Page:Experimental researches in chemistry and.djvu/351

336 65. The general phenomenon now to be considered is easily produced upon a square plate nipped in the middle, either by the fingers or the pincers (2. 6), held horizontally, covered with sufficient water on the upper surface to How freely from side to side when inclined, and made to vibrate strongly by a bow applied to one edge, ×, fig. 12, in the usual way.

Crispations appear on the surface of the water, Brst at the centres of vibration, and extend more or less towards the nodal lines, as the vibrations are stronger or weaker. The crispation presents the appearance of small conoidal elevations of equal lateral extent, usually arranged rectangularly with extreme regularity; permanent (in appearance), so long as a certain degree of vibration is sustained; increasing and diminishing in height, with increased or diminished vibration; but not affected in their lateral extent by such variations, though the whole crispated surface is enlarged or diminished at those times. lf the plate be vibrated, so as to produce a different note, the crispations still appear at the centre of vibration, but are smaller for a high note, larger for a low one. The same note produced on different sized plates, by different modes of vibration, appears to produce crispations of the same dimension, other circumstances being the same.

66. These appearances are beautifully seen when ink diluted with its bulk of water is used on the plate.

67. It was necessary, for examination, both to prolong and enlarge the effect, and the following were found advantageous modes of producing it. Plates of crown-glass, from eighteen to twenty-two inches long, and three or four inches wide, were supported each by two triangular pieces of wood acting as bridges (18), and made to vibrate by a small glass rod or tube resting perpendicularly at the middle, over which the moist fingers were passed. By sprinkling dry sand on the plates, and shifting the bridges, the nodal lines were found (usually about one-fifth of the whole length from each end), and their places marked by a Ble or diamond. Then clearing away the sand, putting water or ink upon the plate, and applying the rod or fingers, it was easy to produce the crispations and sustain