Date of Award

5-1935

Degree Type

Bachelors Essay

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Chemistry

First Advisor

Ernest F. Wallner

Second Advisor

Herbert Heinrich

Third Advisor

William J. Grace

Abstract

In the summer of 1932, the Milwaukee Public Museum, sent an expedition to the Bad Lands and Black Hills of South Dakota, under the direction of Dr. Ira Edwards, Curator of Geology in that institution. It was at this time that the author, a member of this group, while studying the pegmatites of the Black Hills, became interested in the tantalum-columbium bearing minerals of that region, namely tantalite and columbite. At that time the writer made a detailed mineralogical study of these two minerals, as well as a thorough investigation of their occurrence in that region. In the fall of that year, the author began a chemical investigation of the two minerals mentioned above, and a few specimens of samarskite from Mitchell Co., North Carolina. The latter were treated chiefly for their rare-earth content.

By this time, these two rare metals had already been introduced into the industrial field. Because of the high price of these metals, and their phenomenal properties, the author endeavored to make a more detailed study of their extraction at some time in the future. In accordance, the writer has made this the object of his thesis-work, and privilege of this paper. The author has isolated tantalum and columbium into such compounds from which the metallic elements could be prepared by electrolysis, and regrets that time did not permit him to prepare the metals themselves.

The first part of this paper deals with the mineralogy and occurrence of the minerals which the author has investigated, as well as those subsequently studied. The latter half embodies the chemistry of his earlier investigation and research of the past year. In the introduction, the author has included the history of the metal; their properties and uses in the industrial field. The work as a whole, though not complete in many respects represents a rather thorough treatment of the writer's purpose.

Comments

A Thesis Submitted to. the Faculty of the College of Liberal Arts, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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