The beer-cooled computer does not harm the ozone layer.
The beer-cooled computer does not harm the ozone layer. -- John M. Ford, a.k.a. Dr. Mike [If I can read my notes from the Ask Dr. Mike session at Baycon, I believe he added that the beer-cooled computer uses "Forget Only Memory". Ed.]
Diseases for Kisses (Hyperkarma): A deeply rooted belief that punishment will somehow always be far greater than the crime: ozone holes for littering. -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture"
To summarize, we have to deal with polymerism, metamerism, stereoisomerism, polymorphism; whereas phenomena denominated tautomerism, pseudomerism and desmotropism form different particular features of metamerism, as well as the phenomena of allotropy, which is merely the difference of properties which an element may show, and can be due to polymerism, as in oxygen, where by the side of the ordinary form with molecules O2 we have the more active ozone with O3. Polymorphism in the case of an element is illustrated in the case of sulphur, whereas metamerism in the case of elements has so far as yet not been observed; and is hardly probable, as most elements are built up, like the metals, from molecules containing only one atom per molecule; here metamerism is absolutely excluded, and a considerable number of the rest, having diatomic molecules, are about in the same condition. It is only in cases like sulphur with octatomic molecules, where a difference of internal structure might play a part. Entry: C
The bark was formerly used in medicine; it contains much calcium oxalate, and yields on incineration 23% of ash. Guaiacum resin, the _guaiaci resina_ of pharmacopoeias, is obtained from the wood as an exudation from natural fissures or from incisions; by heating billets about 3 ft. in length, bored to permit of the outflow of the resin; or by boiling chips and raspings in water to which salt has been added to raise the temperature of ebullition. It occurs in rounded or oval tears, commonly coated with a greyish-green dust, and supposed to be the produce of _G. sanctum_, or in large brownish or greenish-brown masses, translucent at the edges; fuses at 85° C.; is brittle, and has a vitreous fracture, and a slightly balsamic odour, increased by pulverization and by heat; and is at first tasteless when chewed, but produces subsequently a sense of heat in the throat. It is readily soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, creosote, oil of cloves and solutions of caustic alkalies; and its solution gives a blue colour with gluten, raw potato parings and the roots of horse-radish, carrot and various other plants. The alcoholic tincture becomes green with sodium hypochlorite, and with nitric acid turns in succession green, blue and brown. With glycerin it gives a clear solution, and with nitrous ether a bluish-green gelatinous mass. It is blued by various oxidizing agents, e.g. ozone, and, as Schönbein discovered, by the juice of certain fungi. The chief constituents are three distinct resins, _guaiaconic acid_, C19H20O5 (70%), _guaiac acid_, which is closely allied to benzoic acid, and _guaiaretic acid_. Like all resins, these are insoluble in water, soluble in alkalies, but precipitated on neutralization of the alkaline solution. Entry: GUAIACUM
Three oxides of cerium are known. The sesquioxide, Ce2O3, is obtained by heating the carbonate in a current of hydrogen. It is a bluish-green powder, which on exposure rapidly combines with the oxygen of the air. By the addition of caustic soda to cerous salts, a white precipitate of cerous hydroxide is formed. Cerium dioxide, CeO2, is produced when cerium carbonate, nitrate, sulphate or oxalate is heated in air. It is a white or pale yellow compound, which becomes reddish on heating. Its specific gravity is 6.739, and its specific heat 0.0877. It is not reduced to the metallic condition on heating with carbon. Concentrated sulphuric acid dissolves this oxide, forming a yellowish solution and ozone. By suspending the precipitated cerous hydroxide in water and passing chlorine through the solution, a hydrated form of the dioxide, 2CeO2·3H2O, is obtained, which is readily soluble in nitric and sulphuric acids, forming ceric salts, and in hydrochloric acid, where it forms cerous chloride, with liberation of chlorine. A higher hydrated oxide, CeO3·xH2O, is formed by the interaction of cerous sulphate with sodium acetate and hydrogen peroxide (Lecoq de Boisbaudran, _Comptes rendus_, 1885, 100, p. 605). Entry: CERIUM
_Ozone._--This gas is easily liquefied by the use of liquid air. The liquid obtained is intensely blue, and on allowing the temperature to rise, boils and explodes about -120° C. About this temperature it may be dissolved in bisulphide of carbon to a faint blue solution. The liquid ozone seems to be more magnetic than liquid oxygen. Entry: A
