The Dissociation Energy of Carbon Monoxide and the Heat of Sublimation of Graphite

For a number of years there has existed doubt about the value of the dissociation energy of carbon monoxide and about the heat of sublimation of graphite, a directly related quantity. The most popular values for the dissociation energy of carbon monoxide are 9.144 electron-volts, suggested by Herzberg [1] on the basis of predissociation phenomena in band spectra, 9.61 e. v., suggested by Hagstrum and Tate [2] on the basis of electron impact experiments (or the value 9.85 e. v. derivable from predissociation data [3]), and 11.11 e. v., suggested by Gaydon and Penney [4] from an analysis of spectroscopic data. These values together with thermochemical data lead to the values 124.9, 141.4, and 170.3 kcal./mole, respectively, for the heat of sublimation of graphite. Strong evidence for the last of these values has been presented by Brewer, Gilles, and Jenkins [5], who have reported 170.4 kcal./mole from a direct experimental determination. The value has, however, been criticized by other investigators [6,7], and has been defended by Brewer [8]. In this paper we communicate an argument which indicates that the higih values of about 170 kcal./mole for the heat of sublimation of carbon to C(g)(3P) and 11.11 e. v. for the dissociation energy of carbon monoxide are not correct, and which leads instead to the values 140 kcal./mole and 9.77 e. v., respectively

Response by Specialist and Generalist Natural Enemies to Agroecosystem Diversification: A Selective Review

Effects of agroecosystem diversification on searching behavior and success of arthropod natural enemies are poorly understood. Crop diversification may increase generalist enemy effectiveness by increasing alternate food or prey availability, as predicted by the enemies hypothesis. But diversification may also reduce enemy searching efficiency and destabilize predator/prey interactions. Additionally, specialist enemies, often important in biological control programs, may be particularly sensitive to vegetation texture. Pest control by specialist enemies may be more effective in less diverse agroecosystems if concentration of host plants increases attraction or retention of these enemie

Did Lomonosov see the Venusian atmosphere?

Vladimir Shiltsev (Physics Today, February 2012, page 40) properly credits Mikhail Lomonosov with a wide range of scientific achievements. But we have been corresponding with Shiltsev for some months about our realization1 that Lomonosov did not discover the atmosphere of Venus. One of us (Pasachoff) analyzed spacecraft observations of the Cytherean atmosphere at the 2004 transit of Venus,2 and we realized that what Lomonosov reported did not match actual atmospheric observations. NASA’s Transition Region and Coronal Explorer spacecraft detected Venus’s atmosphere for about 20 minutes as Venus’s silhouette entered the Sun’s limb, and again for the first 20 minutes of its exit from the solar disk. Lomonosov saw only a bulge of light—shown in figure 4a of Shiltsev’s article—and a brief flash of light. We think that what he saw was an artifact of his relatively primitive and small telescope rather than the aureole that is sunlight refracted toward Earth by Venus’s atmosphere. Our conclusions were reinforced by observations made during the 2012 transit of Venus

The forest through the trees:Making sense of an ecological dynamics approach to measuring and developing collective behaviour in football

In this book, we interpret the literature that has analysed football performance from a tactical standpoint using an ecological dynamics perspective. This approach focuses on the performer–environment relationship and provides a basis for understanding the dynamic nature of performance in collective team sports (1) and will be explained in detail throughout. The first section of this text will provide a brief description of association football as well as commonly used methods to analyse football performance. The next section will briefly introduce common theories and practices used to measure team behaviour, decision-making, and performance enhancement in team sport, which are then used to introduce the ecological dynamics framework. This framework will then be used to aid the application of these findings for tactical analysis in team sports such as football. Finally, we will introduce some of the scientific literature on improving team performance, particularly in reference to team coordination and decision-making. The following sections of this book will deal specifically with how small-sided games can be used to develop tactical behaviour in football. A small-sided games approach was chosen as these modified games allow for the simultaneous development of players’ technical skills, conditioning, and ability to solve and overcome tactical challenges through coordinative behaviour and effective decision-making (2-5). Small-sided games provide an environment that mimics the perception–action couplings of in situ performance, which should, in theory, improve the transferability of learned behaviours to in-game performance (4, 6). As a result, small-sided games are often used by coaches and form an integral part of this text. Finally, we conclude with some recommendations for future research, and some practical considerations for coaches interested in applying the research discussed in this book

Ideology, Status, and the Differential Success of Direct Parties Before the Supreme Court

A substantial literature on lower federal courts and state courts suggests that the haves usually come out ahead in litigation because they possess superior resources for it and they reap advantages from their repeat player status. We investigate the success of 10 categories of litigants before the Warren, Burger, and Rehnquist Courts to determine whether the resources or experience of litigants has effects on Supreme Court outcomes paralleling those found in the courts below. While different categories of litigants are found to have very different rates of success, those differences do not consistently favor litigants with greater resources. A time series analysis of the success of different categories of litigants over the 36 years studied suggests that the changing ideological complexion of the Court has a greater impact on the success of litigants than differences among litigants in resources and experience

Studies in Molecular Structure and Valence State Energy

The structures of six gaseous molecules, trifluoromethyl­acetylene, perfluorobutyne-2, tetramethylsilane, tungsten hexacarbonyl, molybdenum hexacarbonyl, and osmium tetroxide, have been determined from a study of their electron diffraction patterns by the visual correlation method employed in these Laboratories. An interpretation of the interesting features of the unusual structures of the hexacarbonyls and the tetroxide is given. This thesis concludes with a discussion of the energies of the valence states of atoms as they exist in diatomic molecules