Sonochemistry and Sonoluminescence

Sonochemistry is studied primarily by chemists and sonoluminescence mainly by physicists, but a single physical phenomenon - acoustic cavitation - unites the two areas. The physics of cavitation bubble collapse, is relatively well understood by acoustical physicists but remains practically unknown to the chemists. By contrast, the chemistry that gives rise to electromagnetic emissions and the acceleration of chemical reactions is familiar to chemists, but practically unknown to acoustical physicists. It is just this knowledge gap that the present volume addresses.

The first section of the book addresses the fundamentals of cavitation, leading to a more extensive discussion of the fundamentals of cavitation bubble dynamics in section two. A section on single bubble sonoluminescence follows. The two following sections address the new scientific discipline of sonochemistry, and the volume concludes with a section giving detailed descriptions of the applications of sonochemistry.

The mixture of tutorial lectures and detailed research articles means that the book can serve as an introduction as well as a comprehensive and detailed review of these two interesting and topical subjects.