Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Insane science projects — Think BIG

The WiZard is In - 17-4-2010 at 07:45

Sulphur - iron volcano.

http://www.lateralscience.co.uk/volcano/index.html

See letter to Michael Faraday at the bottom.


--------
Added refs:

Nicolas Lemery [1645-1715] Cours de chimie, Paris 179, 1730. Mellor 13, 387.

65-Pound smoke bomb

The WiZard is In - 17-4-2010 at 07:50

Explosive Devices, Public Schools, and Lenient School Administrators: The June
8, 1994 Smoke Bomb Prank at Palo Alto's Gunn High School that Injured
Eighteen.

On June 8, 1994 the San Francisco Bay area was shocked to learn of the
explosion of a 65 pound smoke bomb on the campus of Palo Alto's Gunn High
School which resulted in ambulances being called to the school, treatment for 18
students and serious injuries for two high school women.

In this case the smoke bomb, which had been constructed by three senior men
as their graduation signature prank, was a mixture of sugar and fertilizer which
had been packed into a concrete container that had formerly housed a water
fountain on the Gunn High School Campus. The device failed to function as
planned and when it was ignited, instead of smoking, it spewed molten sugar
across the high school quad. The culprits had failed to appreciate the lessons of
endothermic chemical reactions taught in chemistry classes and did not realize
that the proportions for a "small" smoke bomb could not be replicated for a
"giant" smoke device because the heat generated by the larger quantity altered
the combustion process.

Unfortunately at the time the mixture was ignited, graduating seniors, who had
gathered in the quad to autograph yearbooks, were sprayed with hot, burning
sugar and fertilizer. Two senior women suffered burns that required significant
medical care, Catherine Meyer and Eleanor Lin. Sixteen others were treated and
released.

Extracted from an advertisement for San Jose attorney Richard Alexander.

http://consumerlawpage.com/article/explode.shtml

Lead carbonate using horse dung

The WiZard is In - 17-4-2010 at 07:56

Thorpe's " A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry" - 1916

White lead, Ceram, Blanc de Plomb, Bleiuviss. The commercial article known
as white lead is essentially a basic lead carbonate, of the formula
2PbCO3-Pb(OH),, which is produced by the decomposition of a basic lead
acetate by means of carbon dioxide. The method of manufacture which
according to experience yields a white lead best adapted for the production of
paint, one of the chief uses of white lead in the arts, is a modification of the old
Dutch process.

The Dutch method consists in exposing thin sheets of metallic lead, rolled into
coils and placed in earthenware pots containing a small amount of vinegar, to
the combined action of the acetic acid contained in the vinegar, air, moisture,
and carbon dioxide; the carbon dioxide and the heat necessary to further the
corrosion of the lead being obtained by the fermentation of horse manure and
stable litter, in which the earthenware pots and their contents are embedded.
The 'blue' or metallic lead is gradually corroded and converted into white lead,
which after being separated from the unaltered metallic lead, is ground and
washed.

You can obtained the complete article from Google.com/books.

NB - There are several editions of Thorpe's. I doubt it makes
any difference which edition you consult.

Make leather the old fashion way - Bating

The WiZard is In - 17-4-2010 at 08:57

Bating

Perhaps the most curious of all the processes involved in making leather is that
of bating. Little is known of it origin because it was a secret process, but it is at
least some centuries old. After the skins are taken from the lime liquors,
unhaired, scudded, and washed, they will contain lime in the form of carbonate
and in combination with the skin proteins. At this stage they are plump and
rubbery and tanners have experienced many difficulties due to putting the stock
directly into certain types of vegetable tan liquors when it was in this condition.
The object of bating it to prepare the unhaired skins for tanning and originally
consisted in keeping them in a warm infusion of the dung of dogs or fowls until all
plumpness had disappeared and the skins had become so soft as to retain the
impression of thumb and finger when pinched and sufficiently porous to permit
the passage of air under pressure. When hen of pigeon manure was used, the
process was called bating, and when dog dung was used, it was called puering,
but the tem bating is now applied to the process generally, regardless of the
material used. The difference in terminology naturally disappeared with the
advent of artificial bating materials.

A common method for treating light skins was to put them into a vat filled with a
liquor containing about 100 grams of dog dung per liter, kept at a temperature of
450o C. by means of steam. A paddle wheel kept the liquor and skins in motion.
During the action , the skins gradually lost plumpness acquired in the lime liquors
and became soft and raggy. The completion of the process was determined by
the attainment of a certain degree of flaccidity, which the workmen could judge
only after long experience. Hen or pigeon manure was sometimes used for light
skins, but was more commonly applied to heavy hides because it penetrates
more rapidly than dog dung, due apparently to the fact that it contains also the
urinary products, especially urea.

John Arthur Wilson
The Chemistry of Leather Manufacture
ACS Monograph Series
The Chemical Catalog Company
New York, 1923

---------
Alumed Calf Skins for Bookbinding

To alum them, put into a large vat three or four pails of dog’s turd (this dogs’ turd
is called alum) ; on this they fling a large pail of water to dilute it ; this done, the
workman goes into the vat, and with his wooden shoes, tramples it, filling the vat
half full of water. The “alumer”, on his part, pours water out of his boiler into this
vat, mixing it with the cold water, after which he flings in the skins, string them
and turning them for some moments with great sticks.

Morocco Leather

The river work finished, the skins are put into the “dogs’ confit, or mastering” ; for
every four dozens of skins they add one bucket of dogs’ excrement, containing
fourteen or fifteen quarts, which is worked up with their hands into a kind of pap
and well diluted. The skins are flung in, stirred and worked in the “mastering” for
some minutes, then turned and left to rest.

The Art of Tanning and Currying Leather, with an Account of all the Different
Processes made use of in Europe and Asia for Dying Leather Red and Yellow,
Collected and Published at the Expense of the Dublin Society, to which are
added Mr. Philippo’s Method of Dying the Turkey Leather as approved of by the
Society for the Encouragement of Arts, etc., and for which he had a reward of
£100, and their Gold Metal, for the Secret. Also the New Method of Tanning
invented by the late David Macbride, M.D., London. Reprinted for J. Nourse, on
the Strand, Bookseller to His Majesty. 1780.

In :—
Joseph Turney Wood
The Puering, Bating & Drenching of Skins
E. & F. N. Spon, Ltd. London, 1912


Ammonium sulphate from urine

The WiZard is In - 17-4-2010 at 09:20

Geoffery Matin and William Barbour
Industrial Nitrogen Compounds and Explosives
D Appelton New York 1915


Ammonia and ammonium salts

(8) From Sewage and Urine.—A very rich source of ammonia is ordinary urine. 100,000 heads of population could produce per year about 6,000 tons of NH4. If all the ammonia corresponding to London urine were collected, more than 60,000 tons of ammonium sulphate could be annually produced therefrom.

The method of collection of urine and its working up into ammoniacal compounds has been carried on at Paris and at Nancy. In 1909 France obtained 13,000 tons of ammonium sulphate therefrom, 10,000 being obtained in Paris alone. However, the collection and utilisation of animal excrement is so nauseous and costly and dangerous a process, that the bulk of the enormous ammonium supplies producible from this source are run to waste.

The process consists in allowing the urine to ferment into ammonium carbonate. The clear liquor is distilled and the ammonia recovered as in gas liquor.

For further details see Ketjen, Zeit. angew. Chem., 1891; 294; Butterfield and Watson, English Patent, 19,502/05; Taylor and Walker, U.S. Patent, 603,668; Young, English Patent, 3,562/82 ; Duncan, German Patents, 27,148, 28,436.


Here we have some progress , this being the only British City [Glasgow], as far as I know, in which the public urinals are utilized for the production of ammonia.
ED. C. Stanford, Esq.
Inaugural Address by the Chairman, [The Society of Chemical Industry, Glasgow and West Scotland Section.]
The Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry. 3 [3] 149-156. 1884.

Poudrette

The WiZard is In - 17-4-2010 at 09:22

Ask you fellow students to assist with your Poudrette project.

http://tinyurl.com/y6r9b27

Make — Ferrocyanide of potassium

The WiZard is In - 17-4-2010 at 09:25

Ferrocyanide of potassium.

[Bet this didn't smell like roses down wind!]

Present mode of manufacture.— It consist in introducing dry nitrogenous animal
matter, such as horns, hoofs, woolen rags, leather, &c., into molten carbonate of
potash contained in a small, but very thick and heavy (15 cwt) cast-iron pot,
heated externally by a strong fire. The pot is provided with an iron agitator, which
is kept constantly in motion during the operation. The nitrogenous material is
introduced into the pot slowly, and in small quantities at a time. The carbon and
nitrogen combine together forming cyanogen, which in turn combines with the
potassium, forming, some authorities say, cyanide, others, ferrocyanide of
potassium.

The mouths of the pots are practically open to the air, and at each addition of
nitrogenous material a flame shoots forth carrying with it a large proportion of the
nitrogen. It is at this stage of the process that the chief waste of nitrogen takes
place.


Extracted from—
JB Readman, D.SC., F.R.S.E., F.C.S., Edinburgh
The Manufacture of Prussiate of Potash (Ferrocyanide of Potassium)
A paper read before the British Association, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1889.
In:— The Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry
10:8 757-59. October 31, 1889.

Polverone - 17-4-2010 at 09:47

Quote: Originally posted by The WiZard is In  
Ferrocyanide of potassium.

[Bet this didn't smell like roses down wind!]

Present mode of manufacture.— It consist in introducing dry nitrogenous animal
matter, such as horns, hoofs, woolen rags, leather, &c., into molten carbonate of
potash contained in a small, but very thick and heavy (15 cwt) cast-iron pot,
heated externally by a strong fire.


I actually produced my first cyanide compounds in a very similar manner. I used dried blood, commonly sold as a fertilizer, in fused sodium hydroxide. The frothing is considerable and the process is malodorous. Sadly, I discovered tidier methods before I had a chance to compare and contrast the odor of pyrolyzed blood with that of hoofs or leather.

The WiZard is In - 17-4-2010 at 10:25

Quote: Originally posted by Polverone  


I actually produced my first cyanide compounds in a very similar manner. I used dried blood, commonly sold as a fertilizer, in fused sodium hydroxide. The frothing is considerable and the process is malodorous. Sadly, I discovered tidier methods before I had a chance to compare and contrast the odor of pyrolyzed blood with that of hoofs or leather.



Ding!

Frank Hall Thorpe
Outlines of Industrial Chemistry
MacMillian Co. New York 1919


Potassium ferrocyanide, K4Fe(CN)6 - 3H20, also called yellow prussiate of
potash, is made by fusing together potassium carbonate, iron borings, and
nitrogenous organic matter of any kind (horn, hair, blood, wool waste, and
leather scraps).* The potash is fused in a shallow cast-iron pan, set in a
reverberatory furnace, and the organic matter, mixed with from 6 to 8 per cent of
iron borings, is stirred in, in small portions at a time, until about 1 1/4 parts of the
mixture for each part of potash have been added. The temperature must be kept
high enough to keep the mass perfectly liquid, but not hot enough to volatilize
the cyanogen salts. The reaction is violent at first, and when the liquid remains in
quiet fusion the process is ended, and the melt is ladled into iron pans to cool.
The mass, containing a number of substances (KCN, K2CO3, K2S, FeS, metallic
iron, carbon, etc.), is broken up into. lumps the size of an egg, and digested with
water at 85o C. for several hours. During this process reactions take place
between the potassium cyanide and iron sulphide, by which the ferrocyanide is
formed: -

6 KCN + FeS = K2S + K4Fe(CN)6.

. Liebig explained the reactions during the fusion as follows: part of the carbon
and nitrogen of the organic matter combine to form cyanogen (CN)2, while some
of the potash is reduced by the excess of carbon to metallic potassium, which at
once unites with the cyanogen to form potassium cyanide. The sulphur in the
organic matter combines with the iron, forming ferrous sulphide. Finally, on
lixiviating, the formation of the ferrocyanide takes place. The solution is evapo-
rated in iron pans by the waste heat of the furnace, and clarified while hot; on
cooling, the crude ferrocyanide crystallizes, and is purified by recrystallization.
The mother-liquors yield more impure salt on further evaporation.

* The organic refuse is sometimes partially charred in retorts, by which much
ammonia is driven off and saved. But the yield of ferrocyanide is then less, since
the nitrogen content of the char is small.

Poison a fellow student

The WiZard is In - 18-4-2010 at 06:31

I have it on good authority that this is the favorite science
project at the Dr. Josef Mengele Memorial High School.


With a view of determining the exact proportion of carbon monoxide which, when
inhaled with atmospheric air. would prove fatal to man. U. Mosso has carried out
experiments in an iron chamber of 203 cubic feet capacity, lighted by a glass
window, hermetically closed by a door, and provided with inlets for the poisonous
gas. An experiment, in which the subject lost consciousness, and artificial
respiration and the use of compressed oxygen had to be resorted to, showed
that the proportion of carbon monoxide in air fatal to man is 1-233rd or 0.43 per cent.

Toxicity of Carbon Monoxide
J. Gas. Lighting, 1902, 82, [4602]. 1334
In:— The Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry
23 [21] 1465. December 15, 1902.

The best way to attract the judges attention is with an—

The WiZard is In - 18-4-2010 at 09:57

project where the student can die.



Attachment: Chem Lecture Demostrations Accidents.txt (20kB)
This file has been downloaded 817 times

an hydrogen air explosion

The WiZard is In - 19-4-2010 at 06:58

"The Luna Society* believed in argument and cooperation. They had long
discussions about why thunder rumbles and decided the best way to test their
various theories was by experiment. Boulton made a 5-foot-diameter balloon
from varnished paper, and they filled it with a terrifying mixture of air and
hydrogen ("inflammable air from iron"), They lit a fuse underneath, released the
balloon in to the night sky on a clam, clear evening and waited for the bang.
unfortunately, the fuse was rather long, and they all assumed it must have gone
out; so they to talk among themselves, when there was a colossal explosion, and
they all said, "There it goes!" and forgot to listen for the rumble! [James] Watt
was at home 3 miles away and wrote that the bang was "instantaneous and
lasted about one second." This seems self-contradictory, but in any case, the
experiment failed to produce a simple answer to the original question."

*The Luna Society started ca. 1765 was started by Erasmus Darwin (grandfather
of Charles D.), included among others; William Small teacher and mentor of
Thomas Jefferson, James Watt (who did not invent the steam engine), Joseph
Priestly, and potter Josiah Wedgwood, Darwin's other grandfather.

