Word: aerosoled
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...equilibrium. Then in 1928 a group of chemists at General Motors invented a nontoxic, inert gas (meaning that it does not easily react with other substances) that was first used as a coolant in refrigerators. By the 1960s, manufacturers were using similar compounds, generically called chlorofluorocarbons, as propellants in aerosol sprays. As industrial chemicals, they were ideal. "The propellants had to be inert," says Chemist Ralph Cicerone, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. "You didn't want the spray in a can labeled 'blue paint' to come out red. Since then the growth of CFCs has been fabulous...
...trace amounts of CFCs had been found in the atmosphere in both the northern and southern hemispheres. What were they doing there? The answer, as Rowland and his colleague, Mario Molina, soon found, was that there was nowhere else for them to go but into the atmosphere. CFCs in aerosol cans are sprayed directly into the air, they escape from refrigerator coils, and they evaporate quickly from liquid cleaners and slowly from plastic foams...
...cause a marked increase in skin cancers, perhaps enough to perturb the planet's climate by rejuggling the stratosphere's temperature profile. In 1978 the U.S. banned their use in spray cans. "People assumed the problem had been solved," recalls Rowland. But the Europeans continued to use CFCs in aerosol cans; other uses of CFCs began to increase worldwide. Says Rowland: "All along, critics complained that ozone depletion was not based on real atmospheric measurements -- until, that is, the ozone hole appeared. Now we're not talking about ozone losses in 2050. We're talking about losses last year...
...finished law school and fulfilled his filial obligation by working in the family business -- the country's largest chemical company -- he went back to his father. He was restless: one of his more memorable company tasks was assessing whether du Pont should manufacture peanut butter and jelly in an aerosol can. He wanted to try his hand at politics. "I was on track to become a senior executive at 63, and I was only 30," explains du Pont...
...Washington, it is said, a gaffe is when someone speaks his mind. Secretary of the Interior Donald Hodel spoke his mind last week -- and the laughs still have not died down. Hodel recommended against signing an international agreement to reduce chlorofluorocarbons, the ingredient in aerosol sprays believed responsible for the depletion of the earth's ozone layer. Instead, he suggested the use of hats and sunglasses to guard against the lethal sunlight of an ozoneless atmosphere. Within hours, environmentalists and other Administration officials mercilessly attacked the proposal. Hodel, hatless and sans sunglasses, retreated by saying that the plan was only...