Here we
have pressure, or compressed air, in the bottle produced by heat alone.
Having defined compressed air, we must next define heat; for in dealing
with compressed air, we are brought face to face with the complex laws
of Thermodynamics. We cannot produce compressed air without also
producing heat, and we cannot use compressed air as a power without
producing cold. Based on the material theory of heat, we would say that
when we take a certain volume of free air and compress it into a smaller
space, we get an increase in temperature because we have the heat of one
volume occupying less space, but no one at this date accepts the
material theory of heat. Your distinguished director, Professor
Thurston, in discussing "Steam and its Rivals," in the _Forum_, said:
"The science of Thermodynamics teaches that heat and mechanical energy
are only different phases of the same thing, the one being the motion of
molecules, and the other that of masses." This is the accepted theory of
heat. In other words, we do not believe that there is any such _thing_
as heat, but that what we call heat is only the sensible effect of
motion.
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