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Show A Carious Property of "Water. Many simple experiments show that the surface of water possesses a property which causes it to resist the passage of bodies either from above or below. This is true not only of soapy water, but of the clearest and purest water as well. A sheet of fine gauze tends to float, because its weight being widely distributed each of the numerous separate wires is resisted re-sisted by the surface film so that the water cannot readily pass through the meshes. Insects and plants utilize this fact in many interesting ways. Some water plants, whose leaves float on the water, have a very simple contrivance to keep the upper surfaces of the leaves dry. This consists of a great number of minute mi-nute hairs covering the tops of the leaves. Water cannot penetrate among these hairs even when the leaves are forced down beneath the surface. The little rafts of eggs that gnats set afloat on the water are kept from sinking sink-ing and from being upset through this sam prlirclirtiT.-- T-tj -wxry - ,TlttYTJ " their points all upward, and they are glued together so closely that, while there is open space all around the point of each egg, yet the width of these spaces is so slight that water cannot readily pass through. You may again and again upset such an egg raft, but it will right itself every time and the npper surface will remain dry. Youth's Companion. |
