1.
Signal Flare (Transformers)
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This is a list of known Autobots in the Transformers fictional universe and toy line. The alternate modes of Autobots are usually cars, trucks, and various other ground-based civilian vehicles and they are referred to as Dinotrons in the Japanese version, and Dinobots in the Japanese dub of Transformers Animated. They were named among the top selling toys in 1985 by Playthings magazine, Aerialbots The Aerialbots are a subgroup of Autobots who turn in to combat aircraft. Superion - The Combined form of the Aerialbots, Superion is a fierce, Silverbolt – The reluctant leader of the Aerialbots who turns to a Concorde SST Jet Liner. While being renowned as the Aerialbot Commander, he suffers from Acrophobia and struggles to maintain a grimly determined, despite his irrational fear, Silverbolt is Optimus Primes top choice to lead the Aerialbots to keep him too busy worrying about others to worry about himself. Defensor - Living up to the modes of each of his components. He views humans as if they were his own children and will expend his last drop of fuel to protect them and he patiently seeks human friendship, but his hulking, mechanical form always strike fear to the humans he is sworn to protect. He can lift 300,000 pounds with one hand, is impervious to most artillery, hot Spot – He transforms to a Blue Mitsubishi Fuso Great Fire Engine. He is the Leader of the Protectobots and, as such, forms the head, torso, charismatic and inspiring, he likes to be where the action is and the other Protectobots have trouble keeping up with his non-stop pace. He believes in being maximally operational every moment of ones life, in great fire engine mode, his hose shoots high-pressure water of up to 1200 feet. In robot form, can press 60,000 pounds and can use fireball cannons that shoot bursts of 2000 degrees Fahrenheit blue flame from 1.5 miles awat, Computron - The combination of the five Technobots who can completely analyze input from the robots that comprise him. His great strengths lie in his data processing capbilities, communications, Scattershot – He transforms to a Cybertronian Jet and Artillery Cannon. As the Leader of the Technobots, he forms the head, torso, a brawling, bragging berserker, Scattershot prefers to attack with all barrels blazing and he continues to do so until hes out of ammo. While being the leader of a highly intelligent Autobot faction, he calls those who disapprove of his methods tinplated bucketheads. Rude, gruff and direct in vehicle and battle station modes he uses electric pulse cannon in nosecone as well as an array of sonic, thermal, in robot mode uses a 500 round-per-minute automatic acid-pellet gun. E. V. Lockheed Martin Littoral Combat Ship concept Optimus Prime – Lorry and Trailer Starscream - Modified Su-35 / Modified F-22 Jet Fighter Recolored as Skywarp, Jetfire – Space Shuttle Overload – Transport Trailer / Shoulder-Mounted Cannons Recolored in Transformers Energon as Ultra Magnus. Optimus Prime and Jetfire combine into Jet Optimus, Recolored in Transformers Energon as Ultra Magnus. Hot Shot – Audi TT Red Alert – Emergency SUV Smokescreen/Hoist – Crane / Steam Shovel Recolored in Transformers Cybertron as Longrack, Blurr – Futuristic Ferrari F50 Recolored in the Transformers Universe toyline as Swerve
2.
Pyrotechnics
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Pyrotechnics is the science of using materials capable of undergoing self-contained and self-sustained exothermic chemical reactions for the production of heat, light, gas, smoke and/or sound. Its etymology stems from the Greek words pyro and tekhnikos, individuals responsible for the safe storage, handling, and functioning of pyrotechnic devices are referred to as pyrotechnicians. Proximate refers to the devices location relative to an audience. In the majority of jurisdictions, special training and licensing must be obtained from local authorities to legally prepare, many musical groups use pyrotechnics to enhance their live shows. Pink Floyd were without a doubt the innovators of pyrotechnic use in concerts, for instance, at the climax of their song Careful with That Axe, Eugene, a blast of smoke was set off at the back of the stage. Bands such as The Who, KISS and Queen, soon followed use of pyrotechnics in their shows, michael Jackson attempted using pyrotechnics in a 1984 Pepsi advertisement, where a stray spark caused a small fire in his hair. German industrial metal band Rammstein are renowned for their variety of pyrotechnics. Nightwish, Lordi and Green Day are also known for their vivid pyrotechnics in concert, many professional wrestlers have also used pyrotechnics as part of their entrances to the ring. Modern pyrotechnics are, in general, divided into categories based upon the type of effect produced or manufacturing method, the most common categories are, Airburst - Hanging charges designed to burst into spheres of sparks. Binary powders - Kits divided into separate oxidizer and fuel, intended to be mixed on site, comet - Brightly colored burning pellets resembling shooting stars. Mine - Tubes containing a lift charge intended to project stars, sparks, preloaded Smoke Pot - Cartridges designed to release a mushroom cloud of smoke. Concussion - Device designed to create a loud report, falls - Propellant with titanium burning in an open ended tube creating a falling spark effect. Fireballs / Mortar Hits - Short barreled device projecting smoky rolling ball of flame, flame Projector - Tube containing nitrocellulose granules that burn in pillars of colored flame. Flare - Short, high intensity flames or various colours, flash Cotton - Nitrated cotton string. Flashpaper - Sheets of nitrated paper resembling tissue paper, flash Pot - Short metal pot used with binary powders creating flash, smoke or sparks. Flash Tray - A long tube slit down one side to project a sheet of flash, gerb - A fountain of sparks. Lance - A Small colored flare tube used in making points of light lancework or pictures in fire, line Rockets - Whistling or colored rocket devices that travel along guide cables. Multi-Tube Article - Multiple effects chained together, pre-Mixed Powder - Powders intended to create various effects
3.
