The uakari (Cacajao rubicundus) is a monkey found in tree tops in swamp forests in the upper Amazon. South America. There are three species: the bald, the black-headed and the red-faced all distinguished by a short tail. Its powerful jaws are capable of cracking Brazil nuts, which together with other nuts, fruits, plants, insects and grubs comprise its diet. Research Uakari
Fritz Haber was a German chemist. He was born in 1868 and died in 1934. His conversion of atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia opened the way for the synthetic fertilizer industry. His study of the combustion of hydrocarbons led to the commercial cracking or fractional distillation of natural oil (petroleum) into its components (for example, diesel, gasoline, and paraffin) . In electrochemistry, he was the first to demonstrate that oxidation and reduction take place at the electrodes; from this he developed a general electrochemical theory. At the outbreak of war, the German Army asked the Institute to investigate substitutes for explosive in shells, and poison gas was suggested. Haber, after watching early trials with gas shells, proposed releasing gas from cylinders. He became one of the principals in the German chemical warfare effort, devising weapons and gas masks, leading to protests against his Nobel Prize, awarded in 1918. Research Fritz Haber
Eve Arden (real name Eunice Quedens) was an American actress and former dancer. She was born in 1912 and died in 1990. Originally a Ziegfeld Follies dancer, she went on to become the archetypal wise-cracking Hollywood blonde of the 1940s. Research Eve Arden
Athlete's foot is a fungal infection that causes itching, cracking and peeling of the skin on the foot, especially between the toes. The condition is highly contagious and can be easily contracted by contact with an exposed surface such as a swimming pool deck, shower floor, locker room floor, bathroom, etc. Contact with the fungus, however, is usually not enough to bring on athlete's foot. The fungus can only thrive in a warm, moist environment, so tight fitting shoes and moist, sweaty socks will greatly increase the risk of becoming infected. There are three main kinds of athlete's foot: chronic, seasonal and ulcerative. Chronic athlete's foot is characterised by small cracks, scaling and softening of the skin, mainly between the toes, and can spread to the sole and even under the toenail. Seasonal athlete's foot occurs mostly in the summer months and causes small, fluid filled bumps on the instep and sole, and this skin can become scaly. Ulcerative athlete's foot is a severe form of the condition which produces scaling and softening of the skin and weeping ulcerations on the sole which can be painful, odorous and disabling. Research Athlete's Foot
A stethoscope is an instrument employed in medicine (and safe cracking) for the purpose of listening to the sounds produced in the body. Stethoscopes are generally two rubber tubes forming a Y arrangement. One tube goes in each ear and at the end of the single leg is a cup or microphone which is placed against the patient's body. Research Stethoscope
Coke is the residue, mainly amorphouscarbon, left on heating bituminous coal and thus driving off its volatile constituents, or on heating hydrocarbons to a point at which they decompose with deposition of carbon (cracking).
The simplest method of producing coke is based on the preparation of wood charcoal, the coal being arranged in heaps which are smothered with clay or coal-dust, and then set on fire, sufficient air being admitted to keep the mass at the proper temperature for decomposition without wasting the coke. After the volatile portions are got rid of, the heap is allowed to cool, or is extinguished with water, and the coke is then ready. Methods of heating the coal in close or open ovens until the gaseous and fluid products are driven off are also commonly used. Gas-coke is that which remains in the retorts after the gas has been given off.
Good oven-coke has an iron-grey colour, sub-metallic lustre, is hard, and somewhat vesicular; but gas-coke has rather a slagged and cindery look, and is more porous. Coke contains about 90 percent of carbon, and is used where a strong heat is wanted without smoke and flame, and it is accordingly largely consumed in drying malt and similar purposes. It used to be burned regularly in locomotive-engines, but after about 1900 raw coal was commonly substituted. The largest quantities of coke used to be consumed in smelting operations. Research Coke
Gas Oil is a liquid petroleum distillate with a viscosity somewhat below that of lubricating oils. It is used in the manufacture of coal gas and as the charging stock in cracking plants where it is broken down for use as motor spirit. Research Gas Oil
Petroleum refining is the processes used to produce fuels, chemicals, and gas by treatment of petroleum. Petroleum has been known and used for thousands of years, but systematic separation of its components has only been carried out for just over a century. Initially, petroleum was refined almost entirely to produce fuels. Since the Second World War the use of refinery products as a source of petrochemicals has become more important, but over 90 percent of crude petroleum is still used for fuel. The key to petroleum refining is the initial separation of hydrocarbons into various groups of similar compounds. The groups are distinguished by their boiling-points, and they are separated by fractional distillation. A group of hydrocarbons with similar boiling-points is called a fraction. Each fraction has a distinct treatment within the refinery. Fractions for which there is little demand may be converted to other fractions by later refinery processes. Refinery gas is the petroleumfraction with the lowest boiling-point, and does not condense in a fractional distillation column.
