars will shoot with great splendor from side to side, while others will appear and burst at the mouth of the flask. What liquid remains in the flask will serve for the same experiment three or four times, without adding any water. Care should be taken, after the operation is over, to put the flask in a cool and secure place.
The Real Will-o’-the-Wisp.
Into a small retort place about an ounce of strong liquor of potash; that is, pure potash dissolved in water, together with about a drachm of phosphorus. Let the neck or beak of the retort dip into a saucer of water, say half an inch deep; now very gently heat the liquid in the retort with a spirit-lamp until it boils. In a few minutes the retort will be filled with a white cloud; then the gas generated will begin to bubble at the end of the saucer; a minute more, each bubble, as it issues from the boiling fluid, will spontaneously take fire as it comes into the air, forming at the same time the philosopher’s ring of phosphoric acid. Care is required in handling phosphorus; but our young chemical readers will, we think, not forego this wonderful experiment for the want of due attention; for, without proper care on their part, we must give up showing them wonders even greater than these.
The Paper Oracle.
Some amusement may be obtained among young people by writing, with common ink, a variety of questions, on different bits of paper, and adding a pertinent reply to each, written with nitro-muriate of gold. The collection should be suffered to dry, and put aside, until an opportunity offers for using them. When produced, the answers will be invisible; desire different persons to select such questions as they may fancy, and take them home with them; then promise, if they are placed near the fire during the night, answers will appear written beneath the questions in the morning; and such will be the fact, if the paper be put in any dry, warm situation.
The Mimic Gas-House.
This shows a simple way of making illuminating gas, by means of a tobacco-pipe. Bituminous coal contains a number of chemical compounds, nearly all of which can, by distillation, be converted into an illuminating gas; as with this gas nearly all our cities are now lighted in the dark hours of night. To make it, obtain some coal-dust (or walnut or butternut meats will answer), and fill the bowl of a pipe with it; then cement the top over with some clay; place the bowl in the fire, and soon smoke will be seen issuing from the end of the stem; when that has ceased coming apply a light and it will burn brilliantly for several minutes; after it has ceased, take the pipe from the fire and let it cool, then remove the clay, and a piece of coke will be found inside: this is the excess of carbon over the hydrogen contained in the coal, for all the hydrogen will combine with carbon at a high temperature, and make what are called hydrocarbons—a series of substances containing both these elemental forms of matter.
Alum Basket.
Make a small basket, about the size of the hand, of iron wire or split willow; then take some lamp-cotton, untwist it, and wind it around every portion of the basket. Then mix alum, in the proportion of one pound with a quart of water, and boil it until the alum is dissolved. Pour the solution into a deep pan, and in the liquor suspend the basket, so that no part of it touch the vessel or be exposed to the air. Let the whole remain perfectly at rest for twenty-four hours; when, if you take out the basket, the alum will be found prettily crystallized over all the limbs of the cottoned frame.
In like manner, a cinder, a piece of coke, the sprig of a plant, or any other object, suspended in the solution by a thread, will become covered with beautiful crystals.
If powdered tumeric be added to the hot solution, the crystals will be of a bright yellow; if litmus be used instead, they will be of a bright red; logwood will yield them of a purple, and common writing-ink, of a black tint; or, if sulphate of copper be used instead of alum, the crystals will be of fine blue.
But the colored alum crystals are much more brittle than those of pure alum, and the colors fly; the best way of preserving them is to place them under a glass shade, with a saucer containing water. This keeps the atmosphere constantly saturated with moisture, the crystals never become too dry, and their texture and color undergo but little change.
The Magic Bottle.
This trick, if well managed, is one of the most wonderful that can be performed in a drawing-room without apparatus; but it requires dexterity at the conclusion.
The person performing the trick offers to pour from a common wine-bottle, port-wine, sherry, milk, and champagne, in succession, and in any order.
To accomplish the trick, you must make solutions of the following chemicals, and label the bottles with numbers, thus:
No. 1. A mixture of two parts perchloride of iron, and one part sulphuric acid (vitriol).
No. 2. A strong solution of the sulphocyanate of potash.
No. 3. A strong solution of acetate of lead.
No. 4. A solution of bicarbonate of soda, or potash.
No. 5. A clear solution of gum arabic.
