we have examined the effect of hydrostatic pressure on the electrical con- 

 ductivity of some typical battery electrolytes (see Table 1) (Home, Bannon, 

 Sullivan and Frysinger, 1963). Notice the relatively large effect in the 

 case of sulfuric acid due, in part, to the increased dissociation of bi- 

 sulfate ion by electrostriction (Home, Courant and Frysinger, 1964). 



a) 



S(Zf 



Table 1 



-O, 



Effect of Pressure on the Conductivity of Battery Electrolytes 



Battery Electrolyte 'L Increase in Elect. Cond. at 1,000 atm. at 25"C 



Potassium Hydroxide 1.5 



Sulfuric Acid 5 



NaCl enriched with MgCl„ 2 



Measurements of voltage versus current for button-type Ni-Cd and Leclanche 

 cells under simulated deep ocean conditions yielded results that still leave 

 us baffled. We expected the structure-breaking properties of pressure to 

 decrease the structure at the electrolyte-electrode interface thereby facili- 

 tating the transport of ions and decreasing polarization, however, contrary 

 to expectation, polarization appears to worsen with increasing pressure (Fig. 6) 

 We hope to look into this matter further (for studies of the performance of 

 lead-acid batteries under pressure, see Schumaker, 1961) . 



Certain marine sedimentary materials such as montmorillonite have 

 exchangeable cations. The effect of pressure on ion exchange equilibria 

 had never been previously examined. Needless to say, we could not resist 

 the temptation of applying our equipment to this purpose. We found little 

 effect of pressure on the K /H exchange on a synthetic, strong, sulfonic 

 acid type, cation exchange resin, however, in the case of the Sr /H 

 exchange as pressure increases the resin's preference for Sr increases 

 (Home, Courant, Myers and George, 1964). Evidently the pressure-produced 

 dehydration of the more heaving hydrated Sr ion is more marked than for 

 the proton, hence the charge density (and thus the coulombic attraction for 

 the resin sites) increases more steeply with increasing pressure for Sr 

 than for H"*") . 



CONCLUSION 



Today one frequently hears of the application of the specialized knowledge 

 of the various disciplines to marine science. This certainly need not be a 

 one-way exchange of advantage. I hope that the experiments I have discussed 



231 