[Review] Essays on Science and Society
Adam Hart-Davis
James Watt and the Lunaticks of Birmingham
Science 292[5514]55-56 6 April 2001


————————
"Watt's third lucky break came in the shape of the new boring machine invented
by ironmaster John "Iron-mad" Wilkinson. Wilkinson was a splendid
larger-than-life character who wanted to make everything from iron. ….. in a
corner of his office he kept his own iron coffin, which he proudly showed off to
visitors. (This caused some trouble when he died, for his wooden coffin turned
out to be too big to fit in the iron one; so they had to bury him temporarily in the
garden while they cast another iron coffin. Then they dug him up, put his wooden
coffin in the new iron one, and found it would not fit in the hole in the rock. So
again they buried him temporarily, blasted a bigger hole, dug him up,
successfully buried him, and placed a large iron obelisk on the grave.
Unfortunately, the house changed hands a few years later, and the new owners
did not like this great 20-ton iron pillar in front of their sitting-room window; so
poor Iron-mad was dug up yet again and buried for the fourth time at Lindale in
the Lake District.)"

A personal ozone generator

The WiZard is In - 20-4-2010 at 07:19

New or Improved Apparatus for the Production of Ozone by Means of
Phosphorus. C. R. Poulsen. Horsens, Denmark.
English Patent 14,862, August 17, 1892.

The phosphorus is held in a glass cup fixed at the end of glass rod and placed in
a 10 per cent. solution of sulphuric acid, which is contained in a wide-mouth
bottle provided with a glass cap, through which the free end of the glass rod
projects. A perforated glass or porcelain plate is fixed below the neck of the bottle
though which the ozone escapes, whilst the phosphours acid formed
simultaneously is kept back. The bottle is filled to about one-half its volume with
the dilute acid, to which a little potassium permanganate is added to oxidize the
phosphorus acid. The apparatus is designed for inhaling of ozone in cases of
tuberculosis and of the diseases of the chest.

The Journal of the Society of Chemistry Industry.
Volume XII No. 3. March 31, 1893.

bquirky - 20-4-2010 at 07:58

!!! inhaling ozone ?

whouldnt that hurt or sompthing ? :)

The WiZard is In - 20-4-2010 at 15:33

Quote: Originally posted by bquirky  
!!! inhaling ozone ?

whouldnt that hurt or sompthing ? :)




O3 is reported to be an irritant. Back when (I am being
punished by Hughes.Net so I cannot look it up) they
blew ozone into a London underground station or two.
Apparently there was a problem w/ passengers carrying
the odour on their clothing after the exited the stations.

Ferment paper

The WiZard is In - 21-4-2010 at 05:16

FERMENT PAPER

UREA = Brown

Synonym Musculus’ Paper

Preparation : Ferment paper is prepared by filtering decomposing urine through
white filtering-paper, then washing the latter, and coloring it with turmeric.

Application : Ferment paper is applied for the detection of urea, with which it
yields a brown color, due to the decomposition of the urea induced by the
ferment In the paper, ammonium carbonate being one of the products of the
decomposition and affording the reaction with the turmeric.

--------------------------------
Alfred I. Cohn Ph. G.
Indicators and Test-Papers : Their Source, Preparation, Application and Tests for Sensitiveness

A Résumé of the Current Facts regarding the Action and Applications of the
Indicators and Test-papers which have been Proposed from Time to Time, and
are in Present Use in Chemical Manipulations with a Tabular Summary of the
Application of Indicators. Assigned for the Use of Chemists, Pharmacists, and
Students.

First Edition
First Thousand
John Wiley & Sons, New York. 1899

psychokinetic - 21-4-2010 at 15:37

Think big?

Well, start thinking big then.

Race you to the moon!

The WiZard is In - 21-4-2010 at 16:17

Quote: Originally posted by psychokinetic  
Think big?

Well, start thinking big then.

Race you to the moon!



Buy a big beaker — extract polonium from pitchblende.

Radiotellurium. W[illy] Marckwald. Ber., 1905, 38, 591-594. (See this J., 1903, 49, 1146)
In:— The Journal of The Society of Chemical Industry. 5 [24] 252. March 15, 1905.

Working with a large quantity of crude tellurium, obtained from about 15 tons of
Joachimsthal pitchblende, the author-succeeding in preparing about 3 mgrms. of
radiotellurium, many times more active than the product prepared confirming the
view that radiotellurium is an individual radio-active substance, not identical with
Curie’s polonium. Doubtless, the latter product, like Geisel’s polonium, contains
radiotellurium, but is a mixture, not an individual substance.



[Shortly thereafter his cleaning lady inadvertently trashed da 3 mgrms.!!]

[More – Willey got an F on this lab as “radiotellurium” is in truth polonium
previously discovered by the Curie’s.]


---------
Physiological Action of the Radiation from Radium.
H. Becquerel and P. Curie.
Comptes. Rend. 132 [22], 1289-1291.
In - The Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry, 8 [20], 845. August, 1901.

The action of the radiation from radium on the skin, announced by Walkoff and by
Giesel, has been confirmed by M. and Mme. Curie, and by Becquerel. Preparations
of radium, carried next to the arm or in the waistcoat pocket for periods of two to
six hours, gave rise to inflammation increasing very gradually, but lasting many
days, and leaving after treatment and recovery, little permanent scars. The intensity
of the physiological action depends on the activity of the radium and the duration
of its application. When handling radium and its compounds the finger tips become
hard and painful ; the pain often remains long after the inflammation has disappeared.

One would think that Nobel Prize winners would know better!


The WiZard is In - 21-4-2010 at 16:21

Quote: Originally posted by psychokinetic  
Think big?

Well, start thinking big then.

Race you to the moon!



Dig a hole..........

Jules Vern
From Earth to the Moon — And a Trip Around it
Crest Books 1958

Willy Ley — About the Book

The first thought which comes into the mind of a modern reader who either
reads Jules Verne's story of the cannon shot to the moon for the first time or
else remembers it for some reason from earlier reading is this: "Could such a
shot actually be made?"

The reader who wonders about this is, probably without knowing it, in good and
famous company. Soon after the book was out, scientists in several
countries—mostly in France, Germany and Russia—began writing articles
about this question. Of course nothing much could be said at first except for
checking the statements in the alleged' letter from the Cambridge Observatory.
See pages 26-29. It is perfectly true that an artillery projectile, fired vertically
with a muzzle velocity of 12,000 yards per second, or 7 miles per second,
would hit the moon if it were not for air resistance. But there was not enough
information then as to what air resistance would do. There was, however, full
agreement on the fact that air resistance would ruin such an experiment.

Jules Verne was certain of this himself; his true beliefs are expressed in the
statement of Captain Nicholl on page 42. After the first World War, when much
more had become known about the science of shooting and the effects of air
resistance, the problem was discussed and calculated twice more, once by
Professor Hermann Oberth, a mathematician, and once by Baron Guido von
Pirquet, an engineer.

Both found something very surprising. Air resistance outside barrel is bad
enough but what would really ruin the experiment would be the air inside the
barrel, the air filling the space above the shell's nose to the muzzle of the gun.
This air, when shell starts moving, simply cannot get out of the way. Hence
ill be compressed by the moving shell. By being compressed it will be heated up
and the result will be that the shell would find itself sandwiched between two
columns of hot gases, the driving combustion gases from below and the
compressed hot air above. An aluminum shell as described by Verne would sim-
ply be vaporized in the barrel under these circumstances and nothing would
come out of it but a jet of hot combustion gases carrying some aluminum vapor
along.

While the scientists were investigating this problem they naturally asked
themselves how one could shoot to the moon with a cannon. Well, it could be
done. But the expense would be fantastic. The gun should be drilled into a very
high mountain, one that is about 20,000 feet high. This would take care of much
of the air resistance outside the barrel. The barrel itself would be pumped free of
air and covered with an airtight cover. The little air which is left in the barrel would
still be compressed by the moving shell and this cylinder of compressed air,
pushed by the shell, would lift off the cover of the barrel just before the shell itself
emerges. But in order to stand the forces acting upon it the shell should have no
larger diameter than about eight inches, should be about ten times as long as its
diameter and would have to be solid steel.

Needless to say that nothing alive inside such a shell would stay alive. We simply
have to accept the impossibility for the fun of the story.

There are a few other things which might be worth mentioning. "Stones Hill" in
Florida, where the gun is built, does not exist. What Jules Verne had in mind is
Stone Mountain near Atlanta, of which he had read. He did not make a mistake in
thinking that Stone Mountain is in Florida—although the residents of Atlanta like
to say that Stone Mountain was thrown by California to finish Florida and merely
fell short in Georgia—he just had it in mind as a model of what was needed for
story purposes.

The figures Verne gives for the distance to the moon on page 27 do not agree
with the modern ones—perigee 221, 463 miles; apogee 252,710 miles, mean
238,800 miles.

Michel Ardan, the readers might be amused to learn, was a real person. His
original name was Felix Tournachon and he was a Parisian journalist and
photographer, writing under the pen name of Nadar. "Aran" is, of course, an
anagram of Nadar and the real Nadar is mentioned in the story on page 124.
Jules Verne knew Tournachon-Nadar-Ardan well but had not told him that he
was using him as a fictional character and was a bit apprehensive about Nadar's
reaction after finding himself in the book. However, Nadar also took it in the spirit
of good fun and solemnly thanked Verne for having made him much prettier than
he really was.

The second moon of earth, described first on page 107, does not exist, as we
now know. But it was actually postulated by the astronomer Petit of Marseilles
just as the story says. Neither Petit nor Verne seem to have realized that a moon
of such size, revolving around the earth at the distance mentioned, would be
easily visible to the naked eye and would have been discovered by the ancient
Babylonians, if not earlier. Incidentally, a second mistake crept in at this point. If
there were a second moon 4 650 miles from the surface it would not go around
the earth in 3 hours and 20 minutes but would need about 43 hours.

Of course one could pick more mistakes in a story in story nearly a century old, but
there is no need to do so. However, I would like to know one thing: where did Jules
Verne ever see or hear of a flag of the United States with thirty-nine stars? When he
wrote the story the union had thirty-five states, or possibly thirty-six, since Nevada was
admitted on October 31, 1864. By the end of 1876 the flag could have had thirty-eight
stars since Nebraska and Colorado had been admitted in the meantime. At no time
could the flag have had thirty-nine stars, for the thirty-ninth state to be admitted was
North Dakota on November 2, 1889. But South Dakota was admitted on the same day,
Montana on November 8 and Washington State on November 11. The flag, in
theory, jumped from thirty-eight to forty-two stars. In reality most flags jumped
from thirty-six to forty-two. But none could have existed with thirty-nine.

entropy51 - 21-4-2010 at 16:48

Spring unfolds into the midlands of Norway in a steadily beautiful tide bringing in its wake a carpet of flowers and shades of green matched in only a handful of places around world.. This awakening, as natural as it is, can bring a gasp of appreciation from even the most ardent lover of nature. Still, to many, this change seems to come almost overnight as the weather and prevailing winds shift and whirl in a maddening dance of awakening. I am not certain that either the scientific or natural explanation of the seasonal changes in my homeland can ever do justice to this almost mystical transition, but to a twelve year old boy, as I was in 1905, all I knew or cared about was that soon I would be on my way to my Grandfather’s farm.

Grandpa Bernt’s farm was located near Roken in Buskerud Provence. Ever since I can remember I had ‘returned to my ancestral home’ in late June or early July as soon as school was done to help work on the family farm and to play inside the nearby woods. Every so often, if all went well, I had the privilege of seeing or even meeting one of the local Trolls who inhabited the surrounding woodlands. My father, Julius Berntson, had, on several occasions, admonished his father not to fill my head with the fantastic. I was being sent to the farm to learn how to work, not to be fed on the myths and legends that so clouded my mind that I talked of little else for weeks when I returned. I do not think Grandpa paid much attention to this request and to be fair father did encourage me to write the stories down so I could tell them at the festivals and perhaps win a prize or two. His only advise was to make the Trolls ‘more stupid’ and even more simple.

"No one will believe a story about an intelligent Troll." He would say. "People like the stories where the humans trick the trolls and steal their treasure. Those kind of tales will make you a great story teller."

I never did take that advise.

With Spring came a letter to my parents that almost crushed my chances of going to the farm before they started. In it, Grandpa asked my parents if they would let me travel with him up to Trondheim on a business trip after the crops were planted and the other chores were done. He explained that the neighbors and the Trolls would take care of the farm and the animals while he was gone. The House Troll, Maas, was particularly anxious to see if he could keep the place going. He told them he planned to leave in late June or early July so he could be back to prepare for the harvest.

My parents initial reaction was to refuse but a second letter arrived the very next day in which Grandpa argued that this would be a very educational trip as well. With the newly created country, Grandpa said it would be inexcusable for them to prevent me from seeing the Nidaros Cathedral, the site where the new king would be crowned if the referendum scheduled for this Autumn went as everyone expected it to. He reminded them that no King of Norway could rule in peace without the people of Trondheim (or Trondelag) on his side, adding that if Prince Carl got his mandate I would be able to say that I saw where he would accept the crown. It would be a ‘grand adventure’ that would give me a life time of memories. I do not know how he knew to write what he did, but, in short, he gave them no choice but to agree. He even pointed out that the Prince and I shared the same name and that alone was a good reason, even if I never met him or even saw him during the trip.

I was ecstatic- not because of the history and the new king and all, though that was okay- but the idea of traveling across the country with Grandpa was a dream come true. I think I had my bag packed and ready at least three weeks before I was supposed to leave, but my enthusiasm was about crushed when my father told me that this might be the last time I would be able to go to Grandpa’s. He explained that he and mother were thinking of immigrating to America. Papa had heard that there was always work available for carpenters particularly in a city called Salt Lake. I had never heard of that city and I insisted that I would be happy to let them go and that I would go and live with Grandpa and take over the farm when he was too old to work it. All my parents said was that they would discuss it later. I started packing extra bags.

It was the longest three weeks of my life. The funny thing is that I cannot remember much of what happened except my dad and mom and I talking to some man from America who spoke Norwegian poorly. When I boarded the train in Oslo I was so excited I forgot about all my problems, and as I waved goodbye to my parents I had no idea what was in store for me.