Procure a champagne-bottle, and wash it out well; then pour three teaspoonfuls of No. 1 into it. As the quantity is very small, it will not be observed, especially if you are quick in your movements. Pour some distilled or rain water into a common water-bottle, or jug, and add a tablespoonful of No. 5 to it; then set it aside, ready for use.
Provide some wine-glasses, of four different patterns, and into one pattern put one drop of solution No. 2; into another, three drops of solution No. 2; rinse the third with solution No. 3, and the fourth with solution No. 4.
Arrange the glasses on a small tray, remembering the solutions that were poured into each pattern.
Everything being ready, take the champagne bottle that you have prepared, from two or three others, and holding it up, to show the company that it is clear and empty; you must desire some person to hand you the water-bottle or jug, and then fill up the bottle with the water.
Pour some of the contents of the bottle into an unprepared glass, in order to show that it is water; then say: “Change to champagne,” and pour the liquid from the bottle into one of the glasses rinsed with No. 4; then pour into the glass containing three drops of No. 2, and it will change to port wine; but if poured into the glass rinsed with No. 3, it will change to milk; and if into the glass with one drop of No. 2, it will produce sherry.
Be careful in pouring the fluid from the bottle, not to hold it high above the glasses, but to keep the mouth of it close to the edges, otherwise persons will observe that it undergoes change of color after it is poured into them; and, on this account, the glasses should be held rather high.
As all the solutions used in the above trick are deleterious, they should not be left about in the way of children, and, of course, the fluid in the wine-glasses must not even be tasted; but if any of the company wish to drink the wines you have made, then the tray must be adroitly exchanged for another with the proper wines placed on it.
The Faded Rose Restored.
Take a rose that is quite faded, and throw some sulphur on a chafing-dish of hot coals; then hold the rose over the fumes of the sulphur, and it will become quite white; in this state dip it into water, put it into a box, or drawer, for three or four hours, and when taken out it will be quite red again.
The Protean Liquid.
A red liquor, which, when poured into different glasses, will become yellow, blue, black, and violet, may be thus made: Infuse a few shavings of logwood in common water, and when the liquor is red, pour it into a bottle; then take three drinking-glasses, rinse one of them with strong vinegar, throw into the second a small quantity of pounded alum, which will not be observed if the glass has been newly washed, and leave the third without any preparation. If the red liquor in the bottle be poured into the first glass it will assume a straw color; if into the second, it will pass gradually from bluish-gray to black, provided it be stirred with a bit of iron, which has been privately immersed in good vinegar; in the third glass the red liquor will assume a violet tint.
The Changeable Ribbon.
Dip a rose-colored ribbon into nitric acid, diluted with eight or ten parts of water, and as soon as the color disappears, which it will do in a short time, take out the ribbon and put it into a very weak alkaline solution, when the alkali will quickly neutralize the acid, and the color will reappear.
The Chemical Chameleon.
Put a drachm of powdered nitrate of cobalt into a vial, containing an ounce of the solution of caustic potash, when the decomposition of the salt, and precipitation of a blue oxide of cobalt will take place. Cork the vial, and the liquid will assume a blue color, from which it will pass to a lilac, afterward to a peach tint, and finally to a light red.
Musical Flame.
Fit a good cork into a wine-bottle; burn a hole through the cork with a round iron skewer, and into it fix a piece of tobacco pipe about eight inches long. Put into the bottle about two or three ounces of zinc, in slips, such as the waste cuttings from a zinc-worker; now pour water on to the zinc until the bottle is more than half full; then add about three parts of a wine-glassful of sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol); this causes a rapid effervescence at first, but which subsides to a moderate and continuous boiling for a lengthened period; as soon as the boiling is regular, the cork with the pipe through it may be inserted into the bottle. If a light be placed to the end of the pipe, a flame will be produced, which will continue to burn so long as there is any visible action in the bottle. This flame is the ignited hydrogen gas (water gas), resulting from the decomposition of water by the acid and zinc, and as such is an exceedingly interesting experiment. Now, to be musical, procure a glass or metal pipe, about sixteen or eighteen inches long, and from half to three-quarters of an inch in diameter; place the tube over the flame, and allow the pipe to be about three to five inches up the tube, which will act as a kind of high chimney; it must be held perfectly steady and upright, at a particular distance up the tube, which varies according to the size of the flame. A beautiful sound is thus produced, similar to an organ-pipe. This sound, or “musical flame,” varies in note according to the diameter of the tube, being deeper or more bass as the tube is increased in size. By using various-sized tubes, different sounds are thus readily produced. The true explanation of this singular experiment remains yet to be solved.