Explosion
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An explosion is a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are known as detonations and travel via supersonic shock waves, subsonic explosions are created by low explosives through a slower burning process known as deflagration. When caused by a device such as an exploding rocket or firework. Most natural explosions arise from volcanic processes of various sorts, explosions also occur as a result of impact events and in phenomena such as hydrothermal explosions. Explosions can also occur outside of Earth in the universe in events such as supernova, explosions frequently occur during bushfires in eucalyptus forests where the volatile oils in the tree tops suddenly combust. Solar flares are an example of common explosion on the Sun, the energy source for solar flare activity comes from the tangling of magnetic field lines resulting from the rotation of the Suns conductive plasma. Another type of large astronomical explosion occurs when a large meteoroid or an asteroid impacts the surface of another object. The most common artificial explosives are chemical explosives, usually involving a rapid, gunpowder was the first explosive to be discovered and put to use. Other notable early developments in chemical explosive technology were Frederick Augustus Abels development of nitrocellulose in 1865, chemical explosions are often initiated by an electric spark or flame. Accidental explosions may occur in fuel tanks, rocket engines, etc, a high current electrical fault can create an electrical explosion by forming a high energy electrical arc which rapidly vaporizes metal and insulation material. This arc flash hazard is a danger to persons working on energized switchgear, also, excessive magnetic pressure within an ultra-strong electromagnet can cause a magnetic explosion. Strictly a physical process, as opposed to chemical or nuclear, examples include an overheated boiler or a simple tin can of beans tossed into a fire. Note that the contents of the container may cause a subsequent chemical explosion, in such a case, to the effects of the mechanical explosion when the tank fails are added the effects from the explosion resulting from the released propane in the presence of an ignition source. For this reason, emergency workers often differentiate between the two events, in addition to stellar nuclear explosions, a man-made nuclear weapon is a type of explosive weapon that derives its destructive force from nuclear fission or from a combination of fission and fusion. Explosive force is released in a perpendicular to the surface of the explosive. If a grenade is in mid air during the explosion, the direction of the blast will be 360°, if the surface is cut or shaped, the explosive forces can be focused to produce a greater local effect, this is known as a shaped charge. The speed of the reaction is what distinguishes an explosive reaction from a combustion reaction. Unless the reaction occurs rapidly, the thermally expanding gases will be moderately dissipated in the medium
4.
Artillery
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Artillery is a class of large military weapons built to fire munitions far beyond the range and power of infantrys small arms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach fortifications, and led to heavy, as technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery developed for battlefield use. This development continues today, modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile weapons of great versatility providing the largest share of an armys total firepower, in its earliest sense, the word artillery referred to any group of soldiers primarily armed with some form of manufactured weapon or armour. In common speech, the artillery is often used to refer to individual devices, along with their accessories and fittings. However, there is no generally recognised generic term for a gun, howitzer, mortar, and so forth, the United States uses artillery piece, the projectiles fired are typically either shot or shell. Shell is a widely used term for a projectile, which is a component of munitions. By association, artillery may also refer to the arm of service that customarily operates such engines, in the 20th Century technology based target acquisition devices, such as radar, and systems, such as sound ranging and flash spotting, emerged to acquire targets, primarily for artillery. These are usually operated by one or more of the artillery arms, Artillery originated for use against ground targets—against infantry, cavalry and other artillery. An early specialist development was coastal artillery for use against enemy ships, the early 20th Century saw the development of a new class of artillery for use against aircraft, anti-aircraft guns. Artillery is arguably the most lethal form of land-based armament currently employed, the majority of combat deaths in the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II were caused by artillery. In 1944, Joseph Stalin said in a speech that artillery was the God of War, although not called as such, machines performing the role recognizable as artillery have been employed in warfare since antiquity. The first references in the historical tradition begin at Syracuse in 399 BC. From the Middle Ages through most of the era, artillery pieces on land were moved by horse-drawn gun carriages. In the contemporary era, the artillery and crew rely on wheeled or tracked vehicles as transportation, Artillery used by naval forces has changed significantly also, with missiles replacing guns in surface warfare. The engineering designs of the means of delivery have likewise changed significantly over time, in some armies, the weapon of artillery is the projectile, not the equipment that fires it. The process of delivering fire onto the target is called gunnery, the actions involved in operating the piece are collectively called serving the gun by the detachment or gun crew, constituting either direct or indirect artillery fire. The term gunner is used in armed forces for the soldiers and sailors with the primary function of using artillery. The gunners and their guns are usually grouped in teams called either crews or detachments, several such crews and teams with other functions are combined into a unit of artillery, usually called a battery, although sometimes called a company
5.
Flare gun
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A flare gun is a firearm that launches flares. It is typically used for signalling, as distress signalling, for people at sea or from the ground to aircraft and it is not designed to function as a weapon. They have a single trigger mechanism, hammer action, center fire pin. Modern varieties are made out of brightly colored, durable plastic. The older type of Very pistol, typical of the used in the Second World War, are of one inch bore. These are still available and more recent longer barrel models can also fire parachute flares, many newer models fire smaller 12-gauge flares. In such locations, distress flares are commonly fired from single-shot tube devices which are then disposed of after use. In the Russian Federation, which also has controls on firearms. This is reusable but is designed in a way to avoid resemblance to a gun. Flare guns may be used whenever someone needs to send a distress signal, the flares must be shot directly above, making the signal visible for a longer period of time and revealing the position of whoever is in need of assistance. While not intended as a weapon, flare guns have used as such in some situations. Two-seater was first seen in the air, the first German aircraft since aerial fighting over Deraa on 16 and 17 September just prior to the beginning of the Battle of Sharon. The two-seater was forced to land and was destroyed after the German pilot, in 1942, a German pilot mistakenly landed at the Pembrey Airfield in Wales. Jeffreys, did not have a weapon, so he grabbed a Very pistol and used it to capture the German pilot. In World War II, Germany manufactured grenades designed to be fired from adapted flare guns known as the Kampfpistole, the weapon was designed to function as an anti-tank weapon but failed to perform to expectations due to the minuscule amount of TNT carried in the hollow charge projectiles. During the night of the 2nd-3rd, Chinese infantry launched several attacks against the spur, during the second attack, Mastronardi personally shot two Chinese soldiers with his Inglis Hi-Power pistol, and killed a third with his flare gun. 37 mm flare History of the Very pistol with many examples WW German signal-pistol grenades, firing Very Pistol, November 1942, Popular Science
6.
