"E.Voiskunsky, I.Lukodyanov. The Crew Of The Mekong (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

mercury shrink and move away from the needle. But when the circuit was thus
broken, the drop of mercury spread out until it again touched the needle.
This "mercury heart" pulsated continuously.
The young engineers tried to act on the "heart" with high frequency
current by winding a spiral round the apparatus and linking it up with a
valve oscillator. They hoped a certain definite frequency of oscillations
would greatly increase the surface tension of the mercury and squeeze it to
such an extent that it would no longer touch the needle. Then, by adding
mercury and registering the increase in the weight of the drop, they could
measure the degree to which the surface tension had increased.
They tried different shapes of spiral and different frequencies but
nothing came of it. The "mercury heart" continued to pulsate with the same
calm, steady rhythm.
"We're not getting anywhere," said Yura, turning off the current.
"We're just wasting our time."
But Nikolai patiently continued to vary the experiment.


CHAPTER TEN


DESCRIBING A FIND THAT COMPELS THE AUTHORS TO END PART ONE AND SWITCH

TO THE FIRST HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
The rusty iron bar that Privalov brought home from the bazaar lay at
the bottom of the pantry for more than a fortnight. Privalov had not
forgotten about the bar but simply had no time to examine it.
Finally, one afternoon, he attached a vise to the kitchen table.
Humming a popular tune, he laid out his tools. His wife Olga, who was doing
up the dishes, frowned.
"I wish you wouldn't bring home so much junk," she grumbled. "What do
you want that dirty piece of iron for?"
Meanwhile, Privalov had put the bar into the vise and was removing a
thick layer of kerosene-softened rust with a sharp scraper.
"It's not iron," he said. "Don't you remember? I once told you that
iron is rarely met in its pure state. It is usually alloyed with carbon to
make steel. The element iron, or ferrum, is found in a pure state only in
laboratories. Incidentally, it hardly ever rusts. All the rust on this bar
means that it is steel."
"What about stainless steel?"
"Stainless steel is just a name. There is sometimes more chromium and
nickel in it than iron.
"I seem to be learning lots of new things in my old age," Olga said,
wiping a plate. Her eyes were amused. After a time she said, "Let's go to
the cinema, Boris. I know where 'The Sorceress' is on. It's an old picture,
but we haven't seen it."
"I have nothing against 'The Sorceress'," said Privalov as he scraped
away. "You know I've always stood up for witches, magicians and goblins. But
before we deal with the occult sciences I'd like to see what's inside this
little box."