The mechanism and molecula statistics of the reaction CuSO 4 .5H 2 O = CuSO 4 .H 2 O + 4H 2 O

Abstract

It has been suggested in previous papers that a reaction localised in the interfacial zone between two solid phases could be considered from a molecular-kinetic point of view in the following general way. Since the reactions have temperature coefficients of the normal exponential form, it is a natural supposition that the rate is determined by the attainment of a critical energy in some bond or structure, the breaking of which leads to the re-arrangement of the ions and molecules in its immediate neighbourhood, followed (in a dissociation reaction) by escape of molecules of the gaseous product. In the case of simple dissociations, such as carbonates and salt hydrates, the reaction is naturally endothermic, and it seems very unlikely that any kind of “chain” reaction would spread in the solid, except in the limited sense that the breaking of one bond in, for example, the hydrate CaCO 3 .6H 2 O, might obviously lead to the loss of all six water molecules.