Optical Amusements.
The science of optics affords an infinite variety of amusements, which cannot fail to instruct the mind, as well as delight the eye. By the aid of optical instruments we are enabled to lessen the distance to our visual organs between the globe we inhabit and “the wonders of the heavens above us;” to watch “the stars in their courses,” and survey at leisure the magnificence of “comets importing change of times and states;” to observe the exquisite finish and propriety of construction which are to be found in the most minute productions of the earth;—to trace the path of the planet, in its course around the magnificent orb of day, and to detect the pulsation of the blood, as it flows through the veins of an insect. These are but a few of the powers which this science offers to man; to enumerate them all would require a space equal to the body of our work; neither do we propose to notice the various instruments and experiments which are devoted to purposes merely scientific; it being our desire only to call the attention of our juvenile readers to such things as combine a vast deal of amusement with much instruction, to inform them as to the construction of the various popular instruments; to show the manner of using them, and to explain some of the most attractive experiments which the science affords. By doing thus much, we hope to offer a sufficient inducement to extend inquiry much further than the information which a work of this nature will enable us to afford.
The Camera Obscura.
This is a very pleasing and instructive optical apparatus, and may be purchased for a small sum. But it may be easily made by the young optician. Procure an oblong box, about two feet long, twelve inches wide, and eight high. In one end of this a tube must be fitted containing a lens, and be made to slide backward and forward, so as to suit the focus. Within the box should be a plain mirror, reclining backward from the tube at an angle of forty-five degrees. At the top of the box is a square of unpolished glass, upon which, from beneath, the picture will be thrown, and may be seen by raising the lid. To use the camera, place the tube with the lens on it opposite to the object, and having adjusted the focus, the image will be thrown upon the ground glass, as above stated, where it may be easily copied by a pencil or in colors.
The Magic Lantern.
The object of this ingenious instrument is to represent, in a dark room, on a white wall or cloth, a succession of enlarged figures of remarkable, natural, or grotesque objects. It consists of a tin box, with a funnel on the top, and a door on one side of it. This funnel, by being bent, serves the double purpose of letting out the smoke and keeping in the light. In the middle of the bottom of the box is placed a movable lamp, which must have two or three good lights, at the height of the center of the polished tin reflector. In the front of the box, opposite the reflector, is fixed a tin tube, in which there slides another tube. The sliding tube has, at its outer extremity, a convex lens fixed in it, of three inches in diameter. The focus of the smaller of these lenses may be about five inches. Between the stationary tube and the lamp, there must be a split or opening to admit of the passage of glass sliders, mounted in paper or wooden frames, upon which sliders it is that the miniature figures are painted, which are intended to be shown upon the wall. The distinctness of the enlarged figures depends not only upon the goodness of the magnifying glass, but upon the clearness of the light yielded by the lamp. It may be purchased ready made of any optician.
To Paint the Glasses.—The slides containing the objects usually shown in a magic lantern are to be bought of opticians with the lantern, and can be procured cheaper and better in this way than by any attempt at manufacturing them. Should, however, the young optician wish to make a few slides, of objects of particular interest to himself, he may proceed as follows: Draw on a paper the subject you desire to paint. Lay it on a table or any flat surface, and place the glass over it; then draw the outlines with a very fine pencil, in varnish mixed with black paint, and, when dry, fill up the other parts in their proper colors. Transparent colors must be used for this purpose, such as carmine, lake, Prussian blue, verdigris, sulphate of iron, tincture of Brazil wood, gamboge, etc.; and these must be tempered with a strong white varnish, to prevent their peeling off. Then shade them with black, or with bistre, mixed with the same varnish.
To Exhibit the Magic Lantern.—The room for the exhibition ought to be large, and of an oblong shape. At one end of it suspend a large sheet, so as to cover the whole of the wall. The company being all seated, darken the room, and placing the lantern with its tube in the direction of the sheet, introduce one of the slides into the slit, taking care to invert the figures; then adjust the focus of the glasses in the tube, by drawing it in or out, as required, and a perfect representation of the object will appear.
Effects of the Magic Lantern.—Most extraordinary effects may be produced by means of the magic lantern; one of the most effective of which is a tempest at sea.
