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Bunsen absorptiometer
Date: circa 1875
Inventory Number: 2000-1-0029
Classification: Absorptiometer
Subject:
Maker: Carl Desaga (fl. 1850 - 1875)
Maker: Vladimir Fedorovich Luginin (1834 - 1911)
Place of Origin:
Dimensions:
86.2 x 19.2 x 19.5 cm (33 15/16 x 7 9/16 x 7 11/16 in.)
DescriptionCast-iron base supporting two concentric glass tubes, with two iron rods supporting the mechanism externally. The outer tube has an iron lid clamped down with a screw in order to seal the tube, and hold the inner tube in place. Two holes at bottom of tube, one of which is connected, presumably through the base, to an outside valve. The other is connected through a stop-valve to an outside tube, mounted on the same base. Drops of mercury are inside. The inner tube is easily removed from the outer tube, as it is held in place only by a series of pegs on the bottom of the larger tube, one of which enters a hole on the bottom of the inner tube. The inner tube is sealed on bottom by a valve, which is opened or tightened with a brass screw on the bottom. The inner tube is made of thinner glass, and appears to contain no mercury. All tubes bear a scale marked off in millimeters (0-680 from bottom to top on outer and outside tubes, 640-0 on inner tube). The glass on the outside tube is of better quality, and may be newer.
Signedon main tube: W. Louguinine
outside tube: C. Desaga in Heidelberg
outside tube: C. Desaga in Heidelberg
FunctionThis instrument was used to determine the volume of a given gas that can be absorbed by a liquid (absorption coefficient). The inner tube would be filled completely with known volumes of the liquid and gas whose coefficient was to be determined. Then one would place it vertically on its holder inside the other tube, which would be immersed in mercury, as also was the bottom of the outer tube. The remainder of the outer tube would generally be filled with water and there would be a thermometer present to check the temperature of this water, which was the same as that of the the samples within the inner tube. The outer cap would be secured, and then one would shake the vessels so that the liquid would absorb as much gas as possible. As a result of this, the mercury at the bottom would rise inside the inner tube, from which one could deduce the volume of gas that was absorbed and also the pressure inside the inner tube.
The instrument was first described by Robert Bunsen in 1855. Another description can be found here.
The instrument was first described by Robert Bunsen in 1855. Another description can be found here.
Historical AttributesW. Louguinine, or Vladimir Fedorovich Luginin, may have been both the user and the maker of the instrument. He was noted for his extensive work in thermochemistry, in his laboratory in St. Petersburg from 1874-1882, in Paris, where he worked with Berthelot, from 1882-1889, and afterwards at Moscow University, where he founded the first thermochemistry laboratory in Russia, a lab which today still bears his name.