Elements Of Physical Chemistry

OF THE many categories into which scientific knowledge has been arbitrarily divided, the one which has proved most applicable in our attempts to gain an insight into the details of steelmaking processes is physical chemistry. To the young metallurgist who has only recently survived a college course in this subject, the application of its principles to reactions in liquid steel should not be difficult. To one who has had no such course or whose auld acquaintance with the subject has all but been forgot, such application is all too often thwarted by the abstruse presentations of the subject found in many of the available textbooks. AS a tool for the control of a complex process involving many chemical reactions, physical chemistry can become very valuable. The specialist who is using this tool for many purposes and perhaps contributing to its development will want to know a great deal more about it than can be included in this book. He will be interested in its history, its accomplishments and limitations, and its applications to many and varied problems. To the steelmaker or metallurgist, however, it is only one of a number of tools that he must use. He is willing to forego the detailed study of its inner workings in order to concentrate upon the development of skill in its application. It is the purpose of this chapter to present a simplified view of physical chemistry as a tool of great potential usefulness. This purpose and the desire for brevity have required the elimination of many of the gadgets with which the tool is usually adorned. It is hoped that this simplification will be conducive to clear understanding. The beginner is urged not to overlook the more extended treatments of the standard textbooks.* He is assured at the same time that the basic tool is sound and serviceable and is guaranteed to give satisfaction if regularly lubricated with common sense. Certain parts of physical chemistry require rather formidable mathematics for their complete development, but in the main those applications in which we are here interested can be expressed in fairly