CLASS EXERCISES in the INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY COURSE* I.
Topic Reports on Literature Surveys
KENNETH A. KOBE University of Washington. Seattle, Washington
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COURSE in industrial chemistry occupies a place in the curriculum of every school offeringa chemical engineering course or which trains its students so they can enter industrial work. Although industrial chemistry has been taught for a long period of time it does not possess the multiplicity of textbooks and the fixed objectives of the previous courses in inorganic and analytical chemistry. For this reason the course may fall into a series of formal lectures with very little emphasis placed upon outside assignments. The aims of the industrial chemistry course are: (a) to instil an enthusiasm for pure and applied chemistry into the student; (b) to show him how the principles learned in previous courses are applied in industry; and ( 6 ) to give him a knowledge of industrial materials and methods. These objectives may he attained in the lecture work. The outside assignments may have more utilitarian objectives, such as teaching the student to use the chemical literature and to write intelligent reports based upon these literature surveys. F. C. Whitmore' writes: "Most employers of chemists say that most of their men do not know how to use the library. Obviously, the chemist seeking information should get i t from the library if i t is there rather than by using up valuable materials and more valuable time in the laboratory to find i t out." The industrial chemistry course is the ideal one in which to give the student the necessary instruction and practice in searching the literature, as the subjects available cover an extremely large field and may he correlated with the lecture work to give the student a specialized knowledge of one particular phase of the lecture work. CHEMICAL LITERATUD
The first lecture period of the course is devoted to a discussion of the chemical literature, the procedure in making a literature search, and the written report. The material for this lecture may he secured from Crane and Patterson, "The Literature of C h e m i ~ t r y "and ~ Mellon, "Chemical publication^."^ * Delivered before the Division of Chemical Education at the Chicago meeting of the A. C. S., September 12, 1933. W a r m o ~ e "What , employers of chemists vant," Ind. Eng. C h m . . N m s Ed.. 5.4 (1927).
Elt~ycZopdas. One must have a general idea of the field before seeking detailed information. This general description may be secured from encyclopgdic works. A great deal can be found in such sources as the Encyclopedia Brittanuica or Americana before turning to such chemical works as Thorpe's "Dictionary of Applied Chemistry" or Mellor's "Comprehensive Treatise on Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry." Monographs. The books on special topics offer a more specialized source of information. Such series as the American Chemical Society series of monographs on pure and applied chemistry and various publishers' series represent these sources. The student may be impressed with the fact that a book is a t least two years behind the current literature when it is published, so he must develop the habit of noting the year of publication on the title page. This tells him that he must begin his periodical search two or three years previous to the date of publication. Abstract Journals. The practice of finding periodical literature on any given subject must be described in detail. Chemical Abstracts, Zentralblatt, British Chemical Abstracts, Industrial Arts Index, and Engineering Index are described in detail and their relative values indicated. I t is soon noted that students prefer to use the Engineering Index and Industrial Arts Index instead of Chemical Abstracts. This practice is only natural as these indexes offer an easier source of the leading articles than does Chemical Abstracts. It must be pointed out to the student that he is overlooking a number of excellent references when he does not use Chemical Abstracts and by citing definite references on his subject the instructor can impress this fact upon the student. Such sources as the "Bibliography of Bibliographies on Chemistry and Chemical Technologf"' are of value to both the instructor and the student. Industrial Journals. The various industrial journals in chemistry are described in detaii-Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Chemistry and Industry, Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry, Transactions of t h American Institute of Chnnical Engineers, Zeitschrqt f f 7 angewandte Chemie, and Chimie et industrie. The type of article to he found in Chemical and Metallurgical Engi-
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' WESTAND B E R O L Z E E ~ "Bibliography R, of bibliographies on chemistry and chemical technology, 190IF1924, 1924-28, 1929-31," BuUetms 50, 71, and 86. 679
neering is compared with those of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. The journals in related engineering fields are briefly mentioned-the Proceedings and Standards of the American Sociely for Testing Materials, the Journal of the Franklin Institute, Power Plant Engineering, Mzning and Metallurgy, and others. Chemistry Journals. Those journals devoted to pure chemistry which are of importance are briefly described, as the Jourual ofthe American Chemical Society, Journal
