Abstract
DURING an investigation of the influence of certain organometallic compounds on the velocity of sedimentation of inorganic materials in non-aqueous media, a phenomenon has been observed which does not appear to have been previously recorded. Precipitated barium sulphate, free from soluble salts, as prepared for X-ray examinations, and containing no addition agent, was dried for several days at 110° C., and. shaken with pure dry benzene in a stoppered Nessler tube in an automatic shaker. The shaking was carried out at the rate of five oscillations per second, the tube being shaken longitudinally, with a displacement of 2 in. After 24 hr. the solid had aggregated completely into spheres of 1–0.5 mm. in diameter, as shown in Fig. 1(a). The sediment volume was slightly less than that of the lightly tamped dry solid, indicating a close degree of packing of the spheres. If the tube was then subjected to very violent and irregular manual shaking, the spheres broke up to form a flocculate (shown, after 24 hr. standing, in Fig. 2). On further regular shaking for 30 min., the spheres re-formed as before.
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References
Davis, N. S., and Curtis, H. A., Indust. Eng. Chem., 24, 1137 (1932).
Campbell, G. A., “Wetting and Detergency”, 107 (Harvey, London, 1937).
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STOCK, D. Micro-spherical Aggregation of Barium Sulphate. Nature 170, 423 (1952). https://doi.org/10.1038/170423a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/170423a0
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