Report No. 456, The Aerodynamic Forces and Moments exerted on a Spinning Model of the “NY-1” airplane as measured by the spinning balance: by M. J. Bamber and C. H. Zimmerman, 15 pages, illustrations, 23 × 29 cms. Washington, Superintendent of Documents, 1933. Price five cents

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1933
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 120 KB
• Volume: 216
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-0032
• DOI: 10.1016/s0016-0032(33)91364-2

✦ Synopsis

Here is an old friend and yet a new one for this entertaining volume has been rewritten, not merely touched up with a dab of new information here and there. Professor Bancroft is an extremely rapid reader with a tremendous memory. As a result his books and articles include and correlate facts which most of us would never find. Moreover, they are presented with a seasoning of wit which holds the interest and recalls the amusing but keen discussions of papers at meetings Professor Bancroft attends. We find, for example, "It was Edward Lear who wrote about the Jumblies who went to sea in a sieve. He considered that a nonsense rhyme; but modern science is almost equal to the problem, for we can carry water in a sieve." Elsewhere we are told that "A. P. Mathews (I921) chided the colloid chemists for sailing under the black flag of adsorption" and "According to Aitken (1923) there are four billion particles of smoke formed per puff--brand of cigarette not stated." However, it must not be thought the only or principal reason for reading this book is to pick out tid-bits such as these. It is a liberal education in colloid chemistry, as may be indicated by the list of chapter headings: adsorption of gas or vapor by solid, chemical reactions, adsorption of vapor by liquid and of liquid and solid by solid and liquid, adsorption from solution, surface tension--Brownian movements, coalescence, preparation of colloidal solutions, properties of colloidal solutions, electrical properties of colloidal solutions, stability of colloidal solutions, gelatinous precipitates and jellies, emulsions and foams, non-aqueous colloidal solutions, fog, smoke, gases and solids in solids, and thickness of surface films. The excellent index makes the material readily available.

In the first edition of this book colloid chemistry was defined as "the chemistry of bubbles, drops, grains, filaments, and films." This has been widely quoted, but the definition "Colloid chemistry is the chemistry of every-day life," gives the reason why almost all chemists and many others will find this book of interest. The author's belief that it "is probably best for those who are interested in colloid chemistry as chemistry rather than as mathematical physics" is reassuring for those who are reading for general information.

WM. STERICKER.