Note 23 — Chapter IX · COMPOUNDS OF CARBON WITH OXYGEN AND NITROGEN

At first sight it appears absurd, useless, and paradoxical to lose nearly one-third of the heat which fuel can develop, by turning it into gas. Actually the advantage is enormous, especially for producing high temperatures, as is already seen from the fact that fuels rich in oxygen (for instance, wood) when damp are unable, with any kind of hearth whatever, to give the temperature required for glass-melting or steel-casting, whilst in the gas-producer they furnish exactly the same gas as the driest and most carbonaceous fuel. In order to understand the principle which is here involved, it is sufficient to remember that a large amount of heat, but having a low temperature, is in many cases of no use whatever. We are unable here to enter into all the details of the complicated matter of the application of fuel, and further particulars must be sought for in special technical treatises. The following footnotes, however, contain certain fundamental figures for calculations concerning combustion.