Accession No
2248
Brief Description
hydrostatic demonstration model, French, 1825 (c)
Origin
France
Maker
Class
physics; demonstration
Earliest Date
1825
Latest Date
1825
Inscription Date
Material
glass; wood (mahogany, cork); liquid; rubber
Dimensions
length 440 mm (object) ; case height 498; breadth 147mm; depth 135mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from Harriet Wynter Ltd, London, 05/04/1976. Purchased with the assistance of a PRISM grant.
Inscription
Description Notes
Two glass reservoirs of liquid connected by elaborately coiled glass tube to demonstrate hydrostatic pressures. Bottom end of tube cushioned by Cork. Rubber bung in top end of tube. All set in mahogany case with angled mirrors behind to facilitate viewing. Sliding glass front.
Condition fair; complete
References
Events
Description
These glass reservoirs and elaborately coiled tubing were used to demonstrate hydrostatic pressures. In the seventeenth century, Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) observed that when water was fed into a tube it maintained a higher water level than when a reservoir. The hydrostatic paradox that Pascal noted was that the pressure at a certain level in a fluid is proportional to the vertical distance to the surface of the liquid. This hydrostatic demonstration model is French and is dated to 1825.
17/03/2014
Created by: Allison Ksiazkiewicz on 17/03/2014
FM:39456
Images (Click to view full size):
