Observations on the Law of the Expansion of Water at Temperatures below 42° extracted from The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, 1802, pp. 255-257

1802. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION EXTRACT OF AN EXPERIMENT BY DALTON, "one of a series of very accurate experiments and observations on the power of fluids to conduct heat" (Monthly Magazine, Volume 14, 153).

The paper is part of a much larger paper, "The Power of Fluids to Conduct Heat" that was published in the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. This section of the paper, "Observations on the Law of the Expansion of Water at Temperatures below 42°", was of particular import so The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science published it separately and it is that section that is offered here.

"Mr. Dalton found that water is of the greatest density at 42.5° Fahrenheit's thermometer - that from 41° to 40° the variation is so small as to be barely perceptible on the scale - but that, above and below those degrees, the expansion has an increasing ratio, and at 32° it amounts to 160th part of the whole expansion from 42.5 to 212. He also found that the expansion of water was the same for any number of degrees from the point of greatest condensation, whether above or below that point; thus at 32° the density was the same as at 53°, the one being 10.5 below, the other 10.5 above the point of the great density" (Monthly Magazine). CONDITION & DETAILS: London: Alexander Tilloch. Extract. (8.5 x 5.5 inches; 213 x 138mm). pp. 255-257. Extract. Bright and clean. Very good condition.