Session IL DISCUSSION 



I. E. El'piner & A. V. SOKOL'SKAYA (U.S.S.R.): 



The Part Played by Acoustic Energy m the Initiation of Chemical 

 Processes under Natural Conditions 



The experimental data brought forward at this meeting encourage us to express some 

 considerations which indicate that sonic and supersonic vibrations, as well as other 

 physical agents (ultraviolet radiations, electric discharges and radioactive decay- Miller, 

 Pasynskii and Pavlovskaya) may have served as a source of energy for the synthesis of 

 the fundamental products which served as material for the building up of living organisms 

 in the earliest period of the existence of our planet. 



As long ago as 1950, one of us (El'piner, 1950) carried out special experiments which 

 showed that reduction of iodine occurs when water, saturated with gaseous hydrogen and 

 molecular iodine, is submitted to the action of supersonic vibrations. It would appear 

 that this process takes place in cavitational spaces into which molecules of iodine, as 

 well as gaseous hydrogen, diffuse. The ionization (or dissociation) of iodine is closely 

 associated with ionization (or dissociation) of hydrogen. Later Henglin (1956) also ob- 

 served the reduction of iodine in water saturated with hydrogen and molecular iodine 

 when submitted to supersonic vibrations. 



Recently we have succeeded in demonstrating that other gases are also activated (dis- 

 sociated) when acted on by supersonic vibrations in water. For example, it was found 

 that ammonia is formed when hydrogen and nitrogen in water are submitted to sonic 

 vibrations. 



The action of the vibrations was apphed to water, nitrogen and hydrogen in glass 

 vessels, the intensity of the supersonic vibrations was 6-7 watts/cm- of the emitting 

 surface (the frequency was 380 and 750 kilocycles). The volume of water submitted to the 

 vibrations was 10 ml. In preliminary studies the water was saturated simultaneously 

 with gaseous nitrogen and hydrogen. These gases had been carefully freed from any 

 admixture of oxygen. 



The amount of ammonia in the water before and after the action of the vibrations was 

 determined by Nessler's method (Table i). 



As may be seen from the table, the amount of ammonia formed increases as the action 

 of the vibrations is prolonged. If the water is saturated with nitrogen alone, ammonia 

 does not appear until the vibrations have been apphed for a long time (120 minutes) and 

 then only in extremely small amounts. Similarly, only very small amounts of ammonia 

 are found when water is submitted to the action of supersonic vibrations for a long time 

 in the presence of nitrogen and oxygen. This agrees with some findings reported in the 

 literature (Beuthe, 1933 and Polotskii, 1947). The main compounds formed when super- 

 sonic vibrations act on water saturated with nitrogen in the presence of oxygen are oxides 

 of nitrogen. 



The presence of carbon monoxide in gaseous mixtures of nitrogen and hydrogen does 

 not hinder the formation of ammonia when they are acted on by supersonic vibrations in 

 water. Carbon monoxide was produced by the decomposition of oxalic and formic acids 

 by sulphuric acid on gentle warming. 



Later it became clear that, in addition to ammonia, hydrogen cyanide was to be found 

 in water containing a gaseous mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen if carbon monoxide was 

 also present. We used Gin"yar's method for determining tliis hydrogen cyanide. The 

 method is based on the reaction of transformation of pikrinic acid into purpuric acid in 

 the presence of hydrocyanic acid. 



Numerous experiments have shown that when 4 ml. of water is exposed to ultrasonic 

 vibrations for 3 hours in the presence of N2, CO and H2, 15 /'g of HCN is formed per ml 

 of water. 



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