Engineering:Storm glass
The storm glass or chemical weather glass was an instrument claimed to help predict weather. It consists of a special liquid placed inside a sealed transparent glass. The state of crystallization within the liquid was believed to be related to the weather. The inventor is unknown but the device became popular in the 1860s after being promoted by Royal Navy Admiral Robert FitzRoy who claimed that
if fixed, undisturbed, in free air, not exposed to radiation, fire, or sun, but in the ordinary light of a well-ventilated room or outer air, the chemical mixture in a so-called storm-glass varies in character with the direction of the wind, not its force, specially (though it may so vary in appearance only) from another cause, electrical tension.
The compositions of the liquid in a storm glass varies but usually contains "camphor, nitrate of potassium and sal-ammoniac, dissolved by alcohol, with water and some air." These devices are now known to have little value in weather prediction but continue to be a curiosity.[1]
Description
The liquid within the glass is a mixture of several ingredients, most commonly distilled water, ethanol, potassium nitrate, ammonium chloride, and camphor. This specific mixture was promoted by Admiral Robert FitzRoy although similar devices existed even two decades earlier with variants in Italy, France and Germany.[2][3][4][5]
FitzRoy carefully documented his claims on how the storm glass would predict the weather:Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag
See also
- Tempest Prognosticator – an alternative to the storm glass that the British government investigated
References
- ↑ "An experimental examination of the so-called Storm-glass". The Philosophical Magazine 26. 1863. https://archive.org/stream/s4philosophicalm26lond#page/93/mode/1up.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedhistory - ↑ Bolton, H.C.; Rae, I.D. (1992). "The Admiral's Storm Glass". Weather 47 (3): 89. doi:10.1002/j.1477-8696.1992.tb05785.x. Bibcode: 1992Wthr...47...89B.
- ↑ Sealey, Antony F. (1967). "A Further Note on the Storm-Glass". Weather 22 (10): 412–416. doi:10.1002/j.1477-8696.1967.tb02956.x. Bibcode: 1967Wthr...22..412S.
- ↑ McConnell, Anita; Collins, Philip (2013). "Will the True Originator of the Storm Glass Please Own Up". Ambix 53: 67–75. doi:10.1179/174582306X93200.
External links
- Admiral FitzRoy's remarks on barometers and thermometers
- The appearance of crystals in storm glass, when weather changes (video)
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