JANUARY, 1949
29
I. H. REYERSON University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Tm
field of colloid chemistry must be recognized today as one of the special subjects of physical chemistry such as kinetics or electrochemistry. As such i t ought never to be given until the student has had the basic one-year course in physical chemistry. As this basic course is now taught in most of the American uuiversities and colleges it is impossible to devote more than a lecture or two to the subject of colloids. It therefore becomes important to offer a course in the fundamental principles of colloid or surface chemistry to both graduate and undergraduate students who have completed the basic course in physical chemistry. A course which stresses the basic principles of surface chemistry can be completed in one quarter of three lectures per week or in one semester of two lectures per week. Such a course should stress the mathematical developmen! of the physics and chemistry of surfaces. Unless the student is able to grasp some of these fuudamenta1,problems he will only have a superficial and qualitative grasp of the subject. The field of colloid chemistry still leaves much to be desired in terms of exact mathematical laws so that the student should be carried as far as possible along such lines. Too much of the colloid chemistry taught in this country is presented on an emperical basis. This first basic course in colloids should only be given in as short a time as one quarter or semester if succeeding specialized courses are offered. If they are not
offered, a one-year course will be found most desirable. Following the one-quarter or one-semester course in the general principles of surface chemistry the student is usually ready for work in such subjects as adsorption and catalysis, colloidal processes, bio-colloids, polymers and polymerization, and colloids in industry. These subjects cannot be adequately given without a thorough knowledge of both physical chemistry and the physics and chemistry of surfaces. If possible, these specialized courses should be given by those working in the respective fields. Certainly the work in bio-colloids would be of little interest to the students should the instructor have almost no experience in this fascinating phase of the subject. Here is one area of science where the physical and biological sciences meet and mutually aid each other in the soluing innumerable complex problems. In these days of atomic energy, spectroscopy, and molecular and atomic structure it is important that the student be introduced to that branch of physical chemistry which is so important in such fields as polymerization and catalysis. It is also of the greatest importance that such courses be given to some students who have a real interest in that area of science which is bridging the gap between the physical and biological sciences. Here it is that students who have a grasp of the fundamentals of colloid science may well open whole realms of new material, material which may do much to enlighten science as to the mysteries of life.
