Page:Experimental researches in chemistry and.djvu/349

334. more readiness than the heap itself; and as it enters, carries in the powder at the bottom edge of the heap with it. This action is repeated at every vibration, and as they occur in such rapid succession that the eye cannot distinguish them, the centre part of the heap is continually progressing upwards; and as the powder thus accumulates above, whilst the base is continually lessened by what is swept in underneath, the particles necessarily fall over and roll down on every side.

59. Although this statement is made upon the relation of the heap, as a mass, to the air surrounding it, yet it will be seen at once that the same relation exists between any two parts of the heap at different distances from the centre; for the one nearest the centre will be propelled upward with the greatest force, and the other will bein the most favourable state for occupying the partial vacuum left by the receding plate.

60. This view of the effect will immediately account for all the appearances; the circular form, the fusion together of two or more heaps, their involving motion, and their existence upon any vibrating part of the plate. The manner in which the neighbouring particles would be absorbed by the heaps is also evident; and as to their first formation, the slightest irregularities in the powder or surface would determine a commencement, which would then instantly favour the increase.

61. It is quite true, that if the powder were coherent, that force alone would tend to produce the same effect, but only in a very feeble degree. This is sufficiently shown by the experiments made in the exhausted receiver (36). When the barometer of the air-pump was at twenty-eight inches, that in the air being about 29.2 inches, the heaps, or rather parcel, formed very beautifully over the whole surface of the membrane; but they were very Hat and extensive compared with the heaps in air, and the involving motion was very weak. As the air was admitted, the vibration being continued, the heaps rose in height, contracted in diameter, and moved more rapidly. Again, in the experiments with filings and sand in water, no cohesive action could assist in producing the effect; it must have been entirely due to the manner in which the particles were mechanically urged in a medium of less density than themselves.

62. The conversion of these round heaps into linear concentric involving parcels, in the experiment already described