_Linseed oil_, the most valuable drying oil, is obtained by expression from the seeds, with or without the aid of heat. Preliminary to the operation of pressing, the seeds are crushed and ground to a fine meal. Cold pressing of the seeds yields a golden-yellow oil, which is often used as an edible oil. Larger quantities are obtained by heating the crushed seeds to 160° F. (71° C.), and then expressing the oil. So obtained, it is somewhat turbid and yellowish-brown in colour. On storing, moisture and mucilaginous matter gradually settle out. After storing several years it is known commercially as "tanked oil," and has a high value in varnish-making. The delay attendant on this method of purification is avoided by treating the crude oil with 1 to 2% of a somewhat strong sulphuric acid, which chars and carries down the bulk of the impurities. For the preparation of "artist's oil," the finest form of linseed oil, the refined oil is placed in shallow trays covered with glass, and exposed to the action of the sun's rays. Numerous other methods of purification, some based on the oxidizing action of ozone, have been suggested. The yield of oil from different classes of seed varies, but from 23 to 28% of the weight of the seed operated on should be obtained. A good average quality of seed weighing about 392 lb. per quarter has been found in practice to give out 109 lb. of oil. Entry: LINSEED
The hydrocarbon of gutta percha, gutta, is closely related in chemical constitution to caoutchouc. When distilled at a high temperature both are resolved into a mixture of two simpler hydrocarbons, isoprene (C5H8) and caoutchoucine or dipentene (C10H16), and the latter by further heating can be resolved into isoprene, a hydrocarbon of known constitution which has been produced synthetically and spontaneously reverts to caoutchouc. The precise relationship of isoprene to gutta has not been ascertained, but recently Harries has further elucidated the connexion between gutta and caoutchouc by showing that under the action of ozone both break up into laevulinic aldehyde and hydrogen peroxide, but differ in the proportions of these products they furnish. The two materials must therefore be regarded as very closely related in chemical constitution. Like caoutchouc, gutta percha is able to combine with sulphur, and this vulcanized product has found some commercial applications. Entry: GUTTA
_Other Electrochemical Processes._--It is obvious that electrolytic iodine and bromine, and oxygen compounds of these elements, may be produced by methods similar to those applied to chlorides (see ALKALI MANUFACTURE and CHLORATES), and Kellner and others have patented processes with this end in view. _Hydrogen_ and _oxygen_ may also be produced electrolytically as gases, and their respective reducing and oxidizing powers at the moment of deposition on the electrode are frequently used in the laboratory, and to some extent industrially, chiefly in the field of organic chemistry. Similarly, the formation of organic halogen products may be effected by electrolytic chlorine, as, for example, in the production of _chloral_ by the gradual introduction of alcohol into an anode cell in which the electrolyte is a strong solution of potassium chloride. Again, anode reactions, such as are observed in the electrolysis of the fatty acids, may be utilized, as, for example, when the radical CH3CO2--deposited at the anode in the electrolysis of acetic acid--is dissociated, two of the groups react to give one molecule of _ethane_, C2H6, and two of carbon dioxide. This, which has long been recognized as a class-reaction, is obviously capable of endless variation. Many electrolytic methods have been proposed for the purification of _sugar_; in some of them soluble anodes are used for a few minutes in weak alkaline solutions, so that the caustic alkali from the cathode reaction may precipitate chemically the hydroxide of the anode metal dissolved in the liquid, the precipitate carrying with it mechanically some of the impurities present, and thus clarifying the solution. In others the current is applied for a longer time to the original sugar-solution with insoluble (e.g. carbon) anodes. F. Peters has found that with these methods the best results are obtained when ozone is employed in addition to electrolytic oxygen. Use has been made of electrolysis in _tanning_ operations, the current being passed through the tan-liquors containing the hides. The current, by endosmosis, favours the passage of the solution into the hide-substance, and at the same time appears to assist the chemical combinations there occurring; hence a great reduction in the time required for the completion of the process. Many patents have been taken out in this direction, one of the best known being that of Groth, experimented upon by S. Rideal and A.P. Trotter (_Journ. Soc. Chem. Indust._, 1891, vol. x. p. 425), who employed copper anodes, 4 sq. ft. in area, with current-densities of 0.375 to 1 (ranging in some cases to 7.5) ampere per sq. ft., the best results being obtained with the