Song dynasty
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The Song dynasty was an era of Chinese history that began in 960 and continued until 1279. It succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, coincided with the Liao and Western Xia dynasties and it was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or true paper money nationally and the first Chinese government to establish a permanent standing navy. This dynasty also saw the first known use of gunpowder, as well as the first discernment of true north using a compass, the Song dynasty is divided into two distinct periods, Northern and Southern. During the Northern Song, the Song capital was in the city of Bianjing. The Southern Song refers to the period after the Song lost control of its half to the Jurchen Jin dynasty in the Jin–Song Wars. During this time, the Song court retreated south of the Yangtze, the Southern Song dynasty considerably bolstered its naval strength to defend its waters and land borders and to conduct maritime missions abroad. To repel the Jin, and later the Mongols, the Song developed revolutionary new military technology augmented by the use of gunpowder, in 1234, the Jin dynasty was conquered by the Mongols, who took control of northern China, maintaining uneasy relations with the Southern Song. Möngke Khan, the fourth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire and his younger brother Kublai Khan was proclaimed the new Great Khan, though his claim was only partially recognized by the Mongols in the west. In 1271, Kublai Khan was proclaimed the Emperor of China, after two decades of sporadic warfare, Kublai Khans armies conquered the Song dynasty in 1279. The Mongol invasion led to a reunification under the Yuan dynasty, the population of China doubled in size during the 10th and 11th centuries. The Northern Song census recorded a population of roughly 50 million, much like the Han and this data is found in the Standard Histories. However, it is estimated that the Northern Song had a population of some 100 million people and this dramatic increase of population fomented an economic revolution in pre-modern China. The expansion of the population, growth of cities, and the emergence of a national economy led to the withdrawal of the central government from direct involvement in economic affairs. The lower gentry assumed a role in grassroots administration and local affairs. Appointed officials in county and provincial centers relied upon the gentry for their services, sponsorship. Social life during the Song was vibrant, citizens gathered to view and trade precious artworks, the populace intermingled at public festivals and private clubs, and cities had lively entertainment quarters. The spread of literature and knowledge was enhanced by the expansion of woodblock printing. Technology, science, philosophy, mathematics, and engineering flourished over the course of the Song, although the institution of the civil service examinations had existed since the Sui dynasty, it became much more prominent in the Song period
7.
Yuan dynasty
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The Yuan dynasty, officially the Great Yuan, was the empire or ruling dynasty of China established by Kublai Khan, leader of the Mongolian Borjigin clan. His realm was, by point, isolated from the other khanates and controlled most of present-day China and its surrounding areas. Some of the Mongolian Emperors of the Yuan mastered the Chinese language, while others used their native language. The Yuan dynasty is considered both a successor to the Mongol Empire and an imperial Chinese dynasty and it was the khanate ruled by the successors of Möngke Khan after the division of the Mongol Empire. In official Chinese histories, the Yuan dynasty bore the Mandate of Heaven, following the Song dynasty, the dynasty was established by Kublai Khan, yet he placed his grandfather Genghis Khan on the imperial records as the official founder of the dynasty as Taizu. In addition to Emperor of China, Kublai Khan also claimed the title of Great Khan, supreme over the other khanates, the Chagatai, the Golden Horde. As such, the Yuan was also referred to as the Empire of the Great Khan. However, while the claim of supremacy by the Yuan emperors was at times recognized by the khans, their subservience was nominal. In 1271, Kublai Khan imposed the name Great Yuan, establishing the Yuan dynasty, dà Yuán is from the clause 大哉乾元 in the Commentaries on the Classic of Changes section regarding Qián. The counterpart in Mongolian language was Dai Ön Ulus, also rendered as Ikh Yuan Üls or Yekhe Yuan Ulus, in Mongolian, Dai Ön is often used in conjunction with the Yeke Mongghul Ulus, resulting in Dai Ön Yeke Mongghul Ulus, meaning Great Mongol State. Nevertheless, both terms can refer to the khanate within the Mongol Empire directly ruled by Great Khans before the actual establishment of the Yuan dynasty by Kublai Khan in 1271. Genghis Khan united the Mongol and Turkic tribes of the steppes and he and his successors expanded the Mongol empire across Asia. Under the reign of Genghis third son, Ögedei Khan, the Mongols destroyed the weakened Jin dynasty in 1234, Ögedei offered his nephew Kublai a position in Xingzhou, Hebei. Kublai was unable to read Chinese but had several Han Chinese teachers attached to him since his early years by his mother Sorghaghtani and he sought the counsel of Chinese Buddhist and Confucian advisers. Möngke Khan succeeded Ögedeis son, Güyük, as Great Khan in 1251 and he granted his brother Kublai control over Mongol held territories in China. Kublai built schools for Confucian scholars, issued paper money, revived Chinese rituals and he adopted as his capital city Kaiping in Inner Mongolia, later renamed Shangdu. Many Han Chinese and Khitan defected to the Mongols to fight against the Jin, two Han Chinese leaders, Shi Tianze, Liu Heima, and the Khitan Xiao Zhala defected and commanded the 3 Tumens in the Mongol army. Liu Heima and Shi Tianze served Ogödei Khan, Liu Heima and Shi Tianxiang led armies against Western Xia for the Mongols
8.
Yangzhou
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Yangzhou, formerly romanized as Yangchow, is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province, China. Its population was 4,414,681 at the 2010 census and its area is home to 2,146,980 inhabitants. Historically, Yangzhou was one of the wealthiest cities in China, known at various periods for its great merchant families, poets, artists and its name refers to its former position as the capital of the ancient Yangzhou prefecture in imperial China. Currently, the city of Yangzhou administers six county-level divisions. Accordingly, they are divided into 98 township-level divisions, including 87 towns and townships. Guangling, the first settlement in the Yangzhou area, was founded in the Spring, after the defeat of Yue by King Fuchai of Wu, a garrison city was built 12 metres above the water level on the north bank of the Yangtze c.485 BC. This city in the shape of a three by three li square was named Hancheng, the newly built Han canal formed a moat around the south and east sides of the city. The purpose of Hancheng was to protect Suzhou from naval invasion from Qi, in 590, the city began to be called Yangzhou, which was the traditional name of what was the entire southeastern part of China then. Under Emperor Yang of Sui, Yangzhou was the capital of China. It was called Jiangdu upon the completion of the Grand Canal until the fall of the Sui dynasty, as revolts spread across China in 616, the Emperor abandoned the North and meanwhile withdrew to Jiangdu, where he remained until his assassination in 618. The city has remained an economic and cultural center and major port of foreign trade. During the Tang dynasty, many merchants from Silla also lived in Yangzhou, the city, still known as Guangling, was briefly made the capital of Wu during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Yangzhou was briefly the seat of the Song dynasty government between 1128 and 1129, when most of North China had been conquered by the Jurchens during the Jin–Song Wars. The Song had retreated south to the city from their capital in Kaifeng after it was captured by the Jurchen in the Jingkang Incident of 1127. From Yangzhou, the Song moved to Hangzhou in 1129, later establishing it as the capital of the Southern Song, in 1280, Yangzhou was the site of a massive gunpowder explosion when the bomb store of the Weiyang arsenal accidentally caught fire. This blast killed over a hundred guards, hurled debris from buildings into the air that landed ten li away from the site of the explosion, marco Polo claimed to have served the Yuan dynasty in Yangzhou under Kubilai Khan in the period around 1282–1287. Although some versions of Polos memoirs imply that he was the governor of Yangzhou, it is likely that he was an official in the salt industry. Chinese texts offer no supporting evidence for his claim, there were also Arabic inscriptions from the 13th and 14th centuries, indicating the presence of a Muslim community
9.
