Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 65.djvu/399

Rh part of a weak acid obeys very nearly the gaseous laws. The same was afterwards demonstrated to be true for weak bases by Bredig. The strongly dissociated electrolytes, chiefly salts, exhibit even in dilute solutions (over 0.05 normal) anomalies, that are not yet wholly explained. Professor Jahn, of Berlin, is at work upon this most interesting question.

The equilibrium between a greater number of electrolytes has been investigated by myself, and found to be in good agreement with the theoretical previsions. This section includes the questions on the weakening of an acid by addition of its salts, and on the so-called avidity of the different acids, that is, the proportion in which two acids divide a base at partial neutralization. Calculation gives very nearly the numbers observed experimentally by Thomsen and Ostwald. For heterogeneous equilibria between electrolytes the theory is worked out by van't Hoff and Nernst, who have in this way elucidated the common method to precipitate salts used in analytical chemistry.

By help of the gaseous laws it is also possible to determine the heat evolved at the dissociation of a weak acid or base, and in this way I was able to calculate the heat of neutralization of acids and bases in a general manner. In an analogous way, Fanjung calculated the changes of volume at dissociation of a weak acid or base and at the neutralization of these bodies. All these calculations gave values very nearly agreeing with the observed ones.

An important rôle is played by the water, which may be regarded as a weak acid or base. By its electrolytical dissociation it causes the hydrolysis of salts of weak acids and bases. By observation of the hydrolysis, it was possible to calculate the electrolytic dissociation of water, and this quantity was soon after determined by electrical measurements by Kohlrausch and Heydweiller in perfect agreement with the previous calculations. For physiological chemistry this question is of the greatest importance, as is confirmed by the experimental results of Sjögvist and others. Also for the explanation of volcanic phenomena, the concurrence between water and silicic acid at different temperatures has found an application.

The catalytic phenomena in which acids and bases are the chief agents, have been investigated by many observers, and it has been found that the catalytic action depends on the quantity of free hydrogen or hydroxyl ions that are present in the solution. To this review, that makes no pretension to be complete, may also be added the wide-reaching researches of van't Hoff, Ostwald, and especially Nernst, on the electromotive forces produced by the ions. By these investigations we have now acquired an explanation of the old problem of the manner in which electromotive forces in hydro-electric combinations are excited.

I have now traced the manner in which the idea of electrolytic