This article is trying to describe the discovery of the isotope carbon-13 in 1929

Twin Discovered for Carbon

CARBON is the latest chemical element to be shown to have a twin. Last winter two California physicists showed that oxygen, long supposed to be single, was not only double, but triple. Now Dr. Arthur S. King, of the Mt. Wilson Observatory, and Dr. Raymond T. Birge, of the University of California, have found a kind of carbon that is heavier than the ordinary form. Carbon is one of the most essential elements in living matter. These experimenters heated carbon in a vacuum in an electric furnace to a temperature around 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. When the light that it emitted was analyzed with a spectroscope, the usual bright bands of the spectrum appeared.

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Unlocking Fortunes from Atoms

by Jay Earle Miller

Now that chemists have discovered the last element, it remains for the research worker to find practical uses for substances which are at present mere laboratory curiosities. Somebody will make a fortune one of these days by finding ways of using gallium, germanium, tellurium, and many other “unpopular” elements.

THE last missing thing that goes to make up our known world was detected recently. Almost simultaneously the next to the last of the ninety-two elements, which had been located last year, was isolated in the form of a metal, and isolation of the last may be expected shortly.
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Name Elements 99 and 100

Two great scientists who died within the last year, Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi, have been honored by the naming of elements 99 einsteinium and 100 fermium. The symbol for einsteinium is plain E, that for fermium, Fm. Now all discovered elements are named, since 101 was previously named mendelevium after the Russian, D. Mendeleev, who announced the periodic system of the elements in 1869.

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A “Down the CELLAR” Chem Lab

by FREDERICK O. SCHUBERT

Here are some interesting experiments you can perform with simple chemicals, with notes on building the beginnings of your own basement chemistry lab. More next month!

NOW that we’ve succeeded in shoving Andy, the grease monkey, and the rest of the “hangar gang” over a bit for the lab boys, let’s get together and make real use of our “chem” pages. Read the rest of this entry »

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“HOT DOGS” IN THE LAB

by Harry M. Schwalb

Condensed from The Laboratory In 1939 the hot dog hit the front pages of the international press when President Roosevelt’s wife served it to the king and queen of England. And as 1955 draws to an end, Americans, by devouring over 8y2 billon tangy “red hots,” have made the frankfurter or wiener (formulation’s the same, though the wiener is a bit shorter) a major phase of the meat industry, outranking everything but ice cream in popularity on the national menu. Read the rest of this entry »

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ADVENTURES of the POISON SQUAD

by James Nevin Miller

IN THE city of White Plains, N. Y., not so long ago, more than 700 people suddenly were stricken with a mysterious ailment. City authorities thought the case was food poisoning. But just what kind, puzzled them. True enough, it was learned that all the victims had eaten chocolate eclairs, cream puffs or Boston cream pies. However, none of the custard-filled pastries appeared to be “spoiled” although it was suspected that contaminated custard filling might have been the source of the poisoning. Read the rest of this entry »

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Inventions Needed in Field of Electrochemistry

An interview with Professor Colin G. Fink
Head, Division of Electrochemistry Columbia University

by Richard H. Parke

“THE young inventor looking for new worlds to conquer would do well to investigate the vast but little-explored domains of electrochemistry. Hundreds of new products and inventions difficult or impossible to discover during the countless ages of the past with mechanical skill alone are today readily possible through the combined power of electricity and chemistry Thus Professor Colin G. Fink of Columbia University presents an invitation — and a challenge—to inventive minds everywhere. Read the rest of this entry »

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unusual compounds find uses because

Electronics Tells The Chemist

By Shirley Motter Linde

THERE are about 750,000 known organic chemical compounds. Less than one percent of these have any known medical or industrial use!

The other 99 percent are a huge potential of untapped applications. They represent hundreds of thousands of chemicals sitting idle on laboratory shelves when they might possibly be useful in curing cancer, fighting viruses, killing insects, giving more gas mileage, making rocket fuels for space vehicles, producing new synthetics, etc. Read the rest of this entry »

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INDUSTRY GIVES A LABORATORY TO AMERICA’S YOUNG SCIENTISTS

YOUTHFUL, IMAGINATION, an inexhaustible national resource, is being developed along scientific lines by the American Institute of the City of New-York. This organization, chartered in 1828 and devoted throughout its existence to the promulgation of science and the encouragement of American industry, established its junior branch in 1928 and recently has intensified its efforts in this direction through the American Institute Laboratory at 310 Fifth Avenue, New York.
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Amateur Chemist’s Robot
Hyman Cordon, chemical student, of Boston, with a “man” he built out of rubber, glass, and other scraps. It eats food and digests it in human fashion, having heart, intestines, lungs, bladder, etc. It was exhibited at a recent “science fair.” (Int. News)

CHEMISTRY

BIG LABORATORY GIVEN FREE!

Are you looking for a WONDERFUL FUTURE that can start at home right now? The NATIONAL SCHOOL OF CHEMISTRY offers a fascinating: correspondence course in PRACTICAL CHEMISTRY which will give you a wonderful education that can be used almost immediately to increase your income and your position in life, with prospects of a GLORIOUS FUTURE!
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England Now Has Gasoline Made from Coal

British motorists may now enjoy the novelty of buying gasoline made from coal, which has just been placed on public sale. The event marks the beginning of a great chemical industry by which England hopes to put 65,000 men to work and to end her dependence upon imported petroleum. A monster plant now rising at Billingham-on-Tees will transform 1,000 tons of coal daily into the synthetic fuel, using a process already in successful operation in a smaller experimental plant at the same site. Read the rest of this entry »