JohnWW - 21-4-2010 at 17:03

Quote: Originally posted by entropy51  
Spring unfolds into the midlands of Norway in a steadily beautiful tide bringing in its wake a carpet of flowers and shades of green matched in only a handful of places around world.. This awakening, as natural as it is, can bring a gasp of appreciation from even the most ardent lover of nature. Still, to many, this change seems to come almost overnight as the weather and prevailing winds shift and whirl in a maddening dance of awakening. I am not certain that either the scientific or natural explanation of the seasonal changes in my homeland can ever do justice to this almost mystical transition, but to a twelve year old boy, as I was in 1905, all I knew or cared about was that soon I would be on my way to my Grandfather’s farm.
(cut)
Were you REALLY born in 1893 in Norway, Entropy51? Are you REALLY now 116 or 117? If so, you should contact the Guinness Book of Records, as you would come close to being the oldest man in the world. Are you a WW1 veteran?

Of course, it was in Norway that trolls were first invented or discovered. Legend has it that they have 7 heads and live underneath bridges, or sometimes in caves in mountainous areas; but how would they have internet access there?.

BTW I have an internet friend in Stavanger, Norway. I must remember to ask him what he knows about Norwegian trolls, and whether he has ever seen one.

[Edited on 22-4-10 by JohnWW]

entropy51 - 21-4-2010 at 17:24

Quote: Originally posted by JohnWW  
Legend has it that they have 7 heads and live underneath bridges, or sometimes in caves in mountainous areas; but how would they have internet access there?.
The legend is that DARPA invented the internet. It was actually invented by the trolls, so that they would have a wider audience.

DJF90 - 21-4-2010 at 17:26

I doubt Entropy is really telling the tale from *his* perspective, but merely making a subtle point with black humour.

The WiZard is In - 21-4-2010 at 17:48

Quote: Originally posted by entropy51  
Spring unfolds into the midlands of Norway in a steadily beautiful tide bringing in its wake a carpet of flowers and shades of green matched in only a handful of places around world..

[snip]




I am once again soooo confused, I thought this was this group
was Science - Madness.

I ran your missive through my ultafuge (Ultracentrifuge ) and after it spun-down what I found at the bottom
of the jar was a small slip of paper on which was written — damnant quod non intelligunt.

[Edited on 22-4-2010 by The WiZard is In]

determine why dead bodies smell of burnt gunpowder and vinegar

The WiZard is In - 22-4-2010 at 06:16

Take you GC-MS down to the Parthenon and determine why .....

All The Year Round A Weekly Journal
Conducted by Charles Dickens
London December 18, 1869
http://tinyurl.com/y8uuobj

TENANTS OF SAINT DENIS.
IN the completion of the difficult and delicate task of restoring the royal church of
St. Denis, will lie M. VIOLLET-LEDUC'S chief claim to consideration as an able and clever
architect. The undertaking was one demanding the greatest possible care, judgment,
and labour, and M. Viollet-Leduc has brought all these to bear, with a result that
leaves nothing to be desired. It was not merely a question of replacing displaced
tombs, raising fallen columns, and mending statues, but the notions of former
governments had evidently been very vague and indistinct on the subject of "
restoration," and those notions had all tended to spoil St. Denis rather than to
improve it, so that it has been now necessary to destroy much, before the work of
restoration could be begun. Yet it was this disfigured church that was the glory of the
sight-seers of the reigns of Louis the Eighteenth, Charles the Tenth, and Louis Philippe
! The lightness and elevation of its dome were vaunted by our fathers, yet its flooring
had been raised more than a yard above the ground, to avoid damp; its windows had
given place to mediaeval portraits of kings and abbes, whose likeness to the originals
was very doubtful; and its tombs had been removed into a dark, damp crypt, exposed
to the indiscretion of visitors. There were columns, statues, and busts—some among
them of persons who had never been buried at St . Denis—all unchronologically and
incorrectly arranged. The St. Denis of to-day presents a very different appearance,
even in its unfinished state.

The royal mausoleum stands before us, brilliant in renewed beauty and freshness,
and carries us back at once to the days of its past glory. With this difference, however
; that it is now less a mausoleum than a museum. M. Georges d'Heilly, in a very
interesting account lately published in Paris of the extraction of the royal coffins from
St. Denis in 1793, says: " Death no longer surrounds us when visiting St. Denis. The
tombs which once sheltered the bodies of our kings are empty, many of them re-
made, the ashes of Dagobert and Henry the Second thrown to the winds, and their
bones burnt in quick-lime. The fault, therefore, of this admirable restoration is, that
the royal church is no longer a church, nor a necropolis. It is simply a museum which
we visit, as we visit the Louvre, and the difference between the old tombs, painted
windows, and chapels of the past, and those of the present, which are the work of M.
Viollet-Leduc, is the difference which exists between an admirably executed copy and
an utterly lost original.

" On the 31st of July, 1793, at a sitting of the Convention, Barrere, in the name of
the Comite du Salut Public, read a paper in which he proposed that the anniversary
of the 10th of August—the day on which the throne had been levelled—should be
celebrated by the destruction of the royal tombs of St. Denis: the sumptuousness of
which, he argued, was vanity tending to the flattery and glory of monarchy. The
Convention unanimously gave assent to the proposition, and the work of destruction
commenced on the 6th, and finished on the 8th of August, to the end that on the
10th it might be publicly announced that a great and just act had been accomplished,
and that it only now remained to open the coffins and disperse the remains of the
royal tyrants, which would be effected as soon as circumstances permitted.
Accordingly, in the following October commenced the opening of the coffins—the first
being that of the great Turenne. The shape of his body was well preserved, and his
features were very little altered. He appeared like a dried mummy of a light shade of
bistre. A large opening was then made in the vault in which lay the Bourbon princes
and princesses, and the coffin of Henri the Fourth was discovered. His body was
perfectly preserved, and his face recognisable. At the moment of opening, an
enthusiastic soldier threw himself before the corps, and, after a long and silent
worship, drew his sword and cut off a lock of his beard, which he held to his own lip,
crying in loud tones, ' And I also am a French soldier! And I am henceforth sure of
conquering the enemies of France, and marching to victory.'

" On the same day, 14th of October, the other members of the House of Bourbon,
to the number of forty-seven, were taken out of their coffins. The body of Louis the
Thirteenth was whole, and surprisingly well preserved;' he was recognisable by his
moustache, called a la royale, which remained intact. The body of Louis the
Fourteenth was black as ink, and the skin shiny. The coffin of Louis the Fifteenth was
opened at the entrance to the pit, which had been dug ready for the reception of the
royal remains in the court-yard of the church where formerly stood the beautiful
chapel of the Valois. This chapel was destroyed in 1719, being unsafe; but some of its
finest remains, consisting of arched columns, are to be seen at the present day in the
Pare Monceaux. The body of the royal lover of the Du Barry was entire, and well
bandaged : the skin white, the nose violet; some portions of the trunk, red. It floated
in water formed by the dissolving of the sea salt in which it had lain. The bodies of
the other princes and princesses were in a state of liquid putrefaction, and gave forth
a black and thick vapour, the odour of which burnt vinegar and gunpowder hardly
dissipated. The intestines of the illustrious dead were placed in leaden vessels
attached to the iron trestles that supported the coffins, which were also of lead. The
whole was despatched to the melter's, after the contents had been emptied into the
pit.

" In the vault of Charles the Fifth, several members of his family had been buried.
In his coffin, besides some dried bones, were a crown and sceptre of gold, and a hand
of Justice beautifully carved in silver. In the coffin of Jeanne de Bourbon, his wife,
were the remains of a crown, a gold ring, a spindle in gilt wood half eaten away, and
some pointed shoes covered with gold and silver embroidery. Part of a crown and a
gilt sceptre were also found in the coffins of Charles the Seventh and his wife Marie
d'Anjou. The tomb of Henri the Second held nine coffins, containing the bones and
decomposed remains of the princes and princesses of his line. Louis the Tenth had no
coffin. His body had been simply placed in a stone hollowed into the form of a
trough, and lined with plates of lead. Bones, and part of a sceptre and brass crown,
were found in it, much rusted. Charles le Chauve had been placed in a similar
receptacle, as bad also Philippe-Auguste. In the coffin of the latter, nothing but dust
was found. The body of Louis the Eighth was enveloped in a leather sack, beside
which was part of a wooden sceptre, a diadem of gold tissue, and a satin cap.
Philippe le Bel was in a stone coffin—an entire skeleton; a gold ring was on one of his
fingers, and beside him lay a diadem of gold tissue, and a brass gilt sceptre. A statue
of Dagobert stood in front of his tomb, and this the workmen were obliged to break,
in order to get at the coffin. In the tomb was a wooden coffer two feet long,
containing the bones of Dagobert and of Nantilde, his wife. These remains were
wrapped in some silken stuff, and separated one from the other by a plank, dividing
the coffer in two. The head of the queen was missing; that of the king was complete,
even to the teeth. The skeleton of Duguesclin—buried by favour at St. Denis—was
found intact in a lead coffin, the head perfect and the bones wonderfully white. The
vault of Francois the First contained six coffins. All the bodies were in a state of liquid
putrefaction, and a sort of black water issued from the coffins during their carriage to
the pit. The body of Francois himself was of extraordinary stature and build. In the
coffin of Philippe le Long, was his complete skeleton, clothed in royal robes. On his
head was a gold crown, enriched by precious stones; his mantle was decorated with
gold and silver. After the completion of the ghastly work at St. Denis, the coma of
Madame Louise, daughter of Lonis the Fifteenth, was fetched from the Carmelite
convent, of which she was superior. Her body was in the dress of a Carmelite nun,
and in a state of putrefaction. It was taken to the cemetery of Valois, and thrown
with the rest into the fosse commune. On the 12th of October a grand ceremony and
procession took place, in order to transport the gold and treasure found at St. Denis,
with becoming dignity, to the Convention Nationale."

In this way Revolution scattered the treasured dust of kings !

bbartlog - 22-4-2010 at 08:18

Quote:
determine why dead bodies smell of burnt gunpowder and vinegar


That's 'burnt vinegar and gunpowder'. But in any case it seems to me you misapprehend the passage, as it sounds to me like vinegar and gunpowder were used in an attempt to get rid of the smell - it does not sound as if the foul stench was itself that of vinegar and gunpowder, which after all don't smell particularly bad. Perhaps the acidic vapours of the latter substances are effective in neutralizing some of the vaporous products of decay, which after all should be substantially ammoniacal and basic...

DJF90 - 22-4-2010 at 08:29

Well considering Cadaverine and Putresceine (foul smelling diamines) are known decomposition products, this would make good sense (at least the vinegar anyway).

The WiZard is In - 22-4-2010 at 08:30

Quote: Originally posted by bbartlog  


That's 'burnt vinegar and gunpowder'. But in any case it seems to me you misapprehend the passage, as it sounds to me like vinegar and gunpowder were used in an attempt to get rid of the smell - it does not sound as if the foul stench was itself that of vinegar and gunpowder, which after all don't smell particularly bad. Perhaps the acidic vapours of the latter substances are effective in neutralizing some of the vaporous products of decay, which after all should be substantially ammoniacal and basic...



The bodies of the other princes and princesses were in a state of liquid putrefaction, and gave forth
a black and thick vapour, the odour of which burnt vinegar and gunpowder hardly dissipated.

make chicken gizzard's that emit smoke

The WiZard is In - 23-4-2010 at 07:15

PULLETS ATE FIREWORKS
New York Times, June 17, 1928.

With Fatal Results, Says Department of Agriculture.

“Devil chasers” were convicted of the mysterious deaths of a dozen pullets
on a Virginia farm shortly after the Fourth of July last year when pathologists of
the Untied States Department of Agriculture made a laboratory examination of
one of the dead birds. Fireworks, therefore, are now listed among the numerous
causes of poultry losses against which the department urges precautionary
measures.

“Phosphorus poisoning was suspected when the examination of the
laboratory specimen disclosed a smoky vapour pouring out from among the
contents of the gizzard. The odor of phosphorus was very evident, and in a dark
room the escaping vapour was luminous,” says the department.

“Subsequent ‘detective’ work revealed the fact that on the Fourth of July the
farmer’s children had exploded a number of ‘devil chasers’ in the driveway
where the pullets were in the habit of picking up sharp gravel. The ‘devil chasers’
were flat, brownish cakes about the size of a twenty-five-cent piece and
contained phosphorus. The unexploded fragments of the fireworks were probably
swallowed by the pullets in the course of several days after the celebration. The
poisoning action was delayed somewhat by the fact that the phosphorus was
mixed with a hard substance that was not readily soluble.

“Veterinarians would do well to bear in mind the findings in this case when
called upon to make a diagnosis of the cause of death of poultry in cases
suggestive of poisoning particularly just after Independence Day celebrations.


/djh/
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

The melancholy Dane

JohnWW - 23-4-2010 at 07:31

Elemental white phosphorus is a powerful liver poison. Mixed as a dispersion into an attractant substance such as apple jam as bait, and suitably dyed (preferably green to avoid the attention of most birds), the stuff is used to kill vermin, for example New Zealand's number one pest, the introduced Australian brushtail opossum. However, it has been largely superseded for this purpose with jams containing KCN or NaCN, because use of white phosphorus has been considered "inhumane" as it is not an instant poison and causes pain; and because cyanide kills almost instantly, which enables the opossum bodies to be recovered for their valuable fur at or near the bait-stations.

[Edited on 23-4-10 by JohnWW]

The WiZard is In - 23-4-2010 at 08:53

Quote: Originally posted by JohnWW  
Elemental white phosphorus is a powerful liver poison. Mixed as a dispersion into an attractant substance such as apple jam as bait, and suitably dyed (preferably green to avoid the attention of most birds), the stuff is used to kill vermin, for example New Zealand's number one pest, the introduced Australian brushtail opossum. However, it has been largely superseded for this purpose with jams containing KCN or NaCN, because use of white phosphorus has been considered "inhumane" as it is not an instant poison and causes pain; and because cyanide kills almost instantly, which enables the opossum bodies to be recovered for their valuable fur at or near the bait-stations.

[Edited on 23-4-10 by JohnWW]



I remember some 50+ years or so ago ... my father bought rat poison
containing white phosphorus! It came in a lead tube, you were instructed
to spread it out on bread or some such. It smoked! And had a curious
glow!! Rats loved it. Over wintering mice ate through the lead tube to have
ate it. Apparently the use of WP as rodent poison was common years back
-
--------------

William B Dick
Dick's Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes
ca 1870

#1899. Phosphorus Paste for Vermin. Introduce 1 drachm phosphorus into
a Florence flask and pour over it 1 ounce rectified spirit. immerse the flask
in hot water until the phosphorus is melted, thenput a well-fitting cork into
the mouth of the flask, and shake briskly until cold. The phosphorus is now
reduced to a finely divided state. This, after pouring off the spirit, is to be
mixed in a mortar with 1 1/2 ounces lard. 5 ounces flour and 1 1/2 ounces
brown sugar, previously mixed together, are now added, and the whole
made into a paste with a little water. Cheese may be substituted for sugar
when the paste is intended for rats or mice. There is said to be no danger
whatever of spontaneous ignition, either during or after. [Oh!]