Zhejiang
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Zhejiang, formerly romanized as Chekiang, is an eastern coastal province of China. The provinces name derives from the Zhe River, the name of the Qiantang River which flows past Hangzhou. Kuahuqiao culture was a neolithic culture that flourished in Hangzhou area in 6. Zhejiang was the site of the Neolithic cultures of the Hemudu, the area of modern Zhejiang was outside the major sphere of influence of the Shang civilization during the second millennium BC. Instead, this area was populated by peoples known as Dongyue. The kingdom of Yue began to appear in the chronicles and records written during the Spring, according to the chronicles, the kingdom of Yue was in northern Zhejiang. Shiji claims that its leaders were descended from the Shang founder Yu the Great, the Song of the Yue Boatman was transliterated into Chinese and recorded by authors in north China or inland China of Hebei and Henan around 528 BC. The song shows that the Yue people spoke a language that was mutually unintelligible with the dialects spoken in north, the Sword of Goujian bears bird-worm seal script. Yuenü was a swordswoman from the state of Yue, to check the growth of the kingdom of Wu, Chu pursued a policy of strengthening Yue. Under King Goujian, Yue recovered from its early reverses and fully annexed the lands of its rival in 473 BC, the Yue kings then moved their capital center from their original home around Mount Kuaiji in present-day Shaoxing to the former Wu capital at present-day Suzhou. With no southern power to turn against Yue, Chu opposed it directly and, in 333 BC, yues former lands were annexed by the Qin Empire in 222 BC and organized into a commandery named for Kuaiji in Zhejiang but initially headquartered in Wu in Jiangsu. Kuaiji Commandery was the power base for Xiang Liang and Xiang Yus rebellion against the Qin Empire which initially succeeded in restoring the kingdom of Chu. At the beginning of the Three Kingdoms era, Zhejiang was home to the warlords Yan Baihu and Wang Lang prior to their defeat by Sun Ce and Sun Quan, who eventually established the Kingdom of Wu. Despite the removal of their court from Kuaiji to Jianye, they continued development of the region, industrial kilns were established and trade reached as far as Manchuria and Funan. Zhejiang was part of the Wu during the Three Kingdoms, Wu, commonly known as Eastern Wu or Sun Wu, had been the economically most developed state among the Three Kingdoms. The historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms records that Zhejiang had the best-equipped, the story depicts how the states of Wei and Shu, lack of material resources, avoided direct confrontation with the Wu. In armed military conflicts with Wu, the two states relied intensively on tactics of camouflage and deception to steal Wus military resources including arrows and bows, the other two centers in the south were Jiankang and Chengdu. In 589, Qiantang was raised in status and renamed Hangzhou, some may have lost social privilege, and took refugee in areas south to Yangtze River
10.
Combustion
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Combustion in a fire produces a flame, and the heat produced can make combustion self-sustaining. Combustion is often a sequence of elementary radical reactions. Solid fuels, such as wood, first undergo endothermic pyrolysis to produce gaseous fuels whose combustion then supplies the required to produce more of them. Combustion is often hot enough that light in the form of either glowing or a flame is produced, a simple example can be seen in the combustion of hydrogen and oxygen into water vapor, a reaction commonly used to fuel rocket engines. The bond energies in the play only a minor role, since they are similar to those in the combustion products. The heat of combustion is approximately -418 kJ per mole of O2 used up in the combustion reaction, uncatalyzed combustion in air requires fairly high temperatures. Complete combustion is stoichiometric with respect to the fuel, where there is no remaining fuel, thermodynamically, the chemical equilibrium of combustion in air is overwhelmingly on the side of the products. Thus, the smoke is usually toxic and contains unburned or partially oxidized products. Since combustion is rarely clean, flue gas cleaning or catalytic converters may be required by law, fires occur naturally, ignited by lightning strikes or by volcanic products. Combustion was the first controlled chemical reaction discovered by humans, in the form of campfires and bonfires, usually, the fuel is carbon, hydrocarbons or more complicated mixtures such as wood that contains partially oxidized hydrocarbons. Combustion is also currently the only used to power rockets. Combustion is also used to destroy waste, both nonhazardous and hazardous, oxidants for combustion have high oxidation potential and include atmospheric or pure oxygen, chlorine, fluorine, chlorine trifluoride, nitrous oxide and nitric acid. For instance, hydrogen burns in chlorine to form hydrogen chloride with the liberation of heat, although usually not catalyzed, combustion can be catalyzed by platinum or vanadium, as in the contact process. In complete combustion, the reactant burns in oxygen, producing a number of products. When a hydrocarbon burns in oxygen, the reaction will yield carbon dioxide. When elements are burned, the products are primarily the most common oxides, carbon will yield carbon dioxide, sulfur will yield sulfur dioxide, and iron will yield iron oxide. Nitrogen is not considered to be a combustible substance when oxygen is the oxidant, Combustion is not necessarily favorable to the maximum degree of oxidation, and it can be temperature-dependent. For example, sulfur trioxide is not produced quantitatively by the combustion of sulfur, NOx species appear in significant amounts above about 2,800 °F, and more is produced at higher temperatures
11.
Strontium nitrate
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Strontium nitrate is an inorganic compound with the formula Sr2. This colourless solid is used as a colorant in pyrotechnics and is used as an oxidizer in pyrotechnics. Strontium nitrate is typically generated by the reaction of acid on strontium carbonate. 2 HNO3 + SrCO3 → Sr2 + H2O + CO2, like many other strontium salts, strontium nitrate is used to produce a rich red flame in fireworks and road flares. The oxidizing properties of salt are advantageous in such applications. Strontium nitrate can aid in eliminating and lessening skin irritations, when mixed with glycolic acid, strontium nitrate reduces the sensation of skin irritation significantly better than using glycolic acid alone. It is thus used in electrophysiology experiments, in his short story A Germ Destroyer, Rudyard Kipling refers to strontium nitrate as the main ingredient of the titular fumigant
12.
