Recently one of us has noted that the relation between concentration of silica and the time of set of a silicic acid gel should be studied (3). Very few data have been published bearing on this relation, although Batchelor's (1) recent paper gives some curves for a study in which potassium silicate and mixed mineral acids were used.The present paper reports our study of this relation, using solutions of sodium silicate and acetic acid. These solutions were used both for conformity with previous studies from this laboratory and because of satisfactory control and constancy of pH in these mixtures.
EXPERIMENTALThe same technique was used as has been used in previous papers of this series (7, 6, 5, 4). The silicate solution titrated 1.21 N in sodium hydroxide equivalent. It was prepared from "E" brand sodium silicate. The time of set was found by the tilted-rod method (7). The mixtures were carefully thermostated. All pH values were measured with a quinhydrone apparatus, using electrodes of bare platinum wire (5). The silica concentration was varied by changing the relative amount of sodium silicate solution used.