The Montana School of Mines
AMPLIFIER Vol. VII, No. 11
PUBLISHED
BY THE ASSOCIATED
STUDENTS
Friday, April 7, 1961
OF THE MONTANA SCHOOL OF MINES
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Annual ,E-Day SetApril15~16
MSM Is 'Possible Site For Research Projects by Dr. Edwin G. Koch Contacts made in Washington, D. C. by friends of Montana School of Mines may prove helpful in the future in obtaining Government grants for research Iprojects which may be developed and proposed to various Government agencies. A recent news release in the local press with respect to this matter has been widely misread and misinterpreted. Many people reading this article believed that the United States Government was about to establish a research center and that the School of Mines had been proposed as a location. The facts are that various Government agencies, ineluding the Defense Establishment, are in a position to receive researcJ;1proposals from both industrial research laboratories and colleges and universities, upon which they make grants provided the research to be conducted will contribute to the objectives of the Government agency concerned. This. practice has been in effeet for many years past but at the present time there seems to be a desire to obtain as much information as Possible on the properties of rnaterials. Because of such research
emphasis, there may be a possibility that major departments or the School of Mines have research interests which will fit into this program. Currently Montana School of Mines is a member of the Associated Rocky Mountain Universities, Inc. In this capacity we have submitted several proposals to that organization for use in connection with a proposal to the Advanced Research Projects Agency pursuant to the possible establishment in the Rocky Mountain region of an interdisciplinary laboratory for basic research in the properties of materials. At the present time we do not know how the proposal of the ARMU will be received. Should this effort prove unsuccessful, we will probably submit these same projects individually, to either the National Science Foundation or the Defense Establishment for considleration on a separate basis. In addition to the proposals which are incorporated in the ARMU material there are other proposals which could be developed for submission to Government agencies through contacts now established.
Benefit 'Dance Tonight
John Bjeletich Conducts Seminar On Wednesday, March' 8, John Bjeletich presented a seminar for the Department of Metallurgy, entitled "Thermodynamics of Thermoelectricity." Thermoelectricity is the direct conversion of heat into electrical energy or the reverse. By common Usage, the term is restricted to three processes in solid and liquid Conductors; the Seebeck effect, discovered in 11821, the Peltier effect, discovered in 1'8(3'4, and the Thompson effect, discovered in 18:54. The Thompson and Peitier effects, are really detailed treatments of the Seebeck effect. Seebeck Effect-When a circuit is formed of two wires of different metals and one of their junctions is a t a higher temperature than the other an emf. is produced il1 the circuit. Peltier Effect-When two different metals are connected in series with a source of emf., which establishes a current in the circuit, one junction will become heated and the other cooled. Thompson Effect When an electric current is passed through a wire conducting heat, there is an absorption or generation of heat, depending on the material of the conductor and the direction of flow of the current. While analyzing the Seebeck and Peltier effects by the use of thermodynamic laws, Thompson predicted the existence of the ThompSon effect, and postulated relations between these effects. His rela-
The student Council wHI sponsor a benefit dance tonight in the Copper Lou n g e for Ed Erickson. Ed is a juniot;)n Petroleum Engin-eering here at 1he School of Mines. During the semester break it was necessary for Ed to have an operation for a brain tumor. All the proceeds from this dance will go towards helping to pay for this operation. Music will be provided from 9 to 12 by the Aces of Rhythm. The admiss·ion wi! be 50c stag or 75c couple. tions were completely confirmed 'by experiment. In Thompson's thermodynamic treatment of thermoelectricity, he considered the FR' heating and, heat conduction as "irreversible". And used the second law of thermodynamics for the remaining "reversible" parts-Thompson and Peltier effects. Thompson himself was well aware of the unsatisfactory character of his reasoning and stressed the fact that the division into reversible and irreversible parts was a hypothesis. Numerous efforts by scores of individuals to' justify Tho m P son's hypothesis were in vain. There exists a large number of phenomenological laws describing irreversible process in the form of propertionalities. Examples are: Four~er's Law - Heat flow proportional to Thermall gradient Ohm's Law-Current flow proportional to Potential gradient. When two or more of these phe(Continiled on'page 2)' I
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Crnich Is Awarded hi Rotary SCh0 Iars Ip