Also in: verbatim in -WC Alpers & EJ Kennedy's The Era Formulary
D Haynes NY 1914

-----------
Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines
London 1878

PHOSPHORUS PASTE, for the Destruction of Rats and Mice. The
Prussian Government issued an ordonnance [sic] on April 27, 1843,
directing the following com- position to be substituted for arsenic, for
destroying rats and mice; enjoining the authorities of the different
provinces to communicate, at the expiration of a year, the results of the
trials made with it, with the view of framing a law on this subject.

The following is the formula for this paste:- Take of phosphorus 8
parts, liquefy it in 180 parts of lukewarm water; pour the whole into a
mortar, add immediately 180 parts of rye-meal; when cold, mix in 180
parts of butter melted, and 125 parts of sugar. If the phosphorus is in a
flnely-divided state, the ingredients may be all mixed at once without
melting them. This mixture will retain its efficacy for many years, for the
phosphorus is preserved by the butter, find only becomes oxidised on the
surface.

Rats and mice eat this mixture with avidity; after which hey swell out, and
soon die. Several similar preparations are now made in this country for the
destruction of vermin.

[Butter was to coat the phosphorus preventing contact with air.]

---------
Acute hepatotoxicity from ingestion of yellow phosphorus-containing fireworks.
Medline(r) Medlars UID 96064184
J Clin Gastroenterol Vol. 21 no. 2 pp. 139-42
Type: JOURNAL ARTICLE
DATE: 1995 Sep

Abstract
We reviewed 15 cases of poisoning from ingestion of yellow phosphorus-containing fireworks
and analyzed its associated acute hepatotoxic effects. Two patients ( 13%) had no clinical or
biochemical evidence of hepatic damage, four (27%) had subclinical hepatic injury, five (33%)
manifested varying degrees of hepatocellular necrosis and cholestasis, and four (27%) had
fulminant hepatic failure. Jaundice was not associated with mortality (p > 0.05), but it appeared
to predict the length of hospital confinement. Early elevations in transaminase and alkaline
phosphatase, a more than tenfold increase in alanine aminotransferase, and a severe
derangement in prothrombin time all indicate poor prognosis. Metabolic acidosis and
hypoglycemia were significantly associated with mortality (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05, respectively).
The use of intravenous N-acetylcysteine did not significantly alter disease outcome (p > 0.05).
Our mortality rate was 27%, confirming that yellow phosphorus is extremely lethal when ingested.
Its indiscriminate use in the manufacture of fireworks should be eliminated.

Fernandez OU Canizares LL
Department of Medicine, Philippine General Hospital, Manila, Philippines.
1995 960822
Medlars UID 96064184

The WiZard is In - 24-4-2010 at 06:55

Quote: Originally posted by The WiZard is In  
PULLETS ATE FIREWORKS
New York Times, June 17, 1928.

With Fatal Results, Says Department of Agriculture.

“Devil chasers” were convicted of the mysterious deaths of a dozen pullets
on a Virginia farm shortly after the Fourth of July last year when pathologists of
the Untied States Department of Agriculture made a laboratory examination of
one of the dead birds. Fireworks, therefore, are now listed among the numerous
causes of poultry losses against which the department urges precautionary
measures.



Attached dobe finding my fourth of four articles on the use of phosphorous in fireworks,
the first three describing Armstrong's red phosphorus mixture, this, white phosphorus. The first two articles
were [patting self on back] — referenced in Bretherick's Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards. 6th ed.

Attachment: Phosphorus devil 1.txt (10kB)
This file has been downloaded 1778 times

make picric acid from gum tree resin

The WiZard is In - 26-4-2010 at 10:31

The Chemical Gazette
London 1859
Some Observations on the Amount of Picric Acid obtained from Botany Bay Resin. By
Prof. BOLLEY.

The so-called Yellow gum, or Botany Bay resin (the resin of Xanthorrlueahaslilis)
[Xanthrorroea saxtilis] , was indicated by Stenhouse, and subsequently by Warington
and Bottger, as the most abundant source of picric acid. - It was said to furnish 50 per
cent, of picric acid, so that notwithstanding its high price, it was the most economical
substance from which to obtain picric acid.

The author has had numerous experiments made on this subject by his pupils in the
Pharmaceutical Laboratory at Zurich. In these the resin was treated with 10 times its
weight of nitric acid in a retort, and the distillate repeatedly poured back. At the
commencement strong effervescence and evolution of nitrous acid took place
without any application of heat; the action was afterwards assisted by heat, and this
was continued with return of the distillate until the mass in the retort was
completely dissolved to a reddishyellow fluid. This treatment furnished-
Experiment 1. 22-5 per cent, of picric acid (somewhat purified by combination with
potash and reprecipitation by muriatic acid).

Experiment 2. 25-6 per cent, of picric acid (obtained by crystallization from the acid
liquid).

Experiment 3. 15 per cent., and therewith a yellowish powder, consisting principally
of woody fibre, partly converted into pyroxyline.

By treating the resin with alcohol until nothing more dissolved, there was found to
be 16-68 per cent, of insoluble matter, of which 2-5 per cent. was ash. The portion
insoluble in alcohol consisted principally of small fragments of wood. In experiments
1 and 2, but little was to be detected in the residue left undissolved by nitric acid.
The difference in the results of these experiments and those made by others, may
rather be attributed to impurities or differences in the composition of the raw
material, than to differences in the mode of preparation. The statement that 50 per
cent, of picric acid may be obtained from the resin, can only be true in rare cases. -
Schweize- rische Polytechn. Zeitschrift, 1858, p. 125.

extract gold from sea water

The WiZard is In - 27-4-2010 at 06:29

Extraction of Gold from Sea-water {Amended Specifications]
HC Bull and A Watling, London.
English Patent 14,097, July 8,1899
In:— The Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry
21[5] 379. March 15, 1902

A quantity of milk of lime sufficient to precipitate the gold is mixed with sea-water
as it flows into a tank ; this reacts upon the iodine of gold present in the sea-
water so as to form iodine of calcium and free gold. The gold settles in the sludge
formed by the reaction, which is removed from time to time for separate
treatment by amalgamation or other suitable means.



A Method of an Apparatus for obtaining Gold from Sea-Water.
H.C. Bull, Twickenham, England.
English Patent 10,303, May 28,1895.
In:— The Journal of The Society of Chemical Industry.
10 [14] 874-875. October 31, 1895.

Sea-water is caused to pass through a tube or conduit of wood or other suitable
non-conducting material. The tube contains anodes of carbon, iron, or other
suitable material connected to an electric cable passing along the length of the
tube. A strip of iron extending along the bottom constitutes the cathode, and is
electrically connected with a suitable conductor. The cathode is provided with a
number of cups or rings of insulation material for holding mercury. At the end of
the tube where the sea-water enters, cyanide of sodium or potassium, or
hydrochloric, oxalic, or other acid is caused to flow, which will decompose the
iodine of gold contained in the water. The gold is deposited on the mercury.


[One would suspect that Messrs Bull and Watling did not die rich!]

hissingnoise - 27-4-2010 at 08:15

Some made money and some lost. . .
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/the_gol...

You would though, need to process a lot of water for a single gram of gold.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12717242.800-science-g...

JohnWW - 27-4-2010 at 18:53

How on earth did they get patents for THAT in the 1890s? Au is present in sea water only in something like parts per BILLION. It, and other precious metals, just MIGHT be extractable with some sort of ion-exchange material, through which in a column HUGE quantities would have to be passed to get even a macroscopic trace of Au, or even Ag. However, I have not heard of any such ion-exchange material having been developed.

densest - 27-4-2010 at 20:44

Looking for Au is really a long shot - 0.4-0.8 PPT - yes, parts per 10^12. A cubic kilometer of seawater (more or less) for 1g Au. Going for U is 1000 times better, Cs is 10,000 more common, and Li @ 0.1 PPM is practically jumping out of the sea! Maybe some countercurrent membrane could give the necessary 100,000:1 ratio against Na. Hydrated ionic radii actually favor the heavier ions, though. PGMs are (according to Sverdrup et al, "The Oceans", Prentice-Hall, 1942) only present in marine organisms.

Any nuclear power plant using seawater for cooling is already pumping cubic kilometers of water. A desalinization plant has already filtered and concentrated the raw materials. Something attached to the hull of a supertanker... Just a simple matter of engineering :mad:

The principle of crown ethers binding metal ions and zeolites with specific sizes and charges in the cavities speculatively could point to a computerized search for a high molecular weight or externally highly water-repellent molecule which could be either adhered to say, sand, or made into a highly porous gel. A really externally-nonpolar liquid which could be effectively recovered to 99.999999% from seawater (ha!) would be very useful for this.

There are such programs around for computing quantum-mechanical solutions to fields and distances of compounds - I have no idea if any would be relevant. Just the thing to put 100,000 otherwise idle video card GPUs searching - and that's not a joke. Something like the SETI idle-computer project but with $$$ attached.

A pipe dream... but in 10-20 years? Computer power keeps increasing and algorithms get better. Or, pay a cracker/virus writer/scum to sell you a botnet with enough computers. :( They're relatively inexpensive due to Microsoft nonexistent security and user ignorance (insert rant here, I will write the book on how to write software that doesn't break Real Soon Now))



[Edited on 28-4-2010 by densest]

[Edited on 28-4-2010 by densest]

12AX7 - 28-4-2010 at 06:42

Howzabout tacking a sidechain onto EDTA, then bonding that to a larger substrate e.g. polymer beads, sand, etc.?

Tim

Explore the poisonous properties of brandy

The WiZard is In - 28-4-2010 at 08:04

Experiments on the Human Subject on the Poisonous Properties of the Impurities
in Potato-brandy.
Brockhaus. Central. f. öffentl. Gesundheitspfl. 146, 1882 ; Chem. Central. 669,
1882.

In:— The Journal of The Society of Chemical Industry
4 [2] 187. April 29, 1883.

The experiments were made with six of the substances constituting the chief
impurities of potato-brandy — aldehyde, paraldehyde, acetal, propyl-, isobutyl-,
and amylalcohols. The author took these substances in moderation, either in the
morning, mixed with water, or in the afternoon or evening, with wine or god old
cognac. The aldehyde acted, first, as a violent irritant on the mucus membrane,
and, secondly, upon the nervous system. The symptoms pass away quickly. The
slightly-intoxicating effect of young wine seems to the author to possibly arise
from the presence of aldehyde. The action of paraldehyde and acetal is of a
similar nature, but not so transitory. The effects are felt on the following day. The
above-mentioned alcohols caused a burning sensation in the mouth, heat in the
head, pain in the forehead, a suffocating sensation, sickness, and intoxication,
the intensity of the symptoms increasing with the molecular weight of the alcohol.
Amyl alcohol showed its self to be very violent poison,. Altogether the
conclusions was arrived that the impurities of potato-brandy exerted a much
more active influence on the human organism than ethyl alcohol. From his
experiments, and the arguments entered into fully in the original paper, the
author believe that the bad effects of the use of alcohol appear most intensely
and most quickly from the misuse of bad brandy, and that it is the impurities of
the latter which play the chief part ; but that at the same time solutions of ethyl
alcohol, such as we have in beer, wine, and good brandy, when taken in excess
during a considerable period, injure the human frame, and the more rapidly and
violently the stronger the solution. The practical lessons to be drawn from the
observations are that (1) the sale and retailing of impure brandies should be
forbidden. (2) Since the present known methods of purifying cheap brandies are
imperfect, and since, further, pure ethyl alcohol in a concentrated form is
injurious to human organism, the use of potato-brandy as an article of food or
luxury should be opposed.

--
d j h
-------------------------------
When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems
like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a
second seems like an hour. That's relativity.
AE

Demonstrate what the ancients knew — Gold amalgam

The WiZard is In - 29-4-2010 at 07:28

Kids Get Swift Lesson, In Power of Mercury
New York Newsday
21ix90

Not even a month back in school, and already, were fascinated
with the silver speck bouncing the class topics seemed to hold little
promise. around his hand as if it were alive.

"Density," Mr. Science told his eighth-graders.

"Today's class is on density." -

Mr. Science held up a tiny little bottle of mercury, which is very
dense indeed, but not the densest example of ordinary matter.
Gold is. And because Mr. Science teaches eighth-graders in a poor
neighborhood, there is plenty of gold around, all of it hanging from
the necks of his students or ringed around their fingers. No school
can afford to use gold as an example of density. In fact, at this
school, there is no money for test tubes.

"Density is a valuable tool used in identifying rocks and the
minerals in them," Mr. Science said.

He teaches earth science, Mr. Science does, so rocks and minerals
are never far from his heart.

"The densest common material available is gold, which has a
density of 19— that's 19 times the density of water. Mercury has a
density of 13, or 13 times the density of water. This is a bottle of
mercury."

Mr. Science handed the teeny little bottle of mercury to one of the
students, who gasped. It weighed about a pound because mercury
is so dense.

"Oooooh," said some students.

"Ahhhhh," said the others.

Mr. Science was pleased. The lesson plan had called for the
students to be amazed by the weight of such a tiny little bottle of
mercury. "Wait for students to oooooh and ahhhhh," said the
lesson plan.

Another note in the lesson plan said don't take the mercury out of
the bottle today, save it for another day, for the lesson on
amalgams. These amalgams are combinations of mercury with a
solid metal, when the mercury gets sopped up the way water is
soaked into a dry sponge. Say, mercury and gold. But that was for
another day. The class period was caming to an end.

"Mr. Science?" said one of the boys in the class. "Mr. Science,
could I hold some of the mercury.

Now about the only thing most people remember from earth
science class is that mercury is fun to play with, since it rolls around
in little balls and slides across the tables, frequently falling off and
shattering into even more little balls. Quicksilver is one of the
nicknames for mercury. It acts like water but stays in the
shape of a bead, not spreading on a sheet of paper or the floor.

Mr. Science gave the student a tiny drop of mercury. The others
crowded in for a look and were fascinated with the silver speck
bouncing around in his hand as if it were alive.

"I want some too, ple-e-e-ase Mr. Science?" said another.

