In the present paper experiments determining the significance of the magnetic transition of ferromagnetic substances for their catalytic activity are described.The purpose of this study is to contribute to the attempts which have been made to find relationships between the catalytic activity and the physical or chemical properties of the catalyst. In the magnetic transition the conditions investigated differ from those in similar experiments and are also better defined in certain respects. It appears to be a general way to obtain information about the relation between the state of a catalyst and its activity by studying catalysts with transition points. By a crystallographic transformation only the geometrical arrangement and (usually) the binding state of the lattice particles are changed, so that their significance should be found by investigation of the catalytic activity of the same substance in different crystal states. Until now only a small number of experiments has been carried out with such catalysts. Schwab and Martin (17) investigated a series of catalysts having crystallographic transition points, without, however, detecting any difference in the catalytic properties of the different modifications. Experiments of Hedvall and Wikdahl (11) indicated that «-and /3-quartz have a different catalytic action on the oxidation of sulfur dioxide. It is of interest that the activity of the SUMMARY The catalytic activity of ferromagnetic substances is changed by the transition from ferromagnetism to paramagnetism. The activation energy of the decomposition of formic acid by a cobalt-palladium alloy is increased by about 30 per cent by the transition to the paramagnetic state of the catalyst. It is concluded that a state of higher electronic order in a catalyst might yield an energetically stronger catalytic action.
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