The need for the use of coal as a source of energy presents an environmental problem of enormous scope and difficulty, and physicists can contribute much toward solving this problem. Both coal as a material and the technical processes employing coal present “dirty” problems. The fact is, however, that the complexities involved in this problem create possibilities and need for applied research of a high quality. For example, to minimize the pollution, recent developments often resort to indirect or elaborate means for extracting the energy content of coal.
REFERENCES
1.
A good reference for a number of the questions discussed in this article is Scientific Problems of Coal Utilization, Proceedings of the Institute on Scientific Problems Relevant to Coal Utilization, West Virginia University, May 1977 (Bernard R. Cooper, ed.), published by the Technical Information Center, Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tennessee (available from National Technical Information Service, US Department of Commerce, Springfield, Virginia 22161).
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P. E.
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I. S.
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R. T. Greer in Colloid and Interface Science (M. Kerker, ed.), Volume 5, Academic, New York (1976); page 411.
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J. B. Heywood, G. J. Womack, Open Cycle MHD Power Generation, Pergamon, Oxford (1969);
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C. K.
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S. T. Picraux, PHYSICS TODAY, October 1977, page 42.
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C. F.
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M. D. Aldridge, Proceedings of the World Electrotechnical Congress, Moscow, USSR, June 1977.
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C. A. Balanis, J. L. Jeffrey, Y. K. Yoon, to appear in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience Electronics (1978).
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1978
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