Word: silica
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Dates: during 1920-1929
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...slightly tarnishes, and is very light, only about a third as heavy as iron. None the less it was not really isolated as a metal until 1828, the reason being that it is comparatively difficult to separate from the other elements with which it is commonly compounded, as with silica in clay. The result was that aluminum attained no great use because of its excessive cost, until an electrolytic method of obtaining it from a special mineral, bauxite, was discovered in 1886. That made aluminum a commercial possibility on a large scale. The realizing of that sudden possibility made fortunes...
Ever since he invented silica gel during the War, Dr. W. A. Patrick, Professor of Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University, has been prophesying the universal use of his product in steelmaking, oilrefining, refrigeration. Last week he was able to report striking progress. A steel mill in England is using it; the U. S. Steel Corporation plans to install it in one of its plants; a New England manufacturer of refrigerating cars uses it; the Paulsboro, N. J. plant of the Standand Oil Co. uses...
Essentially, this stuff is colloidal silica possessing immense absorbent qualities. It looks like coarse sand, but has pores so fine no microscope can detect them. In refining petroleum, it removes the sulphur-bearing constituents and gum-forming compounds. But, most remarkable, silica gel makes ice with the help of heat...
...principle of heat-induced ice is simple. Apply a vacuum pump to water, draw off the vapor, the result is ice. Silica gel grains act as a pump. In the pores of the silica gel, the vapor liquefies, giving it enormous power to absorb vapor. With a small flame under the gel the condensed vapor is driven off, so that its absorbent qualities are unimpaired until the remaining water is frozen...
...forms of moisture in the air, such as mists, clouds, and fogs, are a form of colloidal suspension in gases and should be governed by the same general laws that prevail in colloidal action in liquids and solids. The sand tanks on the airplanes are flied with 120 mesh silica sand. When a cloud in found to have a negative charge positively charged particles are scattered at the extreme top; when the cloud has a positive charge negatively charged sand particles are scattered at the extreme top; and if the cloud has no charge, it is first charged...