Propane and butane may be extracted from refinery gas to make liquefied petroleum gas. The residual gas, containing mainly hydrogen, methane, and ethane, is used as a fuel to operate the refinery. The most economically important product of petroleum refining is the range of fractions called petrol, which boils at 30-140 degrees Celsius. Light petrol condenses at boiling-points of 30-80 degrees Celsius, right at the top of the fractionation column. It is used to make fuel for motor cars and other petrol-engined vehicles. Next down the column, at boiling- points of 80-190 degrees Celsius, naphthas are drawn off. They may be used in blending fuels. Individual naphthas are separated and used to make solvents, and as a raw material in producing many organic chemicals. Much of the naphtha fraction is reformed for use in petrol. The fraction next below the naphthas in the fractionation column condenses at boiling-points of 190-250 degrees Celsius. This fraction contains the kerosenes, which include paraffin, traditionally burnt with a wick for heating and lighting. This fraction is now more important for making aviation fuel for jet aircraft. The final group of fractions condensing in the column is diesel oil, or gas oil, with boiling-points in the range 250-350 degrees Celsius. Their main use is in diesel engines.
Heavier oil which does not evaporate in the initial fractional distillation passes through the bottom of the column. In some refineries these residues pass on to another stage of vacuumdistillation. Products separated this way include lubricating oils and petroleum jelly (used as a grease, or as a base for making ointments). Separating individual compounds from the various fractions and residues is done by several methods. Solvent extraction, for example, is another way of extracting lubricating oil from residues. Further solvent treatment can eliminate undesirable contaminants from lubricating oil or kerosenes. Some substances are removed or separated by crystallization, in which the heavier fractions are cooled until waxes crystallize, and other semi-solids solidify. The solid particles are then filtered out. Preparing fractions or products for final use involves many complicated processes. Impurities, of which the most important are sulphur compounds, are generally removed by hydro treatment.
In blending, different fractions are mixed to achieve specific properties. For example, fuel-oils for domestic and industrial heating are a blend of heavy residue oils with lighter fractions which reduce their viscosity. Oils to be burnt in engines generally need fuel additives blended in to improve their performance and safety. Chemical treatment of fractions to change them into other fractions or into feedstocks for petrochemicals is a large and growing part of refinery work. These processes include cracking, in which heavier hydrocarbons in residues are broken down into lighter fractions, particularly petrol. In hydro treatment, unsaturated hydrocarbons may be saturated with hydrogen. To make slightly heavier hydrocarbons, or to turn straight-chain molecules into ring molecules, a reforming process is used. This produces more petrol, and many aromatic hydrocarbons for use in the chemical industry to make explosives, synthetic rubbers, food preservatives, and many other specialist chemicals.
Other building-up processes include polymerisation, in which identical molecules combine, and alkylation, in which hydrocarbon groups or chains are added to molecules. Storage facilities are a vital part of the work of a refinery, which may have hundreds of tanks, generally above ground and about 30 metres in diameter. A huge network of pipes connects the tanks with various processes, so that a tank may be used for storing intermediate fractions, separate compounds, or finished product awaiting transport to users or chemical factories. Large tanks hold the crude oil delivered to the refinery, with each tank used for oil from a particular source. Switching between crude tanks enables selection of the crude to give the properties best suited to the refinery's current workload. Transport of crude to the refinery is by pipeline or by oil tanker (most refineries are near the sea). Transport of finished products is generally by pipeline, road, or rail. Research Petroleum Refining
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Research Uakari
