CC Cotton — Cytoskeleton Cotton A fiber obtained from the cotton plant Gossypium, of the order Malvales. It has been used for more than 3000 years. It is the most widely used natural fiber, because of its versatility and comparatively low cost to produce and to manufacture into finished prod- ucts. Cotton traditionally has been used alone in tex- tile products, but blends with artificial fibers have become increasingly important. See MALVALES; NAT- URAL FIBER; TEXTILE. Unlike most other fibers obtained from plants, the cotton fiber is a single elongated cell. Under the mi- croscope, it resembles a flattened, spirally twisted tube with a rough surface. The fiber cell has many convolutions, with a collapsed inner canal (lumen). Chemically, cotton is essentially pure cellulose. In its original state, cotton contains 3–5% natural waxes and gums, mostly in the outer wall of the cells. The natural waxes on the fiber surface act as a finish which facilitates spinning. Cotton is hygroscopic and contains 6–8% moisture under normal atmospheric conditions. See CELLULOSE. Cultivation and harvesting. To mature, cotton re- quires about 180 days of continuously warm weather with adequate moisture and sunlight; frost is harm- ful and may kill the plant. The ground must be thor- oughly plowed and the soil pulverized. In the United States, usually in March or April, carefully selected seeds are planted in rows. The plants require system- atic fertilization. When they are about 3 in. (7.5 cm) high, they are weeded and thinned. The plants begin to bloom in June or July, about 4 months after plant- ing. Creamy white flowers appear first, change to a reddish-purple in about 2 days, and then fall off, leaving seed pods that grow to full size by August or September. The cotton capsules or bolls must be protected against the boll weevil or other insects. See ENTOMOLOGY, ECONOMIC; FERTILIZER; FERTILIZ- ING; FLOWER; FRUIT; SEED. When fully grown, the cotton plant may be 3–6 ft (1–2 m) in height. Its wide green leaves partially con- ceal some of the bolls until they burst and expose the fleecy white fiber, which indicates that the cot- ton is ready for harvesting (Fig. 1). Not all cotton bolls open at the same time, but the ripening period has been shortened and pickings have been reduced to one or two. When the raw cotton is harvested, it contains seeds, leaf fragments, and dirt that must be removed before baling. The cotton seeds alone con- stitute approximately two-thirds of the weight of the picked cotton. Products and processing. When the bolls open, the fiber and seed, or “seed cotton,” is harvested mostly by machines. The fiber, or lint as it is then called, is separated from the seed by gins. The lint is com- pressed into bales, covered with jute bagging, and bound with metal bands for ease of handling. Bales weigh about 500 lb (225 kg) each. The seed (except Fig. 1. Open cotton boll ready to harvest. 2 Cotton Fig. 2. Productive field of open cotton. (K. Bilbrey, County Agent, Mississippi County, Arkansas) that portion needed for planting the next crop and for other farm uses) is transferred from the gins, usu- ally by trucks, to oil mills for processing. After baling, the lint is sampled, graded, and sold. The bales then pass through commercial channels and eventually reach cotton mills, where they are broken open and the lint is blended, cleaned, carded, and spun into yarns for many uses. In the oil mill processing indus- try, the cottonseed is separated into fuzz or linters, hulls, oil, and protein cake. Each of these products is converted to several subproducts. The oil and cake are the most valuable products. The oil subproducts are largely used as human food; the protein cake, either as cracked cake or ground meal, is used as livestock feed. Hulls are also fed to livestock, and the linters are converted into chemical cellulose. See AN- IMAL FEEDS; FAT AND OIL (FOOD). Distribution and production. The cotton plant is one of the world’s major agricultural crops. It is grown in all countries lying within a wide band around the Earth. The limits of this band in the New World are at about 37◦N latitude and at about 32◦S latitude. In the Old World the band spreads northward to 47◦N in the Ukraine, but only to about 30◦S in Africa and Australia. In addition to the effects of latitude, suit- ability of climate for the growth of cotton is also regulated by elevation, wind belts, ocean currents, and mountain ranges. As a result of the effects of these climatic factors, the topography of the land, the nature of the soil, and the availability of irriga- tion water when needed, cotton culture actually is carried out in an irregular and greatly extended world pattern. The regions of more intensive culture com- prise the Cotton Belt of the United States, the north- ern valleys of Mexico, India, West Pakistan, eastern China, Central Asia, Australia, the Nile River Valley, East Africa, South Africa, northeastern and southern Brazil, northern Argentina, and Peru. Stimulants to production. The United States has made three major contributions to world cotton pro- duction. These were the development of Upland cot- ton, the invention of the saw gin, and the develop- ment of knowledge of cotton culture. Upland cotton arose from an annual form of G. hirsutum native to the plateaus of southern Mexico. This species was introduced into what is now southern United States at different times from the colonial period to the first decade of the twen- tieth century. The name Upland is derived from the upland country in southeastern United States, where this stock was first grown commercially. This cotton was shipped to England under the name of American Upland. From the time of its early development as a crop in the American Cotton Belt, it has been very hardy and productive, and versatile in its many uses (Fig. 2). Upland production was handicapped at first by the difficulty of ginning. The seed coat has a tight covering of short fuzz hairs (Fig. 3). Only sawlike teeth can penetrate and remove the longer coat of lint from the seed and leave the fuzz behind with the seed coat undamaged. The saw gin, incorporating Fig. 3. Ginned seed of Upland cotton, showing dense and