History of Technology Volume 17


Book Description

The technical problems confronting different societies and periods, and the measures taken to solve them form the concern of this annual collection of essays. Volumes contain technical articles ranging widely in subject, time and region, as well as general papers on the history of technology. In addition to dealing with the history of technical discovery and change, History of Technology also explores the relations of technology to other aspects of life -- social, cultural and economic -- and shows how technological development has shaped, and been shaped by, the society in which it occurred.




DIOCLES, On Burning Mirrors


Book Description

This publication would not have been what it is without the help of many institutions and people, which I acknowledge most gratefully. I thank the Central Library and Documentation Center, Iran, and its director, Mr. Iraji Afshar, for permission to publish photo graphs of that part of ms. 392 of the Shrine Library, Meshhed, containing Diocles' treatise. I also thank the authorities of the Shrine Library, and especially Mr. Ahmad GolchTn-Ma'anT, for their cooperation in providing photographs of the manuscript. Mr. GolchTn Ma'anT also sent me, most generously, a copy of his catalogue of the astronomical and mathematical manuscripts of the Shrine Library. I am grateful to the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, and the Universiteits-Bibliotheek, Leid'en, for providing me with microfilms of manuscripts I wished to consult, and to the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, for granting me access to its manuscripts. The text pages in Arabic script and the Index of Technical Terms were set by a computer-assisted phototypesetting system, using computer programs developed at the University of Washington and a high-speed image-generation phototypesetting device. A continuous stream of text on punched cards was fed through the Katib formatting program, which broke up the text into lines and pages and arranged the section numbers and apparatus on each page. Output from Katib was fed through the compositor program Hattat to create a magnetic tape for use on the VideoComp phototypesetter.




Ion Tracks and Microtechnology


Book Description




History of Analytical Chemistry


Book Description

History of Analytical Chemistry is a systematic account of the historical development of analytical chemistry spanning about 4,000 years. Many scientists who have helped to develop the methods of analytical chemistry are mentioned. Various methods of analysis are discussed, including electrogravimetry, optical methods, electrometric analysis, radiochemical analysis, and chromatography. This volume is comprised of 14 chapters and begins with an overview of analytical chemistry in ancient Greece, the origin of chemistry, and the earliest knowledge of analysis. The next chapter focuses on analytical chemistry during the Middle Ages, with emphasis on alchemy. Analytical knowledge during the period of iatrochemistry and the development of analytical chemistry during the phlogiston period are then examined. Subsequent chapters deal with the development of the fundamental laws of chemistry, including the principle of the indestructibility of matter; analytical chemistry during the period of Berzelius; and developments in qualitative and gravimetric analysis. Elementary organic analysis is also considered, along with the development of the theory of analytical chemistry. This book will be helpful to chemists as well as students and researchers in the field of analytical chemistry.




Lavoisier—the Crucial Year


Book Description

The author explores the origins of the eighteenth-century chemical revolution as it centers on Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier's earliest work on combustion. He shows that the main lines of Lavoisier's theory—including his theory of a heat-fluid, caloric—were elaborated well before his discovery of the role played by oxygen. Contrary to the opinion prevailing at that time, Lavoisier suspected, and demonstrated by experiment, that common air, or some portion of it, combines with substances when they are burned. Professor Guerlac examines critically the theories of other historians of science concerning these first experiments, and tries to unravel the influences which French, German, and British chemists may have had on Lavoisier. He has made use of newly discovered material on this phase of Lavoisier's career, and includes an appendix in which the essential documents are printed together for the first time.




