Effects produced by Ultra-Sonic Vibrations

Abstract

AN abstract of a paper read by Dr. L. A. Chambers of the School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania to the Institute of Radio Engineers, on the effects produced by intense sounds on liquids, has been issued by Science Service, of Washington, D.C. The intense sounds produce impacts on the liquids comparable to mechanical blows and make changes in them which will sometimes be useful in science and industry and should prove most useful in the field of medicine. Dr. Chambers uses sound vibrations having a frequency of 1,200 cycles per second and an intensity which is at least equal to one hundred times that of a large orchestra when playing together. These vibrations are produced by electric oscillators and kindred devices. When milk has been subjected to these vibrations, it acts as if it were purely homogeneous. The cream cannot be made to separate from it, and it is stated that it is now more digestible. Rapid progress is being made in the field of medical research, and it has been shown that certain organisms are killed by the pressure pulses. Dr. Chambers' researches have shown that these intense mechanical vibrations will be most useful for the preparation of serums. Whisky subjected to this treatment aged very rapidly. Samples subjected to it for seven hours produced a whisky which experts stated to be equivalent to one which had been aged in the wood for four years in the usual way.