CHAPTER I ON WATER AND ITS COMPOUNDS

solutions, less than the vapour tension of water itself⁶⁶ at the same temperature, and therefore many anhydrous salts which are capable of combining with water absorb aqueous vapour from moist air; that is, they act like a cold body on which water is deposited from steam. It is on this that the desiccation of gases is based, and it must further be remarked in this respect that certain substances—for instance, potassium carbonate (K₂CO₃) and calcium chloride (CaCl₂)—not only absorb the water necessary for the formation of a solid crystalline compound, but also give solutions, or deliquesce, as it is termed, in moist air. Many crystals do not effloresce in the least at the ordinary temperature; for example, copper sulphate, which may be preserved for an indefinite length of time without efflorescing, but when placed under the receiver of an air pump, if efflorescence be once started, it goes on at the ordinary temperature. The temperature at which the complete separation of water from crystals takes place varies considerably, not only for different substances, but also for different portions of the contained water. Very often the temperature at which dissociation begins is very much higher than the boiling point of water. So, for example, copper sulphate, which contains 36 p.c. of water, gives up 28·8 p.c. at 100°, and the remaining quantity, namely 7·2 p.c., only at 240°. Alum, out of the 45·5 p.c. of water which it contains, gives up 18·9 p.c. at 100°, 17·7 p.c. at 120°, 7·7 p.c. at 180°, and 1 p.c. at 280°; it only loses the last quantity (1 p.c.) at its temperature of decomposition. These examples clearly show that the annexation of water of crystallisation is accompanied by a rather profound, although, in comparison with instances which we shall consider later, still inconsiderable, change of its properties. In certain cases the water of crystallisation is only given off when the solid form of the substance is destroyed: when the crystals melt on heating. The crystals are then said to melt in their water of crystallisation. Further, after the separation of the water, a solid substance remains behind, so that by further heating it acquires a solid form. This is seen most clearly in crystals of sugar of lead or lead acetate, which melt in their water of crystallisation at a temperature of 56·25°, and in so doing begin to lose water. On reaching a temperature of 100° the sugar of lead solidifies, having lost all its water; and then at a temperature of 280°, the anhydrous and solidified salt again melts.⁶⁷