On the Specific Volumes of Some Two Component Glasses

JSGT 1931 V15 T354-T360

The most generally accepted view of a glass is that it is a supercooled solution, say, a “solidified solution.” Since it is inconceivable that in silica-containing glasses the basic constituents can go into solution without reacting with the strongly acid silica, it may be assumed that such glasses are mutual solutions of silicates and excess silica, if any. If this is so, then the laws which apply to ordinary solutions, e.g. aqueous solutions, should also apply to glass. The basis of the study described in this paper is centred in an empirical equation of D. O. Massondesigned to establish a relationship between the molecular volumes of solutes to salvation and ionisation in aqueous solution. Masson was able to show that in twenty-eight cases of solution, a linear relationship existed between the molar volume of the solute in solution (f) and the square root of the concentration of the solute in terms of gram molecules per litre of solution. In certain cases the graphical relationship deviated from the straight line at a point strongly suggestive of definite compound formation between solute and solvent. It is proposed to apply similar criteria to the case of two simple systems of glasses, regarding each as a mixture of solute and solvent.

Link to 1930, T368

S. C. Waterton