Potassium nitrate
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Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula KNO3. It is a salt of potassium ions K+ and nitrate ions NO3−. It occurs as a mineral niter and is a solid source of nitrogen. Potassium nitrate is one of several nitrogen-containing compounds collectively referred to as saltpeter or saltpetre, major uses of potassium nitrate are in fertilizers, tree stump removal, rocket propellants and fireworks. It is one of the constituents of gunpowder and has been used since the Middle Ages as a food preservative. Potassium nitrate, because of its early and global use and production, has many names, by the 15th century, Europeans referred to it as saltpeter and later as nitrate of potash, as the chemistry of the compound was more fully understood. The Arabs called it Chinese snow and it was called Chinese salt by the Iranians/Persians or salt from Chinese salt marshes. Potassium nitrate has a crystal structure at room temperature, which transforms to a trigonal system at 129 °C. Potassium nitrate is soluble in water, but its solubility increases with temperature. The aqueous solution is almost neutral, exhibiting pH6.2 at 14 °C for a 10% solution of commercial powder and it is not very hygroscopic, absorbing about 0. 03% water in 80% relative humidity over 50 days. It is insoluble in alcohol and is not poisonous, it can react explosively with reducing agents and this was used for the manufacture of gunpowder and explosive devices. The terminology used by al-Rammah indicated a Chinese origin for the gunpowder weapons about which he wrote, at least as far back as 1845, Chilean saltpeter deposits were exploited in Chile and California, USA. A major natural source of nitrate was the deposits crystallizing from cave walls. Extraction is accomplished by immersing the guano in water for a day, filtering, traditionally, guano was the source used in Laos for the manufacture of gunpowder for Bang Fai rockets. Perhaps the most exhaustive discussion of the production of material is the 1862 LeConte text. He was writing with the purpose of increasing production in the Confederate States to support their needs during the American Civil War. Since he was calling for the assistance of rural farming communities and he details the French Method, along with several variations, as well as a Swiss method. Many references have been made to a method using only straw and urine, LeConte describes a process using only urine and not dung, referring to it as the Swiss method
13.
Potassium perchlorate
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Potassium perchlorate is the inorganic salt with the chemical formula KClO4. Like other perchlorates, this salt is a strong oxidizer although it reacts very slowly with organic substances. It has been used as a rocket propellant, although in that application it has mostly been replaced by the higher performance ammonium perchlorate. KClO4 has the lowest solubility of the alkali metal perchlorates, KClO4 is prepared industrially by treating an aqueous solution of sodium perchlorate with KCl. This single precipitation reaction exploits the low solubility of KClO4, which is about 100 times less than the solubility of NaClO4. It can also be produced by the reaction of perchloric acid with potassium hydroxide, however, KClO4 is an oxidizer in the sense that it exothermically transfers oxygen to combustible materials, greatly increasing their rate of combustion relative to that in air. With sugar, KClO4 yields a low explosive, provided the necessary confinement, otherwise such mixtures simply deflagrate with an intense purple flame characteristic of potassium. Flash compositions used in firecrackers usually consist of a mixture of aluminium powder and this mixture, sometimes called flash powder, is also used in ground and air fireworks. As an oxidizer, potassium perchlorate can be used safely in the presence of sulfur, the greater reactivity of chlorate is typical – perchlorates are kinetically poorer oxidants. Chlorate produces chloric acid, which is unstable and can lead to premature ignition of the composition. Correspondingly, perchloric acid is quite stable, potassium perchlorate can be used as an antithyroid agent used to treat hyperthyroidism, usually in combination with one other medication. This application exploits the similar ionic radius and hydrophilicity of perchlorate, the administration of known goitrogen substances can also be used as a prevention in reducing the bio-uptake of iodine. Perchlorate ions, a common contaminant in the USA due to the aerospace industry, has been shown to reduce iodine uptake. Perchlorate ions are a competitive inhibitor of the process by which iodide, is deposited into thyroid follicular cells. Current regimens for treatment of thyrotoxicosis, when a patient is exposed to sources of Iodine. Prophylaxis with perchlorate containing water at concentrations of 17 ppm, which corresponds to 0, studies of chronically exposed workers though have thus far failed to detect any abnormalities of thyroid function, including the uptake of iodine. This may well be attributable to sufficient daily exposure or intake of healthy Iodine-127 among the workers and the short 8 hr Biological half life of Perchlorate in the body. Perchlorate ion concentrations in a water supply, would need to be much higher
14.
Charcoal
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Charcoal is a lightweight, black residue, consisting of carbon and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis- the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen, the whole pile is covered with turf or moistened clay. The firing is begun at the bottom of the flue, the success of the operation depends upon the rate of the combustion. The operation is so delicate that it was left to colliers. They often lived alone in small huts in order to tend their wood piles, for example, in the Harz Mountains of Germany, charcoal burners lived in conical huts called Köten which are still much in evidence today. The massive production of charcoal was a cause of deforestation. The increasing scarcity of easily harvested wood was a factor behind the switch to fossil fuel equivalents, mainly coal. Charcoal made at 300 °C is brown, soft and friable, and readily inflames at 380 °C, made at higher temperatures it is hard and brittle, in Finland and Scandinavia, the charcoal was considered the by-product of wood tar production. The best tar came from pine, thus pinewoods were cut down for tar pyrolysis, the residual charcoal was widely used as substitute for metallurgical coke in blast furnaces for smelting. Tar production led to deforestation, it has been estimated all Finnish forests are younger than 300 years. The end of tar production at the end of the 19th century resulted in rapid re-forestation, the charcoal briquette was first invented and patented by Ellsworth B. A. Zwoyer of Pennsylvania in 1897 and was produced by the Zwoyer Fuel Company. The process was popularized by Henry Ford, who used wood. Ford Charcoal went on to become the Kingsford Company, Charcoal has been made by various methods. The traditional method in Britain used a clamp and this is essentially a pile of wooden logs leaning against a chimney. The chimney consists of 4 wooden stakes held up by some rope, the logs are completely covered with soil and straw allowing no air to enter. It must be lit by introducing some burning fuel into the chimney, if the soil covering gets torn by the fire, additional soil is placed on the cracks. Once the burn is complete, the chimney is plugged to prevent air from entering, the true art of this production method is in managing the sufficient generation of heat, and its transfer to wood parts in the process of being carbonised. A strong disadvantage of this method is the huge amount of emissions that are harmful to human health
15.
