The Expansion of Charcoal accompanying Sorption of Gases and Vapours

Abstract

IT has been emphasised in a recent paper (Bangham, Phil. Mag., 5, 737; 1928) that our knowledge of the sorption process must necessarily remain incomplete so long as attention is focused solely on the behaviour of the gas or solution, to the entire neglect of any concomitant effect on the solid sorbent with which it is in contact. It was shown by Meehan (Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 115, 199; 1927) that even such a rigid structure as a block of charcoal expands considerably when taking up carbon dioxide, the expansion being of the same order as the water-movements of building materials as determined in the experiments of Stradling. From the theoretical point of view the effect is discussed in broadest outline in the first of the papers mentioned, but it is clear that much experimental work is necessary before a fully, developed theoretical treatment is possible.