tight covering of short fuzz hairs on seed coat. (J. O. Ware, Journal of Heredity) Fig. 4. Modern cotton gin, showing the four stands and the accessory equipment for cleaning and conveying the cotton. (Murray Company of Texas) Cotton 3 Fig. 5. Planting cotton with a four-row tractor-propelled planter. (John Deere Co.) Fig. 6. Two-row, self-propelled cotton picker in operation. (International Harvester Co.) this principle, was gradually developed into the mod- ern gin plant (Fig. 4). In the history of cotton culture, simple but effi- cient farm tools were developed and the mule was generally the source of farm power. The cotton fields were well tilled, the weeds controlled, the cotton carefully picked by hand, and the best seed selected for the next crop. However, when mechanical power began to replace animal power, the United States quickly mechanized both the cultural and harvesting phases of cotton production. (Figs. 5 and 6). Great progress in research, plant breeding, technology, and mechanics paved the way for advancements when economic conditions were ready for their adoption. Upland cotton and some of the improvements made in handling this crop spread to most cotton-growing countries as they began commercial production. Up- land cotton provides about 85% of the world supply of raw cotton for factory use. See AGRICULTURAL SCI- ENCE (PLANT); BREEDING (PLANT). The other 15% of world production is supplied from three other cultivated species: G. barbadense, G. arboreum, and G. herbaceum. The extra-long staple type includes Egyptian, Tanguis, American- Pima, and Sea Island. Egyptian is grown in Egypt and the Sudan, Tanguis in Peru, American-Pima in south- western United States, and Sea Island in the West Indies. Sea Island cotton formerly was grown on islands and coastal areas of the southeastern United States. Gossypium arboreum and G. herbaceum are commonly referred to as Asiatic cottons and include the shortest-staple types of cultivated cottons. The growth of the former is largely confined to India and China and of the latter to Central Asia, west- ern India, and the Near East. The saw gins usually used for Upland cotton in other countries are sim- pler and carry less cleaning equipment than those used in the United States. Most other countries still employ much handwork in cotton culture; most of the crop is harvested by hand. Most commercial cottons are now annuals. How- ever, in the tropics some races of the regular culti- vated species are perennial. All cottons at one time were tropical and perennial. Wild cotton. Besides the four cultivated species, Gossypium includes about 30 wild and lintless species that are widely scattered and occur mostly in sparsely covered desert and tropical areas of the world. All of the wild species may ultimately be of plant breeding interest. Some of them already have been used in crosses to improve quality values in cultivated cottons. Elton G. Nelson Diseases. Pathogens may attack or invade the cot- ton plant through the roots or aboveground parts. Diseases reduce the yield potential 15 to 20%, and also have undesirable effects on quality of fiber and seed. Root diseases are caused by soil-borne organisms. Severity of disease is proportional to the number of infective pathogen propagules in soil and to the de- gree of susceptibility in varieties. Minimizing losses involves using resistant varieties and practices that reduce pathogen numbers in the soil. The seedling disease complex occurs wherever cotton is grown. Symptoms are seed rot, preemer- gence damping-off, postemergence damping-off, and damage to roots of plants that survive. The pri- mary organisms are the fungi Rhizoctonia solani, Pythium spp., Thielaviopsis basicola, and Glom- erella gossypii (Fig. 7), and the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita. Using high-quality seed treated with protectant fungicides is essential to the control of seedling 2 cm Fig. 7. Diseased cotton seedlings which have been affected by Glomerella gossypii. 4 Cotton 5 cm Fig. 8. Verticillium wilt of young cotton plant. diseases. Application of soil fungicides at planting is an additional practice that gives more effective control. Cotton varieties with resistance to seedling pathogens, preservation of seed quality, and with improved performance under early-season cool-wet conditions are now available. Although the wilt-inducing fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. vasinfectum or the root-knot nema- tode M. incognita (Fig. 9c) can damage cotton in single infections, losses due to double infections are greater. Management practices effective against both organisms must therefore be used. The most eco- nomical practice is the use of resistant varieties, but it is best to use resistant varieties and rotations with root-knot–resistant crops such as small grains, corn, sorghum, or some grasses. Verticillium wilt, caused by Verticillium alboa- trum, occurs in the cooler regions of the world (Fig. 8). Effective control can be achieved with integrated management. High populations of 25 to 30 plants per meter of row help reduce losses. Too much nitrogen causes wilt to be more severe. Serious losses are usually limited to irrigated cotton, cotton in high-rainfall regions, and in poorly drained areas of fields. Reducing the amount of irrigation water by one-third will often give higher yields. The wilt fungus survives as microsclerotia in the soil and in undecomposed plant debris. Resistant crops such as barley and sorghum in rotation with cotton have been effective in reducing the inoculum potential. Many resistant varieties are available, and their use, along with other practices that reduce disease sever- ity, gives effective control. Root rot, caused by Phymatotrichum omnivo- rum, occurs in alkaline soils in the southwestern and western regions of the United States and in Mexico. The soil in infested areas has more sclerotia, lower bacterial populations, less organic matter, and less sodium than other soils. Control depends on reduc- ing sclerotia production and preventing survival of the fungus between cropping seasons. Burial of barnyard manure or residues of such legumes as Hubam clover and winter peas helps