Part 8

Absolute alcohol should have no foreign smell and should mix with water without cloudiness.

After the admixture of 5 drops of silver-nitrate solution, 10 cubic centimeters of absolute alcohol should not become turbid or colored even on heating.

A mixture of 10 cubic centimeters of absolute alcohol and 0.2 cubic centimeter of potash lye evaporated down to 1 cubic centimeter should not exhibit an odor of fusel oil after supersaturation with dilute sulphuric acid.

Five cubic centimeters of sulphuric acid, carefully covered, in a test tube, with a stratum of 5 cubic centimeters of absolute alcohol, should not form a rose-colored zone at the surface of contact, even on standing for some time.

The red color of a mixture of 10 cubic centimeters of absolute alcohol and 1 cubic centimeter of potassium-permanganate solution should not pass into yellow before 20 minutes.

Absolute alcohol should not be dyed by hydrogen sulphide water or by aqueous ammonia.

Five cubic centimeters of absolute alcohol should not leave behind a weighable residue after evaporation on water bath.

«Absolute Alcohol.»—If gelatine be suspended in ordinary alcohol it will absorb the water, but as it is insoluble in alcohol, that substance will remain behind, and thus nearly absolute alcohol will be obtained without distillation.

«Perfumed Denaturized Alcohol.»—

East India lemon oil 1,250 parts Mirbane oil 1,000 parts Cassia oil 50 parts Clove oil 75 parts Lemon oil 100 parts Amyl acetate 500 parts Spirit (95 per cent) 7,000 parts

Dissolve the oils in the spirit and add the amyl acetate. The mixture serves for destroying the bad odor of denaturized spirit in distilling. Use 50 parts of the perfume per 1,000 parts of spirit.

«Solid Alcohol.»—I.—Heat 1,000 parts of denaturized alcohol (90 per cent) in a flask of double the capacity on the water bath to about 140° F., and then mix with 28 to 30 parts of well-dried, rasped Venetian soap and 2 parts of gum lac. After repeated shaking, complete dissolution will take place. The solution is put, while still warm, into metallic vessels, closing them up at once and allowing the mixture to cool therein. The admixture of gum lac effects a better preservation and also prevents the evaporation of the alcohol. On lighting the solid spirit the soap remains behind.

II.—Smaragdine is a trade name for solidified alcohol. It consists of alcohol and gun cotton, colored with malachite green. It appears in the market in the form of small cubes.

«Alcohol in Fermented Beers.»—Experience has shown that 1⁠/⁠4 pound of sugar to 1 gallon of water yields about 2 per cent of proof spirit, or about 1 per cent of absolute alcohol. Beyond this amount it is not safe to go, if the legal limit is to be observed, yet a ginger beer brewed with 1⁠/⁠4 pound per gallon of sugar would be a very wishy-washy compound, and there is little doubt that a much larger quantity is generally used. The more sugar that is used—up to 1 1⁠/⁠2 or 1 1⁠/⁠4 pounds per gallon—the better the drink will be and the more customers will relish it; but it will be as “strong” as lager and contain perhaps 5 per cent of alcohol, which will make it anything but a “temperance” drink. Any maker who is using as much as even 1⁠/⁠2 pound of sugar per gallon is bound to get more spirit than the law allows. Meanwhile it is scarcely accurate to term ginger beers, etc., non-alcoholic.

«Alcohol Deodorizer.»—

Alcohol 160 ounces Powdered quicklime 300 grains Powdered alum 150 grains Spirit of nitrous ether 1 1⁠/⁠4 drachms

Mix the lime and alum intimately by trituration; add the alcohol and shake well; then add the spirit of nitrous ether; set aside for 7 days and filter through animal charcoal.

«Denaturized Alcohol.»—There are two general classes or degrees of denaturizing, viz., the “complete” and the “incomplete,” according to the purpose for {46} which the alcohol so denaturized is to be ultimately used.

I.—Complete denaturization by the German system is accomplished by the addition to every 100 liters (equal to 26 1⁠/⁠2 gallons) of spirits:

(_a_) Two and one-half liters of the “standard” denaturizer, made of 4 parts of wood alcohol, 1 part of pyridine (a nitrogenous base obtained by distilling bone oil or coal tar), with the addition of 50 grams to each liter of oil of lavender or rosemary.

