Carbonic adj. (Chem.) Of, pertaining to, or obtained from, carbon; as, carbonic oxide.
Carbonic acid (Chem.), an acid HO.CO.OH, not existing separately, which, combined with positive or basic atoms or radicals, forms carbonates. In common language the term is very generally applied to a compound of carbon and oxygen, CO2, more correctly called carbon dioxide. It is a colorless, heavy, irrespirable gas, extinguishing flame, and when breathed destroys life. It can be reduced to a liquid and solid form by intense pressure. It is produced in the fermentation of liquors, and by the combustion and decomposition of organic substances, or other substances containing carbon. It is formed in the explosion of fire damp in mines, and is hence called after damp; it is also know as choke damp, and mephitic air. Water will absorb its own volume of it, and more than this under pressure, and in this state becomes the common soda water of the shops, and the carbonated water of natural springs. Combined with lime it constitutes limestone, or common marble and chalk. Plants imbibe it for their nutrition and growth, the carbon being retained and the oxygen given out.
Carbonic oxide (Chem.), a colorless gas, CO, of a light odor, called more correctly carbon monoxide. It is almost the only definitely known compound in which carbon seems to be divalent. It is a product of the incomplete combustion of carbon, and is an abundant constituent of water gas. It is fatal to animal life, extinguishes combustion, and burns with a pale blue flame, forming carbon dioxide.
... right to forbid Nature to act differently in worlds from which carbon is absent. A world, for example, in which silica replaces carbon, silicic acid carbonic acid, might be inhabited by organisms absolutely different from those which exist on the Earth, different not only in form, but also in substance. We already know stars and suns for which spectral analysis reveals a predominance of silica, e.g., Rigel and Deneb. In a world where chlorine predominated, ... — Astronomy for Amateurs • Camille Flammarion Read full book for free!
... of these, of course, concerned the conveyance of air sufficient for the needs of the traveller during the period of his journey. The construction of an air-tight vessel was easy enough; but however large the body of air conveyed, even though its oxygen should not be exhausted, the carbonic acid given out by breathing would very soon so contaminate the whole that life would be impossible. To eliminate this element it would only be necessary to carry a certain quantity of lime-water, easily calculated, and by means of a fan or similar instrument to drive the whole of the ... — Across the Zodiac • Percy Greg Read full book for free!
... greatest possible surface to the action of the digestive fluids; this is accomplished in several ways; by the formation of air cells through the medium of acetous fermentation, as in yeast bread; by the mechanical introduction of carbonic acid gas, as in aerated bread; by the mixture with the flour of a gas-generating compound, which needs only the contact of moisture to put it in active operation; and by the beating into the dough of atmospheric air. No organic change ... — The Cooking Manual of Practical Directions for Economical Every-Day Cookery • Juliet Corson Read full book for free!
... elementary principles of life—whenever inorganic conditions favor, and, assimilating air, water, and other inorganic materials, convert them into organic substances, or such as answer to the conditions of organic life. In doing this, they take up and decompose carbonic acid, retain the carbon, and give off oxygen—a vital process not known to occur in the case of animal life. That their primordial germs, or vital units, are in the earth, as the Bible Genesis declares, is conclusively shown ... — Life: Its True Genesis • R. W. Wright Read full book for free!
... its poisonous exhalations. We frequent theaters crowded with human beings, many of whom are uncleanly and diseased. We sit for hours and breathe in upon fourteen hundred square feet of lung tissue the heated, foul, and heavy air; carbonic acid gas from hundreds of gas burners, each consuming as much oxygen as six people; air filled with shreds of tissue expelled from diseased lungs; poisonous effluvia exhaled from the bodies of people who rarely bathe, ... — Pushing to the Front • Orison Swett Marden Read full book for free!
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