How could he say no? How could he deny their thirst for
knowledge? As Mr. Science gave the kids the little tiny pieces of
mercury, the bell rang. Instead of stampeding out the door, the
young scholars played with the mercury. They held it in cupped
hands, pushed it along tables, rolled it along their books.

Then, as the next class was starting to arrive, the students
gathered the bits of mercury and put them back in the bottle for Mr.
Science's next lecture on density. Two classes came and went, and
these, too, wanted to play with the mercury. In all, Mr. Science was
very pleased. Everyone seemed to be grasping the concept.

Two hours after the first clam had ended, one of the girls from that
group returned to his classroom.

"Mr. Science? Look what the mercury did to my ring!"

The ring was in three pieces. Mr. Science was shocked, but
recovered quickly.

"Obviously, it was a very weak ring," said Mr. Science.

She was impressed but not comforted and perhaps she thought a
wicked thought or two about the boy who had given her such a
cheap ring that it fell apart when one little drop of mercury touched
it.

A moment later, another girl arrived with gold crumbs.

"Mr. Science, look at my ring, what the mercury did!"

Within a minute, his first-period students were rolling in the door of
the class fast as little ball's of mercury on the loose. They were
holding. rings, necklaces, jewelry of all twists and turns. A few had
fallen apart. In the rest, the mercury had plated what once had
been a gold surface. Mr. Science gulped and fretted that soon
parents would be knocking down his door in anger.

In the halls, though, the students were dazzled. Soon all the
eighth-graders in the school were clamoring for mercury.

No way, said Mr. Science, thinking about the upcoming lesson on
amalgams. The way water clings to a sponge. How the liquid
mercury joins, surprisingly, with a solid metal. The way gold jewelry
clings to the bodies of poor kids.


make your ---- explode

The WiZard is In - 30-4-2010 at 05:43

Fred Trager of Barberton, Ohio, says he put in about 30 years as a volunteer teacher of
a show-and-tell course, "Hazardous Chemicals." It was part of a public relations
program started by his employer, PPG Industries, after World War II. Trager, now
retired, taught the course to safety groups, paid and volunteer firemen, chemistry
teachers, and students all over Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. In due course, he
says, he picked up "hundreds of fantastic stories about chemical accidents told to me by
firemen and chemistry teachers."



A fireman who led a Boy Scout troop took the lads on a weekend camping trip. The
campground had an outdoor privy. After first using it, the Scoutmaster noticed a plastic
container labeled "Lime for Deodorizing"; he poured some of the white powder though
the hole and walked away. He hadn't gone more then 30 yards when he was arrested
abruptly by a loud report and, turning, saw that the outhouse had exploded and the
remains were burning merrily.

It turned out, Trages says, that somebody had mistakenly filled the lime container with
calcium hypochlorite, a very strong oxidizing agent "and one of the chemicals that give
firemen fits." All that was needed was an organic substrate and pow!

Chemical and Engineering News. September 19, 1988.

Attachment: T_BOWL.tif (137kB)
This file has been downloaded 804 times

peach - 1-5-2010 at 03:02

A personal favorite of mine, THE REVIGATOR!

http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/quackcures/revigat.htm

"Hmmm, that's funny, the more I drink the more tired I feel, I guess I just need to drink more" :D

[Edited on 1-5-2010 by peach]

Make explosives from cyanide

The WiZard is In - 1-5-2010 at 07:06

Very sensitive to impact and friction — violently
explosive potassium purpurate is prepared using
KCN and Picric acid.

Like picric acid purpurate was used as a dye.

K. Eiter & et al in a 1953 Austrian patent claim a
"safety explosive" using either 28% sodium
cyanide or 73% mercury cyanide.
PATR2700


Make diamonds

The WiZard is In - 3-5-2010 at 05:17

Diamonds in detonation soot
Nature Vol. 333 2 June 1988
N. Roy Greiner*, D. S. Phillips*, J. D. Johnson*
& Fred Volk
*Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos
New Mexico 87545, USA
Fraunhofer-lnstitut fur Treib- und Explosivstoffe,
D-7507 Pfinztal/Berghausen, FRG

The physical structure and chemical bonding of
the carbon in solid detonation products (soot)
are largely unknown. It is well established that
diamond can be manufactured by the
application of explosive shocks to graphite
loaded into the explosive, or in a fixture external
to the explosive. Here we report the formation
of diamonds as a chemical product of the
detonation process itself. The diamonds we
observe are =7 nm in diameter and make up 25
wt% of the soot; in size and infrared spectrum
they resemble diamonds similarly isolated from
meteorites.


TNT Explodes at Soviet Post
New York Times 8vii88

MOSCOW, July 2 (Reuters)—Eight tons of
TNT exploded at a Soviet anti-aircraft
installation near Khabarovsk in the Far East,
causing extensive damage and injuries but no
deaths, the press agency Tass reported today.
The explosives, which were stored in military
warehouses, blew up on Wednesday "in the
area of deployment of an anti-aircraft unit near
Khabarovsk," Tass said.


Largest Accidental Explosions

1950 South Amboy, N.J. USA. 1.0 million pounds "Mines, dynamite." 26 killed
400 inured.

1918 Morgan, N.J. USA. 1.0 million pounds ammonium nitrate. 64 killed 100
injured.

1944 Hastings, Neb. USA.. 1.1 million pounds Torpex bombs. 10 killed.

1926 Lake Denmark, N.J. USA. 1.6 million pounds TNT

1944 Port Chicago, California USA . 4.272 million pounds Torpex 300 killed.

1917 Halifax. N.S. Canada 5.2 million pounds TNT, picric acid, nitrocellulose. 1
800 killed 8 000 inured.

1917 Steinfield [Eddystone PA?] 5.5 million pounds Hi. X.

1947 Brest, France. 6.6 million pounds Ammonium nitrate. 12 killed.

1947 Texas City, Texas USA. 7.0 million pounds ammonium nitrate. 560+ killed;
3 000+ inured.

1923 Oppau, Germany. 9.0 million pounds ammonium nitrate. 1 100 killed; 1 500
injured.

1944. RAF Bomb Store Stonepit Hills - Hanbury, England. 8 000 000 pounds of "bombs." 68 killed.

Largest (?) Planned Explosion

1958 April 5th. Seymour Narrows, British Columbia. Ripple Rock is destroyed with
2,756,000 pounds of "Nitramex" 2H. (A Du Pont ammonium nitrate based
explosive.) Blasters Handbook 15th ed. 1969 pg. 13.


From: Hudson Maxim's -- Dynamite Stories (1916)

WHEN HE SHIRKED

A PROMINENT financier, who was a much better business man than he was
inventor, read of Moissan's experiments in making artificial diamonds. The
financier conceived the idea of converting anthracite coal directly into diamonds
by subjecting it to enormous pressure of gunpowder exploded in a strong steel
cylinder.

As he wished to market a larger quantity of his manufactured diamonds before
their artificial character should leak out, he determined to conduct his
experiments very secretly; consequently, he put the man-of-all-work at his
country place upon the job. This faithful and useful servant was to report the
progress of the work regularly at the city office of his employer.

After several trying experiments with black gunpowder, the man reported that the
scheme didn't work-that no diamonds were produced.

The financier then told the useful that he had evidently reached the limit of power
of black gunpowder.

"Now try dynamite," said he.

There was a break in the chain of reports, and he wrote the useful, asking him
why he did not report. Still no answer.

After waiting some days, the idea suddenly struck the financier that possibly the
process had proved successful and that the useful planned to betray him. He
accordingly sent a peremptory telegram to him to report at once on pain of
discharge.

The next day a vision, swathed and bandaged and perambulating on crutches,
entered his office.

"You infernal old scoundrel!" yelled the wreck, as he entered. "Blow a man up
with dynamite, and then threaten to discharge him for not reporting."


Department Of Commerce And Labor Bureau Of Manufactures Monthly
Consular And Trade Reports October, 1905 No. 301 Washington Government
Printing Office 1905

Bureau Of Manufactures 1905 October

Artificial Diamonds.
Interesting Experiments With Remarkable Results.
Consul-General Guenther, of Frankfort, writes concerning the most recent
efforts for the production of artificial diamonds, as follows:
Crystallized carbon, as chemistry has taught for a long time, occurs in nature in
two entirely different forms-as diamond and as graphite.

Anybody who can afford to do so can burn a diamond in oxygen and become
convinced that nothing remains except pure carbonic acid. The only
compensation, except this knowledge, for the costliness of the experiment is the
brilliant light colors under which the diamond, so to speak, gives up its life.

When the nature of the diamond was first discovered many chemists were full of
hope that they would succeed in producing artificial diamonds of considerable
size from carbon. This, however, has not been accomplished thus far, and to-
day it is assumed that the formation of large diamonds principally found in South
Africa has been under conditions which have not been possible to produce in the
laboratory. From time to time artificial diamonds have been made from carbon
under great pressure, but, these experiments were always more expensive than
the value of the diamonds obtained and besides were very dangerous. In one
instance the laboratory of the experimenter was completely destroyed.

A NEW METHOD.
The French chemist, Moissan, has shown a new method for producing artificial
diamonds by the employment of molten iron as a solvent for carbon, and using
the electric stove, invented by himself, for producing a degree of heat hitherto
not reached. Through the intense heat of this electric stove and by sudden
cooling of the molten metal the carbon is separated in the form of very small
diamond crystals. The London Lancet reports a further step in advance in the
production of crystallized carbon, through experiments of Doctor Burton, of
Cambridge. This scientist has proven that the diamond is a denser form of
carbon crystal than graphite, and that a lesser pressure is sufficient for
producing artificial diamonds than had been employed heretofore. Doctor Burton
in his experiments used a molten alloy of lead and some metallic calcium, which
can also hold a small quantity of carbon in solution.

WONDERFUL RESULTS.
If the calcium is separated from the molten mass, some of the carbon
crystallizes. The separation of calcium can, for instance, be accomplished
through steam. If the introduction of .steam is made during full red heat, then
small graphite crystals are found in the resulting crust of lime; if the steam is
introduced during a low red heat, no graphite is formed, but a number of
microscopical crystals are formed, the properties of which are entirely identical
with those of natural diamonds. These experiments, which may be continued,
strengthen the belief that it may be possible, some day, to produce in the
laboratory of the chemist diamonds of sufficient size and perfection to compete
with natural diamonds.

These experiments furnish a new theory with reference to the probable origin of
natural diamonds, which may not have been under an excessively high
temperature, but from a peculiar crystallization from a yet unknown solvent,
perhaps under high pressure. The artificial diamonds obtained by Doctor Burton
are pronounced to be the finest so far observed, because they possess an
unusually high power of refraction.
Sir William Brookes, in a lecture recently delivered at Kimberley before the British
Association, called attention to a peculiarity of diamonds, namely, that they are
especially transparent for X-rays, while imitation diamonds hardly let these rays
pass through, and he declared that this furnished an excellent means of
distinguishing genuine from imitation diamonds.

JohnWW - 3-5-2010 at 10:52

The technology for production of artificial diamonds, especially in thin layers, and also borazon, BN, which is equally hard and with similar optical properties, has advanced considerably since 1905 or the time of Moissan, due to invention of means of obtaining much greater and more sustained pressures, and thin-film deposition methods. Doped (with small amounts of either B or N) diamonds, and also borazon with a slight excess of either B or N, are being researched as high-band-gap semiconductors for transistors, requiring higher voltages than other types.
Quote:
Sir William Brookes, in a lecture recently delivered at Kimberley before the British Association, called attention to a peculiarity of diamonds, namely, that they are especially transparent for X-rays, while imitation diamonds hardly let these rays pass through, and he declared that this furnished an excellent means of distinguishing genuine from imitation diamonds.
I wonder if this could be used for non-destructively distinguishing diamond from borazon and cubic zirconia, which have very similar optical properties, as well as from silica-based glasses.

Build a pyrotechnic motor

The WiZard is In - 5-5-2010 at 06:16

James Taylor
Solid Propellent and Exothermic Compositions
Interscience Publishers, Inc.
New York 1959
Pp. 118

CHARGE TO OPERATE A RECIPROCATING ENGINE

A solid charge for actuating a " William and James " motor, which is a four cylinder reciprocating engine, has been described. The gas generator device is shown in Fig. 15. It comprised a strong¬-walled steel tube 4 7 in. internal diameter and 5 in. external diameter closed at one end and lined internally with a layer of " Hallite " steam jointing sheet material, into which was pressed a propellent composition in incremental charges under a pressure of 5,550 lb. per sq. in. forming a continuous column. The weight of the charge was 15 lb. It comprised a ball milled powder of composition:

Ammonium nitrate 78.5%
Potassium nitrate 9.0
Anhydrous ammonium oxalate 6.9
Ammonium bichromate 5.6
China clay 0.7

[Adds to 100% + 0.7]

For details/drawings see US Patent 2 637 274

P.80
THE NATURE OF THE CHROMATE INDUCED DECOMPOSITION

If an intimate mixture of ammonium nitrate and potassium chromate, in powder form, is heated at a point in it by a flame or hot wire the ammonium nitrate begins to decompose at that point and this decomposition spreads slowly and smoothly throughout he mixture until all the ammonium nitrate has been consumed. There is no flame or glow, but the decomposition of the ammonium nitrate produces volumes of gas coloured brown by nitrogen dioxide. The potassium chromate remains at the end of the reaction, some of it having changed into potassium dichromate, the excess potassium being present as nitrate. Essentially, however the potassium chromate obeys the criterion of a catalyst, of being unchanged by the reaction. By arranging the experiment so that a column of ammonium nitrate has resting on it an ammonium nitrate/potassium chromate mixture, and causing this to react, the potassium chromate will gradually pass down through the column of ammonium nitrate, causing it all to react. Thus the reaction is definitely one of catalysis by the potassium chromate.

If ammonium dichromate is used instead of potassium chromate in admixture with ammonium nitrate, it not only brings about decomposition of the latter, but as it itself decomposes in a self- sustained manner when locally initiated evolving nitrogen and steam and leaving a voluminous green mass of chromic oxide, according to the reaction:

(NH4)2Cr207 -- 4H20 + N2 + Cr204

the heat released is considerable and this assists the reaction of the ammonium nitrate thermally, so that the reaction is not solely catalytic. Nevertheless, this is not a case of thermal decomposition of the ammonium nitrate sustained by the heat of this reaction, since on the one hand the proportion of ammonium dichromate need not be sufficient to supply the heat requisite even to melt all the ammon¬ium nitrate and, on the other hand, if a mixture of potassium nitrate, ammonium nitrate and ammonium dichromate is used, the chromium remains after the reaction in the form of potassium chromate and dichromate, indicating that the reaction between potassium nitrate and ammonium dichromate has preference, as it were, over the self-sustained thermal decomposition of the ammonium dichromate.