(_b_) One and one-fourth liters of the above “standard” and 2 liters of benzol with every 100 liters of alcohol.

II.—Incomplete denaturization—i. e., sufficient to prevent alcohol from being drunk, but not to disqualify it from use for various special purposes, for which the wholly denaturized spirits would be unavailable—is accomplished by several methods as follows, the quantity and nature of each substance given being the prescribed dose for each 100 liters (26 1⁠/⁠2 gallons) of spirits:

(_c_) Five liters of wood alcohol or 1⁠/⁠2 liter of pyridine.

(_d_) Twenty liters of solution of shellac, containing 1 part gum to 2 parts alcohol of 90-per-cent purity. Alcohol for the manufacture of celluloid and pegamoid is denaturized.

(_e_) By the addition of 1 kilogram of camphor or 2 liters oil of turpentine or 1⁠/⁠2 liter benzol to each 100 liters of spirits. Alcohol to be used in the manufacture of ethers, aldehyde, agaricin, white lead, bromo-silver gelatines, photographic papers and plates, electrode plates, collodion, salicylic acid and salts, aniline chemistry, and a great number of other purposes, is denaturized by the addition of—

(_f_) Ten liters sulphuric ether, or 1 part of benzol, or 1⁠/⁠2 part oil of turpentine, or 0.025 part of animal oil.

For the manufacture of varnishes and inks alcohol is denaturized by the addition of oil of turpentine or animal oil, and for the production of soda soaps by the addition of 1 kilogram of castor oil. Alcohol for the production of lanolin is prepared by adding 5 liters of benzine to each hectoliter of spirits.

«ALE.»

The ale of the modern brewer is manufactured in several varieties, which are determined by the wants of the consumer and the particular market for which it is intended. Thus, the finer kinds of Burton, East India, Bavarian, and other like ales, having undergone a thorough fermentation, contain only a small quantity of undecomposed sugar and gum, varying from 1 to 5 per cent. Some of these are highly “hopped” or “bittered,” the further to promote their preservation during transit and change of temperature. Mild or sweet ales, on the contrary, are less accentuated by lengthened fermentation, and abound in saccharine and gummy matter. They are, therefore, more nutritious, though less intoxicating, than those previously referred to.

In brewing the finer kinds of ales, pale malt and the best hops of the current season’s growth are always employed; and when it is desired to produce a liquor possessing little color, very great attention is paid to their selection. With the same object, the boiling is conducted with more than the usual precautions, and the fermentation is carried on at a somewhat lower temperature than that commonly allowed for other varieties of beer. For ordinary ale, intended for immediate use, the malt may be all pale; but, if the liquor be brewed for keeping, and in warm weather, when a slight color is not objectionable, one-fifth, or even one-fourth of amber malt may be advantageously employed. From 4 1⁠/⁠2 to 6 pounds of hops is the quantity commonly used to the one-fourth of malt, for ordinary ales; and 7 pounds to 10 pounds for “keeping” ales. The proportions, however, must greatly depend on the intended quality and description of the brewing and the period that will be allowed for its maturation.

The stronger varieties of ale usually contain from 6 to 8 per cent of “absolute alcohol”; ordinary strong ale, 4 1⁠/⁠2 to 6 per cent; mild ale, 3 to 4 percent; and table ale, 1 to 1 1⁠/⁠2 per cent (each by volume); together with some undecomposed saccharine, gummy, and extractive matter, the bitter and narcotic principles of the hop, some acetic acid formed by the oxidation of the alcohol, and very small and variable quantities of mineral and saline matter.

Ordinary ale-wort (preferably pale), sufficient to produce 1 barrel, is slowly boiled with about 3 handfuls of hops, and 12 to 14 pounds of crushed groats, until the whole of the soluble matter of the latter is extracted. The resulting liquor, after being run through a coarse strainer and become lukewarm, is fermented with 2 or 3 pints of yeast; and, as soon as the fermentation is at its height, is either closely bunged up for draft or is at once put into strong stoneware bottles, which are then well corked and wired.

