The Book of Science: A Familiar Introduction to the Principles of Natural Philosophy, Adapted to the Comprehension of Young People, Comprising Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Hydraulics, Pneumatics, Acoustics, Pyronomics, Optics, Electricity, Galvanism, Magnetism |
Common terms and phrases
action angle aperture appear ascer ascertained atmosphere attraction ball become body cause cavity centre of gravity centrifugal force colours common compressed concave consequence constructed convex convex lens cylinder degree density depend diameter direction distance earth effect elastic electricity equal exhibited experiments extremity Fahrenheit fall feet figure fluid force friction glass glottis heat Hence inches inclined plane instrument latter length lens lever light liquid machine magnetic manner mass means mercury metal mirror motion moving Natural Philosophy object observed optical particles pass peculiar pendulum phenomena philosopher pipe piston plane plate pole pounds pressure produced properties proportion quantity rays reflected refracting telescope refraction relative retina screw side Sir John Leslie solid sound space specific gravity string substances Suppose surface takes place temperature thermometer tion tones tricity tube valve velocity vertical vessel vibrations voltaic pile weight wheel wire
Popular passages
Page 276 - Hence the sonorous vibrations being propagated in right lines, the angle of reflection is always equal to the angle of incidence.
Page 9 - Every body continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a straight line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it.
Page 48 - For since the time of vibration is to the time of descent through half the length of the pendulum, as the circumference of a circle to its diameter, that is...
Page 472 - They have subsequently constructed another, which will sustain 2063 pounds. It consists of a bar of soft iron, bent into the form of a horse-shoe, and wound with twenty-six strands of copper bell-wire, covered with cotton threads, each thirty-one feet long; about eighteen inches of the ends are left projecting, so that only, twenty-eight feet of each actually surround the iron. The aggregate length of the coils is therefore 728 feet. Each...
Page 372 - Reflection from Concave Surfaces. 79. Concave mirrors exhibit a variety of phenomena depending on the situation of the object with respect to the mirror and to the observer, some of which are highly curious and interesting. "The concave mirror," says Sir David Brewster, " is the staple instrument of the magician's cabinet, and must always perform a principal part in all optical combinations."* Some of the most extraordinary optical effects in nature are also produced by reflection from concave surfaces,...
Page 372 - Like all other conjurors (says Sir David Brewster), the artist has contrived to make the observer deceive himself. The stamped figures on the back are used for this purpose. The spectrum in the luminous area is not an image of the figures on the back. The figures are a copy of the picture which the artist has drawn on the face of the mirror, and so concealed by polishing, that it is invisible in ordinary lights, and can be brought out only in the sun's rays.
Page 245 - The range of human hearing includes more than nine octaves, the whole of which are distinct to most ears, though the vibrations of a note at the higher extreme are six...
Page 222 - Now when the piston is at the bottom of the barrel, the pressure of the atmosphere on the surface of the water in the well...
Page 122 - E, while it both descends and ascends in F, rising equally in all the tubes, and spouting out till the water is reduced in the side tubes to the level of the summits of the internal ones, when the equilibrium being established the liquid will remain at rest. Thus it follows that any number of columns of a liquid, freely communicating, whatever may be their respective diameters and figures will always have the same vertical height.
Page 28 - EARTH. 45 and as the weight of bodies is estimated by the pressure or gravitating force with which they tend towards the earth, a body weighing one pound at the earth's surface would have only onefourth of that weight, if it could be removed as far from the surface of the earth as the surface is from the centre. And at the distance of the moon from the earth, which is 240,000 miles, the weight or gravitating force of the same body, as affected by the attraction of the earth, would be equal to only...