This catalytic aspect of the decomposition of ammonium nitrate differentiates it rather sharply from the combustion of cordite or blackpowder, which are by comparison high temperature reactions, in which the energy released is sufficient to activate the molecules over the energy thresholds without the assistance of a catalyst.

Determine the average temperature of the spirit world

The WiZard is In - 7-5-2010 at 09:58

Daedalus
Spiritual matters
Nature 22 April 1999

The connection between matter and spirit has been debated for millennia. The
central mystery is that certain material objects (human beings) contrive to be
conscious and to possess a spiritual dimension. This implies that matter itself
has some rudimentary spiritual character.

Daedalus reckons that the spiritual world occupies the same space as the
material one, but at most points is very weakly coupled to it. Nonetheless, over
cosmological space and time, this weak coupling must have brought the two
realms into thermodynamic equilibrium. So the spirit world will have acquired the
average temperature of the physical universe - 3 K, the temperature of the
Creation, microwave background. (This explains why a ghost, an invasion of the
material world by the spirit one, tends to cool the room.)

So Daedalus is looking for the weak thermodynamic coupling between the two
worlds. A warm material object, even in a perfect vacuum and surrounded by a
perfect reflector, should slowly cool down by thermal leakage into the spiritual
world. The experiment will test modern thermometry and high-vacuum and
techniques to their limits; but success would open a whole new field
of discovery.

Daedalus is already planning his exploration of it. He hopes to discover whether
holy relics and ritual objects, imbued with spiritual significance, cooling faster
than more mundane ones. He expects that biological materials, especially the
neurotransmitters and proteins of brain chemistry; will cool faster still. They are
part of the secret of human consciousness, and should be quite tightly coupled to
the spiritual world. This coupling might take the form of strong spectroscopic
emission at the 3 K black body peak in the millimetre-wave region, or it might be
far more subtle. But detailed experiments, aided by such insights, should reveal
the spiritual capacity of a wide range of objects and substances.

Perhaps the most interesting objects for testing will be semiconductors, either as
bulk solids or in the form of integrated circuits and microprocessors. If they cool
no faster than common minerals, this will demonstrate their lack of a spiritual
dimension - in which case no computer, however powerful, could be conscious.
But if they turn out to cool as fast as the neurotransmitters, then conscious
technological monsters like Hal and Deep Thought should indeed be possible

David Jones

Theological Prozac

The WiZard is In - 8-5-2010 at 06:37

Daedalus
Theological chemistry
Nature 29 April 1999

The most convincing evidence for religious belief is subjective. Many people
claim to sense the presence of God, to be able to communicate with Him in
prayer, or receive comfort from Him in trouble. But to others, praying simply feels
like talking into a dead telephone. Even devout believers sometimes suffer 'the
dark night of the soul' when the divine presence cannot be sensed.

One theory is that the religious sense is chemical. Many primitive religions use
psychotropic drugs and hallucinogens in their rituals. Nitrous oxide, ether and
LSD have also been claimed to open the user's mind to higher reality.

Daedalus disagrees. Such intoxicants, he reckons, merely stir up noise and
nonsense inside the brain. He wants to get past the 'earthquake, wind and fire' to
reach the 'still, small voice' of the authentic spiritual experience.

So he plans to conduct brain scans on monks and nuns at prayer, to identify the
active region of the brain. Successful prayers and 'dark night' failures should
show different patterns. With very good luck, an NMR scan might even be able to
identify the molecule metabolized in a successful religious experience.

Another way of identifying it depends on Daedalus's theory of last week, that the
spirit world shares the 3 K temperature of the cosmic microwave background,
and that spiritually important molecules radiate spontaneously into that world.
The black-body peak at 3 K is at 310 GHz, a frequency band in which molecular
rotational and librational resonance's occur. Isotopically substituted molecules
with shifted resonance's should therefore be spiritually less effective. By
synthesizing candidate substances enriched with 2-H, 13-C or 15-N, and
injecting them into the test monks and nuns, the crucial religious metabolite could
be identified. People in whom it is richly present will be believers, those without it
will be hard-boiled materialists. A simple tablet or injection will then enable the
latter to feel religious experience for themselves.

Daedalus's Theological Prozac will at last open the private, subjective claims of
religion and mysticism to scientific study. It will make spiritual experiences freely
accessible and reproducible, allowing them to be classified and their implications
understood. With luck, the resulting illumination will bestow spiritual comfort
on the users, unaccompanied by the stern orthodox convictions attached to it by
the more doctrinal aspects of religion.

David Jones

Measure gas's produced by bean consumption

The WiZard is In - 12-5-2010 at 06:48

F. R. Steggerda
Department of Physiology and Biophysics University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill.
In: Gastrointestinal Gas
Annals of the New York Academy of Science
Volume 150, Art. 1 Pages 1-190
February 26, 1968


Gas Production and Bean Products in Men

To establish the theory that when one ingests bean products he experiences
flatulence, a number of experiments were performed in which the effects of a
non-gas-producing basal diet were compared with those of a diet containing a
high concentration of beans. [4] The basal diet contained a total of 2,625
calories, with 246 g of carbohydrate, 88 g of fat, 152 g of protein and 7 g of crude
fiber. The subjects consumed this diet for seven consecutive days, following it
with a seven-day diet, 57% of which was a commercially-prepared pork and
bean product. The caloric intake and the distribution of carbohydrate, fat, and
protein were adjusted to be comparable to the basal diet. With this basic dietary
regime, substitutions could be made in the amounts of pork and beans
consumed, as well as in the variety of bean products to be studied. In more
recent experiments, the bean products were prepared from a ground meal or
flour made from the dried bean. This was consumed in the form of cooked mush
and muffins. This way of consuming the bean product was more accurate than
using the water-packed commercial product, and also served as a convenient
way for studying the gas producing ability of various products extracted from the
original bean meal.

The effects of various diets on the amount of gas produced were recorded by
inserting the end of a catheter into the rectum six to eight in beyond the anal
sphincter. The end inserted into the rectum was perforated with a number of
holes approximately 1 cm apart. The other end was attached to a graduated
cylinder containing an acidified sulphate solution. The volume of flatus passed
was recorded by measuring the displacement of the solution inches in the
cylinder. At the end of the collection period, a sample of the collected gas was
removed from the collection cylinder and introduced into a Fisher-Hamilton gas
partitioner, and the percentages Of C02, 02, CH4, N2, and H2 were recorded.
The collections were usually made on the fourth and seventh days of each
period. This lasted for two hr after lunch and again for two hr after the dinner
meal. Thus, with four hr of collections on two different days, the average hourly
results for each subject were made from eight hr of collection for a specific diet.

The results of this experimentation on five adult subjects on a number of different
experimental diets is given in TABLE 1. As will be noted, the average gas
volume collected per hour for the non-gas-producing diet was 15 cc, but when
the diet was 57 % pork and beans, the gas volume increased to 176 cc/ hour.
The data also show that pork and beans at the 27 % level of the total diet were
only half as effective as a similar amount of green lima beans. It was also
observed that the gas-producing ability of Boston baked beans was not
appreciably different from that of the pork and beans. Another notable
phenomenon brought out in these experiments was the marked increase in
carbon dioxide in the flatus produced by the pork and beans over that of the
basal diet; the increase was sixfold when the high concentration of pork and
beans was consumed.

Simulate a nuclear explosion

The WiZard is In - 13-5-2010 at 04:02

Have American spy satellites detect it — start WW III.


Title: Evaluation of Large Pyrotechnic Arrays for Nuclear Burst Simulation.
Personal Author: Rittenhouse,C T
Corporate Author: UNIDYNAMICS/PHOENIX INC ARIZ
AD Number: ADA040339
Report Date: 28 JUN 1976
Distribution Code: 01 - APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
Report Classification: U - Unclassified


"... the best composition in this respect [high radiant flux levels] was
41/10/47/3 zirconium/thorium/molybdenum trioxide/fluorel." "However,
this composition is not usable in the HDL application because of its thorium
content, which is regarded as a serious health hazard due to its radioactivity.
The second ranked composition...."

When I tested an advanced version of this off the Coast of
South Africa on September 21, 1979, an American spy satellite
Vela 6911, detected it. I am told the Pentagon and State
Department were in a swivet.

In truth my contact at the Bulgarian embassy had provided the satellites orbit info to me......

Embalming

The WiZard is In - 14-5-2010 at 15:36

US Patent No 428,161 (1890)
Preserving Compound
Bodies with or without previous treatment were to be subjected to sulphurous
acid fumes in a sealed compartment. Patentee suggested the possible
occurrence of chemical union of the gases with the liquids of the body
to yield acids capable of arresting decomposition.
Sulphur 3pts
Hardwood charcoal 3
Borax 2
Salt 2
Calcium chloride 2
All ingredients were to be in a dried, and powdered state.
From 2-4 ounces of this composition were to be ignited, and
a body, with or without clothing, was to be exposed to the
penetrating, disinfectant sulphurous fumes.

---------
US Patent No. 61,472 (1867)
Improvement in Embalming Dead Bodies.
The gases, chlorine, sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrochloric
acid, singly or mixed, were to be introduced arterially.

----------
US Patent No. 450,017 (1891)
Embalming Mixture
Invention relates to arterial injection of a mixture of antiseptic gases to penetrate the tissues.
Passage through the entire arterial system, penetration of capillaries throughout the body, and
impregnation of abdominal organs, were to be assured through introducing the specified gases
under pressure. Chlorine, hydrogen, sulphur dioxide, and ozone, were to be generated
separately and conducted into rubber bags for storage.........

-----------
US Patent No. 1,088,977 (1914)
Process for Hardening or Mummification of Human and Animal Bodies and Their Organs.
Body was to be completely immersed in turpentine for 10 to 15 days in an hermetically sealed
receptacle. This preliminary process was then to be followed by steeping for 15 days , in a
6.5 percnet solution of Norwegian liquid tar in 95 percent alcohol. The body was carefully
washed with turpentine, allowed to dry, then subjected to warmth. Hardening or mummification
was alleged to occur slowly (from 15 days to several months) according to the size of subject in
relation to rate of drying.

[Body could then be used as a Yule Log!!]

SO:--
S Mendelshon, F.A.I.C.
Embalming Fluids
Chemical Publishing Co.New York 1940


djh
-------
Heraldry—

Eleven varieties of lines, other than straight lines, which divide the
shield, or edge our cheverons, pales, and the like, are pictured in
the heraldry books and named as engrailed, embattled, indented,
invected, wavy or undry, nebuly, dancetty, raguly, pontenté,
dovetailed and urdy.

hissingnoise - 15-5-2010 at 02:10

Quote:
[Body could then be used as a Yule Log!!]

Lovely!
Shades of Soylent Green?

Build a Turbo-Encabulator

The WiZard is In - 16-5-2010 at 05:48

The turbo-encabulator in industry.


For more then 50 years the Arthur D. Little Industrial Bulletin has endeavored to interpret
scientific information in terms that he lay person could understand. "The turbo-encabulator in
industry" is the contribution of J.H. Quick, graduate member of the Institution of Electrical
Engineers in London, England, and was, first published in the Institution's Students' Quarterly
Journal in December 1944, It is here reprinted without the kind permission of that publication
and of the author in a further salute to Quick.

For a number of years now, work has been proceeding to bring perfection to the crudely
conceived idea of a machine that would not only supply inverse reactive current for use in
unilateral phase detractors, but would also be capable of automatically synchronizing cardinal
grammeters.

Such a machine is the "turbo-encabulator." Basically, the only new principle involved is that
instead of power being generated by the relative motion of conductors and fluxes, it is produced
by the medial interaction of magneto-reluctance and capacitive directance.

The original machine had a base plate of prefabulated amulite, surmounted by a malleable
logarithmic casing in such a way that the two spurving bearings were in direct line with the
pentametric fan. The latter consisted simply of six hydrocoptic marzelvanes, so fitted to the
ambifacient lunar waneshaft that side fumbline was effectively prevented. The main winding was
of the normal lotus-0-delta type placed in panendermic semiboiloid slots in the stator, every
seventh conductor being connected by a nonreversible tremie pipe to the differential gridlespring
on the "up" end of the grammeters.

Forty-one manestically spaced grouting brushes were arranged to feed into the rotor slipstream a
mixture of high S-value phenylhydrobenzamine and 5% remanative tetryliodohexamine. Both of
these liquids have specific pericosities given by P=2.5C.n(exponent)6.7 where n is the diathetical
evolute of retrograde temperature phase disposition and C is Chlomondeley's annular grillage
coefficient. Initially, n was measured with the aid of metaploar refractive pilfrometer (for a
description of this ingenious instrument, see Reference 1), but up to the present, nothing has been
found to equal the transcendental hopper dadoscope (2).

Electrical engineers will appreciate the difficulty of nubing together a regurgitative purwell and a
supramitive wennelsprock. Indeed, this proved to be a stumbling block to further development
until, in 1942, it was found that the use of anhydrous nangling pins enabled a kryptonastic
boiling shim to the tankered.

The early attempts to construct a sufficiently robust spiral decommutator failed largely because
of a lack of appreciation of the large quasipiestic stresses in the gremlin studs; the latter were
specifically designed to hold the roffit bars to the spamshaft. When, however, it was discovered
that spending could be prevented by a simple addition to the living sockets, almost perfect
running was secured.

The operating point is maintained as near as possible to the h.f. rem peak by constantly
fromaging the bitumogenous spandrels. This is a distinct advance on the standard nivel-sheave in
that no dramcock oil is required after the phase detractors have remissed.

Undoubtedly, the turbo-encabulator has not reached a very high level of technical development,
It has been successfully used for operating nofer trunnions. In addition, whenever a barescent
skor motion is required, it may be employed in conjunction with a drawn reciprocating dingle
arm to reduce sinusoidal depleneration.

References

(1) Rumpelvestein, L.E., Z. Elektro-technistatisch-Donnerblitz vii.
(2) Oriceddubg in the Peruvian Academy of Skatological Sciences, June 1914.


djh
-------
"The move from a structuralist account in which capital is understood to
structure social relations in relatively homologous ways to a view of hege-
mony in which power relations are subject to repetition, convergence, and
rearticulation brought the question, of temporality into the thinking of struc-
ture, and marked a shift from a form of Althusserian theory that takes
structural totalities as theoretical objects to one in which the insights into
the contingent possibility of structure inaugurate a renewed conception of
hegemony as bound up with the contingent sites and strategies of the
rearticulation of power."