smaller current-densities. Electrochemical processes are often indirectly used, as for example in the Villon process (_Elec. Rev._, New York, 1899, vol. xxxv. p. 375) applied in Russia to the manufacture of alcohol, by a series of chemical reactions starting from the production of acetylene by the action of water upon calcium carbide. The production of _ozone_ in small quantities during electrolysis, and by the so-called silent discharge, has long been known, and the Siemens induction tube has been developed for use industrially. The Siemens and Halske ozonizer, in form somewhat resembling the old laboratory instrument, is largely used in Germany; working with an alternating current transformed up to 6500 volts, it has been found to give 280 grains or more of ozone per e.h.p. hour. E. Andreoli (whose first British ozone patent was No. 17,426 of 1891) uses flat aluminium plates and points, and working with an alternating current of 3000 volts is said to have obtained 1440 grains per e.h.p. hour. Yarnold's process, using corrugated glass plates coated on one side with gold or other metal leaf, is stated to have yielded as much as 2700 grains per e.h.p. hour. The ozone so prepared has numerous uses, as, for example, in bleaching oils, waxes, fabrics, &c., sterilizing drinking-water, maturing wines, cleansing foul beer-casks, oxidizing oil, and in the manufacture of vanillin. Entry: E
V. Conrad and M. Topolansky (54) have found a marked connexion at Vienna between dissipation and ozone. Regular observations were made of both elements. Days were grouped according to the intensity of colouring of ozone papers, 0 representing no visible effect, and 14 the darkest colour reached. The mean values of _a+_ and _a-_ answering to 12 and 13 on the ozone scale were both about double the corresponding values answering to 0 and 1 on that scale. Entry: V
DEWAR, SIR JAMES (1842- ), British chemist and physicist, was born at Kincardine-on-Forth, Scotland, on the 20th of September 1842. He was educated at Dollar Academy and Edinburgh University, being at the latter first a pupil, and afterwards the assistant, of Lord Playfair, then professor of chemistry; he also studied under Kekulé at Ghent. In 1875 he was elected Jacksonian professor of natural experimental philosophy at Cambridge, becoming a fellow of Peterhouse, and in 1877 he succeeded Dr J. H. Gladstone as Fullerian professor of chemistry in the Royal Institution, London. He was president of the Chemical Society in 1897, and of the British Association in 1902, served on the Balfour Commission on London Water Supply (1893-1894), and as a member of the Committee on Explosives (1888-1891) invented cordite jointly with Sir Frederick Abel. His scientific work covers a wide field. Of his earlier papers, some deal with questions of organic chemistry, others with Graham's hydrogenium and its physical constants, others with high temperatures, e.g. the temperature of the sun and of the electric spark, others again with electro-photometry and the chemistry of the electric arc. With Professor J. G. M'Kendrick, of Glasgow, he investigated the physiological action of light, and examined the changes which take place in the electrical condition of the retina under its influence. With Professor G. D. Liveing, one of his colleagues at Cambridge, he began in 1878 a long series of spectroscopic observations, the later of which were devoted to the spectroscopic examination of various gaseous constituents separated from atmospheric air by the aid of low temperatures; and he was joined by Professor J. A. Fleming, of University College, London, in the investigation of the electrical behaviour of substances cooled to very low temperatures. His name is most widely known in connexion with his work on the liquefaction of the so-called permanent gases and his researches at temperatures approaching the zero of absolute temperature. His interest in this branch of inquiry dates back at least as far as 1874, when he discussed the "Latent Heat of Liquid Gases" before the British Association. In 1878 he devoted a Friday evening lecture at the Royal Institution to the then recent work of L. P. Cailletet and R. P. Pictet, and exhibited for the first time in Great Britain the working of the Cailletet apparatus. Six years later, in the same place, he described the researches of Z. F. Wroblewski and K. S. Olszewski, and illustrated for the first time in public the liquefaction of oxygen and air, by means of apparatus specially designed for optical projection so that the actions taking place might be visible to the audience. Soon afterwards he constructed a machine from which the liquefied gas could be drawn off through a valve for use as a cooling agent, and he showed its employment for this purpose in connexion with some researches on meteorites; about the same time he also obtained oxygen in the solid state. By 1891 he had designed and erected at the Royal Institution an apparatus which