Abstract
IN the note which I contributed on behalf of the workers in my laboratory to the discussion at the meeting of the Royal Society on May 10, it was stated that our results showed that the rate of thermal decomposition of acetaldehyde was influenced by the state of the surface of the silica, which was contrary to the conclusion arrived at by Hinshelwood and Hutchins1, who had stated that the process was “practically entirely homogeneous”. When I had read my note, Mr. Hinshelwood commented on my statement, and according to the report of the meeting which has just been published said,—” In our experiments the decomposition of acetaldehyde is an absolutely homogeneous reaction unaffected by the character of the vessel.” A reply demanded reference to the actual facts recorded by Hinshelwood and Hutchins, and I proposed to look up the paper and submit one in writing, but I was not permitted to do so. As Mr. Hinshelwood built up his hypothesis on the results of these and similar experiments, it is worth while considering how far his deductions are legitimate, and I take this opportunity of making a few observations regarding them.
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Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 111, 384.
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TRAVERS, M. The Thermal Decomposition of Acetaldehyde. Nature 134, 569 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/134569a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/134569a0
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