A Review Of The Book Osmosis: The Molecular Theory
Osmosis: The Molecular Theory is a collection of research papers that provides explanations regarding the process of osmosis. The book aims to present a new theory about osmosis, one that takes into account the thermodynamic vapor pressure produced by free molecules in solids and liquids. Based on his research and engineering experience, Dr. Larry Howlett presents his molecular theory of osmosis in hopes of gaining further understanding in this field of study.
The book contains five papers. The first one, which is related to the author’s engineering experience, talks about the characteristics of plant seeds (seed temperature, moisture content, and vapor pressure) and the effects of storing seeds in a hermetic container. The second one revisits the thermodynamic derivation of osmosis and introduces a new viewpoint for evaluating osmosis. The third one verifies van’t Hoff’s theory of osmotic pressure, which suggests that substances in dilute solutions act as ideal gases. The fourth one proposes a model for vapor in a liquid, which is based on the kinetic theory of gases and Maxwell’s speed distribution. Finally, the fifth one introduces the author’s molecular theory of osmosis.
I like how these five papers follow logically from each other. The first few papers set up the premises required to understand the molecular theory of osmosis. The papers are written such that the conclusions of the first papers are used as starting points to develop the conclusions of other papers. This gives the book a linear structure that is easy to follow.
But since these are research papers, it can be difficult to understand them without the proper technical background. While the author includes references and figures to aid the reader, the experimental results can be overwhelming. The reader must be familiar with thermodynamics to understand the author’s theory, but that may not be even enough to know whether the author’s molecular theory of osmosis is true or not.
Additionally, it doesn’t help that the papers contain multiple grammatical errors. Examples include “...volume of atmosphere within the within the hermetic container” and “...mass of seed and seed moisture content is much greater that the mass of dry air”; the former has “within the” repeated and the latter used “that” instead of “than.” Based on the multiple errors, I can say that the papers are not professionally edited.
Overall, Osmosis: The Molecular Theory may be an interesting book for people who are curious about how osmosis work, but it is hard to determine the validity of the author’s theory unless one is knowledgeable of the subject. I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. I can recommend this book to engineers and chemists who are focusing their work on osmosis.
