Quirky Science
aktuálne záležitosti, politika, E5, S1606131825, 2012
Quirky Science
E06 Rubber comes from trees. South American tribes used it long before the world got to know about it. When Columbus witnessed Haitian natives playing ball he found himself mesmerized by the bouncing goo. The South American tribes also made "waterproof" shoes. When Western ships and their sailors brought these back home, the rubber melted on people's feet. And so did their profits. A stationer accidentally discovered the stuff made a pencil stripe disappear, by rubbing it, and suggested to call it 'India Rubber'. It took decades for someone to discover how to prevent rubber from melting in heat or stiffening in cold. Charles Goodyear found out how, by dropping a lump of natural rubber on his wife's stove. By now, chemists know that the vulcanization process links the rubber molecules like pearls on a string, making each piece of rubber one large molecule! Goodyear's invention spurs the Industrial Revolution. Rubber becomes such a wanted good it instigated a rubber boom - turning...
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Beschreibung
E05 Plastic has become ubiquitous. Impressive, since we'd been living without them for centuries! We have grown dependent on plastics in many ways. The production industry uses it to connect the parts that make machinery: our trillions of toilet bowls need it, let alone wash machines, computers, toothbrushes, pens and traffic lights. Can you imagine that plastic was accidentally invented for the purpose of making billiard balls? Though, its inventor had used something now called guncotton, which led to a rather explosive game of pool. In the end, the first plastic was discovered when someone witnessed how Southeast Asian farmers used the poop of a little beetle, called shellac, to preserve wood. When looking for a substitute, Leo Beakeland created "Bakelite" and that substance turned out to be the first plastic. Nylon followed, the first man-made synthetic plastic, developed by Dupont to replace silk. Nylon isn't that difficult to make yourself, amazingly. During WW2 all nylon...
TV Zäitplang
| Kanal | Zeit | Titel |
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Dënschdeg, 00:30 | Quirky Science |
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Samschdeg, 00:30 | Quirky Science |
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Samschdeg, 18:25 | Quirky Science |
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Samschdeg, 18:55 | Quirky Science |
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Sonndeg, 18:25 | Quirky Science |
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Sonndeg, 18:55 | Quirky Science |