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Chemistry is everywhere, and involves everything. But how did chemistry get to be what it is? I'm Steve Cohen, a chemist and writer, bringing you The History of Chemistry. This podcast explores the development of chemistry from prehistoric times to the present, including the people and societies who made chemistry what it is today. The History of Chemistry is for you, whether you hated chemistry in high school, or got a PhD in inorganic chemistry. We'll explore how chemistry affected art, music, language, politics and vice-versa. Whether it's ancient Greek philosophers, medieval alchemists, or modern laboratory apparatus, it's all here. Don't forget to support my series at https://www.patreon.com/thehistoryofchemistry !
Recycling became common in the 1980s, and we learn why. We also learn of the seven different types of plastic in the recycling world, why they need to be sorted by type for recycling, and how (and even if) they can be recycled.
Support the showAtmospheric environmental chemistry in the 1980s is today's topic. First is Jonathan Shanklin and his discovery of the ozone hole, which led in a very short time to the Montreal Protocol, perhaps the most successful international treaty ever. Second we hear about Guy Callendar's and Charles Keeling's research showing how carbon dioxide we put into the atmosphere causes global warming--and how major petrochemical companies lied and gaslit the public in the 1980s about it.
Support the showThis episode focuses on the entry of computers into the chemical laboratory, which began in tiny doses in 1948, but expanded in the 1960s with the LINC at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a forerunner of the PC. We talk also of the growth of computers used to calculate and model molecular structures, from the 1950s use with x ray crystallography and some ab initio calculations, through semi-empirical calculations in 1965 and early computer graphics. The 1960s saw the introduction of the Cooley-Tukey fast-Fourier transform (FFT) for quick spectroscopy, which led to dedicated FFT spectrometers by the 1970s. Microcomputers became a part of computer laboratories in the 1970s and 1980s, from electrochemistry to analytical chemistry, and the very beginnings of computerized automation. And thus began the computer revolution in the laboratory in the 1980s.
Support the showThis episode is all about chemical examples of "pathological science," as Irving Langmuir called it, "the science of things that aren't so." We hear of the six symptoms of pathological science, then we learn of three examples of pathological chemistry: polywater, promoted by Boris Deryagin, from the 1960s and early 1970s; memory water, promoted by Jacques Benveniste, from 1988, and its close cousin, homeopathy; and finally cold fusion, promoted by Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons in 1989.
Support the showWe continue on the path of environmental chemistry, with several egregious examples of pollution in the 1980s. First is the story of Times Beach, Missouri, USA, its contamination, discovery, and evacuation. Second is the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, which had structural weaknesses leading to an explosion blanketing the city with toxic gas. Third is the explosion of the nuclear reactor in Chornobyl, Ukraine, and the spread of radioactive elements across the area and much of northern Europe.
Support the showWe hear of an unusual idea that appeared in the 1970s: that metals can become anions and gain electrons! These are the alkalide compounds, first discovered in 1974. Such compounds are anions of the alkaline metals, often combined with crown ethers. The second, related topic in this episode is that of solvated electrons, where electrons sit in the spaces between molecules. These compounds are the electrides. Finally, we touch on ionic liquids--not water, but liquids that are primarily ionic in nature, at or near room temperature. All of these topics ramped up in research popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. Become a Patreon supporter, so you may download a supplemental sheet with diagrams of some of the molecules I discuss in this episode.
Support the showWe turn to an oddity in the world of chemistry that became more widely known in the 1980s: non-equilibrium thermodynamics, and especially oscillating reactions. A couple of examples were known in the 19th century, but the first model for how such reactions might go was created by Alfred Lotka and Vito Volterra early in the 20th century. We hear about Liebhafsky and Bray's oscillating reaction, and then Boris Belousov's reaction, studied further by Anatol Zhabotinsky. Around this time, Ilya Prigogine also started to research the general topic of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, which helps to explain such oscillating reactions. By the 1960s and 1970s, scientists began explaining the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction via the Brusselator, FKN, and Oregonator mechanisms. We end with the first attempts to devise new oscillating reactions, and how these reactions help to explain fingerprints, zebra stripes, leopard spots, and other biological structures. Become my Patreon supporter, and download a supplemental sheet with diagrams of some of the topics I discuss.
Support the showA new form, or allotrope, of the element carbon was discovered in the 1980s, and we hear of the story, centering on three chemistry professors: Harry Kroto, Richard Smalley, and Robert Curl. But they couldn't definitively show the molecular structure of their discovery, though they believed strongly, with circumstantial evidence, that it was soccerball-shaped. A few years later, Wolfgang Krätschmer and American Donald Huffman learned how to make significant quantities of this molecule, and showed that the trio were right.
Support the showWe explore the story of a new way to "see" atoms on surfaces invented in the 1970s and 1980s, scanning probe microscopy. We hear of Gerd Binnig, and Heinrich Rohrer, at the Zürich branch of IBM research, and how they came up with the scanning tunneling microscope in the late 1970s. Then in the mid-1980s, more IBM researchers invented a sibling technique, atomic force microscopy, which is good for non-conducting surfaces. Both techniques caused quite a splash in the scientific world, and made people wonder what it is they were seeing using these tools, and is it really a form of "seeing"?
Support the showWe talk about the development of the metric system, the units chemists use in their laboratories and calculations. We start with John Wilkins and Gabriel Mouton, who were ahead of their time in proposing a universal system of units. After the French Revolution, Talleyrand sponsored a logical set of units for France, which became the metric system. We talk about the early units of metric measurement, in both space and time. The we talk of its expansion across Europe and the world in the 19th and 20th centuries, and new official units added to make measurements and observations more consistent. We end with a brief mention of several non-metric or non-official units chemists still use.
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Amanda is a wife. A mother. A blogger. A Christian.
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Award winning journalist Charlie Webster explores this unbelievable and bizarre, but
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Scamanda is the true story of a woman whose own words held the key to her secret.
New episodes every Monday.
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Amanda’s blog posts are read by actor Kendall Horn.
