J02 PROFESSOR H. B. DIXOR ON THE RATE OF EXPLOSION IN GASES. 
Table IV.—Combustible Gases with Oxygen and Nitrogen. 
Gases. 
Velocity in metres per second. 
Calcnlated. 
Fonnd. 
Ho + 0 + No. 
h; + 0 + N.;. 
(Air) 
1935 
1820 
2121 
1439 
CO + 0 + No. 
CO + 0 + N,. 
1661 
1236 
1000 ? 
r Detonation not 
\ propagated 
CH,+ 0,+ N,. 
CH^ +■ 0, + N,. 
CH, + 0, + Rb3... 
(Air) 
2002 
1744 
1450 
1858 
1151 
J Detonation not 
\ propagated 
CoNg + 0^ + Ng. 
CoNo + 0, + N,. 
CoNg + 0, + Ng . ■. 
2334 
2152 
1920 
2044 
1203 
f Detonation not 
\ propagated 
When the explosive gases are mixed with an inert gas, nitrogen, which takes no 
part in the reaction, the same law holds good—except v>dien the nitrogen is added in 
excess. Before the gases are diluted sufficiently to stop the explosion, there is found 
a marked falling off in tlie velocity. The formula gives the theoretically highest rate 
the explosion can attain—a maximum reached in few cases only, but approached in a 
large number. 
Berthelot’s Conclusions. 
These results show, according to Berthelot, that the velocity of the explosion- 
wave constitutes, for each inflammable mixture, a true specific constant. The wave is 
propagated by the impact of the products of combustion of one layer upon the 
unburnt gases in the next layer, and so on to the end of the tube at the rate of move¬ 
ment of the products of combustion themselves. In a word, the mean velocity of 
translation of the gaseous molecules retaining the total vis viva which corresponds 
to the heat developed in the reaction may he regarded as a limit representing 
the maximum rate of 'propagation of the explosion-wave (‘ Sur la Force des Matieres 
Explosives,’ 1, p. 159). 
If this theory is true, it accounts not only for the extreme rapidity of explosion of 
gaseous mixtures, and gives us the means of calculating the maximum velocity 
