letters

Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics To the Editor: A common error in chemistrv.. the use of eauilihrium . thermodynamics to dcirrihe non-equilibrium systrms, is made hv Slnhaurh 1.1. C H E M P:DUC.. 51, 218 1197-1~1 in his cover articleuon corrosion and by 'young [J. CHEM. EDUC.. 52. 203. (197511 in his "Letter to the Editor" calling attention to an err& in Slahaugh's calculations. The thermogalvanic cell is not an equilihrium system in the thermodynamic sense and purely equilihrium thermodynamics may not he used to compute its potential. There is no current passing, thus no chemical reaction occurring during the measurement of the potential. However, there is heat flowing from the hotter to the colder electrode and this is what keeps the system from being in thermodynamic equilihrium. Secondly, when one writes the "half-reaction", one tends to forget that the electrode potential for it is understood to he with respect to the standard hydrogen electrode. Only if the potential of the standard hydrogen electrode did not change with temperature might one he able to equate the electrode potential difference to the desired "thermogalvanic potential". If one wishes to apply theory to the thermogalvanic cell, one must use the thermodynamics of irreversible processes, which we do not attempt because we are not expert in this area. (See Delahay, Paul, and Tobias, Charles W., Editors, "Advances in Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering", Val. 3, Interscience, 1963, pp. 31-121). Grover C. Willis Daniel B. Burns David B. Ball California State University, Chico Chico, California 95929

student interest in chemistry. In particular, mention has been made of Asimov's chemical detective novel, "A Whiff of Death" [J. CHEM. EDUC., 50, 69 (1973)] and of Dorothy L. Sayer's, "The Documents in the Case" [J. CHEM. EDUC., 52,444 (1975)]. Recently I came across yet a third chemical detective novel in looking through a 1931 issue of The Laboratory [2(5),71 (1931)l. The novel is by T. L. Davidson and is entitled, "The Murder in the Lahoratory." The reviewer was quite enthusiastic, saying that the book, "must have been written by a chemist with a flare for writine. It talks of beakers. balances. and methods of swinas as smoothly as one chemist would t o another." He concludes hv declarine the novel a oerfect solution to the orohlem of "what to 6ive a chemist for Christmas." ~ n f o k u n a t e l yI , have been unsuccessful in locating a copy of the hook and would like to inquire whether readers of this journal might know something about it, or could suggest other fictional pieces which make clever use of chemical principles. William B. Jensen University of Wisconsin Madison, 53706

Electrophoresis Hints To the Editor: The December 1973 issue contained an article titled "Simple and Safe Electrophoresis at Low and High Voltage Gradients" [Tihhs, J., J. CHEM. EDUC., 50, 862 (1973)l. After much experimentation, I think your readers might he interested in the following suggestions concerning the successful separation of blood serum using this system: 1) The amperage a t which the electrophoresis is performed is critical. At values between 2 and 4 mA the electrophoresis is successful, at higher amperage, the cellulose acetate strip tends to dry out and separation is very poor. 2) A sample volume of 2-4 ~1 of serum is optimum and can he a . . l i e d ~o with a microoioet. .. 3) The staining procedure should involve 5 min in Ponceau S (0.5% in 5% (wlv) trichloroacetic acid) followed by three washes of 2 min each in 100 ml portions of 5% (v/v) acetic acid. The nigrosin stain suggested by the authors was consistently unresponsive. With these modifications and clarifications of the original procedure, very adequate separation can he achieved using this remarkably low-cost system. Kenneth Sumner Bridgewater State College Bridgewater, Massachusetts 02324

Murder in the Lab? To the Editor: A number of notes have appeared in this journal pointing out novels and other fiction which might he of interest to the chemist or to the teacher looking for items to stimulate

202 / Journal of Chemical Education