INVESTIGATION OF THE PHYSICALLY ADSORBED STATE BY MEANS OF DIELECTRIC MEASUREMENTS

Abstract

Dielectric data obtained for a variety of adsorbates on porous silica gel and on nonporous rutile are summarized. Four methods of computing the polarizabilities or dielectric constants of the adsorbed matter are outlined and applied using the primary experimental data of capacitance change and volume adsorbed. All four methods contain somewhat arbitrary assumptions and at best are semi-empirical. None predicts values of the electrical constants of the adsorbed species which appear reasonable in all cases. It is concluded that an interpretation of the phenomena revealed by the primary data is not possible until improved methods of computing the polarizability of adsorbed material are developed.