Page:Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat.djvu/135

Rh density, which requires also that the gas be first taken under a very heavy pressure, or that it acquire by its dilatation an enormous volume—conditions both difficult to fulfil. The first necessitates the employment of very strong vessels to contain the gas at a very high temperature and under very heavy pressure. The second necessitates the use of vessels of large dimensions. These are, in a word, the principal obstacles which prevent the utilization in steam-engines of a great part of the motive power of the heat. We are obliged to limit ourselves to the use of a slight fall of caloric, while the combustion of the coal furnishes the means of procuring a very great one.

It is seldom that in steam-engines the elastic fluid is produced under a higher pressure than six atmospheres—a pressure corresponding to about 160° Centigrade, and it is seldom that condensation takes place at a temperature much under 40°. The fall of caloric from 160° to 40° is 120°, while by combustion we can procure a fall of 1000° to 2000°.

In order to comprehend this more clearly, let us recall what we have termed the fall of caloric. This is the passage of the heat from one body, A, having an elevated temperature, to another, B, where it is lower. We say that the fall of the