con- trol the disease. Turning the upper 8–12 in. (20 to 30 cm) of soil with a moldboard plow a few days after harvesting a crop of cotton reduces sclerotia production. Rotation of cotton with grain crops also helps to keep numbers of sclerotia low. Planting early in the season with fast-maturing va- rieties permits early boll set and maturation of the crop before soil temperatures reach levels for the pathogen to become highly active. Restoration of sodium to a level equal to that in noninfested soil prevents production of new sclerotia, and is now being used for control. Best control comes from using short-season management with practices that reduce sclerotia production and survival. Diseases of aboveground plant parts may be caused by bacteria or fungi. These organisms may survive in undecomposed plant debris, on alterna- tive hosts, or in and on seed. Sanitation of planting- seed and shredding and burial of residues from a cot- ton crop reduce the ability of foliage pathogens to survive the winter. Bacterial blight, caused by Xanthomonas mal- vacearum, affects all plant parts and occurs wher- ever cotton is grown (Fig. 9a and b). The bac- terium survives in and on seed and as dried exudates on undecomposed plant debris. Chemical delinting 2 cm 2 cm 5 cm (a) (b) (c) Fig. 9. Bacterial blight on cotton plant. (a) Bacterial blight lesions on bolls. (b) Bacterial blight lesions on leaves. (c) Root-knot galls on cotton roots. Cotton effect 5 removes the bacterium from the seed surface, but no treatment is available for eliminating internal trans- mission. Using seed from disease-free fields ensures no transmission. Management to ensure debris de- composition eliminates crop residue as a means of transmission. Varieties with high horizontal resis- tance to the 18 races of the pathogen are available for many cotton-growing regions of the world. Boll rot may be caused by a number of fungi, bac- teria, or yeasts. Some, such as G. gossypii and X. malvacearum, are primary pathogens. Many gain entrance through natural openings such as boll su- tures and nectaries; others enter through wounds caused by insects or primary pathogens. Control hinges on using practices that reduce in- oculum densities and promote dryness within the leaf canopy. Varieties with okra-shaped leaves and frego bracts (which are strap-shaped leaves) are sig- nificant in reducing boll rot. Sanitation should be practiced to reduce transmission on seed and sur- vival of organisms on debris. See PLANT PATHOLOGY. Luther S. Bird Bibliography. M. E. Selsom, Cotton, 1982; G. M. Watkins, A Compendium of Cotton Diseases, Amer- ican Phytopathology Society, 1981. Cotton effect The characteristic wavelength dependence of the optical rotatory dispersion curve or the circular dichroism curve or both in the vicinity of an absorp- tion band. When an initially plane-polarized light wave tra- verses an optically active medium, two principal ef- fects are manifested: a change from planar to elliptic polarization, and a rotation of the major axis of the el- lipse through an angle relative to the initial direction of polarization. Both effects are wavelength depen- dent. The first effect is known as circular dichro- ism, and a plot of its wavelength (or frequency) dependence is referred to as a circular dichroism (CD) curve. The second effect is called optical ro- tation and, when plotted as a function of wave- length, is known as an optical rotatory dispersion (ORD) curve. In the vicinity of absorption bands, both curves take on characteristic shapes, and this behavior is known as the Cotton effect, which may be either positive or negative (Fig. 1). There is a Cot- 0 (a) + _ CD ORD rotation or ellipticity rotation or ellipticity ORD + 0 _ (b) CD λ0 λ λ λ0 Fig. 1. Behavior of the ORD and CD curves in the vicinity of an absorption band at wavelength λ0 (idealized). (a) Positive Cotton effect. (b) Negative Cotton effect. rotation peak peak to trough rotation ellipticity half width 0 _ + (b) trough (a) + 0 _ Fig. 2. Curves used to determine relative rotatory intensities. (a) Partial ORD curve. (b) Partial CD curve. ton effect associated with each absorption process, and hence a partial CD curve or partial ORD curve is associated with each particular absorption band or process. See OPTICAL ROTATORY DISPERSION; POLAR- IZED LIGHT. Measurements. Experimental results are com- monly reported in either of two sets of units, termed specific and molar (or molecular). The specific ro- tation [α] is the rotation in degrees produced by a 1-decimeter path length of material containing 1 g/ml of optically active substance, and the specific ellipticity θ is the ellipticity in degrees for the same path length and same concentration. Molar rotation [ϕ] (sometimes [M]) and molar ellipticity [θ] are de- fined by Eqs. (1) and (2). For comparisons among [ϕ] = [α]M/100 (1) [θ] = θM/100 (2) different compounds, the molar quantities are more useful, since they allow direct comparison on a mole- for-mole basis. The ratio of the area under the associated partial CD curve to the wavelength of the CD maximum is a measure of the rotatory intensity of the absorption process. Moreover, for bands appearing in roughly the same spectral region and having roughly the same half-width (Fig. 2), the peak-to-trough rotation of the partial ORD curve is roughly proportional to the wavelength-weighted area under the correspond- ing partial CD curve. In other words, relative rotatory intensities can be gaged from either the pertinent partial ORD curves or pertinent partial CD curves. A convenient quantitative measure of the rotatory intensity of an absorption process is the rotational strength. The rotational strength Ri of the ith transi- tion, whose partial molar CD curve is [θi (λ)], is given by relation (3). Ri ≈ 6.96 × 10−43 � ∞ 0 [θi(λ)] λ dλ (3) Molecular structure. The rotational strengths actu- ally observed in practice vary over quite a few orders of magnitude, from ∼10−38 down to 10−42 cgs and less; this variation in magnitude is amenable to stere- ochemical interpretation. In this connection it is use- ful to classify optically active chromophores, which are necessarily dissymmetric, in terms of two limiting types: the inherently dissymmetric chromophore, and the inherently symmetric but dissymmetrically perturbed chromophore. See OPTICAL ACTIVITY. 