Off She Goes!
Anon
Genre: | News-Commentary, Drollery |
Subjects: | Physics, Pneumatics, Chemistry, Gas Chemistry, Natural Law, Mechanics, Heat, Accidents |
Discusses a Manchester Examiner report of a 'lady's india-rubber bustle' which had exploded during a concert owing to the expansion of the air inside the garment. Having explained the 'law of nature' describing the effect of 'caloric' on 'gaseous bodies', and detailed the chemical composition of air, remarks that 'pop went the bustle!'. Believes that 'This is one of those interesting facts that sometimes occur' because it illuminates such questions as 'elastic properties of caoutchouc', the temperature of explosion of confined air, and the 'absurdity of inflamed petticoats'. |
© Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical Project, Universities of Leeds and Sheffield, 2005 - 2020
Printed from Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical: An Electronic Index, v. 4.0, The Digital Humanities Institute <http://www.sciper.org> [accessed ]