An Introduction to Chemical Science | Page 6

this compare with the distance between two blue lines of foolscap? Measure the diameter of the old nickel five- cent piece.
Next, try in the same way 5 cm. Carry each result in mind, taking such notes as may be necessary.
(Fig. 1)
3. Capacity.
Experiment 2.--Into a graduate, shown in Figure 2, holding 25 or 50 cc. (cubic centimeters) put 10 cc. of water; then pour this into a t.t. Note, without marking, what proportion of the latter is filled; pour out the water, and again put into the t.t. the same quantity as nearly as can be estimated by the eye. Verify the result by pouring the water back into the graduate. Repeat several times until your estimate is quite accurate with a t.t. of given size. If you wish, try it with other sizes. Now estimate 1 cc. of a liquid in a similar way. Do the same with 5 cc.
A cubic basin 10 cm on a side holds a liter. A liter contains 1,000 cc. If filled with water, it weighs, under standard conditions, 1,000 grams. Verify by measurement.
4. Weight.
Experiment 3.--Put a small piece of paper on each pan of a pair of scales. On one place a 10 g. (gram) weight. Balance this by placing fine salt on the other pan. Note the quantity as nearly as possible with the eye, then remove. Now put on the paper what you think is 10 g. of salt. Verify by weighing. Repeat, as before, several times. Weigh 1 g., and estimate as before. Can 1 g. of salt be piled on a one-cent coin? Experiment with 5 g.
5. Resume--Lengths are measured in centimeters, liquids in cubic centimeters, solids in grams. In cases where it is not convenient to measure a liquid or weigh a solid, the estimates above will be near enough for most experiments herein given. Different solids of the same bulk of course differ in weight, but for one gram what can be piled on a one-cent piece may be called a sufficiently close estimate. The distance between two lines of foolscap is very nearly a centimeter. A cubic centimeter is seen in Figure 1. Temperatures are recorded in the centigrade scale.



CHAPTER II
.
WHAT CHEMISTRY IS.
6. Divisibility of Matter.
Experiment 4.--Examine a few crystals of sugar, and crush them with the fingers. Grind them as fine as convenient, and examine with a lens. They are still capable of division. Put 3 g. of sugar into a t.t., pour over it 5 cc. of water, shake well, boil for a minute, holding the t.t. obliquely in the flame, using for the purpose a pair of wooden nippers (Fig. 3). If the sugar does not disappear, add more water. When cool, touch a drop of the liquid to the tongue. Evidently the sugar remains, though in a state too finely divided to be seen. This is called a solution, the sugar is said to be soluble in water, and water to be a solvent of sugar.
(Fig 3.)
Now fold a filter paper, as in Figure 4, arrange it in a funnel (Fig. 5), and pour the solution upon it, catching what passes through, which is called the filtrate, in another t.t. that rests in a receiver (Fig. 5). After filtering, notice whether any residue is left on the filter paper. Taste a drop of the filtrate. Has sugar gone through the filter? If so, what do you infer of substances in solution passing through a filter? Save half the filtrate for Experiment 5, and dilute the other half with two or three times its own volume of water. Shake well, and taste.
(Fig 4.)
(Fig 5.) We might have diluted the sugar solution many times more, and still the sweet taste would have remained. Thus the small quantity of sugar would be distributed through the whole mass, and be very finely divided.
By other experiments a much finer subdivision can be made. A solution of.00000002 g. of the red coloring matter, fuchsine, in 1 cc. of alcohol gives a distinct color.
Such experiments would seem to indicate that there is no limit to the divisibility of matter. But considerations which we cannot discuss here lead to the belief that such a limit does exist; that there are particles of sugar, and of all substances, which are incapable of further division without entirely changing the nature of the substance. To these smallest particles the name molecules is given.
A mass is any portion of a substance larger than a molecule; it is an aggregation of molecules.
A molecule is the smallest particle of a substance that can exist alone.
A substance in solution may be in a more finely divided state than otherwise, but it is not necessarily in its ultimate state of division.
7. A Chemical Change.--Cannot this smallest particle of sugar, the molecule, be separated into still smaller particles of something