Effect of adsorption of vapours on the electrical conductivity of lycopene crystals: Evidence of a three-stage adsorption process

Upon adsorption of various vapours, the electrical conductivity of lycopene semiconductor changes appreciably This phenomenon had been used as a probe to study the adsorption and desorption processes in these polyene crystals The adsorption and desorption kinetics have been found to follow a modified Roginsky-Zeldovich relation A three-stage adsorption process has been identified The first stage gives a Lennard-Jones potential energy curve, followed by a transition over a potential barrier to the second stage of adsorption in a potential well In the third stage a deep potential energy surface is reached by activation over a second potential barrier and strongly bound complexes between the vapour molecules and the surface molecules of the crystals are finally formed.     

Studies on nessler's reagent and nessler's precipitate part II

The composition of the precipitate formed when the Nessler's reagent is treated with ammonia, is assumed as NH_n-1Hg₂I_n, aq. and has been studied potentiometrically from iodine-hypoiodite-system. It has been observed that the value of n depends on the concentrations of [HgI₄]^-2 and OH^- ions as well as on the amount of ammonia added and it may vary from 1 to 3. The colour of the precipitate deepens from brown to chocolate as the value of n increases.     

Local Higgs-Kibble type theories in the unitary gauge

A general formal foundation of local theories using the Higgs-Kibble mechanism is given in the unitary gauge. The general term that is added to the Lagrangian owing to the presence of a gauge group is found both when the gauge group has and has not a non-trivial unbroken subgroup. The conjecture made by Weinberg about the form of this term when there is a non-trivial unbroken subgroup is found to be false in general. However when the unbroken subgroup is Abelian the conjecture is shown to be correct.     

Negative normal stress elasticity of emulsions of viscous drops at finite inertia

The relation between the normal stress and the imposed strain for a Newtonian emulsion in an oscillating extensional flow is computed at finite Reynolds numbers using numerically simulated drop geometry. The interfacial stress was determined using Batchelor's formalism. In the presence of inertia, the phase between the stress and the strain deviates from Stokes's flow, and leads to a negative elastic modulus at small frequencies. The results are explained by a mass-spring-dashpot model.     

Evidence for strain glass in the ferroelastic-martensitic system Ti(50-x)Ni(50+x)

We report here "strain glass," a new glassy phenomenon in ferroelastic-martensitic system of Ni-rich intermetallic Ti(50-x)Ni(50+x) (x > 1), where local strain is frozen in disordered configuration below a critical temperature Tg. The ac elastic modulus shows a minimum at Tg, which exhibits logarithmic frequency dependence following Vogel-Fulcher relationship, and the corresponding internal friction shows a frequency-dependent peak located at a lower temperature. In situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy observations reveal uncorrelated nanoclusters of martensiticlike phase, randomly frozen in the otherwise untransformed parentlike matrix. Being parallel to spin glass and relaxor, strain glass may shed new light on the fundamental physics of glass and lead to the discovery of novel properties.     

Electrical characterization of strontium tartrate single crystals

The a.c. and d.c. conductivity of SrC₄H₄O₆·3H₂O are measured and are found to lie between usual conductivities of semiconductor and insulator. Temperature dependence of d.c. conductivity shows intrinsic conduction, which is confirmed by the slope of versus data. Due to application of thermal energy, noticeable conductivity peaks imply liberation of water molecules during dehydration and the formation of strontium oxalate. The conductivity plot has a nature similar to the intrinsic-to-extrinsic transition found in normal semiconductors. There occurs Efros hopping conduction in our samples.     

Structural and functional analogue of the active site of polysulfide reductase from Wolinella succinogenes

Synthesis of [PPh4]2[Mo(SPh)2(S2C2(CN)2)2] (2) from [PPh4]2[MoO(S2C2(CN)2)2] (1) has been achieved to mimic the postulated [Mo(S)6] core of polysulfide reductase with two thiolates and two bis(ene-dithiolate) ligands. Compound 2 reacts with polysulfide to yield H2S, modeling the function of polysulfide reductase. The facile conversion of 2 back to 1 in moist solvent suggests that the interconversion of the [MoIV = O] and [MoIV - X] (X = O-Ser, S-Cys, Se-Cys) moieties might occur in the DMSO reductase class of enzymes under appropriate hydrophobic/hydrophilic conditions.