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Originally posted by Dave Noisy

Sadly, no, that isn't an option for Snitz..isn't it bad enough that i go about randomly deleting postings?

=P

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"Live life like you're gonna die...because you are." - William Shatner, You'll Have Time / Has Been

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Originally posted by IceCream

Napoleon's Buttons (Le Couteur & Burreson, 2004) contains suprising information about the development of rubber, dyes for
cloth, and motion pictures. It also explains the chemical and economic significance of these three societal values.
Rubber is a natural polymer of cis isoprene (C5H8). Cis isoprene molecules do not fit together closely.
The fewness of cross-links between the chains of carbon atoms cause its characteristc stretchiness. The chains of the isoprene molecules
straighten out and then align in the direction it is stretched. The molecules slip past one another when they are under the tension of heat,
creating a gluey mess that has no form. Therefore, natural rubber cannot be used to make anything. However, Charles Goodyear
invented a process to keep the molecules from slipping while maintaining the elasticity. This is called the vulcanization process.
Natural rubber is combined with sulfur and then heated. This heating is necessary for disulfur bonds to form cross-links between the
carbon atoms. This prevents slippage. (Pages 151-152). Due to its elasticity and flexibility, rubber has great value in the marketplace.
It can be molded into different shapes, and it can expand and contract quickly, making it ideal for fan and conveyor belts. But rubber, in
all its elasticity, would be worthless if Charles Goodyear hadn't invented the vulcanization process. People had tried to make things out of
rubber prior to the invention of the process, but all the products had ended up a sticky, smelly, gluey mess. However, Goodyear did more than
create a flexible sustance that wouldn't turn to glue in the summer. He created a process that allowed the rigidity of rubber to customized:
more sulfur creates a more rigid rubber. Thus, Goodyear's vulcanization of rubber caused multiple industries to begin and prosper. Rubber
bands, a major household convenience, were made from soft rubber containing 1 to 3 percent sulfur. Tires, a product without which automobiles
may never have existed, were made from rigid rubber containing 3 to 10 percent sulfur. I cannot stress the incredible significance of rubber,
why, without fan belts alone, computers could not exist. Computers need CPU fans to keep the system from overheating. Goodyear IS one of the
most influential people of all time. I find this fascinating because Goodyear was not a chemist. He had no idea how the vulcanization process
worked. He thought that the characteristic of natural rubber to become gluey and messy in hot weather was caused because, according to him,
rubber was a natural adhesive that needed a powder to soak up the moisture. It is beyond fascinating that a product of such use to the modern
world was invented not out of extensive knowledge or research. It was invented out of a misconception and an incredible display of dilligence.
The dye mauveine was invented by Perkin in a similar manner as Goodyear invented rubber. Like Goodyear, Perkin, who tried to create
a synthetic quinine, started with a minconception. He had the idea that chemically combining 2 molecules of allyltoduine (2C10H13N) with 3
atoms of oxygen would yeild H2O and synthetic quinine (C20H24N2O2). It's easy to understand why Perkin could get this idea because the equation
does mass and charge balance. Chemists now know that this reaction would never occur. Even if they were combined sucessfully, the molecule
would be likely to have a different structural formula. Besides, Perkin didn't work with pure allyltoduine. He started with residues from coal
tar. Perkin actually created a synthetic artificial dye for cloth. He noticed that one of his molecules produced a purple solution when
dissolved in ethanol. Perkin's test cloth soaked up the dye, and the cloth's color did not fade. Perkin called this dye mauveine. The demand
for purple was high. Mauveine became popular. Mauveine was the empress of France. Queen Victoria of Britain wore a mauve dress to her daughter's
wedding. This endorsement of mauve by British royalty made the dye more popular. Perkin's mauveine had influenced dyes to be made by
similar processes from coal tar residues. More than 2,000 different colors had been synthetically made by the end of the 19th century.
(Pages 174-175). Therefore, synthesis of mauveine was hugely significant to the chemical dye industry. It also had more indirect significance.
Bayer and Company were able to market aspirin commercially after they has profited from synthetic dyes. Also, Paul Elrich's "Magic Bullet"
hypothesis was influence by synthetic dyes: he observed that some organisms absorbed dye whereas others did not, and he assumed that perhaps
he could find a toxic dye that could kill the infecting microorganism and leave the body unharmed. After many tests, Elrich invented Salvarsan.
I was intrigued that Perkin's molecule was so completely different from what Perkin had intended to make, not just different in chemical terms,
but in its value in society. A synthetic quinine would have cured people of malaria. Synthetic dyes are only of aesthetic signifance.
Synthesis of Mauveine and vulcanization of rubber both generated from misconceptions. Taking this concept further, Friedrich Shonbein's
invention of a gunpowder was due to a downright mistake. He spilled some nitric acid and wiped up the spill with a coton apron. Cellulose, a
compound with a six-membered aromatic ring makes up 90% of cotton. When Shonbein attempted to dry his wife's apron, a chemical reaction occured
between the cellulose and the nitric acid. The hydrogen atom of evey hydroxide ion on rings 2, 3, and 6 were replaced with nitrous oxide (NO2).
(page 84). The Nitrous oxide is extremely significant in the chemistry of this explosive. Explosions must be fast. Otherwise, the gases diffuse
into the atmosphere at normal temperatures and have no shock value. The oxygen here is supplied by the molecule. It cannot be supplied by the
atmosphere because atmospheric gases are not available immediately enough. (page 91). The reaction between the nitric acid and the cellulose
of the cotton created nitrocellulose, a molecule which caused the apron to explode. Unlike Perkin, Shonbein's discovery could not be marketed.
Nitric acid breaks down easily and many of his factories were destroyed. Shonbein did not incent nitrocellulose; it was known 15 years before
his housecleaning experiment that cellulose dissolved in nitic acid would form an explosive white powder once water was added (page 83). And
though he did successfully market nitrocellulose (or guncotton), his factories would often explode. Shonbein's main accomplishment was bringing
nitrocellulose to the public's attention. Eventually, the compound was controlled and used as an alternative to gunpowder. Also, nitrocellulose
was mixed with camphor to make celluloid which, although not anymore, was used as a plastic for film for motion pictures. The movie industry is
huge today and it began because of Shonbein. I found this story fascinating that nitrocellulose both as an alternate to gunpowder and a molecule
necessary for early movies. Scientifica correlation between guns and movies is interesting because movies and guns serve completely different
purposes in terms of their value in society. Guns cause entire countries to go into debt. After World War 1, Germany printed so much currency
to get out of debt that 4 trillion marks were equal in value to one dollar. That kind of debt could never be caused by a box office disaster.
The three stories relate to each other because they show how a great contribution can arise from an error. They're not typical success
stories. I would have thought that the vulcanization process, for example, would be invented by someone who knew something about chemistry.
I would recommend Napoleon's Buttons to my mother, a liberal who claims that science only explains the universe in a complex manner. This
book confirms that science does much more than that. Without science, we couldn't have nylon or aspirin. Knowledge of science and chemical
structures allows people to synthesize useful substances that occur in nature, making them more readily available to the public.

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quote:

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Originally posted by kathryn

Floop does this have anything to do with maple syrup?

There is this thing called freedom of speech? We used to have it
in the States before the current regime. So, no, I don't think
we should be able to edit what others say. My 2 cents worth.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Cult_Of_Frank

British colonies of the world unite!

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"Join the Cult of Frank 2.0 / And you'll be enlightened (free for 1.x members)"

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