The adsorption of gases and the equation of the liquid state

Abstract

It has been shown in previous communications (Baly 1935, 1936) that alumina and NiO are adsorbed by kieselguhr and that the adsorbed layer is activated. In the case of alumina only a unimolecular layer is adsorbed, but in the case of NiO three layers are progressively adsorbed. The mechanism of the activation of the adsorbed layers is in all probability the same as that already established in the case of solvates (Baly 1928). If the molecules in the surface are denoted by S and those of the adsorbate by A the adsorption complex may be denoted by S - A + namely a complex in which the molecule S has donated one or more of its rotation or rotation-vibration quanta to the molecule A . The complex is stabilized by the donation of this energy and will be resolved into its components by the supply to it of an amount of energy equal to that donated by the surface molecule.