GFRORER, AUGUST FRIEDRICH (18031861)

This article appears in Volume V11, Page 915 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: GEO-GNU

GFRORER, AUGUST FRIEDRICH (18031861) , German historian, was born at

Calw

CALW

Wurttemberg

WURTTEMBERG

, on the 5th of

March

' So written, with a medial mem (re) instead of the final (o).
to account for the frequent and periodical production of the necessary heat ; but he has the credit of hitting on what is certainly the proximate causethe sudden

evolution

EVOLUTION

of steam. By Bunsen's theory the whole difficulty is solved, as is beautifully demonstrated by the artificial geyser designed by J. H. J. Muller of Freiburg (fig. 2). If the tube ab be filled with water and heated at two points, first at a and then at b, the following succession of changes is produced. The water at a beginning to boil, the superincumbent column is consequently raised, and the stratum of water which was on the point of boiling at b being raised to d is there subjected to a diminished pressure; a sudden

evolution

EVOLUTION

of steam accordingly takes place at d, and the superincumbent water is violently ejected. Received in the basin c, the air-cooled water sinks back into the tube, and the temperature of the whole column is consequently lowered; but the under strata of water are naturally those which are least affected by the cooling process; the boiling begins again at a, and the same succession of events is the result (see R. Bunsen, " Physikalische Beobachtungen fiber die hauptsachlichsten Geisire Islands," Pogg. Ann., 1847, vol. 72; and Muller, " Uber Bunsen's Geysertheorie," ibid., 185o, vol. 79).
The

principal

PRINCIPAL

difference between the artificial and the natural
geyser-tube is that in the latter the effect is not necessarily produced
by two distinct sources of heat like the two fires of the experimental
apparatus, but by the continual influx of
heat from the bottom of the

shaft

, and the
differences between the boiling-points of
186 225 the different parts of the column owing to
230 241 the different pressures of the superincum-
bent

mass

. This may be thus illustrated:
C 249 AB is the column of water; on the right 255 side the figures represent approximately the boiling-points (Fahr.) calculated according to the

ordinary

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

laws

LAWS

, and the figures on the left the actual temperature of the same
places. Both gradually increase as we descend, but the relation between the two is very different at different heights. At
the top the water is still 39 from its boiling-point, and even at the bottom it is 19; but at D the deficiency is only 4. If, then, the-stratum at D be suddenly lifted as high as C, It will be 2 above the boiling-point there, and will consequently expend those 2 in the formation of steam.

End of Article: GFRORER, AUGUST FRIEDRICH (18031861)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/GEO_GNU/GFRORER_AUGUST_FRIEDRICH_18031.html">
GFRORER, AUGUST FRIEDRICH (18031861)
</a>

(Previous)
GEZER

(Next)
GHADAMES, GADAMES

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email