6 Coulomb excitation A symmetric chromophore is one whose inherent geometry has sufficiently high symmetry so that the isolated chromophoric group is superimposable on its mirror image, for example, the carbonyl group \\ //C O. The transitions of such a chromophore can become optically active, that is, exhibit a Cotton ef- fect, only when placed in a dissymmetric molecular environment. Thus, in symmetrical formaldehyde, H2C O, the carbonyl transitions are optically inac- tive; in ketosteroids, where the extrachromophoric portion of the molecule is dissymmetrically disposed relative to the symmetry planes of the \\ //C O group, the transitions of the carbonyl group exhibit Cotton effects. In such instances the signed magnitude of the rotational strength will depend both upon the chemical nature of the extrachromophoric perturb- ing atoms and their geometry relative to that of the inherently symmetric chromophore. In a sense, the chromophore functions as a molecular probe for searching out the chemical dissymmetries in the ex- trachromophoric portion of the molecule. The type of optical activity just described is asso- ciated with the presence of an asymmetric carbon (or other) atom in a molecule. The asymmetric atom serves notice to the effect that, if an inherently sym- metric chromophore is present in the molecule, it is almost assuredly in a dissymmetric environment, and hence it may be anticipated that its erstwhile op- tically inactive transitions will exhibit Cotton effects. Moreover, the signed magnitude of the associated ro- tational strengths may be interpreted in terms of the stereochemistry of the extrachromophoric environ- ment, as compared with that of the chromophore. But an asymmetric atom is not essential for the ap- pearance of optical activity. The inherent geometry of the chromophore may be of sufficiently low sym- metry so that the isolated chromophore itself is chi- ral, that is, not superimposable on its mirror image, for example, in hexahelicene. In such instances the transitions of the chro- mophore can manifest optical activity even in the absence of a dissymmetric environment. In addi- tion, it is very often true that the magnitudes of the rotational strengths associated with inherently dis- symmetric chromophores will be one or more or- ders of magnitude greater (∼10−38 cgs, as opposed to <10−39 cgs) than those associated with inher- ently symmetric chromophores. In the spectral re- gions of the transitions of the inherently dissymmet- ric chromophore, it will be the sense of handedness of the chromophore itself that will determine the sign of the rotational strength, rather than perturba- tions due to any dissymmetric environment in which the inherently dissymmetric chromophore may be situated. The sense of handedness of an inherently dissym- metric chromophore may be of considerable signif- icance in determining the absolute configuration or conformations of the entire molecule containing that chromophore. Accordingly, the absolute configura- tion or conformation can often be found by focus- ing attention solely on the handedness of the chro- mophore itself. For example, in the chiral molecule CH3 3 4 2 1 H Fig. 3. Structural formula of (+)-trans-9-methyl-1,4,9,10- tetrahydronaphthalene. 2 4 1 1 4 2 3 (a) (b) 3 Fig. 4. Schematic representation of the twisted diene chromophore showing the two possible handednesses; the numbering is as indicated in Fig. 3. (a) Right-handed. (b) Left-handed. shown in Fig. 3 there is a one-to-one correspon- dence between the sense of helicity of the nonplanar diene chromophore present and the absolute con- figuration at the asymmetric carbon atoms. Hence there exists a one-to-one correspondence between the handedness of the diene and the absolute con- figuration of the molecule. Since it is known that a right-handed diene helix (Fig. 4) associates a pos- itive rotational strength with the lowest diene sin- glet transition in the vicinity of 260 nanometers, by examination of the pertinent experimental Cotton effect (positive), the absolute configuration of the molecule is concluded to be as shown. Other examples of inherently dissymmetric chro- mophores are provided by the helical secondary structures of proteins and polypeptides. Here the inherent dissymmetry of the chromophoric system arises through a coupling of the inherently symmet- ric monomers, which are held in a comparatively fixed dissymmetric disposition relative to each other through internal hydrogen bonding. The sense of he- licity is then related to the signs of the rotational strengths of the coupled chromophoric system. The destruction of the hydrogen bonding destroys the or- dered dissymmetric secondary structure, and there is a concomitant decrease in the magnitude of the observed rotational strengths. Albert Moscowitz Bibliography. E. Charney, The Molecular Basis of Optical Activity, 1975, reprint 1985; S. F. Mason, Molecular Optical Activity and the Chiral Discrim- inations, 1982. Coulomb excitation Nuclear excitation caused by the time-dependent long-ranged electric field acting between colliding nuclei. Theoretically, the Coulomb force between the positively charged colliding nuclei is well un- derstood, and the interaction is exactly calcula- ble. Coulomb excitation usually is the dominant re- action in nuclear scattering, and even occurs at low bombarding energies where the separation of Coulomb excitation 7 the nuclei is sufficiently large that the short- ranged nuclear force does not act. See COULOMB’S LAW. Coulomb excitation plays a vital role in probing the response of both shape and volume collective modes of motion as well as the interplay of single-particle degrees of freedom of the nuclear many-body system. The goal of this work is to develop better models of nuclear structure and to elucidate the underlying nuclear force. Collective nuclear modes of motion. The residual in- teraction between nucleons bound in the nucleus leads to coherent collective modes of motion of the nuclear surface and volume. Such coherent motion of many nucleons in the