Sulfur
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Sulfur or sulphur is a chemical element with symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent, and nonmetallic, under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a yellow crystalline solid at room temperature. Chemically, sulfur reacts with all elements except for gold, platinum, iridium, tellurium, though sometimes found in pure, native form, sulfur usually occurs as sulfide and sulfate minerals. Being abundant in native form, sulfur was known in ancient times, being mentioned for its uses in ancient India, ancient Greece, China, in the Bible, sulfur is called brimstone. Today, almost all elemental sulfur is produced as a byproduct of removing sulfur-containing contaminants from natural gas, the greatest commercial use of the element is the production of sulfuric acid for sulfate and phosphate fertilizers, and other chemical processes. The element sulfur is used in matches, insecticides, and fungicides, many sulfur compounds are odoriferous, and the smells of odorized natural gas, skunk scent, grapefruit, and garlic are due to organosulfur compounds. Hydrogen sulfide gives the characteristic odor to rotting eggs and other biological processes, sulfur is an essential element for all life, but almost always in the form of organosulfur compounds or metal sulfides. Three amino acids and two vitamins are organosulfur compounds, many cofactors also contain sulfur including glutathione and thioredoxin and iron–sulfur proteins. Disulfides, S–S bonds, confer mechanical strength and insolubility of the keratin, found in outer skin, hair. Sulfur is one of the chemical elements needed for biochemical functioning and is an elemental macronutrient for all organisms. Sulfur is derived from the Latin word sulpur, which was Hellenized to sulphur, the spelling sulfur appears toward the end of the Classical period. In 12th-century Anglo-French, it was sulfre, in the 14th century the Latin ph was restored, for sulphre, the parallel f~ph spellings continued in Britain until the 19th century, when the word was standardized as sulphur. Sulfur was the form chosen in the United States, whereas Canada uses both, the IUPAC adopted the spelling sulfur in 1990, as did the Nomenclature Committee of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 1992, restoring the spelling sulfur to Britain. Sulfur forms polyatomic molecules with different chemical formulas, the best-known allotrope being octasulfur, cyclo-S8. The point group of cyclo-S8 is D4d and its dipole moment is 0 D. Octasulfur is a soft, bright-yellow solid that is odorless and it melts at 115.21 °C, boils at 444.6 °C and sublimes easily. At 95.2 °C, below its melting temperature, cyclo-octasulfur changes from α-octasulfur to the β-polymorph, the structure of the S8 ring is virtually unchanged by this phase change, which affects the intermolecular interactions. At higher temperatures, the viscosity decreases as depolymerization occurs, molten sulfur assumes a dark red color above 200 °C
16.
Sawdust
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Sawdust or wood dust is a by-product of cutting, grinding, drilling, sanding, or otherwise pulverizing wood or any other material with a saw or other tool, it is composed of fine particles of wood. It is also the byproduct of certain animals, birds and insects live in wood. It can present a hazard in manufacturing industries, especially in terms of its flammability, sawdust is the main component of particleboard. A major use of sawdust is for particleboard, coarse sawdust may be used for wood pulp, sawdust has a variety of other practical uses, including serving as a mulch, as an alternative to clay cat litter, or as a fuel. Until the advent of refrigeration, it was used in icehouses to keep ice frozen during the summer. It has been used in displays, and as scatter in miniature railroad. It is also used to soak up liquid spills, allowing the spill to be easily collected or swept aside. As such, it was common on barroom floors. It is used to make Cutlers resin, mixed with water and frozen, it forms pykrete, a slow-melting, much stronger form of ice. Sawdust is used in the manufacture of charcoal briquettes, the claim for invention of the first commercial charcoal briquettes goes to Henry Ford who created them from the wood scraps and sawdust produced by his automobile factory. Cellulose, fibre starch that is indigestible to humans, and a filler in some low calorie foods, can be and is made from sawdust, sawdust-derived cellulose has also been used as a filler in bread. Airborne sawdust and sawdust accumulations present a number of health and safety hazards, wood dust becomes a potential health problem when, for example, the wood particles, from processes such as sanding, become airborne and are inhaled. Wood dust is a human carcinogen. Certain woods and their dust contain toxins that can produce allergic reactions. Water-borne bacteria digest organic material in leachate, but use up much of the available oxygen and this high biological oxygen demand can suffocate fish and other organisms. People can be exposed to wood dust in the workplace by breathing it in, skin contact, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has set the legal limit for wood dust exposure in the workplace as 15 mg/m3 total exposure and 5 mg/m3 respiratory exposure over an 8-hour workday. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has set a recommended limit of 1 mg/m3 over an 8-hour workday. Sawdust is flammable and accumulations provide a source of fuel
17.
Aluminium
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Aluminium or aluminum is a chemical element in the boron group with symbol Al and atomic number 13. It is a silvery-white, soft, nonmagnetic, ductile metal, Aluminium metal is so chemically reactive that native specimens are rare and limited to extreme reducing environments. Instead, it is combined in over 270 different minerals. The chief ore of aluminium is bauxite, Aluminium is remarkable for the metals low density and its ability to resist corrosion through the phenomenon of passivation. Aluminium and its alloys are vital to the industry and important in transportation and structures, such as building facades. The oxides and sulfates are the most useful compounds of aluminium, despite its prevalence in the environment, no known form of life uses aluminium salts metabolically, but aluminium is well tolerated by plants and animals. Because of these salts abundance, the potential for a role for them is of continuing interest. Aluminium is a soft, durable, lightweight, ductile. It is nonmagnetic and does not easily ignite, a fresh film of aluminium serves as a good reflector of visible light and an excellent reflector of medium and far infrared radiation. The yield strength of aluminium is 7–11 MPa, while aluminium alloys have yield strengths ranging from 200 MPa to 600 MPa. Aluminium has about one-third the density and stiffness of steel and it is easily machined, cast, drawn and extruded. Aluminium atoms are arranged in a cubic structure. Aluminium has an energy of approximately 200 mJ/m2. Aluminium is a thermal and electrical conductor, having 59% the conductivity of copper. Aluminium is capable of superconductivity, with a critical temperature of 1.2 kelvin. Aluminium is the most common material for the fabrication of superconducting qubits, the strongest aluminium alloys are less corrosion resistant due to galvanic reactions with alloyed copper. This corrosion resistance is reduced by aqueous salts, particularly in the presence of dissimilar metals. In highly acidic solutions, aluminium reacts with water to form hydrogen, primarily because it is corroded by dissolved chlorides, such as common sodium chloride, household plumbing is never made from aluminium
18.
