chemistry

Hillar Rootare

Hillar Rootare is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hillar Rootare rather than just read about it. In short: Hillar Muidar Rootare (26 April 1928 – 2 October 2008) was an Estonian-American physical chemist and materials scientist best known for his work in the development of mercury porosimetry, high pressure liquid chromatography, and formulation of the Rootare-Prenzlow Equation. Biography Rootare was born and raised in Tallinn, Estonia, emigrated from Estonia to Helsinki, Finland, in 1944, and later to Visby, on the Swed…

Key takeaways

Hillar Rootare belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hillar Rootare to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hillar Rootare from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Hillar Muidar Rootare (26 April 1928 – 2 October 2008) was an Estonian-American physical chemist and materials scientist best known for his work in the development of mercury porosimetry, high pressure liquid chromatography, and formulation of the Rootare-Prenzlow Equation.

Biography Rootare was born and raised in Tallinn, Estonia, emigrated from Estonia to Helsinki, Finland, in 1944, and later to Visby, on the Swedish island of Gotland, and immigrated to New York City in the United States from Sweden in 1946. He attended Jersey City Junior College and Wagner College on Staten Island, New York, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1973. He was displaced several times during and after World War II, and as a result he spoke several languages, including English, Estonian, Finnish, Swedish, as well as, to a lesser degree, German and Russian. Hillar Rootare was the nephew of Estonian chess player Vidrik Rootare, several of whose games against the world-renowned International Grand Master Paul Keres are published among Keres's most interesting games, and of Salme Rootare, a Women's International Master in chess, and 15-time Estonian women's chess champion, who once finished third in the world chess championship competition (1959). Hillar's middle name, Muidar, is radium spelled backwards—he was given the name because his father, Karl Johannes Rootare, also a chemist, was conducting some early experiments with radium and other radioactive materials around the time Hillar was born in 1928. Hillar's mother, Karin (Kangas) Rootare, was born in Narva, Estonia, and is of Ingrian-Finnish as well as Estonian descent. Rootare and Carl Prenzlow came up with the Rootare-Prenzlow Equation while in graduate school at the University of Michigan, in typical Estonian fashion over a late-night beer after working in the laboratory, working it out on cocktail napkins at Metzger's bar in Ann Arbor. Hillar, a former faculty member of the University of Michigan as well as a former student, was also a former president of the American Fine Particle Society (physics). He was an officer in the United States Air Force, and served in the Korean War as a navigator aboard a B-17 converted for reconnaissance. He married Norene (Kindstrand) Rootare since 1959. They live in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States, and have six children, Laura, Paul, Niel, Eva Marie, Lennart, and Margrethe. They also have relatives in Sweden and Estonia.

Publications Rootare is highly regarded in several areas, having published more than 100 papers and cited in hundreds more, but particularly so in the field of porosimetry, where he considered one of the foremost experts, and is one of the most widely published chemists in the United States. Examples of his published papers include:

Solubility-Product Phenomena in Hydroxyapatite-Water Systems, H.M. Rootare, V.R. Deitz, & F.G. Carpenter, 17 Journal of Colloid Science p. 179 (1962). Surface Areas from Mercury Porosimetry Measurements, Rootare, H.M., and Prenzlow, C.F., 71 Journal of Physical Chemistry p. 2733 (1967). A Review of Mercury Porosimetry, H.M. Rootare, 5 Perspectives in Powder Metallurgy 225, Advanced Experimental Techniques in Powder Metallurgy, Plenum Press (New York, London 1970). A Computer Program for Pore Volume and Pore Area Distribution, Rootare & Spencer, 6 Powder Technology, p. 17 (1972) Characterization of the Compaction and Sintering of Hydroxyapatite Powders by Mercury Porosimetry, H.M. Rootare, R.G. Craig, 9 Powder Technology p. 199 (1974). Thermal Analysis of Experimental and Commercial Gutta-Percha, H.M. Rootare, J.M. Powers, & R.L. Smith, 2 J. Endod. p. 244 (Aug. 1976). Vapor Phase Adsorption of Water on Hydroxyapatite, H.M. Rootare, R.G. Craig, 56 J. Dent Res. p. 1437 (Dec. 1977). Preparation of Ag/AgCl Electrodes, H.M. Rootare & J.M. Powers, 11 Journal of Biomedical Materials Research p. 633 (1977) Free Surface Energy Change for Water Adsorbed on Hydroxyapatite, H.M. Rootare, R.G. Craig, 56 J. Dent Res. p. 744 (Jul. 1977). Determination of Phase Transitions in Gutta-Percha by Differential Thermal Analysis, H.M. Rootare & J.M. Powers, 56 J. Dent. Res. 1453 (Dec. 1977). Sintered Hydroxyapatite Ceramic for Wear studies, H.M. Rootare, J.M. Powers, and R.G. Craig, 57 J. Dent. Res. p. 777 (1978). Characterization of Hydroxyapatite Powders and Compacts at Room Temperature and After Sintering at 1200 Degrees C., H.M. Rootare, R.G. Craig, 5 J. Or. Reh. p. 293 (1978). Wear of Composites by Abrasives of Varying Hardness, H.M. Rootare, J.M. Powers, and R.G. Craig, 58 J. Dent Res. p. 1097 (Mar. 1979).

References

External links Atlanta Journal-Constitution Obituary

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hillar Rootare

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hillar Rootare claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hillar Rootare before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hillar Rootare ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hillar Rootare

In research: Hillar Rootare appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hillar Rootare in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hillar Rootare is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1928 births, 2008 deaths, 20th-century American chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hillar Rootare outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hillar Rootare in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hillar Rootare means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hillar Rootare out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hillar Rootare in simple terms?

Why does Hillar Rootare matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hillar Rootare?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hillar Rootare.