nucleus is of considerable interest in understanding the physics of many-body quantal systems. Collective rotation and vibration of deformed shapes of the nuclear surface is a domi- nant and ubiquitous feature of the low-lying structure in nuclei. Quite separate from these low-lying sur- face collective modes are volume collective modes that lead to high-frequency giant resonances at 10– 30 MeV in excitation energy. The nuclear charge of the nucleons involved in this coherent motion pro- duces considerably enhanced electromagnetic prop- erties for collective nuclear states. The electric mul- tipole moments of the nuclear states are a direct and sensitive measure of nuclear deformation. For exam- ple, the electric quadrupole moments are a direct measure of quadrupole deformation, such as football- shaped deformation; the electric octupole moments are sensitive to octupole deformation, such as pear shapes; while electric hexadecapole moments are sensitive to more complicated hexadecapole-shaped deformation. See GIANT NUCLEAR RESONANCES; NU- CLEAR MOMENTS. The considerable importance of Coulomb excita- tion lies in the fact that it is the preeminent probe of collective-shape degrees of freedom in nuclei. That is, Coulomb excitation selectively populates modes of motion of the collective shape with cross sections that are a direct and sensitive measure of the electric moments, and these electric moments can be mea- sured with considerable precision since the electro- magnetic interaction is exactly calculable. One-step and multistep excitation. Coulomb excita- tion was first observed in the 1950s and played a pivotal role in showing that many nuclei have pro- late deformation like a football. The initial experi- ments used beams of protons or alpha particles for which the electromagnetic interaction is weak and only simple one-step excitation occurs. The intro- duction of high-atomic-number (high-Z) projectiles dramatically advanced exploitation of Coulomb exci- tation. With such projectiles, the electromagnetic ex- citation probability for surface modes can approach unity and multistep excitation dominates, leading to the population of excited states with up to 34 units of angular momentum. Such multistep Coulomb ex- citation can determine the electromagnetic proper- ties of many low-lying collective states in a nucleus, making it a powerful probe of collective motion in nuclear structure. See ALPHA PARTICLES; PROTON. Technical advances. Three technical advances have greatly enhanced the power of Coulomb ex- citation as a probe of nuclear structure. The first is the development of heavy-ion accelerators that can provide copious beams of stable nuclear isotopes throughout the periodic table, including high-Z pro- jectiles such as uranium (Z = 92). Also, radioactive beam facilities are being built that expand the arse- nal of beams to include unstable nuclear species. The second advance is the fabrication of arrays of large intrinsic-germanium high-resolution gamma-ray de- tectors that surround the target. These have high de- tection efficiency and extremely high sensitivity for resolving the gamma rays emitted during the subse- quent decay of excited states populated by multiple Coulomb excitation. In addition, large-solid-angle ar- rays of heavy-ion detectors are used to detect the coincident scattered ions and to determine unam- biguously the nuclei excited and the scattering tra- jectories. The third advance is the development of a Coulomb excitation least-squares search computer code that makes it possible to extract the hundreds of electromagnetic matrix elements that couple the many states excited in multiple Coulomb exci- tation. These advances allow population and study of complete sets of states for low-lying collective bands in a nucleus. Coulomb excitation has allowed de- tailed mapping of the collective-shape degrees of freedom in nuclei. The moments of inertia of collec- tive rotation bands are derived from the excitation energies, while the nuclear shapes are derived from the electric moments. See GAMMA-RAY DETECTORS; PARTICLE ACCELERATOR. Studies of low-lying modes. Coulomb excitation has produced a wealth of information on low-lying collective-shape degrees of freedom in nuclei. It has allowed study of rotational bands up to high angu- lar momentum in nuclei that are not easily popu- lated by other reaction mechanisms, such as neutron- rich stable nuclei, transuranic nuclei, and radioactive neutron-rich nuclei produced at radioactive beam facilities. Such studies have shown that collective motion is richer than early theoretical models had suggested. In many nuclei, Coulomb excitation has identified complete sets of states in rotational bands that result from rotation of football shapes with axis ratios of about 1.5 to 1. These strongly deformed prolate quadrupole shapes have electric quadrupole transition strengths that are over 200 times greater than those produced by a single proton. Other col- lective nuclear states have been found correspond- ing to the rotation and vibration of nearly oblate quadrupole deformed shapes, but where all three spatial axes of the nuclear shape differ in length. Collective states attributed to both one and two units of quadrupole or octupole vibration have been dis- covered. More complicated motion, such as bands of states corresponding to pear-shaped octupole vibration about rotating prolate deformed shapes, have been studied. Coexistence of rotational- vibrational bands having very different deformation also has been discovered in certain nuclei. These 8 Coulomb explosion observations are being used to refine models of nu- clear structure. Studies of giant resonances. The above studies in- volve Coulomb excitation of low-lying rotational and vibrational collective surface modes. Scattering of much faster heavy ions at very small scattering an- gles can lead to distances of closest approach that still are large enough to ensure that the interac- tion is dominated by the electromagnetic interac- tion. The shorter electromagnetic impulse in such fast Coulomb excitation makes it possible to excite the high-frequency collective volume modes, that is, giant resonances. Fast Coulomb