On a gaseous compound of carbonic oxide and chlorine

Although it has been asserted by Messrs. Gay-Lussac and Thenard, and also by Mr. Murray, that carbonic acid and chlorine have no action upon each other, Mr. J. Davy has observed the contrary to be the case. A mixture of equal parts of these gases, previously dried over mercury, being exposed to brig...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: The Royal Society 1832
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Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspl.1800.0240
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspl.1800.0240
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Summary:Although it has been asserted by Messrs. Gay-Lussac and Thenard, and also by Mr. Murray, that carbonic acid and chlorine have no action upon each other, Mr. J. Davy has observed the contrary to be the case. A mixture of equal parts of these gases, previously dried over mercury, being exposed to bright sunshine for about one quarter of an hour, lost all colour of the chloric gas, and were found condensed into half their former volume. The smell of this gas was more suffocating than that of chlorine. It occasioned a very painful sensation in the eyes; it reddened litmus paper; it combined with ammonia, forming a salt perfectly neutral and dry, but deliquescent by attracting moisture from the atmosphere. This salt was decomposed by sulphuric, nitric, and phosphoric acids, and also by liquid muriatic acid; but sublimed unaltered in carbonic, sulphureous, and muriatic acid gases. In those instances where the salt was decomposed, the products were carbonic and muriatic acid gases. It is remarkable, that in the formation of this ammoniacal salt, the new gas combines with as much as four times its bulk of ammoniacal gas.