Is the adsorption of water vapour wool photosensitive?

• Published in: Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry (Online) 1949-04, Vol.68 (4), p.118-119
• Main Authors: Camposortega, Carlos, Moncada, Felix, Rowen, John W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0368-4075; 1934-9971
• DOI: 10.1002/jctb.5000680406

The recent report by Bright and Carson,1 of the reversible action of tight on the adsorption of water vapour by wool is of unusual interest. This type of effect has not been hitherto observed in the many absorbate‐absorbent systems studied.2 Commenting on the report, Cssie stated that the existence of such a phenomenon was not inconsistent with his theory of adsorption.3,1‐ He thought it possible that the absorption of light could lead to 3 very small change in the energy of sorption on the localized sites. If this effect be a true one, there must exist a “light” adsorption isotherm and also a “dark” adsorption isotherm. However, our efforts to account for the apparent reversible shift in equilibrium lead to hypotheses which are highly improbable. The experiments reported here were carried out in an attempt to confirm the work of Bright and Carson and to learn which wave lengths of light were involved. The results of a number of experiments were all negative, no reversible action of light was observed. Bright and Carson have stated in correspondence with us that they have since been unable to control the factor or factors required to reproduce the experiment previously reported. However, they feel that the phenomenon can exist and summarize their experiments with the statement that the appearance or non‐appearance is controlled by some factor not at present within our knowledge.