Berkeley professor Judith Butler.
In the journal Diacritics.


Build a fungus pit

The WiZard is In - 17-5-2010 at 09:17

Extending his views, he was next led to the conclusion that timber,
being composed of a variety of cells and tubes, through which
certain fluids were in a constant state of transmission, it would be
no difficult matter to inject the entire structure with the mercurial
preparation. He accordingly built a wooden tank, which he filled
with a solution of corrosive sublimate, or, as it is technically
called, bichloride of mercury, and proceeded to immerse a
number of specimen logs of wood for trial. The affinity of the
albumen for the mercurial salt, aided by the porous structure of
the wood, caused a complete saturation to take place in about a
fortnight, where the albumen was every where converted into
protochloride of mercury.

Nothing now remained to complete this interesting discovery, but
the actual trial of the prepared woods. The "fungus pit" at
Woolwich dock-yard offered the severest test to which it could be
subjected, for it is said that in that " most villanous cavity,
no substance, either vegetable or animal, can, by possibility,
escape destruction." Mr. Kyan was, therefore, most wise in getting
permission to bury his indestructible woods within the shadows of
its —

"Low brow'd misty vaults,
Furr'd round with mouldy damps and ropy slime,"-
" Where all things else decay."

The Family magazine, or, Monthly abstract of general knowledge.
Volume 2 1837.

http://tinyurl.com/2cvg4lz

[I bet several of ex-wife's would escape destruction.]

detonating or fulminating matches

The WiZard is In - 18-5-2010 at 15:50

Gill's technological Repository 1829

" The detonating or fulminating matches, are those, which after being lighted by
any means, at a certain period of their burning, make an explosion. These matches
are more costly than the others; and, consequently, are only purchased by persons
who know what they require. At present, they are only sold by the dealers in objects
of philosophical amusement. The preparation of these matches is simple: it consists
in making, by means of a small gouge, an excavation in the stem of the match, at
about a third part of its length, from the prepared end of it; and raising up the
loosenend part of the wood, introducing into the hole, made at the farther end, an
atom, either of fulminating silver, or fulminating mercury, but especially the former;
and then glueing up fast the small slice of wood raised by the gouge,
" These detonating matches present no danger, but only to the persons preparing
them, and even that danger is not great; as with agros weight only of the fulminating
material, they may prepare many hundred matches ; and the consumption of these
being limited, the manufacturers consequently never keep any considerable
quantity of the fulminating matters by them. We therefore think, that the
manufacture of these detonating matches may, without inconvenience, be
permitted in the city. It is always easy to distinguish these detonating matches from
others. It is sufficient to examine them ; and we may always perceive a part upon
their stems which shines, and indicates the place into which the fulminating
material has been introduced, and finally glued over. Nevertheless, we should wish
that persons would cease to make use of this kind of sport, which, in many
circumstances, is not without danger; owing to the fright which they occasion, and
to females in particular, when they are thus taken by surprise."


djh
----
His talk was like a stream, which runs
With rapid change from rocks to roses;
It slipped from politics to puns,
It passes from Mahomet to Moses;
Beginning with the laws which keep
The Planets in their radian courses;
And ending with some precept deep
For dressing eels, or shoeing horses.

Winthrop Mackworth Praed
The Vicar

Make gunpowder from vitamin C

The WiZard is In - 20-5-2010 at 10:13

Golden Powder: A New Explosive/Propellant
Based on Ascorbic Acid

P. A. Wehrli and M. J. Space
Hoffmann-La Roche Inc.
Nutley, N.J. 07110
(2071.) 235-5000

The search for Black Powder substitutes is an old
one dating back into the 19th century. In l846, nitro-cellulose was
discovered and the quest to find explosives or propellants with
safer and improved performance characteristics is still ongoing.
Within this chain of discoveries, we should like to present a new
explosive, discovered and patented by Earl F. Kurtzl, which we
have developed in collaboration with Golden Powder of Texas Inc.

This powder, called "Golden Powder" because of
its appearance in early experiments or of its perceived potential
value, is a simple explosive made from potassium nitrate and
ascorbic acid. The exact chemical composition is not known due to
the transformation of most of the ascorbic acid into compounds of
unknown structure, presumably polymeric in nature.

The process is a very simple one. The two
compounds, ascorbic acid and potassium nitrate in a weight ratio of
38:62 are heated, in the presence of water and a small amount of
potassium bicarbonate, until a "melt" is formed and the color turns
golden-brown. It is then immediately cooled, broken into pieces,
and crushed to a powder. It can be processed further, e.g., by
compaction or molding, granulation, or any other suitable process.

U.S. Patent #4,497,676, February 5, 1985.

Laboratory Process

A typical laboratory recipe is as follows: Weigh
105.7 g of potassium nitrate, 65.2 g of ascorbic acid, 3.7 g of
potassium bicarbonate, and 128.5 g of deionized water into a 250
ml Erylemenmer flask. (2) Potassium bicarbonate is added as a
precaution to prevent the formation of nitric acid due to acidic
impurities present in the raw materials. Agitate the slurry using a
magnetic stirring bar. The temperature falls several degrees during
the solid dissolution process. Heat the solution to 600C to
completely dissolve the solids. When the solids are dissolved, the
solution will be pale yellow.

Pour the solution into a 45 cm x 37L cm pyrex
dish. Some material will crystallize out in the coo- dish but will re-
dissolve Later. The solution will form a Layer 2-3 m-thick. Place the
dish into an oven preheated to 7-200C. During the first 1 1/2 hr. of
heat treatment, the majority of the water is removed. The dried
solid will rise to a thickness of 5-10 mm and turn from yellow to
brown in color. The best performing material is heated for 3 hr. The
tray is removed from the oven, covered with aluminum foil and
allowed to cool to room temperature.


The heat-treated material is a brittle sponge like solid which breaks
up easily when touched. As soon as cool, the solid is removed from
the tray and ground into a powder using a mortar and pestle. At
this point, we have Golden Powder in its crude state. The powder
is hygroscopic and care should be taken to minimize exposure to
water or humid atmosphere to avoid caking.

2. Potassium nitrate and potassium bicarbonate are reagent,--
grade material. The ascorbic acid is Hoffmann-La Roche, U.S.P.
grade material.

-Heat Treatment

While the water is vaporized, crystals of
potassium nitrate 10-50 microns in size are formed. These
crystals are visible in the final product under a scanning electron
microscope (Figure 1). The photograph shows the cross-section
of a typical particle. The lighter particles seem to be crystals of
potassium nitrate surrounded by a matrix of ascorbic acid
"polymer". Golden powder is similar to other composite
propellants where the oxidizer is coated by the fuel. In this case,
the oxidizer is potassium nitrate and the fuel is ascorbic acid
polymer.

Figure 1
Scanning Electron Micrograph of Golden Powder (20OX)

Although we do not know the reactions which take
place during the heat treatment, several observations have been
made. The potassium nitrate is essentially unaffected by the
heating so the reacting component is ascorbic acid. During the
treatment, gaseous products are given off which causes the
powder to rise. These products have been identified as carbon
dioxide and water and account for a weight loss of 10-12% during
the heating (Figure 2). This loss is in addition to the water used to
dissolve the ascorbic acid and potassium nitrate. The reaction
progress can be followed by monitoring the ascorbic acid content
of the powder.

Several temperatures have been used for the heat treatment
ranging from 105oC to 140oC (Figure 3). As we would expect, the
degradation is more rapid at higher temperatures.For convenience
on a laboratory scale, we chose 120oC as our working temperature.

The best powder contains 2-5% residua ascorbic acid which is
produced after about 3 hr at 1200C. Higher temperatures are
possible with good control on the heating time and temperature.
Overheating of the powder results in the formation of carbon and
a decrease in performance and safety.

The physical properties of golden powder are summarized below in
Table I. Golden Powder has several advantageous properties as a
propellant. It can be molded without any binders into a solid fuel
for use as consumable cartridges. The heat of combustion is 5%
higher and the gas volume produced is 10% greater than an
equivalent amount of black powder. The residue on ignition is only
28% compared to about 50% using black powder. In addition, the
residue from burning golden powder is water soluble, unlike many
other propellants.

Table I

Physical Properties of Golden Powder and Black Powder

Golden Powder Black Powder


color Golden to medium Black
brown
Bulk Density (20-50 mesh) .88-.90 gm/cc ---
Heat of Combustion 718 cal/gm 684 cal/gm)
Gas Vo-.ume on Combustion 298 cc/gm 271 cal/gm
Residue on Combustion 28% (H2O soluble) 50%
Ignition Temperature 333o C 313oC (4)

4.Initiation temperature from differential calorimentry on
Gearhart-Owen Industries Superfine, FFFG Black Powder.

Using differential scanning calorimetry, the ignition temperature of
golden powder was determined to be 333oC (Figure 4). The
ignition temperature is 200C higher than that measured for black
powder in the same equipment. Scanning calorimetric studies show
a two-stage exotherm over a temperature range of 333oC to
455oC.

Ballistic Performance

Although Golden Powder offers a wide spectrum
of applications, one area which has attracted the attention of end
users is its use as a black powder substitute. Golden Powder can
be easily granulated to any grade of gun powder. The crude
powder can be compacted to pellets or sheets which can be milled
to appropriate grain sizes. We have made granulation's of golden
powder which pass through a 20-mesh screen but are retained on
a 40-mesh screen. This material was tested ballistically in a .45
caliber, 32 inch rifled test barrel. Muzzle velocities where
measured using lumiIine screens and the peak pressures
measured using lead crushers. The balIistic data from three
separate lots or golden powder are summarized in Table 2.

Table 2

Ballistic Performance of Golden Powder

60 Grain loading in 32 inch, 45 caliber, 138, grain, Hornady
#6060 lead balls and Connecticut Valley Arms #11 percussion

Golden Powder Lot 5 Shot Average

Muzzle Velocity Peak Chamber Pressure
(ft./sec) (LUP,)


1 1,363 5,300
2 1,375 5,000
3 1,383 5,400


Range (3 Lots) 1,330-1,410 4,600-5,500
SD 20.2 230
(3 Lots)

These muzzle velocities are comparable to black powder at significantly
lower chamber pressures. The ballistic results are extremely
reproducible from shot to shot and from lot to lot. The
standard deviation of velocities over the fifteen shots was
only 20.2 ft./sec. and the standard deviation of peak pressures was
230 LUP.

As we stated earlier, the best performing material
was powder in which the ascorbic acid has been reacted to a
residual level of 2-5%. The ballistic performance of golden powder
has been measured as a function of the ascorbic assay (Figure 5).
The muzzle velocity of the powder, which has a residual ascorbic
acid assay -less than 5%, is double that of powder which has an
ascorbic acid assay greater than 30%.

Safety

One of the advantageous properties of golden
powder is its safety. Unlike black powder, golden powder can be
shipped as a flammable so-'Lid following the recommendation of
the Bureau of Mines. They recommend a DOT classification as a
Class B Explosive. The Bureau of Mines testing included thermal
stability at 75oC for 48 hours during which golden powder was
stable. No detonation of golden powder occurred during the
blasting cap sensitivity test, the package burn test, and the squib
test. Golden powder did not ignite on the Association of American
Railroads Bureau of Explosives strip friction test in 10 out of 7-0
trials under 500 psig, which is equivalent to 100 pounds of friction
force.

Summary

Golden Powder is a new explosive product based
on ascorbic acid. Its combustion characteristics are comparable to
black powder but with several other distinct advantages. Golden
powder is safer to handle and transport. It forms about half the
residue as black powder when burned. The residue formed is
non-corrosive and is water-soluble. Golden powder is easily
molded into solid fuel elements which burn at a well controlled rate.

When used as gunpowder, the performance is comparable to black
powder but is significantly more reproducible. The inherent safety
of' the powder allows its shipment as a flammable solid by common
carrier. With these characteristics, golden powder is a product with
many potential applications.

chlorine - hydrogen

The WiZard is In - 2-7-2010 at 07:46

Chemical recreations: a popular compendium of experimental chemistry, for ...
By John Joseph Griffin
1847

12. Equal volumes of chlorine gas and hydrogen gas mixed in a clear colourless glass
bottle, and exposed to bright sunshine, combine, with violent explosion, producing
muriatic acid. The action is so rapid, that if the bottle is suddenly thrown up into the
air, the explosion occurs before the bottle falls to the ground. Consequently, it is
necessary to be careful how you mix these gases in a lighted laboratory. All danger is
avoided in the following experiment:—

make 1 500 lbs of sodium from table salt in 24-hours

The WiZard is In - 6-7-2010 at 11:45

US Patent 2 465 730
Method of Producing Metallic Sodium
29 March 1949

- Google.com/patents works for me. -

Siliciuret of Hydrogen

The WiZard is In - 13-7-2010 at 06:19

American journal of science, Volume 77
1859

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.
CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS.

