Algin (Alginic Acid) is an insoluble polymeric, polysaccharide substance resembling albumin, but not coagulated by heat. It is obtained from seaweed, chiefly the genera Fucus and Laminaria, as a precipitate after boiling with sodium carbonate and adding hydrochloric acid. It is used as a dressing for fabrics and paper and as a thickening for soups and jellies, and as an emulsifier in ice-cream and other foods. In an insoluble form it can be cut, turned, and polished, like horn or vulcanite. Research Algin
A flux is a substance or mixture added to assist the fusion of minerals. In the large way, limestone and fluorite are used as fluxes. In the smelting of iron the flux must be such that it will combine with the earthy matter of the ore, and form a slag, which must neither be too refractory nor fusible. The fluxes made use of in assays or chemical experiments consist usually of alkalies and alkaline salts, as borax, potassium cyanide, potassium carbonate, sodium carbonate, common salt, which render the earthy mixtures fusible by converting them into glass. The fluxes used in pottery are various, but almost all consist of litharge or red-lead, borax, carbonates of potassium and sodium, and sand. In soldering, a flux is a substance used to keep the surfaces which have to be soldered together clean, by reducing any oxides which may form to the metallic state. Research Flux
A gazogene was an apparatus used during the Victorian period for manufacturing aerated water on a small scale for domestic use, by the combination of an alkali and an acid, such as sodium carbonate and tartaric acid, which yield carbon dioxide when mixed with water. It generally consisted of two globes, one above the other, connected by a tube, the lower for containing water, and the upper the ingredients for producing the gas. The vessel was made air-tight by means of a screw-top, and when water was gently introduced into the upper globe from the lower, by inclining the vessel so as to fill about a half of the former, chemical action takes place, and the carbon dioxide evolved gradually saturated the water in the lower globe. When this had taken place, the aerated water could be drawn off by opening a stop-cock at the top attached to a second tube which reached almost to the bottom of the lower globe. Research Gazogene
Abbreviations
Research Cobalt-Green
