The Absorption of Water by Gelatin

Abstract

DURING the last half-century a large number of papers has been published on the absorption of water by gelatin and the influence on this process of various physical and chemical factors. A review of the literature has recently been given by one of us Previous work has shown that acids, alkalis, salts, temperature and the relative masses of the gelatin and the water [Jordan The correlation between one factor and another is still, however, a fruitful subject for investigation, and this paper provides such a study in the case of a simple system in which all the diffusible ions are univalent. This system is gelatin in the presence of hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide, and sodium chloride, over a temperature range from 00 to 24, a PH range of 0'5 to 12, and a con- centration of sodium chloride from zero to 2-0 mol. per litre. A uniform relation of 100 cc. of fluid to every 0.1 g. of gelatin was used throughout the experiments.