White ale is said to be very nutritious, though apt to prove laxative to those {47} unaccustomed to its use. It is drunk in a state of effervescence or lively fermentation; the glass or cup containing it being kept in constant motion, when removed from the mouth, until the whole is consumed, in order that the thicker portion may not subside to the bottom.

ALE, GINGER: See Beverages.

ALFENIDE METAL: See Alloys.

ALKALI, HOW TO DETECT: See Soaps.

ALKALOIDS, ANTIDOTES TO: See Atropine.

«Alloys»

No general rules can be given for alloying metals. Alloys differing greatly in fusibility are commonly made by adding the more fusible ones, either in the melted state or in small portions at a time, to the other melted or heated to the lowest possible temperature at which a perfect union will take place between them. The mixture is usually effected under a flux, or some material that will promote liquefaction and prevent volatilization and unnecessary exposure to the air. Thus, in melting lead and tin together for solder, rosin or tallow is thrown upon the surface is rubbed with sal ammoniac; and in combining some metals, powdered charcoal is used for the same purpose. Mercury or quicksilver combines with many metals in the cold, forming AMALGAMS, or easily fusible alloys (q. v.).

Alloys generally possess characteristics unshared by their component metals. Thus, copper and zinc form brass, which has a different density, hardness, and color from either of its constituents. Whether the metals tend to unite in atomic proportions or in any definite ratio is still undetermined. The evidence afforded by the natural alloys of gold and silver, and by the phenomena accompanying the cooling of several alloys from the state of fusion, goes far to prove that such is the case (Rudberg). The subject is, however, one of considerable difficulty, as metals and metallic compounds are generally soluble in each other, and unite by simple fusion and contact. That they do not combine indifferently with each other, but exercise a species of elective affinity not dissimilar to other bodies, is clearly shown by the homogeneity and superior quality of many alloys in which the constituent metals are in atomic proportion. The variation of the specific gravity and melting points of alloys from the mean of those of their component metals also affords strong evidence of a chemical change having taken place. Thus, alloys generally melt at lower temperatures than their separate metals. They also usually possess more tenacity and hardness than the mean of their constituents.

Matthiessen found that when weights are suspended to spirals of hard-drawn wire made of copper, gold, or platinum, they become nearly straightened when stretched by a moderate weight; but wires of equal dimensions composed of copper-tin (12 per cent of tin), silver-platinum (36 per cent of platinum), and gold-copper (84 per cent of copper) scarcely undergo any permanent change in form when subjected to tension by the same weight.

The same chemist gives the following approximate results upon the tenacity of certain metals and wires hard-drawn through the same gauge (No. 23):

Pounds Copper, breaking strain 25–30 Tin, breaking strain under 7 Lead, breaking strain under 7 Tin-lead (20% lead) about 7 Tin-copper (12% copper) about 7 Copper-tin (12% tin) about 80–90 Gold (12% tin) 20–25 Gold-copper (8.4% copper) 70–75 Silver (8.4% copper) 45–50 Platinum (8.4% copper) 45–50 Silver-platinum (30% platinum) 75–80

On the other hand, the malleability, ductility, and power of resisting oxygen of alloys is generally diminished. The alloy formed of two brittle metals is always brittle; that of a brittle and a ductile metal, generally so; and even two ductile metals sometimes unite to form a brittle compound. The alloys formed of metals having different fusing points are usually malleable while cold and brittle while hot. The action of the air on alloys is generally less than on their simple metals, unless the former are heated. A mixture of 1 part of tin and 3 parts of lead is scarcely acted on at common temperatures; but at a red heat it readily takes fire, and continues to burn for some time like a piece of bad turf. In like manner, a mixture of tin and zinc, when strongly heated, decomposes both moist air and steam with rapidity.

The specific gravity of alloys is rarely {48} the arithmetical mean of that of their constituents, as commonly taught; and in many cases considerable condensation or expansion occurs. When there is a strong affinity between two metals, the density of their alloy is generally greater than the calculated mean; and vice versa, as may be seen in the following table:

ALLOYS HAVING A DENSITY Greater than the Mean of their Constituents:

Copper and bismuth, Copper and palladium, Copper and tin, Copper and zinc, Gold and antimony, Gold and bismuth, Gold and cobalt, Gold and tin, Gold and zinc, Lead and antimony, Palladium and bismuth, Silver and antimony, Silver and bismuth, Silver and lead, Silver and tin, Silver and zinc.

