Large metallic surfaces (especially external surfaces) are sometimes plated by means of a "doctor," which, in its simplest form, is a brush constantly wetted with the electrolyte, with a wire anode buried amid the hairs or bristles; this brush is painted slowly over the surface of the metal to be coated, which must be connected to the negative terminal of the electrical generator.
A pellet of potassium when thrown on water at once bursts out into a violet flame and the burning metal fizzes about on the surface, its extremely high temperature precluding absolute contact with the liquid, exce p t at the very end, when the last remnant, through loss of temperature, is wetted by the water and bursts with explosive violence.
The amalgam is first pressed in wetted canvas or buckskin in order to remove excess of mercury.
If a thickwalled capillary tube is passed over the platinum tube and its length so adjusted that the liquid rises in it by capillary action just above the level of the tube, the spectrum may be examined directly, and the loss of light due to the passage through the partially wetted surface of the walls of the tube is avoided.
If a number of small enough holes be drilled through a solid substance which is not wetted by the liquid, our knowledge of the phenomena of capillarity shows us that it needs pressure to force the liquid into the holes.