Note 17 — Chapter V · NITROGEN AND AIR

As a further proof of the fact that certain circumstances may change the composition of air, it will be enough to point out that the air contained in the cavities of glaciers contains only up to 10 p.c. of oxygen. This depends on the fact that at low temperatures oxygen is much more soluble in snow-water and snow than nitrogen. When shaken up with water the composition of air should change, because the water dissolves unequal quantities of oxygen and nitrogen. We have already seen (Chapter I.) that the air boiled off from water saturated at about 0° contains about thirty-five volumes of oxygen and sixty-five volumes of nitrogen, and we have considered the reason of this.