Continuing an investigation begun in this laboratory on the solubility of metals in mercury (16,17) we have studied the solubility of indium over the temperature range 0°to 50°C. The only work involving indium amalgams to be found in the literature is that of Richards and Wilson (21), Hildebrand (6), Williams (24), Davies and Keeping (2), and Narayan (15). These investigations covered a variety of subjects. Howe\-er, they all employed dilute liquid amalgams and no data were obtained on the solubility of the metal in mercury.The purpose of this investigation was to supply this solubility data over a convenient temperature range and to observe the general properties of indium amalgams. This information is desirable before attempting to employ amalgams of indium in reversible galvanic cells for free-energy measurements. If indium, which forms a trivalent ion in aqueous solution, can be used successfully for e.m.f. work it will provide an excellent means for testing the extension of the Debye-Hückel (3) theory as given by Gronwall, LaMer, and Greiff (5) for unsymmetrical valence type electrolytes. It is our purpose to extend this work on indium to include an investigation of electrochemical cells involving indium trichloride and indium sulfate.
PREPARATION OF MATERIALSThe indium used in preparing the amalgams was a commercial product claimed to be 99.99 per cent pure. Baxter and Alter (1), using a Féry spectrograph, examined a sample of indium from the same source and found only traces of lead, tin, zinc, cadmium, and copper. These impurities are negligible in this investigation.Mercury-redistilled mercury was stirred under a molar solution of nitric acid and mercurous nitrate for three days and then redistilled three times 1 This article is abstracted from a thesis submitted by Walter G. Moran to the Faculty of Rhode Island State College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Chemistry, June, 1935.