excitation has been used to map giant resonances corresponding to both in-phase and out-of-phase vibrations of the protons and neutrons as well as double-phonon giant resonances. These studies elucidate the interplay of collective and single-particle degrees of freedom in nuclear structure. See NUCLEAR STRUCTURE; SCAT- TERING EXPERIMENTS (NUCLEI). Douglas Cline Bibliography. K. Alder and A. Winther, Electromag- netic Excitation: Theory of Coulomb Excitation with Heavy Ions, 1975; T. Aumann, P. F. Bortignon, and H. Emling, Multiphonon giant resonances in nu- clei, Annu. Rev. Nucl. Part. Sci., 48:351–399, 1998; D. Cline, Collective modes studied by Coulomb ex- citation, Acta Physica Polonica B, 30:1291–1308, 1999; D. Cline, Nuclear shapes studied by Coulomb excitation, Annu. Rev. Nucl. Part. Sci., 36:683–716, 1986. Coulomb explosion A process in which a molecule moving with high velocity strikes a solid and the electrons that bond the molecule are torn off rapidly in violent colli- sions with the electrons of the solid; as a result, the molecule is suddenly transformed into a clus- ter of charged atomic constituents that then sepa- rate under the influence of their mutual Coulomb repulsion. The initial velocity of the molecule is typ- ically greater than 3 × 106 ft/s (106 m/s), and it takes on the order of 10−17 s for electrons to be torn off the molecule. Typically, it takes about 10−15 s for the initial Coulomb potential energy of the cluster to be converted into kinetic energy as the charged fragments recede from one another. See COULOMB’S LAW. Coulomb explosions are most commonly studied using a particle accelerator, normally employed in nuclear physics research (Van de Graaff generator, cyclotron, and so forth), to produce a beam of fast molecular ions that are directed onto a solid-foil tar- get. The Coulomb explosion of the molecular projec- tiles begins within the first few tenths of a nanometer of penetration into the foil, continues during pas- sage of the projectiles through the foil, and runs to completion after emergence of the projectiles into the vacuum downstream from the foil. Detectors lo- cated downstream make precise measurements of the energies and charges of the molecular fragments together with their angles of emission relative to the beam direction. The Coulomb explosion causes the fragment velocities to be shifted in both magnitude and direction from the beam velocity. The corre- sponding shifts in energy and angle are small, but if the foil target is thin (approximately 10 nm) and of light material (for example, carbon), the blurring effects of energy-loss straggling and multiple scat- tering in the foil can be kept small relative to the Coulomb explosion effects. See CHARGED PARTICLE BEAMS; PARTICLE ACCELERATOR. Consider a beam of 3-MeV HeH+ ions incident on a 10-nm-thick carbon foil. Upon striking the foil, each projectile produces a 2.4-MeV alpha particle and a 600-keV proton separated by about 80 picometers (the bond length for HeH+). The Coulomb explo- sion causes the separation to grow to about 100 pm during traversal of the foil. Downstream, the frag- ments achieve asymptotic shifts in energy and angle that are determined by the initial orientation of the molecule. The maximum energy shift (±8.4 keV) is obtained when the internuclear vector in the projec- tile is parallel to the beam direction. There is then no angular shift. The sign of the energy shift for a given fragment depends on whether it is leading or trailing its partner. If the internuclear vector is perpendicu- lar to the beam, the maximum angular shift (0.4◦ for the proton, 0.1◦ for the alpha particle) is achieved, and there is no shift in energy. A joint distribution in energy and angle of protons from similar disso- ciations (with a 19.5-nm-thick foil) is shown in the illustration. The width of the “rim” reflects vari- ations in the internuclear distance of the incident molecular ions due to their vibrational motion. Coulomb explosion experiments of this type serve two main purposes. First, they yield valuable infor- mation on the interactions of fast ions with solids. For example, it is known that a fast ion generates a polar- ization wake that trails behind it as it traverses a solid. This wake can be studied in detail by using diatomic molecular-ion beams, since the motion of a trailing fragment is influenced not only by the Coulomb ex- plosion but also by the wake of its partner (rather like the way a boat is affected by the wake of an- other in front of it). The nonuniform distribution of intensity around the ring in the illustration can be ac- counted for quantitatively in terms of forces due to the polarization wakes. Second, Coulomb-explosion angular shift, milliradians −5.5 0 5.5 11.0 591.0 600.0 energy, keV 609.0 Joint distribution in energy and angle for protons from the dissociation of 3-MeV HeH+ ions incident on a 19.5-nm- thick carbon foil. Coulometer 9 techniques can be used to determine the stereo- chemical structures of molecular-ion projectiles. For example, with this method it was demonstrated ex- perimentally for the first time that the H3+ molecule is equilateral-triangular. See ELECTRON WAKE; MOLEC- ULAR STRUCTURE AND SPECTRA; STEREOCHEMISTRY. Donald S. Gemmell Coulomb’s law For electrostatics, Coulomb’s law states that the di- rect force F of point charge q1 on point charge q2, when the charges are separated by a distance r in free space, is given by F = k0q1q2/r2, where k0 is a constant of proportionality whose value depends on the units used for measuring F, q, and r. It is the basic quantitative law of electrostatics. In the Inter- national System (SI) of units, k0 = 1/(4πϵ0), where ϵ0 is called the permittivity of empty space and has the value 8.85 × 10−12 farad/m. Thus, Coulomb’s law is as in the equation below where q1 and q2 are expressed F = 1 4πϵ0 q1q2 r2 in coulombs, r is expressed in meters, and F is given in newtons. See ELECTRICAL UNITS AND STANDARDS. The direction of F is along the line of centers of the point charges q1 and q2. The force is one of at- traction if the charges are opposite in sign and one of repulsion if the charges have the same sign. For a statement of Coulomb’s law as