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122 means its latent heat is rendered sensible. On the other hand, when a liquid unites with a solid, or when two solids unite with one another, and the product is a liquid, we have very often the absorption of heat, the heat rendered latent by the dissolution of the solid being more than that generated by combination. Freezing mixtures owe their cooling properties to this cause; thus, if snow and salt be mixed together, they liquefy each other, and the result is brine of a temperature much lower than that of either the ingredients.

168. When heterogeneous metals, such as zinc and copper, are soldered together, we have apparently a conversion of the energy of chemical separation into that of electrical separation. This was first suggested by Volta as the origin of the electrical separation which we see in the voltaic current, and recently its existence has been distinctly proved by Sir W. Thomson.

To render manifest this conversion of energy, let us solder a piece of zinc and copper together—if we now test the bar by means of a delicate electrometer we shall find that the zinc is positively, while the copper is negatively, electrified. We have here, therefore, an instance of the transmutation of one form of energy of position into another; so much energy of chemical separation disappearing in order to produce so much electrical separation. This explains the fact recorded in Art. 93, where we saw that if a battery be insulated and its poles