of Physical Chemistry, Journal of the Chemical Society, the Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft, and the Bulletin de la soridtd chimipue de France. Chemical R & m s and Sammlung chemischer und chemisch-technischer Vortrige are described as sources for lengthy reviews on various subjects, usually in pure chemistry. Public Documents. The publications of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, Bureau of Standards, Department of Agriculture, Geological Survey, etc., are described. The Reports of the Tariff Commission are described in detail as here may he founddataon manufacturingcosts, imports, exports, tariffs, etc. Apparently these reports are not abstracted by Chemical Abstracts, but they deserve inspection by the student because of their economic data. For example, figures for the cost of manufacture of lithopones are oven for such items as material cost, direct labor cost, factory overhead, sellmg expense, total cost, average net sales price, and apparent average profit. Library Files. The search of the abstract journals soon uncovers references to journals with which the student is unfamiliar. He asks a t the university library and finds that there is no file of that journal. The student may save himself many steps by consulting the "List of Periodicals Abstracted by Chemical Abstracts with Key to Library Files" bound as pages 6019 to 6160 in Chemical Abstracts for 1931. The "Union List of Serials" will give the same information. SUBJECTS FOR REPORTS
The subjects for the literature survey and report are generally selected from the lecture material covered during the period of time in which the survey is being made. For example, during the first two or three weeks of the first quarter the lecture material covers "The Atmosphere and the Compressed Gases" and "Industrial Water." All details of these various subjects cannot be covered and some are merely mentioned. These subjects can be assigned to the students for literature surveys and reports. Some of the suhjects. assigned which cover this lecture work are given below. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
The Inert Gases Solid Carbon Dioxide Liquid Sulfur Dioxide Forced Growth of Plants with Carbon Dioxide Atomic Hydrogen Liquid Oxygen Explosives 7. War Gases
8. Electrical Precipitation of Smokes and Fumes 9. Oxygen-enriched Air for Combustion 10. Production of Oxygen by Chemical Processes 11. Removal of Tastes and Odors from Water 12. Manganese in Water Supplies 13. By-product Recovery from Garbage 14. Gases from Sewage Digestion 15. Disposal of Pulp Plant Wastes 16. Scale Removal from Water Pipes and Boilers
As the instructor becomes familiar with the capabilities and interests of his students, he can pick the man for the topic. Individual topics are essential, for in order to insure individual work and impress upon the student the value of the work he is to do, he must know that he alone can do the work for which he will receive the credit due him. The student usually calls on the instructor for additional information concerning his topic. He is given a more concrete idea of just what he is expected to cover in his report and possibly some sources of information are mentioned. After the student has made a preliminary survey to familiarize himself with the general field he may again call and discuss the subject. He may find that the field is too broad, or that some particular phase of the more general topic interests him greatly, thus the exact field ol material to he covered is decided upon by the student and the instructor. Since a number of students have a tendency to allow their search to wait until the report is almost due, i t is well to have the student turn in four or five short abstracts of articles on his subject a t the end of the first week. This will familiarize him with the amount of work ahead of him and interest him in the subject so that he will continue with his report. LOCAL SURVEY
To further interest the student in his subject and to make him see a practical application of his accumulated knowledge he is asked to make a local survey of the industry or process covered in his report. Does the industry or process exist in this region? To what extent? Could it exist here? Why not? How could a demand be created? What industries might be interested in the process? Such questions bring him the application of the knowledge gained in making the literature search. For example, the student who wrote his report on "Byproduct Recovery from Garbage" had some highly interesting theories on the disposal of the Seattle garbage other than the present practice of dumping to fill marshy ground. Other topics do not lend themselves as readily to a local survey, hut the thinking student will usually have some ideas, no matter how far-fetched they may be. REFERENCES
References to the articles from which the information and data in the reports were secured are extremely important. The student is required to give literature U. S. Tariff Commission, Tariff Information Series No. 24, "Productioncmts in the lithopone industry," Government Print- references so he will become accustomed to this pracing Office, 1921. tice, and as an aid to the instructor in evaluating his
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report. The method of making literature citations as used by the JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION may be employed, or a modified system may be used. Rigid adherence to the system selected must be enforced or a multiplicity of systems will immediately descend upon the class. Each student may be given a mimeographed sheet giving the method to be followed. In the writer's classes the following system is used. The name of the worker or the statement from the original work should be followed by a number (R-1) referring to the number of the reference given a t the end of the paper under "Literature Cited," where these will be arranged consecutively according to number, (R-1), (R-2), (R-3), etc. Articles and books bearing on the subject but not cited directly may be placed in a section "General Bibliography," following the "Literature Cited." Reference to books are given as follows: names of authors, title of book, year of publication, publisher, pages cited. (R-4) Rideal and Taylor, "Catalysis in Theory and Practice,'' 1926, Macmillan & Co., pages 96-98. Reference to articles in periodicals are given as follows: names of authors, title of article, publication, volume, Dage . . . (year). . . (I