Magnesium
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Magnesium is a chemical element with symbol Mg and atomic number 12. Magnesium is the ninth most abundant element in the universe and it is produced in large, aging stars from the sequential addition of three helium nuclei to a carbon nucleus. When such stars explode as supernovas, much of the magnesium is expelled into the medium where it may recycle into new star systems. Magnesium is the eighth most abundant element in the Earths crust and the fourth most common element in the Earth, making up 13% of the planets mass and it is the third most abundant element dissolved in seawater, after sodium and chlorine. Magnesium occurs naturally only in combination with elements, where it invariably has a +2 oxidation state. The free element can be produced artificially, and is highly reactive, the free metal burns with a characteristic brilliant-white light. The metal is now obtained mainly by electrolysis of magnesium salts obtained from brine, Magnesium is less dense than aluminium, and the alloy is prized for its combination of lightness and strength. Magnesium is the eleventh most abundant element by mass in the body and is essential to all cells. Magnesium ions interact with polyphosphate compounds such as ATP, DNA, hundreds of enzymes require magnesium ions to function. Magnesium compounds are used medicinally as common laxatives, antacids, elemental magnesium is a gray-white lightweight metal, two-thirds the density of aluminium. Magnesium has the lowest melting and the lowest boiling point 1,363 K of all the alkaline earth metals, Magnesium reacts with water at room temperature, though it reacts much more slowly than calcium, a similar group 2 metal. When submerged in water, hydrogen bubbles form slowly on the surface of the metal—though, if powdered, the reaction occurs faster with higher temperatures. Magnesiums reversible reaction with water can be harnessed to store energy, Magnesium also reacts exothermically with most acids such as hydrochloric acid, producing the metal chloride and hydrogen gas, similar to the HCl reaction with aluminium, zinc, and many other metals. Magnesium is highly flammable, especially when powdered or shaved into thin strips, flame temperatures of magnesium and magnesium alloys can reach 3,100 °C, although flame height above the burning metal is usually less than 300 mm. Once ignited, such fires are difficult to extinguish, with combustion continuing in nitrogen, carbon dioxide, Magnesium may also be used as an igniter for thermite, a mixture of aluminium and iron oxide powder that ignites only at a very high temperature. When burning in air, magnesium produces a light that includes strong ultraviolet wavelengths. Magnesium powder was used for illumination in the early days of photography. Later, magnesium filament was used in electrically ignited single-use photography flashbulbs, Magnesium powder is used in fireworks and marine flares where a brilliant white light is required
19.
Pyrotechnic colorant
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A pyrotechnic colorant is a chemical compound which causes a flame to burn with a particular color. These are used to create the colors in pyrotechnic compositions like fireworks, the color-producing species are usually created from other chemicals during the reaction. Metal salts are used, elemental metals are used rarely. The color of the flame is dependent on the metal cation, the anions however influence the flame temperature, both by increasing it and decreasing it, indirectly influencing the flame brightness and brilliancy. For temperature-decreasing additives, the limit of colorant may be about 10–20 wt. % of the composition, some common examples are, The * indicates that the compound will burn orange where x=0,2,3,5. Despite the wide numbers of metal ion donors, they serve to form only a few atomic, in many cases, chlorine donors have to be added in order to achieve sufficiently deep colors, as the desired emitting molecules have to be generated. Some color emitters are of atomic nature, presence of chlorine, and the reaction to monochlorides, may actually impair their color purity or intensity. At high temperatures, the atoms will ionize, the emission spectra of ions are different than of neutral atoms, the ions may emit in undesired spectral ranges. For example, Ba+ emits in blue wavelengths, the color blue is notoriously difficult to produce in fireworks, as the copper compounds need to be heated at a specific temperature for the optimal shade of blue to be produced. Thus, a deep, rich blue is usually viewed as the mark of a fireworks maker. Addition of aluminium raises the temperature but also leads to formation of solid incandescent particles of aluminium oxide. Magnesium has less effect and is therefore more suitable for colored flames, it is more volatile than aluminium
20.
Calcium
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Calcium is a chemical element with symbol Ca and atomic number 20. Calcium is a soft grayish-yellow alkaline earth metal, fifth-most-abundant element by mass in the Earths crust, the ion Ca2+ is also the fifth-most-abundant dissolved ion in seawater by both molarity and mass, after sodium, chloride, magnesium, and sulfate. Free calcium metal is too reactive to occur in nature, Calcium is produced in supernova nucleosynthesis. Calcium is a trace element in living organisms. It is the most abundant metal by mass in animals, and it is an important constituent of bone, teeth. In cell biology, the movement of the calcium ion into, Calcium carbonate and calcium citrate are often taken as dietary supplements. Calcium is on the World Health Organizations List of Essential Medicines, Calcium has a wide variety of applications, almost all of which are associated with calcium compounds and salts. Calcium metal is used as a deoxidizer, desulfurizer, and decarbonizer for production of ferrous and nonferrous alloys. In steelmaking and production of iron, Ca reacts with oxygen, Calcium carbonate is used in manufacturing cement and mortar, lime, limestone and aids in production in the glass industry. It also has chemical and optical uses as mineral specimens in toothpastes, Calcium hydroxide solution is used to detect the presence of carbon dioxide in a gas sample bubbled through a solution. The solution turns cloudy where CO2 is present, Calcium arsenate is used in insecticides. Calcium carbide is used to make acetylene gas and various plastics, Calcium chloride is used in ice removal and dust control on dirt roads, as a conditioner for concrete, as an additive in canned tomatoes, and to provide body for automobile tires. Calcium citrate is used as a food preservative, Calcium cyclamate is used as a sweetening agent in several countries. In the United States, it has been outlawed as a suspected carcinogen, Calcium gluconate is used as a food additive and in vitamin pills. Calcium hypochlorite is used as a swimming pool disinfectant, as an agent, as an ingredient in deodorant. Calcium permanganate is used in rocket propellant, textile production, as a water sterilizing agent. Calcium phosphate is used as a supplement for animal feed, fertilizer, in production for dough and yeast products, in the manufacture of glass. Calcium phosphide is used in fireworks, rodenticide, torpedoes, Calcium sulfate is used as common blackboard chalk, as well as, in its hemihydrate form, Plaster of Paris
21.