Less than the Mean of their Constituents:

Gold and copper, Gold and iridium, Gold and iron, Gold and lead, Gold and nickel, Gold and silver, Iron and antimony, Iron and bismuth, Iron and lead, Nickel and arsenic, Silver and copper, Tin and antimony, Tin and lead, Tin and palladium, Zinc and antimony.

«Compounding Alloys.»—Considerable experience is necessary to insure success in compounding alloys, especially when the metals employed vary greatly in fusibility and volatility. The following are rules supplied by an experienced workman:

1. Melt the least fusible, oxidizable, and volatile first, and then add the others heated to their point of fusion or near it. Thus, if it is desired to make an alloy of exactly 1 part of copper and 3 of zinc, it will be impossible to do so by putting proportions of the metals in a crucible and exposing the whole to heat. Much of the zinc would fly off in vapor before the copper was melted. First, melt the copper and add the zinc, which has been melted in another crucible. The zinc should be in excess, as some of it will be lost anyway.

2. Some alloys, as copper and zinc, copper and arsenic, may be formed by exposing heated plates of the least fusible metal to the vapor of the other. In making brass in the large way, thin plates of copper are dissolved, as it were, in melted zinc until the proper proportions have been obtained.

3. The surface of all oxidizable metals should be covered with some protecting agent, as tallow for very fusible ones, rosin for lead and tin, charcoal for zinc, copper, etc.

4. Stir the metal before casting and if possible, when casting, with a whitewood stick; this is much better for the purpose than an iron rod.

5. If possible, add a small portion of old alloy to the new. If the alloy is required to make sharp castings and strength is not a very great object, the proportion of old alloy to the new should be increased. In all cases a new or thoroughly well-cleansed crucible should be used.

To obtain metals and metallic alloys from their compounds, such as oxides, sulphides, chlorides, etc., a process lately patented makes use of the reducing qualities of aluminum or its alloys with magnesium. The finely powdered material (e. g., chromic oxide) is placed in a crucible mixed with aluminum oxide. The mixture is set afire by means of a soldering pipe or a burning magnesium wire, and the desired reaction takes place. For igniting, one may also employ with advantage a special priming cartridge consisting of pulverized aluminum to which a little magnesium may be mixed, and peroxide of magnesia, which is shaped into balls and lighted with a magnesium wire. By suitable additions to the pulverized mixture, alloys containing aluminum, magnetism, chromium, manganese, copper, iron, boron, silicic acid, etc., are obtained.

«ALUMINUM ALLOYS.»

M. H. Pecheux has contributed to the _Comptes Rendus_, from time to time, the results of his investigations into the alloys of aluminum with soft metals, and the following constitutes a brief summary of his observations:

«Lead.»—When aluminum is melted and lead is added in proportion greater than 10 per cent, the metals separate on cooling into three layers—lead, aluminum, and between them an alloy containing from 90 to 97 per cent of aluminum. {49} The alloys with 93, 95, and 98 per cent have densities of 2.745, 2.674, and 2.600 respectively, and melting points near that of aluminum. Their color is like that of aluminum, but they are less lustrous. All are malleable, easily cut, softer than aluminum, and have a granular fracture. On remelting they become somewhat richer in lead, through a tendency to liquation. They do not oxidize in moist air, nor at their melting points. They are attacked in the cold by hydrochloric and by strong sulphuric acid, with evolution of hydrogen, and by strong nitric acid when hot; strong solution of potassium hydroxide also attacks them. They are without action on distilled water, whether cold or hot.

«Zinc.»—Well-defined alloys were obtained, corresponding to the formulas Zn_〈3〉Al, Zn_〈2〉Al, ZnAl, ZnAl_〈2〉, ZnAl_〈3〉, ZnAl_〈4〉, ZnAl_〈6〉, ZnAl_〈10〉, ZnAl_〈12〉. Their melting points and densities all lie between those of zinc and aluminum, and those containing most zinc are the hardest. They are all dissolved by cold hydrochloric acid and by hot dilute nitric acid. Cold concentrated nitric acid attacks the first three, and cold dilute acid the first five. The Zn_〈3〉Al, ZnAl_〈6〉, ZnAl_〈10〉, and ZnAl_〈12〉 are only slightly affected by cold potassium-hydroxide solution; the others are strongly attacked, potassium zincate and aluminate probably being formed.

