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- Title
Did Davy melt Ice by Friction in a Vacuum?
- Authors
CAJORI, FLORIAN
- Abstract
QUITE firmly entrenched in scientific literature, including some very recent English histories of science, is the statement that Sir Humphry Davy contrived a clockwork by which two pieces of ice were rubbed together and made to melt under the exhausted receiver of an air-pump. This is incorrect. A reference to Davy's works (Davy, 'Collected Works', vol. 2, 1839, p. 11, 12, 'Experiment II'. and 'Experiment III'.) indicates that in one experiment he melted ice at 29° F., by friction, in the open, and that in another experiment he caused wax to melt by friction of two metals (wheel and plate) in a vacuum. Davy did not melt ice by rubbing together pieces of ice in a vacuum.
- Publication
Nature, 1926, Vol 117, Issue 2945, p519
- ISSN
0028-0836
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/117519d0