applied to point mag- net poles. See MAGNETOSTATICS. Experiments have shown that the exponent of r in the equation is very accurately the number 2. Ernest (Lord) Rutherford’s experiments, in which he scat- tered alpha particles by atomic nuclei, showed that the equation is valid for charged particles of nuclear dimensions down to separations of about 10−12 cm. Nuclear experiments have shown that the forces be- tween charged particles do not obey the equation for separations smaller than this. The direct force that one charged particle exerts on another is unaffected by the presence of addi- tional charge and, in any electrostatic system, the equation gives this direct force between q1 and q2 under any conditions of charge configuration, includ- ing that in which intervening and surrounding matter is present and the molecules of the matter are polar- ized so that their charges contribute to this configu- ration. The total force on any one charge, say q1, is the vector sum of the separate direct forces on q1 due to q2, q3, q4, and so on, each force computed sepa- rately by use of the equation as if all other charges were absent. The permittivity ϵ of a medium is defined by ϵ = ϵrϵ0, where ϵr is the relative permittivity of the medium. It was formerly known also as the relative dielectric constant or specific inductive capacity. See PERMITTIVITY. If two free point charges q1 and q2 are immersed in an infinite homogeneous isotropic dielectric, the total force on one of them, say q1, is given by F = q1q2/(4πϵr2) and the use of ϵ (in place of ϵ0) takes proper account of the forces on q1 due to the polarization charges of the dielectric molecules. See ELECTRIC CHARGE; ELECTROSTATICS. Ralph P. Winch Bibliography. B. I. Bleaney and B. Bleaney, Electric- ity and Magnetism, 3d ed., 1989; Coulomb’s Law Committee, Amer. J. Phys., 18:6–11, 1950; E. M. Pugh and E. W. Pugh, Principles of Electricity and Magnetism, 2d ed., 1976; E. M. Purcell, Electricity and Magnetism, Berkeley Physics Course, vol. 2, 2d ed., 1985. Coulometer Electrolysis cell in which a product is obtained with 100% efficiency as a result of an electrochemical reac- tion. The quantity of electricity, that is, the number of coulombs of electricity (Q), can be determined very accurately by weighing the product that is deposited on an electrode in the course of the electrochemical reaction. The relationship between the weight of the product formed in the coulometer and the quantity of electricity used is given by Faraday’s laws of elec- trolysis. When a constant current of i amperes flows through the electrolyte in the coulometer for t sec- onds, the number of coulombs passed is given by Eq. (1). If the current varies in the course of the Q = it (1) electrolysis, the simple current-time product in Eq. (1) is replaced by the current-time integral, Eq. (2). When Q coulombs of electricity are passed Q = � t 0 i dt (2) through the electrolyte, the weight in grams of the material that is deposited on the electrode (w) is given by Eq. (3), where n is the number of electrons w = QM Fn (3) transferred per mole of material deposited, M is its molecular weight, and F is the Faraday constant, 96,487 ± 1.6 coulombs. Equation (3) is fundamental in coulometry and is a mathematical statement of Faraday’s laws. This equa- tion is used for the accurate determination of Q, the current-time integral, by weighing or measuring a product that is formed at an electrode by an elec- trochemical reaction that occurs with 100% current efficiency. The electrolysis cell that is used for this purpose is a coulometer. Only a few electrode reactions proceed with the 100% current efficiency that is required for the use of Eq. (3). The deposition of silver or copper (in a sil- ver or copper coulometer), the evolution of oxygen and hydrogen (in a gas coulometer), and the oxida- tion of iodide to iodine (in an iodine coulometer) are examples of electrode reactions that have been successfully employed. One coulomb of electricity will deposit 1.1180 mg of silver at the cathode in 10 Countercurrent exchange (biology) − + platinum crucible cathode pure silver anode silver nitrate solution porous cup Fig. 1. Silver coulometer. The porous cup catches particles of silver that fall off the anode. anode of platinum-iridium foil cathode of platinum-iridium foil potassium iodide solution filling tubes + − Fig. 2. Iodine coulometer. a silver coulometer (Fig. 1) or liberate 1.315 mg of iodine at the anode in an iodine coulometer (Fig. 2). Although these classical chemical coulome- ters are capable of measuring the quantity of elec- tricity with high precision and accuracy, their use is time-consuming and inconvenient; and they have been largely replaced by operational amplifier inte- grator circuits or digital circuits that display in a di- rect readout the number of coulombs passed dur- ing electrolysis. See ELECTROCHEMICAL EQUIVALENT; ELECTROLYSIS. Quintus Fernando Bibliography. S. A. Borman (ed.), Instrumentation in Analytical Chemistry, 1982; B. G. Liptak, Ana- lytical Instrumentation, 1994; G. W. Milner and G. Phillips, Coulometry in Analytical Chemistry, 1968. Countercurrent exchange (biology) Engineers have known for decades that efficient, almost complete heat or other exchange could be achieved between two fluids flowing in opposite di- rections in separate tubes. Such countercurrent sys- tems have been “invented” numerous times by liv- ing organisms for all types of exchange function. They are most commonly found in the circulatory, respiratory, and excretory (kidney) systems, serving in heat, oxygen, and ion exchange. Biological coun- tercurrent systems can be classified into two main types: downhill exchanges and hairpin multipliers. In both cases, the basic mechanism is the same— exchange of substance between fluids flowing in op- posite directions—but the consequences are very different. Downhill exchanges. These countercurrent sys- tems are commonest in the circulatory system where their morphological structure is a rete mirabile (a wonderful net) of closely apposed sets of small arteries and veins. They are also found in gills of fish and in the minute air tubules of the avian lung. The principle of downhill