Creative Chemistry - Free Audiobook
1/17introduction
Creative Chemistry
CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV
Spring's "Non-Technical Talks on Iron and Steel" (Stokes) is a model of popular science writing, clear, comprehensive and abundantly illustrated. Tilden's "Chemical Discovery in the Twentieth Century" must here again be referred to. The Encyclopedia Britannica is convenient for reference on the various metals mentioned; see the article on "Lighting" for the Welsbach burner. The annual "Mineral Resources of the United States, Part I," contains articles on the newer metals by Frank W. Hess; see "Tungsten" in the volume for 1914, also Bulletin No. 652, U.S. Geological Survey, by same author. Foote-Notes, the house organ of the Foote Mineral Company, Philadelphia, gives information on the rare elements. Interesting advertising literature may be obtained from the Titantium Alloy Manufacturing Company, Niagara Falls, N.Y.; Duriron Castings Company, Dayton, O.; Buffalo Foundry and Machine Company, Buffalo, N.Y., manufacturers of "Buflokast" acid-proof apparatus, and similar concerns. The following additional references may be useful: Stellite alloys in Jour. Ind. & Eng. Chem., v. 9, p. 974; Rossi's work on titantium in same journal, Feb., 1918; Welsbach mantles in Journal Franklin Institute, v. 14, p. 401, 585; pure alloys in Trans. Amer. Electro-Chemical Society, v. 32, p. 269; molybdenum in Engineering, 1917, or Scientific American Supplement, Oct. 20, 1917; acid-resisting iron in Sc. Amer. Sup., May 31, 1919; ferro-alloys in Jour. Ind. & Eng. Chem., v. 10, p. 831; influence of vanadium, etc., on iron, in Met. Chem. Eng., v. 15, p. 530; tungsten in Engineering, v. 104, p. 214.
About
Slosson reviews the transformation of alchemistry from an obscure and imprecise practice to the science of chemistry. Along the way, he explains how the modern industrial world now relies on fertilizers, explosives, textile materials, polymers and metals.
By exploring the properties of a once undervalued element, the high strength of vanadium steel made the Ford car possible. Another element, cerium, appears in butane lighters and was once seen as a threat to the match industry in France.
In his chapter on oils, Slosson reviews the development of hydrogenated oils, especially during WWII, in the search for a way to reuse otherwise discarded components of corn and cottonseed. Through the revolutionary reaction of hydrogenation, waste materials became a stable product that wouldn't spoil when packaged or carried without refrigeration. Once thought of as a miracle, shoppers were once willing to pay more for fully hydrogenated oils than their natural, unsaturated forms. Only in recent years has evidence of health risks checked their popularity and given them the image of cheap, unhealthy fillers. (Summary by LivelyHive)
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