August Kundt - Assesment

Assesment

As an original worker, Kundt was especially successful in the domains of sound and light. In 1866, he developed a valuable method for the investigation of aerial waves within pipes, based on the fact that a finely divided powder, lycopodium for example, when dusted over the interior of a tube in which is established a vibrating column of air, tends to collect in heaps at the nodes, the distance between which can thus be ascertained. An extension of the method renders possible the determination of the velocity of sound in different gases. This experimental apparatus is called a Kundt's Tube. In 1876 at Strasbourg in collaboration with Emil Warburg, Kundt proved that mercury vapor is a monatomic gas. In light, Kundt's name is widely known for his inquiries in anomalous dispersion, not only in liquids and vapors, but even in metals, which he obtained in very thin films by means of a laborious process of electrolytic deposition upon platinized glass. He also carried out many experiments in magneto-optics, and succeeded in showing what Faraday had failed to detect, the rotation under the influence of magnetic force of the plane of polarization in certain gases and vapors.

Very interesting work was performed by A Kundt on plant physiology and clorophyl light frequencies absorption (Kundt's rule), centred around wavelengths of 6800A. This work may or may not have been complementary to E. Warburg work and theories. It was subsequently refined and expanded by R. Houston and O. Biermacher and others.