The Chemical Effect of Ultrasound.pdfVIP

The Chemical Effects of Ultrasound Intense ultrasonic waves traveling through liquids generate small cavities that enlarge and implode, creating tremendous heat. These extreme conditions provide an unusual chemical environment by Kenneth S. Suslick uring the early tests of the first heat interacts on longer time scales These chemical effects of ultra- British destroyer in 1894, Sir at lower energies. The interaction of sound arise from the physical proc- DJohn I. Thornycroft and Sydney sound with matter through the proc- esses that create, enlarge and im- W. Barnaby noticed a severe vibration ess of cavitation makes available to plode gaseous and vaporous cavities from the destroyers propeller. They chemists a range of energies on time in a liqUid. Ultrasound waves, like suggested that large bubbles, or cavi- scales that are not available from oth- all sound waves, consists of cycles ties, formed by the spinning propeller er sources. of compression and expansion. Com- and imploded by water pressure, were Chemists usually induce cavitation pression cycles exert a positive pres- the source of the vibrations. Thorny- not by applying mechanical pres- sure on the liquid, pushing the mole- croft and Barnaby redesigned the pro- sure but rather by generating intense cules together; expansion cycles exert peller to reduce the vibrations from sound waves in a liquid. Such waves a negative pressure, pulling the mole- what came to be known as cavitation, create alternating regions of compres- cules away from one another. but as the British navy built even fast- sion and expansion that can form bub- During the expansion cycle a sound er propulsion systems the phenome- bles 100 microns in diameter. The wave of sufficient intensity can gener- non became an increasingly sign