yielded liquid oxygen by the pint, and towards the end of that year he showed that both liquid oxygen and liquid ozone are strongly attracted by a magnet. About 1892 the idea occurred to him of using vacuum-jacketed vessels for the storage of liquid gases, and so efficient did this device prove in preventing the influx of external heat that it is found possible not only to preserve the liquids for comparatively long periods, but also to keep them so free from ebullition that examination of their optical properties becomes possible. He next experimented with a high-pressure hydrogen jet by which low temperatures were realized through the Thomson-Joule effect, and the successful results thus obtained led him to build at the Royal Institution the large refrigerating machine by which in 1898 hydrogen was for the first time collected in the liquid state, its solidification following in 1899. Later he investigated the gas-absorbing powers of charcoal when cooled to low temperatures, and applied them to the production of high vacua and to gas analysis (see LIQUID GASES). The Royal Society in 1894 bestowed the Rumford medal upon him for his work in the production of low temperatures, and in 1899 he became the first recipient of the Hodgkins gold medal of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, for his contributions to our knowledge of the nature and properties of atmospheric air. In 1904 he was the first British subject to receive the Lavoisier medal of the French Academy of Sciences, and in 1906 he was the first to be awarded the Matteucci medal of the Italian Society of Sciences. He was knighted in 1904, and in 1908 he was awarded the Albert medal of the Society of Arts. Entry: DEWAR
The methods at present employed for the bleaching of linen are, except in one or two unimportant particulars, the same as were used in the middle of the 19th century. In principle they resemble those used in cotton bleaching, but require to be frequently repeated, while an additional operation, which is a relic of the old-fashioned process, viz. that of "grassing" or "crofting," is still essential for the production of the finest whites. Considerably more care has to be exercised in linen bleaching than is the case with cotton, and the process consequently necessitates a greater amount of manual labour. The practical result of this is that whereas cotton pieces can be bleached and finished in less than a week, linen pieces require at least six weeks. Many attempts have naturally been made to shorten and cheapen the process, but without success. The use of stronger reagents and more drastic treatment, which would at first suggest itself, incurs the risk of injury to the fibre, not so much in respect to actual tendering as to the destruction of its characteristic gloss, while if too drastic a treatment is employed at the beginning the colouring matter is liable to become set in the fibre, and it is then almost impossible to remove it. Among the many modern improvements which have been suggested, mention may be made of the use of hypochlorite of soda in place of bleaching powder, the use of oil in the first treatment in alkali (Cross & Parkes), while de Keukelaere suggests the use of sodium sulphide for this purpose. With the object of dispensing with the operation of grassing, which besides necessitating much manual labour is subject to the influences of the atmospheric conditions, Siemens & Halske of Berlin have suggested exposure of the goods in a chamber to the action of electrolytically prepared ozone. Jardin seeks to achieve the same object by steeping the linen in dilute nitric acid. Entry: A
It is a very remarkable phenomenon that the chemical resistance is often small in the case of precisely those reactions in which the affinity is also small; to this circumstance is to be traced the fact that in many chemical changes the most stable condition is not at once reached, but is preceded by the formation of more or less unstable intermediate products. Thus the unstable ozone is very often first formed on the evolution of oxygen, whilst in the reaction between oxygen and hydrogen water is often not at once formed, but first the unstable hydrogen peroxide as an intermediate product. Entry: A
