292 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



CHEMISTRY. 



Davis, Paul B., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. Continu- 

 ation of investigations begun under the direction of the late Professor Harry 

 C. Jones on the conductivity and viscosity of electrolytes in non-aqueous and 

 mixed solvents. (For previous reports see Year Books Nos. 2-15.) 



The investigations reported on here were carried out by the writer 

 with the assistance of Dr. H. I. Johnson. Several problems begun 

 under the direction of the late Professor Jones were completed and 

 the results, together with those of other investigators (see Year Book 

 No. 15), were prepared for publication. 



The viscosities of csesium salts in mixtures of glycerol with water 

 were measured and the behavior of these compounds was found to be 

 analogous to that of rubidium salts in such solvents, the caesium salts, 

 however, producing the greater lowering of the viscosity of the medium. 



The work on the conductivity and viscosity of solutions of electrolytes 

 in formamid as a solvent, begun several years ago in Professor Jones's 

 laboratory, was brought to conclusion with the study of (1) a series of 

 salts both organic and inorganic with a common anion, i. e., nitrates 

 and formates of the alkalis and alkaline earths ; (2) a series of salts with 

 a common cation, i. e., the sodium salts of the organic acids; (3) a 

 number of representative salts in mixed solvents containing formamid. 



The results obtained for the conductivity of the salts with a common 

 cation were compared with those already obtained in water as a solvent. 

 It was found that while in general such salts have smaller conductances 

 in formamid than in water, the dissociation at a given dilution is much 

 greater in formamid. Some evidence was also found for the formation 

 of solvates in the case of salts of the alkaUne earths, their temperature 

 coefficients being higher than for similar salts of the alkali metals. 

 From viscosity data on these salts it appears that the anion remaining 

 the same the viscosity increases with the degree of hj^dration of the cation . 



Measurements of the conductivity and dissociation of salts of the 

 weaker organic acids were limited by the small solubilities of most of 

 these salts in formamid. It was found that the salts of monobasic acids 

 have approximately the same conductance, while dibasic salts, being ter- 

 nary electrolytes, have larger values. No evidence for the constitution 

 of such salts was brought out by the conductivity data. The viscosity 

 coefficients appear to increase with increasing complexity of the acid. 



A number of electrolytes were studied in mixtures of formamid with 

 ethyl alcohol. An increase in molecular conductivity was found to take 

 place with increasing percentage of alcohol up to the solvent contain- 

 ing 25 per cent formamid and 75 per cent alcohol. The values pass 

 through a maximum near that point, indicating an increase in the 

 mobility of the ions. 



The viscosities of mixtures of formamid and ethyl alcohol show but 

 slight deviation from the normal values for binary mixtures, being 



