Some aspects in the surface chemistry of metals

This thesis has been divided into the following sections:- Section I : The Dehydration of Ferrous Oxalate Dihydrate. Section III Kinetics of the oxidation of Nickel Powders. Section III : Surface Area Measurements of Nickel Powders. Section IV : Heat of adsorption Measurements. Seetion I is isolated and bears little relation to the work reported in the other sections. It is, however, part of a larger programme of work on the chemistry of metal oxalates undertaken in the Department or Chemistry, Unversity of Tasmania. Sections II and III are related in that the work described in Section III followed are a direct consequence the results of Section II. The work described in both these sections was commenced under the direct supervision of Dr. J.A. Allen, formerly Senior Lecturer in Physical Chemistry, University of Tasmania. The choice of a volumetric method and the use of nickel powders in Section II was made because or the following: (a) A high vacuum apparatus had been constructed for previous work and could be used without serious modification as a volumetric apparatus. (b) Previous work in the Chemistry Department, University of Tasmania had suggested that nickel powders produced by the thermal decomposition of nickel oxalate would be suitable material for oxidation studies. Section IV has been subdivided into Parts I and II. Part I describes attempts to design and construct a calorimeter suitable for the measurement of heats of adsorption Of gases on finely divided powders. Part II is concerned with actual measurements of heats of adsorption of several gases on nickel oxide. The work described in this section was undertaken without direct supervision and all glass construction work, described in this section, has been done by the author.