Ebook Stoichiometry

Not long after the publication of the first edition, the International Committee on Atomic Weights decided to adopt a somewhat lower value for the atomic weight of silver than that found by Stas. This change had been advocated by Guye, but, owing to the immense amount of care bestowed by Stas on this determination, the Committee were reluctant to make the change until the evidence in favour of the new value seemed to be incontrovertible. I have therefore re-written Chapter V., giving only a short summary of the work of Stas, and devoting more space to the more recent determinations of the atomic weights of silver, nitrogen, chlorine, and lead.

A short account of modern views on the nature of atoms is given in Chapter VI., and the bearing on the Periodic Law of recent researches on the Radio-elements and of the theories of Soddy and Fajans is there described. As regards the definition of the term "element," the recommendations of Paneth are provisionally adopted.

The results of the extensive researches of Professor J. Livingston R. Morgan and his co-workers on the relation of the weight of a falling drop to the surface tension of a liquid are described in Chapters VIII. and XVII.

The section on the Absorption of Gases by Solids has been re-written.

The very important researches on Osmotic Pressure carried out by Morse and his collaborators in America and by the Earl of Berkeley and E. G. J. Hartley in England are described and discussed.