An Introduction to Surface Chemistry

Abstract

THAT the cohesive forces which hold solid and liquid masses together, and produce the phenomena of capillarity at their surfaces, are ultimately identical with the forces producing chemical change, is an idea which has been latent in studies on capillarity since their inception. But the growth of this idea into a living theory, with power to inspire and guide many researches into the structure of surfaces, the surface properties of molecules, and the mechanism of evaporation, solution, and catalysis, has been delayed until the last fifteen years. Dr. Rideal's book is probably the first in any language to attempt a presentation of all the modern developments of this idea. After an introductory chapter on pure liquids and their surface energy, the author presents Gibbs' adsorption equation—the reappearance of much of the original proof is to be welcomed—and plunges into the most recent work on surface films on liquids. A chapter on liquid-liquid interfaces includes information on emulsions and suggestions for bridging the gap in our knowledge between the theory of capillarity and of solution; solid-gas interfaces are treated with reference to crystal structure and to recent work on catalysis; adsorption, surface reactions, crystallisation, and disintegration are included under solid-liquid interfaces, and the section on electrification deals with the adsorption of ions, the double layer, cataphoresis, the Donnan equilibrium, and other subjects. There are two concluding chapters on the most important points in the theory of colloids, including the theory of Brownian movement, the charge on colloidal particles, and the structure of gels. The effects of adsorption in its manifold forms are traced through a great variety of phenomena.

An Introduction to Surface Chemistry.

By Eric Keightley Rideal. Pp. viii + 336. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1926.) 18s. net.