The Romance of Modern Chemistry
Forfatter: James C. Phillip
År: 1912
Forlag: Seeley, Service & Co. Limited
Sted: London
Sider: 347
UDK: 540 Phi
A Description in non-technical Language of the diverse and wonderful ways in which chemical forces are at work and of their manifold application in modern life.
With 29 illustrations & 15 diagrams.
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SMALL CAUSES; GREAT EFFECTS
sulphur trioxide, which need only be dissolved in water
to produce sulphuric acid.
This sounds all very simple, and, in fact, this way of
making sulphuric acid was discovered long ago. It
could not, however, be employed on the manufacturing
scale, as the platinum turned out to be very sensitive
to impurities in the sulphur dioxide, and gradually be-
came ineffective. Ways and means, however, have now
been discovered for thoroughly removing the impurities
and keeping the platinum in good condition, so that
what for long was merely a laboratory experiment has
now become the basis of a very important manufacturing
operation. The “ contact ” process is rapidly coming
to the front, and bids fair to oust the old and cumbrous
method of manufacture, the prominent feature of which
is the use of huge leaden chambers.
In recent years platinum has been prepared in another
condition in which it exhibits remarkable catalytic act-
ivity, namely in solution in water. It may seem to the
reader rather absurd to speak of dissolving a metal in
water, as if it were so much sugar or salt, but it is indeed
a fact that, by the help of the electric current, platinum
has been got into water in such a state that it closely
resembles a dissolved substance. If two pieces of stout
platinum wire are immersed in water so that their points
are very close together, and an electric discharge is passed
across the intervening space, the water gradually assumes
a deep brown colour, and is found then to contain platinum
in solution. At least it seems to be in solution, for the
liquid may be filtered through a piece of blotting-paper
without leaving any particles behind, and it may be
kept for a long time without depositing any sediment.
On grounds, however, into which we cannot go here, the
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