Eucalyptus oil is probably the most powerful antiseptic of its class, especially when it is old, as ozone is formed in it on exposure to air. Internally it has the typical actions of a volatile oil in marked degree. Like quinine, it arrests the normal amoeboid movements of the polymorphonuclear leucocytes, and has a definite antiperiodic action; but it is a very poor substitute for quinine in malaria. In large doses it acts as an irritant to the kidneys, by which it is largely excreted, and as a marked nervous depressant, abolishing the reflex functions of the spinal cord and ultimately arresting respiration by its action on the medullary centre. An emulsion, made by shaking up equal parts of the oil and powdered gum-arabic with water, has been used as a urethral injection, and has also been given internally in drachm doses in pulmonary tuberculosis and other microbic diseases of the lungs and bronchi. The oil has somehow acquired an extraordinary popular reputation in influenza, but there is no evidence to show that it has any marked influence upon this disease or that its use tends to lessen the chances of infection. It has been used as an antiseptic by surgeons, and is an ingredient of "catheter oil," used for sterilizing and lubricating urethral catheters, now that carbolic oil, formerly employed, has been shown to be practically worthless as an antiseptic. _Eucalyptus rostrata_ and other species yield eucalyptus or red gum, which must be distinguished from Botany Bay kino. Red gum is very powerfully astringent and is given internally, in doses of 2 to 5 grains, in cases of diarrhoea and pharyngeal inflammation. It is prepared by the pharmacist in the form of tinctures, insufflations, syrups, lozenges, &c. Red gum is official in Great Britain. _E. globulus_, _E. resinifera_, and other species, yield what is known as Botany Bay kino, an astringent dark-reddish amorphous resin, which is obtained in a semi-fluid state by making incisions in the trunks of the trees. The kino of _E. gigantea_ contains a notable proportion of gum. J.H. Maiden enumerates more than thirty species as kino-yielding. From the leaves and young bark of _E. mannifera_ and _E. viminalis_ is procured Australian manna, a hard, opaque, sweet substance, containing melitose. On destructive distillation the leaves yield much gas, 10,000 cub. ft. being obtained from one ton. The wood is extensively used in Australia as fuel, and the timber is of remarkable size, strength and durability. Maiden enumerates nearly 70 species as timber-yielding trees including _E. amygdalina_, the wood of which splits with remarkable facility, _E. botryoides_, hard, tough and durable and one of the finest timbers for shipbuilding, _E. diversicolor_ or "karri," _E. globulus_, _E. leucoxylon_ or ironbark, _E. marginata_ or "jarrah" (see JARRAH WOOD), _E. obliqua_, _E. resinifera_, _E. siderophloia_ and others. The timber is often very hard, tough and durable, and useful for shipbuilding, building, fencing, planks, &c. The bark of different species of _Eucalyptus_ has been used in paper-making and tanning, and in medicine as a febrifuge. Entry: EUCALYPTUS
_Ozonic Acid_, H2O4. By the action of ozone on a 40% solution of potassium hydroxide, placed in a freezing mixture, an orange-brown substance is obtained, probably K2O4, which A. Baeyer and V. Villiger (_Ber._, 1902, 35, p. 3038) think is derived from ozonic acid, produced according to the reaction O3 + H2O = H2O4. Entry: HYDROGEN
_Iodine Pentoxide_, I2O5, the best-known oxide, is obtained as a white crystalline solid by heating iodic acid to 170° C.; it is easily soluble in water, combining with the water to regenerate iodic acid; and when heated to 300° C. it breaks up into its constituent elements, (see M. Guichard, _Compt. rend._, 1909, 148, p. 925.) Iodine dioxide, I2O4, obtained by Millon, and reinvestigated by M. M. P. Muir (_Jour. Chem. Soc._, 1909, 95, p. 656), is a lemon-yellow solid obtained by acting on iodic acid with sulphuric acid, oxygen being evolved. By acting with ozone on a chloroform solution of iodine, F. Fichter and F. Rohner (_Ber._, 1909, 42, p. 4093) obtained a yellowish white oxide, of the formula I4O9, which they regard as an iodate of tervalent iodine, Millon's oxide being considered a basic iodate. Entry: T
A general philosophical interest is attached to the phenomena of isomerism. By Wilhelm Ostwald especially, attempts have been made to substitute the notion of atoms and molecular structure by less hypothetical conceptions; these ideas may some day receive thorough confirmation, and when this occurs science will receive a striking impetus. The phenomenon of isomerism will probably supply the crucial test, at least for the chemist, and the question will be whether the Ostwaldian conception, while substituting the Daltonian hypothesis, will also explain isomerism. An early step accomplished by Ostwald in this direction is to define ozone in its relation to oxygen, considering the former as differing from the latter by an excess of energy, measurable as heat of transformation, instead of defining the difference as diatomic molecules in oxygen, and triatomic in ozone. Now, in this case, the first definition expresses much better the whole chemical behaviour of ozone, which is that of "energetic" oxygen, while the second only includes the fact of higher vapour-density; but in applying the first definition to organic compounds and calling isobutylene "butylene with somewhat more energy" hardly anything is indicated, and all the advantages of the atomic conception--the possibility of exactly predicting how many isomers a given formula includes and how you may get them--are lost. Entry: A