A miner checks the gas lamp before entering the coal mines of New Ghusick colony in Asansol, West Bengal, on April 13, 2004. T
| Photo Credit: Parth Sanyal

Questions:

1. The Davy lamp was a type of ______ ____ that Humphry Davy designed for use in coal mines. The design prevented the coal dust that hung in the air from catching fire from the lamp’s flame. Given this purpose, fill in the blanks.

2. Before Humphry Davy, an English engineer named X had devised a lamp that also didn’t ignore the air in coal mines, by feeding oxygen to the flame through small holes but through which the flame couldn’t pass. Name X. Davy’s lamp achieves the same function using a mesh.

3. Name the lamp X (from Q2) invented. Humphry Davy and X developed a bitter rivalry over this invention, with Davy refusing to accept X’s work and X developing a distrust of experts of theoretical science.

4. Aside from allowing miners to work without fear of combusting coal dust, the Davy lamp also alerted them to the presence of poisonous gases, which most often caused the lamp’s flame to burn in what way?

5. The build-up of combustible gases in a coal mine is called a ____ ____, from the German word for ‘vapour’. Fill in the blanks. While Davy’s lamp often alerted miners to their presence, it also led to more mining accidents because miners explored new seams of coal that they wouldn’t have without the lamp.

Name this town, where Davy tested his lamp for the first time in a local colliery. The town also gave its name to a mediocre BBC sitcom of the 2010s.

Answers:

1. Safety lamp

2. George Stephenson

3. Geordie lamp

4. Higher

5. Fire damp