exchanges is simple, as shown in Fig. 1. Fluids flow in opposite directions in sep- arate tubes with the possibility of exchange, for ex- ample, heat flow or diffusion of oxygen, between them. The fluid entering one tube is warmest at that end, while that entering the second tube is coolest at the other end. Heat flows from higher to lower temperature. As heat flows from the warmer to the cooler tube, the fluid in the warmer tube cools down slightly and moves down along the tube. But as the slightly cooler fluid has moved further, it comes into contact with still cooler fluid in the second tube, and additional heat flow can occur. Thus, as the warmer fluid flows down the tube, it constantly loses heat, but always comes into contact with even cooler fluid in the second tube; the reverse is true for the initially cool fluid as it receives heat and warms up. Although the temperature differential between the two fluids is small at any point along the length of the coun- tercurrent system, almost all the heat contained in the warmer tube is transferred to the cooler tube. Exchange of heat or oxygen occurs by passive diffu- sion. Most of the heat that entered the countercur- rent system at one end leaves the system at the same end. Retia of blood vessels thus serve as thermal iso- lating mechanisms within the body. They are found in appendages of mammals and birds (for example, temperature hot cool distance (a) heat flow fluid fluid cool heat flow heat flow 0 10 8 7 7 6 6 4 2 1 1 3 5 0 - hot (b) 10 9 9 8 Fig. 1. Downhill exchange countercurrent system. (a) Graph showing the relationship between distance and temperature in a downhill system. (b) Schematic showing the two tubes carrying hot fluid and cool fluid and the mechanism by which heat exchange takes place. Countercurrent transfer operations 11 whale flippers, the tail of beavers, and legs of gulls) to prevent excessive heat loss from these uninsulated parts. In reverse, masses of warm muscles in rapidly swimming fish, such as mackerel, tuna, and the mako shark, are isolated from the rest of the body and the gills, where heat loss would occur, by sets of retia. In desert mammals a rete located between the veins draining evaporating (that is, cooling) surfaces and the carotid artery cools the arterial blood before it reaches the brain. Downhill exchange systems in the gills of fish and in the air tubules of birds permit maximum ex- change of oxygen from the environment into the blood. Blood in respiratory capillaries flows against the water or air current and thus can pick up most of the oxygen contained in the external fluid. The ad- vantage of downhill exchangers is that they achieve greater efficiency without extra energy cost simply by arranging flow in a countercurrent rather than in a concurrent fashion. Hairpin multipliers. These exchange systems take their name from the structure of the tubes, which have a hairpin turn between the afferent (descend- ing) and the efferent (ascending) limbs. Hairpin countercurrent systems are found in the nephron (the loop of Henle) of the kidney and in the capil- lary system of the gas gland in the swim bladder of many fish. In contrast to downhill systems, which op- erate by passive transport, hairpin multipliers must employ active transport of materials. These are al- ways materials pumped out of the efferent limb of the system. Operation of a hairpin multiplier, such as the loop of Henle, is shown in Fig. 2. As the kidney filtrate flows down the afferent limb and up the efferent tubular flow collecting duct loop of Henle concentrated urine H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O 100 300 500 700 900 1100 1200 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 Na+ Na+ Fig. 2. Hairpin multiplier countercurrent system (loop of Henle of nephron). limb, sodium ions (Na+) are actively transported out of the efferent limb. The sodium diffuses back into the afferent limb and is carried once again around the hairpin turn, together with additional sodium that constantly enters the system via the afferent limb. Continual active transport of sodium along the en- tire length of the efferent limb and its diffusion back into the afferent limb will result in the accumulation of sodium at the bottom of the loop and in the sur- rounding interstitial fluid, and in the establishment of a steep osmotic gradient from the top to the bottom of the hairpin system. Yet at no point within this multiplier mechanism are individual cells exposed to excessive osmotic pressure. The steep gradient of osmotic pressure is used for final concentration of the urine as it passes down the collecting ducts. As water is drawn from the urine by the osmotic pres- sure of the interstitial fluid, the more concentrated urine passes into an area of even greater osmotic pressure—an example of downhill exchange. Thus, both types of countercurrent systems operate in the kidney to recover water from the urine. Desert mam- mals improve their water-conserving abilities by sim- ply increasing the length of the loop of Henle; hence the strength of the osmotic pressure at the lower end of the hairpin is also increased. The hairpin multiplier in the gas gland of the swim bladder of deep-sea marine fish serves to concentrate oxygen. Lactic acid is produced in the gas gland lo- cated at the bend of the hairpin capillaries and se- creted into the blood. Lactic acid drives oxygen from hemoglobin faster than it can recombine with the hemoglobin molecule. The oxygen diffuses out of the efferent limb and into the afferent limb. With the constant addition of oxygen by arterial blood in the efferent limb, a very steep concentration gradient in- crease of over 1000-fold is achieved, thereby filling the swim bladder with gaseous oxygen against the great water pressures at depth of 330 ft (1000 m) or more. See KIDNEY; RESPIRATORY SYSTEM; SWIM BLAD- DER. Walter J. Bock Bibliography. C. L. Prosser (ed.), Comparative An- imal Physiology, 4th ed., 1991; K. Schmidt-Nielsen, Animal Physiology: Adaptation and Environment, 5th ed., 1997; K. Schmidt-Nielsen et al. (eds.), Prim- itive Mammals, 1980. Countercurrent transfer operations Industrial processes in chemical engineering or lab...