Word: ammonia
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...experts are pessimistic about rockets propelled by nuclear energy. But Britain's nuclear rocketeers are cheery. L. R.Shepherd, technician at the Harwell atomic project (Britain's Oak Ridge), thinks a rocket should be pushed into space by high pressure ammonia gas shooting through a white-hot uranium pile...
Bravos & Whistles. The spectators, who can shake the theater with bravos and oles, are inclined to riot when displeased; but Montalban, who keeps plenty of spirit of ammonia on hand for emergencies, says the police have been "very helpful." In their enthusiasm, the aficionados disdain such pallid Yankee conventions as waiting at the stage door for autographs. When they wanted the signature of Mexican Cowboy Singer Negrete, hundreds of them piled right up on the stage. But they are avid practitioners of the U.S. custom of whistling in approval. The piercing whistles once drove a singer to tears when Manager...
Last week the National Bureau of Standards announced a better timekeeper than the earth: the constant vibrations of the atoms in ammonia molecules...
Because of the characteristics of its molecules, gaseous ammonia absorbs radio microwaves of certain sharp frequencies. When such waves are shot through ammonia gas, the radio waves are absorbed as long as they are vibrating at the right speed. If they vibrate too fast or too slow, an electronic device retunes the transmitter and makes the waves vibrate at the exact frequency that is absorbed most strongly. Thus the waves, regulated by the ammonia molecules as the escapement of a clock is regulated by its pendulum, keep to a steady beat. Hitched to a "frequency divider," they measure time accurately...
...mysterious and sickening stench-which seemed to combine the odors of onions, ammonia, burning rubber, creosote, dried fish and wet dogs-was borne in upon San Francisco from the Pacific Ocean. It set housewives to sealing their windows with adhesive tape, drove office workers out of the upper floors of high buildings, gave some panicky citizens the idea that the city was being subjected to a gas attack. It turned out to be a gas called S-Ethyl-Thiouracil, which had been blown to sea from oil refineries, then blown back in again...