Preparatio!'s ~re taking place all around the campus for the event which In the past has been very impressive and has attracted much interest. "'One new feature of E-Day," reports Ed Speelman, presiRichard L. Crnich, son of Mr. de!lt of the Anderson-Car~isle Society," is the awarding of and Mrs. Louis Crnich of 1542 Elm prlz~s. to the de~ar~ments Judged to have presented the best Street, Butte, has been awarded exhibits and eff~tIve overal~ program. A first prize of $~5 the Butte Rotary Club Scholarship and a second prize o~ $15 WIll be awarded. Also, there will of $250. b.e no classes, held Friday 14 to enable last minute preparaMr. Crriich, majoring in petro- tions to be made." leum engineering at Montana Departments will present programs corisisting of demonSchool of Mi.ne.s,is an hono; gr~d- strations by the students, exhibits, and movies. Included in uate of Christian Brothers HIgh the various exhibits to be show are tilati od I . School Butte . . . n a ven I Ion m e In He'r~ceived a High School Hon- MI!lIng, a working model of a geyser ill Geology, different or 'Scholarship when he entered units used In iro.n beneficiation in Mineral' Dressing, an Montana School of Mines. He is a analog computer In Physics, and many more in all of the member of the Anderson-Carlisle departments. Society, Theta Tau Fraternity, the The mineral collection in the Library Building is expected ' Copper Guards and the "M'~ Club. to ~raw a large crowd. The new Copper Lounge will also be Mr. Crnich is a three-year letter-an Important attraction. The Coeds will be serving refreshman, having been active in varsity ments in the Lounge. ?ase?al~. "He. 'has alse participated . r:Fliel-P'rograms -and ~Parki~'g eonnnittee-wiU"gi\Te out dein Intramural volley ball and tailed programs to people eommg on cam d i dditi h ridb 11 '11 di pus, an In a I Ion a a. WI irect parking and provide information. ' ' Crnich has worked for victor A bl" Chemical Company at Maiden pu icity campaign is underway which includes adRock, the Northern Pacific Rail- vanced coverage by local newspapers, letters and posters to road, the Highway Grocery and nearby schO?ls, posters on the Anaconda Company's bulletin Silver Bow County. boards and In downtown stores, and notices on the Metals He attended Boy's State in Dil- Bank and Montana Theatre marquees. Ion in isee. . Radio and television spot announcements' will also advertise E-Day. Prepa~ations are being stepped-up since E-Day is fast appro,;!chIng. ~he, Anderson-Carlisle Society and the E-Day com~l~tee chaIrmen are hoping for the co'ntillued full cooperatIon of the s~udent body so that we will again produce a successful E-Day. 1
Sigma Rho Holds Initiatio'n and Dinner-Dance
The Butte Country Club was the scene of the recent Sigma Rho initiation held Saturday, March 18. About thirty couples attended the gala affair which started about 7: 30 p.m. with a delicious turkey dinner, Seated at the head table were Dr. and Mrs. E. G. Koch, special guests; Dr. S. L. Groff, guest speaker, and Mrs. Groff; Professor and Mrs. W. A. Vine, chaperons; and Dave Robertson, president of the fraternity, and Miss Lois Carveth. After-dinner entertairllIent included a report on tlle history of the fraternity presented by Dave Robertson. Following Dave's report, Dr. S. L. Groff', of the Bureau of Mines and Geology, gave a very (Continued on page 3)
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Kelly, , J
Speak I
Coming Events APRIL10-Student 12-Student
Wives Wives
' .. Bridge Club, Coed Room, 7 :30 Meeting, Coed Room, 8 :00
15-E-D~y 16-E-Day 21-Convocation, Library Museum Building 212-Baseball, Western, here 24-Student Wives Bridge Club, Coed Room, 29-Baseball; Western & Carroll at Dillon.
MAY6-Baseball, 7-Senior
Northern Receptiorr
&
Carroll
at Havre
7 :30
Kravi/c, Stolz for MSM '
Speakers for ~he School off Mines high school visithtion program next week wHI be Mr. Keney, Mr. Stolz, and Gay Kravik. This progTam is to promote interest in MHM and acquaint the high schoo,] students with the CUITiculum in the differr,ellt departments. Mr. Kelly will speak to students ,in Melstone on April 14, concerning "Careers in E,ngineering·." MI'.· Stolz and Gay Kravik, a senior petroleum engineering student from Havre, will visit Miles City for a Career Day, April 12; Whitewate,r on April 13; and Havre fo'r a Career Day, April 14.
McMillan, Presents
Metallurgy
On Wednesday March 2'2, Mr. Don McMillan, senior student in metallurgy; presented a seminar entitled "Hydrometallurgy." This was Mr: McMillan's second, in a series of seminars to be presented by the metallurgy department. In hydrometallurgical operations an ore or concentrates are brought into contact with a liquid solvent which will dissolve the valuable metal wit h 0 u t attacking the gangue. Hydrornetallurgy, as the name implies, utilizes either water or ari ,aqueous solution; however" nonaqueous solvents are used to abstract dissolved metals from the aqueous leaching solutions. 'rhere are two essential steps required in every hydrometallurgical operation. These are leaching and precipitation. Leaching is the dissolution of the valuable metal whereas precipitation is' the) removal of the dissolved metal from the leaching solution, ' HY,drometallurgy has many features to recommend it. It provides high extraction of the valuable metal and requires very little fuel except when a preliminary roasting is necessary. The equipment needed is relatively simple and inexpensive compared with pyrOm~ta.llurgical' operations and the princlpal expense is only the cost of the necessary chemical reagents. Also in some processes, the solvent can be regenerated during the precipitation process. I The most important solvents used
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Seminar
for the dissolution of the metal or le~ching process are ;water, bases, aCIds, and salts. In recent years there have been many advances in hydrometallurgy which have been used to help revolutionize the acid and alkaline leach treatment processes. The more important advances have been those of ion exchange, solvent extraction and pressure techniques. The principle of ion exchange is the same as that employed in most water softeners; a solid resin exchanges ions on its surface for other ions in solution, and thus removes them. 'Th~ method used for solvent extraction is essentially the same as that of ion exchange. The principle here i's to absorb the valuable metal ions into an organic solvent, ThTy are later transferred to anI (Continued on page 4)
A4asquers.Present A40st August Performa,nee I
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On Monday night, March 20, the Montana State University Masquers presented The Yellow Jacket, "the world's most, famous Chinese play." The MSU company makes "a state-wide tour every year. • The Yellow Jacket, a Chinese (Continued on page 2)