The structure of surface films. Part X.—Phenols and monoglycerides

Abstract

In Part VIII of this series, the expanded films were shown to be of two main kinds, the liquid expanded films, which are definitely coherent films having a small surface vapour pressure, and the vapour expanded films, which had no region of constant vapour pressure but passed continuously into the gaseous state on increasing the area. The structure there suggested for the liquid expanded films was that the molecules were in contact, the chains being coiled down in helices with vertical axis, the diameter of each coil of the helix being about the same as the diameter of the cyclohexane ring. The reason for this suggestion was that all the liquid expanded films known at that time had an area at no compression very close to 48 sq. Å. U., and there seemed no reason for the coincidence of area in so many different cases, other than that the chains, in some peculiar configuration, determined the area of the film. The hypothesis however presented some considerable difficulties, notably in the manner in which the area decreased with increasing compression.