Note 22 — Chapter II · THE COMPOSITION OF WATER, HYDROGEN
George Kamensky translation
An inverted beaker is attached to one arm of the beam of a tolerably sensitive balance, and its weight counterpoised by weights in the pan attached to the other arm, If the beaker be then filled with hydrogen it rises, owing to the air being replaced by hydrogen. Thus, at the ordinary temperature of a room, a litre of air weighs about 1·2 gram, and on replacing the air by hydrogen a decrease in weight of about 1 gram per litre is obtained. Moist hydrogen is heavier than dry—for aqueous vapour is nine times heavier than hydrogen. In filling balloons it is usually calculated that (it being impossible to have perfectly dry hydrogen or to obtain it quite free from air) the lifting force due to the difference between the weights of equal volumes of hydrogen and air is equal to 1 kilogram (= 1,000 grams) per cubic metre (= 1,000 litres).