Word: hydrocarbons
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...cars sold in the U.S. must be equipped with devices that will curb exhaust fumes, which pollute the air in almost every major U.S. city and are potentially a major killer. HEW hopes that its new regulations, which will cut out about half of the carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon pollutants, will clear the air somewhat by the end of the decade, as new cars replace older smoky models...
...long, unbranched chain of carbon atoms, rather like a natural fat. That, they figured, would be something bacteria could get their teeth into, destroying it quickly. They tacked a sulfonic-acid group (-SO-OH)-the chemical that is responsible for the cleansing action-onto each long-chain hydrocarbon molecule. This is no easy trick to perform in a practical industrial process, but after years of work Esso chemists finally developed a novel way of making the reluctant chemicals react by jolting them with gamma rays...
When they passed the proper hydrocarbons, sulphur dioxide and oxygen near a chunk of fiercely radioactive cobalt 60, the gamma rays from the cobalt knocked a hydrogen atom off the hydrocarbon molecules, making them highly reactive. After enough of these free radicals had been formed, the cobalt 60 could be removed, and the reaction proceeded without further stimulation. The result was SAS (sodium alkane sulfonate), a long-chain detergent that washes clothes and dishes every bit as well as the troublesome...
...Kaplan's answer is that moderate winds in the planet's thick, dense atmosphere can carry heat enough to keep the dark side warm. The hydrocarbon clouds, 15 miles thick, help by providing the surface with efficient insulation...
...Hydrocarbon Clouds. The famous Venusian clouds remain a tantalizing mystery. Some astronomers believe that they are fine dust, kicked up from the surface by tremendous winds in the dense atmosphere, but Professor Kaplan has a more picturesque theory. He thinks they are hydrocarbon droplets similar to the water droplets in earthly clouds. The droplets condense in the cool top of the atmosphere, but stay in vapor form in the lower parts, where the temperature rises above 200° F. So the dark Venusian surface has clear, compressed, oily air. Infra-red rays from the sun penetrate both clouds and atmosphere...