«Tin.»—A filed rod of tin-aluminum alloy plunged in cold water gives off for some minutes bubbles of gas, composed of hydrogen and oxygen in explosive proportions. An unfiled rod, or a filed rod of either aluminum or tin, is without action, though the unfiled rod of alloy will act on boiling water. The filed rod of alloy, in faintly acid solution of copper or zinc sulphate, becomes covered with a deposit of copper or zinc, while bubbles of oxygen are given off. M. Pecheux believes that the metals are truly alloyed only at the surface, and that filing lays bare an almost infinitely numerous series of junctions of the two metals, which, heated by the filing, act as thermocouples.

«Bismuth.»—By the method used for lead, bismuth alloys were obtained containing 75, 85, 88, and 94 per cent of aluminum, with densities 2.86, 2.79, 2.78, and 2.74 respectively. They were sonorous, brittle, finely grained, and homogeneous, silver-white, and with melting points between those of their constituents, but nearer that of aluminum. They are not oxidized in air at the temperature of casting, but are readily attacked by acids, concentrated or dilute, and by potassium-hydroxide solution. The filed alloys behave like those of tin, but still more markedly.

«Magnesium.»—These were obtained with 66, 68, 73, 77, and 85 per cent of aluminum, and densities 2.24, 2.47, 2.32, 2.37, 2.47. They are brittle, with large granular fracture, silver-white, file well, take a good polish, and have melting points near that of aluminum. Being viscous when melted, they are difficult to cast, and when slowly cooled form a gray, spongy mass which cannot be remelted. They do not oxidize in air at the ordinary temperatures, but burn readily at a bright-red heat. They are attacked violently by acids and by potassium-hydroxide solution, decompose hydrogen peroxide, and slowly decompose water even in the cold.

«Tin, Bismuth, and Magnesium.»—The action of water on these alloys just referred to has been recently demonstrated on a larger scale, 5 to 6 cubic centimeters of hydrogen having been obtained in 20 minutes from 2 cubic centimeters of the filed tin alloy. The bismuth alloy yielded more hydrogen than the tin alloy, and the magnesium alloy more than the bismuth alloy. The oxygen of the decomposed water unites with the aluminum. Larger quantities of hydrogen are obtained from copper-sulphate solution, apart from the decomposition of this solution by precipitation of copper at the expense of the metal alloyed with the aluminum. The alloys of aluminum with zinc and lead do not decompose pure water, but do decompose the water of copper-sulphate solution, and, more slowly, that of zinc-sulphate solution.

Aluminum is a metal whose properties are very materially influenced by a proportionately small addition of copper. Alloys of 99 per cent aluminum and 1 per cent of copper are hard, brittle, and bluish in color; 95 per cent of aluminum and 5 per cent of copper give an alloy which can be hammered, but with 10 percent of copper the metal can no longer be worked. With 80 per cent and upward of copper are obtained alloys of a beautiful yellow color, and these mixtures, containing from 5 to 10 percent of aluminum and from 90 to 95 per cent of copper, are the genuine aluminum bronzes. The 10-per-cent alloys are of a pure golden-yellow color; with 5 per cent of aluminum they are reddish yellow, like gold heavily alloyed with copper, and a 2-per-cent admixture is of an almost pure copper red. {50} As the proportion of copper increases, the brittleness is diminished, and alloys containing 10 per cent and less of aluminum can be used for industrial purposes, the best consisting of 90 per cent of copper and 10 of aluminum. The hardness of this alloy approaches that of the general bronzes, whence its name. It can be stretched out into thin sheets between rollers, worked under the hammer, and shaped as desired by beating or pressure, in powerful stamping presses. On account of its hardness it takes a fine polish, and its peculiar greenish-gold color resembles that of gold alloyed with copper and silver together.

Alloys with a still greater proportion of copper approach this metal more and more nearly in their character; the color of an alloy, for instance, composed of 95 per cent of copper and 5 per cent of aluminum, can be distinguished from pure gold only by direct comparison, and the metal is very hard, and also very malleable.