Inorganic Colloid Chemistry - Volume I: The Colloidal Elements Book

INORGANIC COLLOID CHEMISTRY BY HARRY BOYER WEISER Professor of Chemistry at The Rice Institute VOLUME I THE COLLOIDAL ELEMENTS NEW YORK JOHN WILEY SONS, INC. LONDOK CHAPMAN HALL, LIMITED 1933 COPYRIGHT, 1933, BY HARRY BOYER WEISER All Rights Reserved This book or any part thereof must not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher. PRINTED IN U. I PRESS OF RAUNWORTH Ok CO.. INC BOOK MANUFACTURERS BROOKLYN. NEW YORK DEDICATED TO WILDER D. BANCROFT WITH GRATITUDE AND ESTEEM PREFACE Under the general title Inorganic Colloid Chemistry will be given a critical survey of the colloidal behavior of the elements and their inorganic compounds with particular reference to the r61e they have played in the development of the theories and applications of colloid science. Because of the growing importance of this field of knowledge, the time is past when the student of inorganic chemistry can afford to disregard entirely or to pass over lightly the colloidal characteristics of inorganic substances. For this reason it is hoped that the present work will be useful not only for reference purposes but also as a text which will serve alike to emphasize the importance of the colloid chemistry of the elements and their inorganic compounds and to introduce the principles of colloid chemistry from the point of view of their specific applications to inorganic substances. To this end, special attention has been given to a systematic arrangement of the subject matter and to outlining the same by a generous use of section and paragraph headings. As the title, The Colloidal Elements, indicates, the first volume is concerned primarily with the methods of formation, properties, and applications of the elements in the colloidal state. After a chapter dealing with general methods of preparation, separate divisions of the volume are devoted in turn to the metals and the non-metals. In so far as practicable, the several elements are taken up in the order in which they appear in the periodic table. In the descriptive portions of the text are included the methods of procedure for preparing the several sols and for investigating their characteristic colloidal prop erties. In the theoretical sections, critical discussions are given of the mechanism of sol formation, the composition and constitution of sols, the physical and chemical properties of sols, and the nature of adsorption processes. In the sections dealing with applications, con sideration is given to the principles which underlie the more important uses of the colloidal elements in the industrial arts and in biology. Throughout the book, attention is directed to obvious gaps in our knowledge which can be filled only by carefully planned and executed experimentation. I am indebted to Dr. Elroy J. Miller for his helpful criticism of the chapters on Colloidal Carbon and Colloidal Iodine. November 15, 1932 HARRY B. WEISER Houston, Texas vii CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE vii CHAPTER I THE FORMATION OF COLLOIDAL ELEMENTS 1 Condensation Methods . . 1 Dispersion Methods . 14 PART I THE METALLIC ELEMENTS II COLLOIDAL GOLD FORMATION AND COMPOSITION 21 Formation of Gold Hydrosols 22 Colloidal Gold in Solids . 46 Composition of Gold Hydrosols ... 50 III COLLOIDAL GOLD PROPERTIES . . 58 Size and Shape of the Particles in Gold Hydrosols 58 Kinetic Properties 62 Electrical Properties 71 Color... 76 Coagulation . ... . . 82 Mutual Action of Colloidal Gold with Other Colloids Biological Applications . . ... 96 Chemical Properties .... 106 IV COLLOIDAL SILVER 108 Formation of Silver Sols 108 Colloidal Silver in Solids Photohalides 121 Composition of Silver Hydrosols 122 Properties of Colloidal Silver . . 125 Applications of Colloidal Silver . . ... .... 132 V COLLOIDAL COPPER AND MERCURY 137 Colloidal Copper 137 Formation of Copper Sols 137 Composition and Properties of Copper Sols 139 Solid Forms of Colloidal Copper 143 Colloidal Mercury 144 Formation of Mercury Sols ...Read More