Sir Frederick Augustus Abel was an English chemist and inventor. He was born in 1827 at London and died in 1902. Having adopted chemistry as a profession, he studied under Hofmann at the Royal College of Chemistry, became professor of Chemistry at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in 1851 and later chemist to the war Department from 1854 until 1888. He developed explosives and smokeless gun powder, in 1899 with James Dewar he invented cordite. Research Frederick Abel
Sir James Dewar was a British chemist and physicist. He was born in 1842 at Kincardine-on-Forth and died in 1923. Educated at Dollar Academy, Edinburgh University - where he was assistant to Lord Playfair when professor of Chemistry, - and Ghent, in 1873 he was elected Jacksonian Professor of Experimental Philosophy at Cambridge, and in 1879 a Professorial Fellow of St. Peter's College. In the latter year he also became Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution, London. Together with Frederick Abel he had a part in the invention of cordite but he is chiefly remembered for his work with the liquefaction of gasses - being the first to reduce hydrogen gas to the liquid and solid form - and researches on the electrical and other properties of matter at low temperatures. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, was awarded several medals and prizes for his scientific researches, including the Rumford Medal in 1894 for his investigations into the properties of matter at its lowest temperatures, this branch of science, with which the. liquefaction of air and gases is connected, being peculiarly his own. He became president of the British Association in 1902 and was knighted in 1904. Research James Dewar
Cordite is a smokeless explosive for use in ordnance, so named from being made in cordlike forms. In appearance it is like yellow gutta-percha, and when its ingredients are worked up into a mass it receives the cord-like character by being pressed through openings in dies. In the same way as the grains of charcoal powder are made of various sizes to suit various guns so cordite is made of various diameters. It consists of 58 per centnitro-glycerine, 37 per centgun-cotton, and 5 per centvaseline, which is added to make the cordite flexible and reduce friction in the incorporating process, while it also counteracts metallic fouling in small-arms. The cordite is wound on reels, and is afterwards cut up in lengths suitable for the various cartridges. Its keeping qualities are excellent in the extremes of climatic heat and cold. Wet cordite can be fired; moisture does not deteriorate it. As it is somewhat difficult to ignite, an 'igniter' of black gunpowder was originally put into the gun cartridges to extend the flash of the firing-tube. In the open air cordite burns quietly. Research Cordite
Solenite was an Italian military propellant similar to Filite and Cordite, but the nitro-glycerine content being reduced to 33 per cent, with a corresponding increase in the nitrocellulose content. The method of manufacture of solenite was similar to that of cordite. Solenite was pale brown in colour and translucent. Research Solenite
Artificial gems are gems of the same composition, and with the same properties, as the natural substances, but made by artificial chemical processes. Diamonds have been prepared artificially by Moissan and others. Moissan's method consists in dissolving carbon (sugar charcoal) n molten iron at the temperature of the electric furnace, then cooling the outer surface of the iron and thus allowing the interior to crystallize under enormous pressure. The iron may then be dissolved away by acids, and minute diamonds, identical with natural diamonds, are left. They are too small to serve any useful purpose except polishing. Sir William Crookes showed that small diamonds are produced when cordite is exploded in closed vessels. A pressure of 95 tons to the square inch and
a temperature of 5000 degrees celsius. are thus attained, and among the residues contained in the vessels are minute diamonds.
Artificial diamonds, like some of the natural gems, show a tendency to explode into small fragments. Rubies have been prepared artificially by Fremy and Verneuil by heating to redness a mixture of bariumfluoride and alumina, with a trace of potassic dichromate. Another method is to fuse amorphousalumina with lead oxide and a little dichromate at a bright red heat in a Hessiancrucible. If cobaltoxide is introduced in place of the dichromate, sapphires are formed. Research Artificial Gems
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