655 



As regards tlie values of h, and of I ^n and I A, I have already 

 started an examination of them, and 1 iiope I shall be able to 

 con tinne this work. 



Whether after all a siibstaiioe as H, or Na at ordinai'j tempera- 

 tures and pressures will oceni" in the form of moli'ciiles, e.^-. H,, or 

 in that of free atoms, as Na, depends entirely on the values of C 

 and Qu (hence on \ a and I /I). The greater Q„ will be and the 

 smaller C, the smaller will be the value of A', hence of ./; — (he 

 sooner therefore the substance under consideration w ill occur in the 

 state of molecules, and not in that of atoms. 



I will still point out tiiat the coefficient of Uxj 7',viz. 2 \\ ( - + 1 



is erroneously stereotypically put = 1,75 by Nkrnst, Pollitzer and 

 many pupils of Nkrnst. For 2HI — ^ H, -)- I, this coefficient will be 

 = — 2 X Vü 4~ J X Vs + ^ > Vs = (as is, indeed, sufficiently known), 

 hence not =J ,75. For H, -^ 2H it will be = — 1 X V^ + 2 > V, = 1,5, 

 which again is not := J ,75 1 The same thing applies to many other 

 reactions. It will, therefore, be advisable to determine the value of 

 the coefficient undei- consideration separately for every reaction. 

 The same thing applies to the constant C. It will not do to assume 

 the chemical constants ('i all in the neighboui-hood of 3; these will, 

 indeed, also no doubt be different according to whether we have 

 to do with a mon-atomic or a di-atomic substance, which theory 

 indeed confirms. 



Many values of Q^ are inaccurate because they have been calcu- 

 lated from experiments by means of a formula with faulty coefficients 

 (1,75 and wrong values of C); it will, therefore, deserve recommen- 

 dation to calculate for a reaction not only the values of Q^, but 

 also those of the coefficient in question and of the constant C:^ ^{v^C\) 

 from the e.vperiinenis the)nse/ves. Only in this way is it possible to 

 obtain accurate experimental values of Q^. 



Since in the computations of ^ 5 we could not always reckon 

 with perfectly reliable values of Q^, the values found for y'A are 

 of course not perfecthj accurate. Also in connection with our [)utting 

 <9 = J, which will also not be perfectly true, the agreement between 

 the found values of y" A, and those which we could expect (see 

 table II) in virtue of the ^'alues found already (in an entirely 

 independent way) may be considered very remarkable indeed. 



La Tonr prh de Vevey. August 1918. 