Non-LTE Radiative Transfer in the Atmosphere


Book Description

Ch. 1. Introduction and overview. 1.1. General introduction. 1.2. Basic properties of the Earth's atmosphere. 1.3. What is LTE? 1.4. Non-LTE situations. 1.5. The importance of non-LTE. 1.6. Some historical background. 1.7. Non-LTE models. 1.8. Experimental studies of non-LTE. 1.9. Non-LTE in planetary atmospheres. 1.10. References and further reading -- ch. 2. Molecular spectra. 2.1. Introduction. 2.2. Energy levels in diatomic molecules. 2.3. Energy levels in polyatomic molecules. 2.4. Transitions and spectral bands. 2.5. Properties of individual vibration-rotation lines. 2.6. Interactions between energy levels. 2.7. References and further reading -- ch. 3. Basic atmospheric radiative transfer. 3.1. Introduction. 3.2. Properties of radiation. 3.3. The radiative transfer equation. 3.4. The formal solution of the radiative transfer equation. 3.5. Thermodynamic equilibrium and local thermodynamic equilibrium. 3.6. The source function in non-LTE. 3.7. Non-LTE situations. 3.8. References and further reading -- ch. 4. Solutions to the radiative transfer equation in LTE. 4.1. Introduction. 4.2. Integration of the radiative transfer equation over height. 4.3. Integration of the radiative transfer equation over frequency. 4.4. Integration of the radiative transfer equation over solid angle. 4.5. References and further reading -- ch. 5. Solutions to the radiative transfer equation in non-LTE. 5.1. Introduction. 5.2. Simple solutions for radiative transfer under non-LTE. 5.3. The full solution of the radiative transfer equation in non-LTE. 5.4. Integration of the RTE in non-LTE. 5.5. Intercomparison of non-LTE codes. 5.6. Parameterizations of the non-LTE cooling rate. 5.7. The Curtis matrix method. 5.8. References and further reading -- ch. 6. Non-LTE modelling of the Earth's atmosphere I: CO2. 6.1. Introduction. 6.2. Useful approximations. 6.3. Carbon dioxide, CO2. 6.4. References and further reading -- ch. 7. Non-LTE modelling of the Earth's atmosphere II: Other infrared emitters. 7.1. Introduction. 7.2. Carbon monoxide, CO. 7.3. Ozone, O3. 7.4. Water vapour, H2O. 7.5. Methane, CH4. 7.6. Nitric oxide, NO. 7.7. Nitrogen dioxide, NO2. 7.8. Nitrous oxide, N2O. 7.9. Nitric acid, HNO3. 7.10. Hydroxyl radical, OH. 7.11. Molecular oxygen atmospheric infrared bands. 7.12. Hydrogen chloride, HC1, and hydrogen fluoride, HF. 7.13. NO+. 7.14. Atomic Oxygen, O (3P), at 63[symbol]m. 7.15. References and further reading -- ch. 8. Remote sensing of the non-LTE atmosphere. 8.1. Introduction. 8.2. The analysis of emission measurements. 8.3. Observations of carbon dioxide in emission. 8.4. Observations of ozone in emission. 8.5. Observations of water vapour in emission. 8.6. Observations of carbon monoxide in emission. 8.7. Observations of nitric oxide in emission. 8.8. Observations of other infrared emissions. 8.9. Rotational non-LTE. 8.10. Absorption measurements. 8.11. Simulated limb emission spectra at high resolution. 8.12. Simulated Nadir emission spectra at high resolution. 8.13. Non-LTE retrieval schemes. 8.14. References and further reading -- ch. 9. Cooling and heating rates. 9.1. Introduction. 9.2. CO2 15 f[symbol]m cooling. 9.3. O3 9.6[symbol]xm cooling. 9.4. H2O 6.3[symbol]m cooling. 9.5. NO 5.3[symbol]m cooling. 9.6. O(3Pi) 63[symbol]m cooling. 9.7. Summary of cooling rates. 9.8. CO2 solar heating. 9.9. References and further reading -- ch. 10. Non-LTE in planetary atmospheres. 10.1. Introduction. 10.2. The terrestrial planets: Mars and Venus. 10.3. A non-LTE model for the Martian and Venusian atmospheres. 10.4. Mars. 10.5. Venus. 10.6. Outer planets. 10.7. Titan. 10.8. Comets. 10.9. References and further reading.