The monomolecular layer of water adsorbed on KBr particles is responsible for clouding of disks pressed from finely ground powder. Cloudiness is caused by formation of a multitude of cracks in the disk. The initial cracking can be observed with a low power optical microscope and the extensive cracking in the fully cloudy region is observable with a scanning electron microscope. It is suggested that adsorbed water promotes recrystallization, generating weak zones in the workhardened, elastically stressed disk which fails by cracking.
BrowningR. S.WiberleyS. E., and NachodF. C. F. C., Anal. Chem.27, 7 (1955).
3.
WiberleyS. E.SpragueJ. W., and CampbellJ. E., Anal. Chem.29, 210 (1957).
4.
IngebrigtsonD. N. and SmithA. L., Anal. Chem.26, 1765 (1954).
5.
RosenkrantzH.PotvinP., and SkogstromP., Anal. Chem.30, 975 (1958).
6.
KirklandJ. J., Anal. Chem.27, 1537 (1955).
7.
BakerA. W., J. Phys. Chem.61, 450 (1957).
8.
van der MaasJ. H. and TolkA., Spectrochim. Acta18, 235 (1962).
9.
OlsenA. L., Anal. Chem.31, 321 (1959).
10.
GeguzinYa. E.StartsevV. I.BuravlevaM. G.MadikyanR. A.NarbutT. P., and ShpuntA. A., Kristallograf. 5, 274 (1960) (English transl.).
11.
DurieR. A. and SzewczykJ., Spectrochim. Acta15, 593 (1959).
12.
PriceW. C.ShermanW. F., and WilkinsonG. R., Proc. Royal Soc. (London)A247, 467 (1958).
13.
The approximate area occupied by a water molecule would be the area of one face of a cube of space that, on the average, a water molecule occupies in the liquid state, i.e.