1. On the Siliciuret of Hydrogen.—WOHLER has communicated a purely chemical
method of preparing the siliciuret of hydrogen discovered by Buff and himself as a
product of the electrolysis of an alloy of silicon and aluminum. The method in
question was accidentally discovered in Wohler's laboratory by Martins, who found
that a scoria or slag arising from the preparation of magnesium by Deville's process,
disengaged a spontaneously inflammable gas when treated with chlorhydric acid. The
magnesium compound required in the preparation of the gas is prepared in the
following manner: 40 grams of fused chlorid of magnesium, 35 grams of strongly dried
fluosilicate of sodium, and 10 grams of fused chlorid of sodium are to be finely
pulverized and intimately mixed in a hot mortar. The mixture is to be introduced into
a glass vessel which can be closed, and 20 grams of sodium in very small pieces
added. The whole is to be mixed by agitation, and then forced at once into a Hessian
crucible, heated to redness. The crucible is to be covered and heated, when the
combination takes place with repeated decrepitations. When these have ceased and
flames of sodium no longer appear, the crucible is removed from the fire, allowed to
cool, and broken. It contains a greyishblack fused mass filled with globules and plates
resembling cast iron. The coarser pulverized mass is to be introduced into a flask with
two tubulures, through one of which passes a funnel with a tube long enough to pass
to the bottom of the flask, to the other tubulure is attached a short and wide
conducting tube. The entire apparatus is now to be filled with boiled water, and then
plunged beneath the surface of the pneumatic cistern, so that every bubble of air is
expelled. A collecting tube may now be filled with water and inverted over the orifice
of the tube conveying the gas. Strong chlorhydric acid is now to be poured through
the funnel. A violent reaction ensues and much foam unavoidably passes over into
the collecting tube with the gas; a second tube may, however, be filled with the gas
without foam. The properties of the gas are as follows. Each bubble inflames on
contact with air with a white flame and a violent explosion.The silicic acid formed
produces beautiful rings like phosphuretted hydrogen. The gas is completely
decomposed by a feeble red heat, brown amorphous silicon being deposited. When
burned against a plate of porcelain it gives a brown spot. With chlorine the gas
explodes violently, but not with protoxyd or deutoxyd of nitrogen. As thus prepared
the gas still contains free hydrogen, which makes it difficult to determine its
constitution. Siliciuret of hydrogen precipitates various metals from their solutions. A
salt of copper agitated with the gas yields a red pellicle of a siliciuret of copper, which
in the air oxydizes to a lemon-yellow silicate of copper. Nitrate of silver yields with
the gas a black substance which is doubtless a siliciuret of silver, mixed however with
metallic silver: palladium is reduced by the gas to the metallic state. The greyish mass
which yields the gas by the action of chlorhydric acid, appeared to consist of free
silicon mixed with a siliciuret of magnesium which gives siliciuret of hydrogen by the
action of chlorhydric acid, and of another siliciuret of magnesium which yields with
chlorhydric acid free hydrogen and protoxyd of silicon. In one case the authors
succeeded in isolating a lead-grey aggregate of regular octahedrons, sometimes
presenting cubic surfaces. These were found to have the formula Mg2Si, and as this
compound yielded the spontaneously inflammable gas with chlorhydric acid, it is
possible that the formula of this latter may be Si2H3. Martins is engaged in studying
the subject further.—Ann. de Chemie el de Physique, liv, 218, Oct. 1858.

[NOTE.—It must be remembered that Wohler and Martins take the equivalent of
silicon as 21, so that silica is SiOs. The siliciuret of magnesium above mentioned has
no probable formula if we take silicon as 14, as appears necessary, since Marignac has
shown the isomorphism of the fluosilicates and fluostannates. It is very much to be
desired that those chemists whose means enable them to make such researches,
should investigate the compounds of silicon with ethyl, methyl, &c. It can hardly be
doubted that ethyl-zinc would give with chlorid or fluorid of silicon, a compound of
ethyl and silicon having the formula Si(C*Hs)a since we should have a reaction
expressible by the equation

2 . ZnC4H5) + Si Cl2 = 2Zn CI + Si(C4H5)2.

A determination of the density of the vapor of ethyl-silicon would possess much
theoretical interest. The results obtained by Hoffmann and Cahours in the formation
of compounds of ethyl, &c., with phosphorus and arsenic render the existence of
similar compounds of silicon and boron almost certain.—W. G.]


Somewhat more up upon the date —

F. G. A. Stone
Hydrogen Compounds of the Group IV Elements
Prentice-Hall
1962



[Edited on 13-7-2010 by The WiZard is In]

Determine the amount of morphine in putrid meat

The WiZard is In - 21-7-2010 at 06:44

Resistance of Morphine to putrefaction.
F. Doepmann.
Chem.-Zeit., 1915, 39, 69-71.
In — The Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry. 34 [6] 300. March 31, 1915.

Separate quantities of 1 kilo. of chopped, lean horseflesh were mixed with 200,
100, 50, and 20 mgrms. respectively of morphine hydrochloride and 200 grms. of
the mixture investigated after 1, 2 ½, 5 ½, and 11 months. The putrefying mass
was thoroughly extracted with very dilute acetic acid, first cold, then warm, and
finally on the water-bath. The acid extract was concentrated, precipitated with
alcohol, the alcohol-free filtrate precipitated with lead acetate, excess of lead
removed by hydrogen sulphide, and the solution concentrated, made alkaline
with ammonia, and extracted repeatedly with warm chloroform. The residue form
the chloroform extract was dissolved in dilute sulphuric acid and extracted with
;pure amyl alcohol to remove colouring matters, then made alkaline with caustic
soda, and extracted with a small amount of chloroform to remove ptomaine
bases, and finally made alkaline with ammonia and repeatedly extracted with
warm chloroform. The pale yellow varnish left on evaporating the chloroform
gave in every case the characteristic reactions of morphine.

extract l-cystine from human hair

The WiZard is In - 25-7-2010 at 07:07

Organic Syntheses Collective Volume 1 2nd ed 1932

l-CYSTINE
Hydrolysis of keratin from hair---> HO2CCH(NH2)CH2SSCH2CH(NH2)CO2H
Submitted by R. A. GORTNER and W. F. HOFFMAN. Checked by R. T.
CLARKE and E. E. DREGER.

I. Procedure

HUMAN hair (Note 1) is freed from foreign matter (Note 2), washed well with a
lukewarm solution of soap (Note 3), then twice with cold distilled water, and
dried. This washing removes the natural oils from the hair (Note 4). Two kilos of
the dry, washed hair is pushed into a 12-L. round-bottomed Pyrex flask, and 4 L.
of 20 per cent hydrochloric acid (Note 5) is added. An air-cooled reflux
condenser, consisting of a wide glass tube, is attached to the flask. The hair is
hydrolyzed by heating on the steam bath (Note 6) until the biuret reaction is
entirely negative; this requires one hundred twenty to one hundred forty-four
hours.

The mixture is filtered hot, and the insoluble residue is washed with distilled
water. The total filtrate is now partially neutralized with 300 cc. of 40 per cent
sodium hydroxide solution, while the mixture is well stirred and cooled, and then
a saturated solution of 3 750 g. of crystallized sodium acetate is added. The
Congo red test for mineral acid should then be entirely negative. Care must be
taken not to make the solution alkaline with sodium hydroxide (Note 7). After
standing for three days at room temperature, the precipitated cystine is filtered
on a suction funnel. This crude material, containing, in addition to the cystine,
some "humin" pigments and tyrosine, is dissolved in 3 L. of 3 per cent
hydrochloric acid. The solution is filtered and completely decolorized by two to
five treatments with 5 g. portions of decolorizing carbon (Norite) which has been
completely freed from calcium phosphate by boiling with dilute hydrochloric acid
and washing with cold water. The filtrate after decolorizing should be water-clear,
or at the most only slightly yellow. it shows more color, the treatment with
decolorizing carbon should ,carried out again. The solution should finally be
filtered once by gravity to remove traces of a solid impurity which is apt to pass
through the suction funnel.

The cystine is precipitated from the clear solution by adding a filtered saturated
solution of 900-1000 g. of crystallized sodium acetate untiI the Congo red
reaction is negative. After standing five to six hours (Note 8), the cystine is
filtered and washed twice with 100-200 cc. portions of hot, distilled water to
remove the last traces of tyrosine. this method the typical colorless hexagonal
plates of cystine are obtained. The yield is 100-106 g. (5.0-5.3 per cent of the
weight of starting material).

2. Notes
1. Crude sheep's wool may also be employed, but the yield is not high (about 2.6
per cent).
2. Hair obtained from barber shops generally contains matches, paper, hair-pins,
and cigarette butts, and similar impurities which should be sorted out by hand as
completely as possible. The other principal contamination is sand which causes
little trouble and need be removed.
3. A high grade of soap should be employed. Hair kept in hot dilute sodium
carbonate solution for one to two hours yields little or cystine.
4. The oily material may also be removed by extracting with line or benzene, but
this procedure involves considerably more
or.
5. The constant-boiling (20 per cent) hydrochloric acid may be prepared by
adding 2000 cc. of water to 2700 cc. of concentrated hydrochloric acid (sp. gr.
1.20).
6. The hydrolysis can be carried out in a much shorter time by heating over a
flame or on a sand bath, but there is great danger of breaking the flask on
account of bumping, and of racernizing the cystine.
7. An alkaline reaction must always be avoided, as even dilute sodium carbonate
decomposes cystine. For this reason some have preferred to omit the partial
neutralization with sodium hydroxide and to ploy sodium acetate only.
8. If the mixture is allowed to stand for a longer time, tyrosine tends to crystallize
out with the cystine.

3. Methods of Preparation
l-Cystine may be obtained by the hydrolysis of a large number of proteins.
However, the keratins are the only common proteins rich enough in cystine to
serve as a source for this amino acid. Many investigators have devised methods
for its isolation from the hydrolytic products of human hair, wool, horn, nail,
feathers, and horse hair. The method of Folin is the basis for most of the others.
The procedure described does not claim to give so high a yield as some of those
reported in the literature, but is convenient and gives consistent results.

Dissolve gold not in aqua regia but in ....

The WiZard is In - 22-10-2010 at 08:07

Science 8 October 2010:
Vol. 330. no. 6001, p. 153
DOI: 10.1126/science.330.6001.153-a
Editors' Choice: Highlights of the recent literature
Chemistry:
Golden Selection
Jake Yeston

Gold's widespread use in jewelry design and dentistry is due in
large part to its remarkable resistance to chemical oxidation.
There is in fact a fairly straightforward means of dissolving the
metal—a concentrated combination of nitric and hydrochloric acids
that's been in use for hundreds of years—but this solvent mixture
is so generally corrosive that rings and fillings wouldn't be the
primary worry if some happened to spill onto your fingers and
teeth. Of more commercial concern is the acid mixture's failure to
discriminate between gold and platinum, which hampers catalyst-
recycling protocols. Lin et al. have discovered that a different,
nonaqueous solvent mixture—thionyl chloride and pyridine—can
also dissolve gold quite effectively but leaves platinum fully intact.
The process is clearly oxidative, although the exact product is
somewhat uncertain; x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy implicates
the formation of trivalent gold species, and a salt of the
tetrachloride anion [AuCl4]– precipitates after several months. A
number of other aromatic amines, as well as dimethyl formamide,
can substitute for the pyridine.

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 49, 10.1002/anie.201001244 (2010).

Make a "Skating Sun"

The WiZard is In - 29-7-2011 at 09:48

"Skating Sun" Phenomenon

The general appearance of the combustion process is
determined by the physical and chemical properties of the
metal and its oxide. Metals such as sodium, magnesium, and
calcium have low boiling points (Table II), and considerable
volatilization takes place, causing combustion at considerable
distances above the surface of the metal. Aluminum, titanium,
and zirconium have high boiling points and, under ordinary
conditions, the combustion zone is close to the surface. The
oxides of magnesium and calcium are high melting (close to
combustion temperatures) and very little melting is noted within
the furnace. The melting point of aluminum oxide is much
below the combustion temperature of aluminum; hence, a pool
of molten oxide accumulates within the furnace as combustion
proceeds. The same is true of titanium and zirconium, although
these metals appear to have higher densities than their oxides
and to sink the molten oxide when it accumulates. The density
of aluminum is lower than its oxide; hence, it floats on the
surface of the molten oxide during combustion.

The combustion of aluminum is unique, not so much because it
melts before it ignites but rather because of the extreme
brilliance of the boiling pool of burning metal as it floats within
the furnace on the molten aluminum oxide (combustion
product). The combustion can be propagated indefinitely by
feeding aluminum (in rod form) to the pool of burning metal,
although if the metal rod is added too rapidly the pool is chilled
below its ignition temperature. This combustion behavior has
been termed the "skating sun" phenomenon, as the brilliance of
the burning pool of metal can be compared to that of the sun in
the heavens. A typical "sun" is shown in Figure 1; the dark back-
ground is molten aluminum oxide.

During combustion the atmosphere inside the furnace is very
clear, very little smoke being produced as long as the oxygen
rate is low. The sun phenomenon is therefore clearly visible
during the entire combustion process. About 90 grams per
minute of aluminum is consumed for a "sun" 8 inches in
diameter. As the oxygen rate is increased, the combustion rate
increases and the pool of liquid aluminum begins to boil
vigorously, causing large quantities of aluminum oxide smoke to
he generated. The sun is no longer visible and the conditions
within the furnace are highly turbulent. The furnace in Figure 2
is being run at high oxygen rates, as indicated by dense clouds
of smoke. The brilliance of these suns can be seen in Figure 3,
which shows a water-cooled furnace with a sight-glass on top.
The furnace shown in Figure 4 was constructed entirely of
aluminum oxide bricks and had an internal volume of about 1
cubic foot. With these furnaces suns 18 inches in diameter were
produced. Theoretically there is no limit to the diameter of this
burning pool of aluminum.

The temperature of the aluminum in the sun has been
estimated as close to the boiling point of the metal (2500° C.).
(The temperature of the Al-O2 flame, above the surface of the
boiling metal, is about 3500° C.) However, the sun will die out
rapidly if air is suddenly fed to the furnace instead of oxygen.
This seems to indicate that large masses of aluminum cannot be
burned in air.

Because this was from a bound volume I had to cut the pages
out to scan them. Good thing the librarian is a good friend of mine!

I cannot post this as a PDF as it is 2024 kb just over the 2000 kb
limit. And as my internet connection is soooo slow - 24k upload
(Hughes Net sucks) the Madness of Science server keeps on
cutting me off. I had to DL these one at a time.

Combustion-of-metals-in-oxygen-1-800.jpg - 657kB

Combustion-of-metals-in-oxygen-2-800.jpg - 593kB

Combustion-of-metals-in-oxygen-3-800.jpg - 626kB

Combustion-of-metals-in-oxygen-4-800.jpg - 633kB

Combustion-of-metals-in-oxygen-5-800.jpg - 682kB

Combustion-of-metals-in-oxygen-6-800.jpg - 637kB

Combustion-of-metals-in-oxygen-7-800.jpg - 715kB

Combustion-of-metals-in-oxygen-8-800.jpg - 619kB

Combustion-of-metals-in-oxygen-9-800.jpg - 673kB

Combustion-of-metals-in-oxygen-10-800.jpg - 724kB

Detonation diamonds.... more

The WiZard is In - 16-8-2011 at 18:43

Quote: Originally posted by The WiZard is In  
Diamonds in detonation soot



Method of Making Diamonds
US Patent 3 238 019
1 March 1966

Attachment: 3238019_DE_CARLI_METHOD_OF_MAKING_DIAMON.pdf (343kB)
This file has been downloaded 500 times

Nanostructured Diamonds: Synthesis, Characterization and Application
Komanschek and Pfeil
29th International Conference of ICT
26 June 1998

Attachment: Detonation Diamonds.pdf (553kB)
This file has been downloaded 1741 times

Mr. Wizard - 17-8-2011 at 08:49

They say on the first page they will publish separate articles on combustion of metals with other gases, including Ozone. That would be interesting.