Myth of the Machine

Lewis Mumford, The Myth of the Machine Technics and Human Development (New York Harcourt, Brace and World, 1967), 3. 

Mumford, L. (1967). The myth of the machine, Vol 2 The Pentagon of Power. New York Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.. 

A common myth about preparative column chromatography, virtually worshipped by less experienced chemists, is that the longa the column the better the separation. Very few exceptions aside, the opposite is the truth. Provided the column is well and uniformly packed, one has a beder chance to successfully resolve a complex mixture using the same amount of sUica gel in a reasonably fat, short column, onto which the sample can be applied as a thinner layer than would be the case using a longer, smaU-diameta column. Commercially available, machine-packed, disposable silica gel columns have... 

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