Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 59.djvu/603

Rh and one in the green part of the spectrum. The third gas, named xenon, or 'the stranger' gives out a greenish-blue light, and is remarkable for a very complex spectrum, in which blue lines are conspicuous.

Although neon was first obtained by the fractional distillation of argon, it was afterwards found convenient to prepare it direct from air. The torpedo-compressor, which is used for compressing the air before it enters Dr. Hampson's liquefier, was made to take in the air which had escaped liquefaction in the liquefier; the denser portions were thus liquefied, and the lighter portions were liquefied by compressing them into a vessel cooled by the denser fractions, boiling under reduced pressure, and consequently at a specially low temperature. This liquefied portion was again fractionated, and yielded neon; and it was not long before we discovered that helium was also present in the mixture. The presence of helium in atmospheric air had previously been noted by Professor Kayser of Bonn, and by Professor Friedländer of Berlin, on submitting the spectrum of argon to a searching examination.

The purification of this mixture of neon and helium from argon, although a lengthy process, was not attended by any special difficulty. It was accomplished by repeated distillation, the lighter portions being always collected separately from the heavier portions, and again distilled by themselves. But after this separation had been accomplished, we found that we were unable by means of liquid air to liquefy the mixture, or indeed any portion of it. We effected a partial separation by diffusion; but it is not possible to separate by this method two gases of which the quantity is limited. Another attempt was made by dissolving the gases in liquid oxygen, on the supposition that neon might prove more soluble than helium; but without satisfactory results. It was evident that a lower temperature than that possible by help of liquid air was necessary.

Professor Dewar had by that time succeeded in producing liquid hydrogen in quantity, and had indicated the principle, which is identical with that of Dr. Hampson's air-liquefier, although he has not published any detailed account of his apparatus. Dr. Travers undertook to investigate the subject; and after four unsuccessful trials, he made a liquefier, with the help of Mr. Holding, the laboratory mechanician, by means of which a hundred cubic centimeters of liquid hydrogen could be easily and cheaply produced. There was then no difficulty in effecting the separation of neon from helium; for, while neon is practically non-volatile, when cooled by liquid hydrogen, remaining in the state of solid or liquid, even that enormously low temperature is not sufficient to convert helium into a liquid. Hence the gaseous helium could be pumped away from the non-gaseous neon, and the latter was obtained in a pure state.