Proceedings of the Institution of Electrical Engineers Volume 29 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1900 Excerpt: ... be to introduce a new combination altogether. PART II. In the first part of this paper I have said that the utility of the lead--sulphuric acid--lead peroxide combination appears to be due to the insolubility of the active material of both electrodes under all normal conditions of treatment. This is not, however, the whole matter, for essential as the insolubility of the compounds may be to success, it would probably be insufficient were it not in conjunction with certain properties which are inherent in lead and its compounds and form one of their most marked chemical characteristics. Lead, like all the metallic elements, unites with other elements and radicles to form normal compounds and salts of a perfectly definite composition, such as the monoxide, peroxide, sulphate, and so forth. It also enters with greater ease than most of the metals into more complex combinations to produce "basic salts" (sometimes termed "sub-salts "), in which it is partly combined with O or HO, as an oxide or hydrate, and partly with some other element or radicle. Usually it is capable of producing not merely one, but a whole series of basic salts with each radicle; of which the basic chlorides, nitrates, and acetates are wellknown examples. In addition to this, it is almost unique amongst the metals in the facility with which it combines with two or more different radicles, other than O or HO, and gives rise to curious compound salts such as--"Lanarkite," PbJ?4 "Leadhillite," Pb4lf: . "Phosgenite," Pb2 j jj Lead Chlorosulphide, Pb2 jgla But besides all its normal, basic, and poly-acid salts and compounds, lead will, under suitable conditions, form others which cannot accurately be represented by any formula at all. The tw...