This is effected by having two slides painted, one with the tempest as approaching on one side, and continuing in intensity till it reaches the other. Another slide has ships painted on it, and while the lantern is in use, that containing the ships is dexterously drawn before the other, and represents ships in the storm.
The effects of sunrise, moonlight, starlight, etc., may be imitated also, by means of double sliders; and figures may be introduced sometimes of fearful proportions.
Heads may be made to nod, faces to laugh; eyes may be made to roll, teeth to gnash; crocodiles may be made to swallow tigers; combats may be represented; but one of the most instructive uses of the slides is to make them illustrative of astronomy, and to show the ratio of the seasons, the cause of the eclipses, the mountains in the moon, spots on the sun, and the various motions of the planetary bodies and their satellites.
The Phantasmagoria.
Between the phantasmagoria and the magic lantern there is this difference: in common magic lanterns the figures are painted on transparent glass; consequently the image on the screen is a circle of light, having figures upon it; but in the phantasmagoria all the glass is opaque, except the figures, which, being painted in transparent colors, the light shines through them, and no light can come upon the screen except that which passes through the figure.
There is no sheet to receive the picture, but the representation is thrown on a thin screen of silk or muslin, placed between the spectators and the lantern. The images are made to appear approaching and receding, by removing the lantern further from the screen, or bringing it nearer to it. This is a great advantage over the arrangements of the magic lantern, and by it the most astonishing effects are often produced.
Dissolving Views.
The dissolving views, by which one landscape or scene appears to pass into the other while the scene is changing, are produced by using two magic lanterns, placed side by side, and that can be inclined towards each other when necessary, so as to mix the rays of light, proceeding from the lenses of each, together, which produces that confusion of images, in which one view melts, as it were, into the other, which gradually becomes clear and distinct.
How to Raise a Ghost.
The magic lantern or phantasmagoria may be used in a number of marvelous ways, but in none more striking than in raising an apparent specter. Let an open box, about three feet long, a foot and a half broad, and two feet high, be prepared. At one end of this place a small swing dressing-glass, and at the other let a magic lantern be fixed, with the lenses in a direction towards the glass. A glass should now be made to slide up and down in the groove to which a cord and pulley should be attached, the end of the cord coming to the lower part of the left hand side. On this glass the most hideous specter that can be imagined may be painted, but in a squat or contracted position, and when all is done, the lid of the box must be prepared by raising a kind of gable at the end of the box, and in its lower part an oval hole should be cut sufficiently large to suffer the rays reflected from the glass to pass through them. On the top or the box place a chafing-dish, upon which put some burning charcoal. Now light the lamp in the lantern, sprinkle some powdered camphor or white incense on the charcoal, adjust the slide on which the specter is painted, and the image will be thrown upon the smoke. In performing the feat the room must be darkened, and the box should be placed on a high table, that the hole through which the light comes may not be noticed.
To Imitate a Mirage.
Provide a glass tumbler two-thirds full of water, and pour spirits of wine upon it; or pour into a tumbler some syrup, and fill it up with water; when mixed, the object seen through it will be inverted.
Two-fold Reflections.
Provide a circular piece of glass, and with a common awl, moistened with spirits of turpentine, pierce the center of the glass; hold it encircled with the fingers and thumb in the sunshine, or the strong light of a lamp, when these striking effects will be produced: If the glass be red, the hole pierced in the middle will be reflected green; if the glass be green, the spot will be red; if blue, orange; and if yellow, indigo.
The Thaumatrope.
Cut out a piece of card-board of circular form, and affix to it six pieces of string, three on each side. Paint on one side of the card a bird, and on the other a cage, taking care to paint the bird upside down, or the desired effect will not be produced. When showing the toy, take hold of the center strings, between the forefinger and thumb, and twirl the card rapidly around, and the bird will appear snugly ensconced in its cage. The principle on which this effect is produced is, that the image of any object received on the retina or optic nerve is retained on the mind about eight seconds after the object causing the impression is withdrawn, being the memory of the object; consequently, the impression of the painting on one side of the card is not obliterated ere the painting on the other side is brought before the eye. It is easy to understand from this fact how both are seen at once. Many objects will suit the thaumatrope, such as a juggler throwing up two balls on one side, and two balls on the other; and according to the pairs of strings employed, he will appear to throw up two, three, or four balls; the body and legs of a man on one side, and the arms and head on another; a horse and his rider; a mouse and trap. But we leave it to the ingenuity of our readers to devise for themselves.