EVANGELISTA TORRICELLI ( 1608 - 1647)
WHO MADE THE FIRST BAROMETER IN 1644
Torricelli was born on 15 October, 1608 at Faenza in Italy. He studied science at 16 in Rome. His Professor Benedelti Costelli was a student of Galileo. Torricelli wrote a paper on “Missiles”. Benedelti sent this paper to Galileo who appreciated Torricelli’s thinking power. Torricelli met Galileo three months before his death. He nursed him.
Torricelli invented Barometer which is an instrument used for the measurement of atmospheric pressure. Grand Duke of Tuscamy told once the technicians to lift water to a height of forty feet. Galileo who was the mathematician to the Grand Duke hinted Toricelli to take up the work. He tried using a Pump. But the water did not rise in the pipe more than the height of thirty three feet. The pump was in order. Toricelli knew that a heavier liquid cannot be raised to the same is more than thirteen and half times heavier than water. He felt that the use of mercury would reduce the length of the experimental glass tube to only three feet, as the equivalent height to which mercury might rise would be about 30 inches. Toricelli took a glass tube of about three feet length with its one end closed. He filled it with mercury, closed the open end with his thumb and immersed it in a dish full of mercury there by the open end remained dipped in mercury. As he removed his thumb from the open end from below the mercury level the mercury in the tube came little down and stood at a column length of about 30 inches. Naturally the upper part of the tube became empty. This empty column is known as “Toricelli’s vaccum”. The apparatus used here was the basis for the barometer. Suppose you take the barometer to the peak of a mountain the height of the mercury column falls down. It meant that as we go above the surface of the earth, atmospheric pressure decreases. The mercury barometer is preferable if the highest accuracy of readings is important.
Toricelli’s other inventions are (i) Telescopes (ii) Microscopes (iii) Optical instruments (iv) Fundamental formula for integral calculus. His barometer has become an essential instrument for weather men. He also wrote a commentary on the work of Galileo. He was a professor of Rome University. Toricelli did not live long. He died at an early age of 39. He died on October 25, 1647.
Torricelli invented Barometer which is an instrument used for the measurement of atmospheric pressure. Grand Duke of Tuscamy told once the technicians to lift water to a height of forty feet. Galileo who was the mathematician to the Grand Duke hinted Toricelli to take up the work. He tried using a Pump. But the water did not rise in the pipe more than the height of thirty three feet. The pump was in order. Toricelli knew that a heavier liquid cannot be raised to the same is more than thirteen and half times heavier than water. He felt that the use of mercury would reduce the length of the experimental glass tube to only three feet, as the equivalent height to which mercury might rise would be about 30 inches. Toricelli took a glass tube of about three feet length with its one end closed. He filled it with mercury, closed the open end with his thumb and immersed it in a dish full of mercury there by the open end remained dipped in mercury. As he removed his thumb from the open end from below the mercury level the mercury in the tube came little down and stood at a column length of about 30 inches. Naturally the upper part of the tube became empty. This empty column is known as “Toricelli’s vaccum”. The apparatus used here was the basis for the barometer. Suppose you take the barometer to the peak of a mountain the height of the mercury column falls down. It meant that as we go above the surface of the earth, atmospheric pressure decreases. The mercury barometer is preferable if the highest accuracy of readings is important.
Toricelli’s other inventions are (i) Telescopes (ii) Microscopes (iii) Optical instruments (iv) Fundamental formula for integral calculus. His barometer has become an essential instrument for weather men. He also wrote a commentary on the work of Galileo. He was a professor of Rome University. Toricelli did not live long. He died at an early age of 39. He died on October 25, 1647.
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