Pistol
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A pistol is a type of handgun. In some usage, the term refers to a subset of handguns. In other usage, the term is interchangeable with handgun, some handgun experts and dictionaries make a technical distinction that views pistols as a subset of handguns, others use the terms interchangeably. But UK/rest of Commonwealth usage does not always make this distinction, for example, the official designation of the Webley Mk VI revolver was Pistol, Revolver, Webley, No.1 Mk VI. The English word was introduced in ca.1570 from the Middle French pistolet, the etymology of the French word pistolet is disputed. The first suggestion derives the word from Czech píšťala, a type of hand-cannon used in the Hussite Wars during the 1420s, the Czech word was adopted in German as pitschale, pitschole, petsole, and variants. The second suggestion is less likely, the use of the word as a designation of a gun is not documented before 1605 in Italy, long after it was used in French, the Czech word is well documented since the Hussite wars in 1420s. Other suggestions include from Middle High German pischulle or from Middle French pistole, also it is suggested that early pistols were carried by cavalry in holsters hung from the pommel of a horses saddle. The most common types of pistol are the shot. Single shot handguns were mainly seen during the era of flintlock and musket weaponry where the pistol was loaded with a ball and fired by a flint striker. However, as technology improved, so did the single shot pistol, new operating mechanisms were created, and due to this, they are still made today. It is the oldest type of pistol, and is used to hunt wild game. Multi-barreled pistols were common during the time as single shot pistols. As designers looked for ways to increase fire rates, multiple barrels were added to all guns including pistols, one example of a multi-barreled pistol is the Ducks foot pistol, which generally had either four or eight barrels, although some 20th century models had three barrels. Around 1850, pistols such as the Jarre harmonica gun were produced that had a sliding magazine, the sliding magazine contained pinfire cartridges or speedloaders. The magazine needed to be moved manually in many designs, hence distinguishing them from semi-automatic pistols, with the development of the revolver in the 19th century, gunsmiths had finally achieved the goal of a practical capability for delivering multiple loads to one handgun barrel in quick succession. The semi-automatic pistol was the step in the development of the pistol. By avoiding multiple chambers—which need to be individually reloaded—semi-automatic pistols delivered faster rates of fire, an example of a modern blow back action semi-automatic pistol is the HK VP70
22.
Sinking of the RMS Titanic
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The largest passenger liner in service at the time, Titanic had an estimated 2,224 people on board when she struck an iceberg at around 23,40 on Sunday,14 April 1912. Titanic received six warnings of sea ice on 14 April but was travelling near her maximum speed when her lookouts sighted the iceberg, unable to turn quickly enough, the ship suffered a glancing blow that buckled her starboard side and opened five of her sixteen compartments to the sea. Titanic had been designed to stay afloat with four of her forward compartments flooded but no more, and they used distress flares and radio messages to attract help as the passengers were put into lifeboats. Compounding this, poor management of the evacuation meant many boats were launched before they were completely full, thus, when Titanic sank, over a thousand passengers and crew were still on board. Almost all those who jumped or fell into the water drowned within minutes due to the effects of hypothermia. RMS Carpathia arrived on the scene about an hour and a half after the sinking and rescued the last of the survivors by 09,15 on 15 April, some nine and a half hours after the collision. The disaster caused widespread outrage over the lack of lifeboats, lax regulations, at the time of her entry into service on 2 April 1912, Royal Mail Ship Titanic was the second of three Olympic-class ocean liner sister ships, and was the largest ship in the world. She and her sister, RMS Olympic, were almost one and half times the gross tonnage of Cunards RMS Lusitania and RMS Mauretania, the previous record holders. Titanic could carry 3,547 people in speed and comfort and her reciprocating engines were the largest that had ever been built, standing 40 feet high and with cylinders 9 feet in diameter requiring the burning of 600 long tons of coal per day. The Parlour Suites with private promenade cost over $4,350 for a transatlantic passage. Titanics maiden voyage began shortly after noon on 10 April 1912 when she left Southampton on the first leg of her journey to New York, a few hours later she called at Cherbourg in northern France, a journey of 80 nautical miles, where she took on passengers. Her next port of call was Queenstown in Ireland, which she reached around midday on 11 April and she left in the afternoon after taking on more passengers and stores. By the time she departed westwards across the Atlantic she was carrying 892 crew members and 1,320 passengers. This was only half of her full passenger capacity of 2,435, as it was the low season. The ship was commanded by 62-year-old Captain Edward John Smith, the most senior of the White Star Lines captains and he had four decades of seafaring experience and had served as captain of RMS Olympic, from which he was transferred to command Titanic. The ice conditions were attributed to a winter that caused large numbers of icebergs to shift off the west coast of Greenland. This caused exceptionally high tides that may have resulted in a number of icebergs than usual reaching the shipping lanes a few months later. A fire had begun in one of Titanics coal bunkers approximately 10 days prior to the departure, and continued to burn for several days into its voyage
23.
Shell (projectile)
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A shell is a payload-carrying projectile that, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot. Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used, originally, it was called a bombshell, but shell has come to be unambiguous in a military context. Words cognate with grenade are still used for an artillery or mortar projectile in some European languages, shells are usually large-calibre projectiles fired by artillery, combat vehicles, and warships. Shells usually have the shape of a cylinder topped by a nose for good aerodynamic performance, possibly with a tapering base. Solid cannonballs did not need a fuse, but hollow munitions filled with something such as gunpowder to fragment the ball, needed a fuse, percussion fuses with a spherical projectile presented a challenge because there was no way of ensuring that the impact mechanism hit the target. Therefore, shells needed a fuse that was ignited before or during firing. The earliest record of shells being used in combat was by the Republic of Venice at Jadra in 1376, shells with fuses were used at the 1421 siege of St Boniface in Corsica. These were two hollowed hemispheres of stone or bronze held together by an iron hoop, as described in their book, these hollow, gunpowder-packed shells were made of cast iron. At least since the 16th Century grenades made of ceramics or glass were in use in Central Europe, a hoard of several hundred ceramic greandes were discovered during building works in front of a bastion of the Bavarian City of Ingolstadt, Germany dated to the 17th Century. Lots of the grenades obtained their orignal blackpowder loads and igniters, most probably the grenades were intentionally dumped the moat of the bastion before the year 1723. Early powder burning fuses had to be loaded fuse down to be ignited by firing or a portfire put down the barrel to light the fuse, other shells were wrapped in bitumen cloth, which would ignite during the firing and in turn ignite a powder fuse. Nevertheless, shells came into use in the 16th Century. By the 18th Century, it was known that the fuse towards the muzzle could be lit by the flash through the windage between the shell and the barrel, the use of exploding shells from field artillery became relatively commonplace from early in the 19th century. Until the mid 19th century, shells remained as simple exploding spheres that used gunpowder and they were usually made of cast iron, but bronze, lead, brass and even glass shell casings were experimented with. The word bomb encompassed them at the time, as heard in the lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner, typically, the thickness of the metal body was about a sixth of their diameter and they were about two thirds the weight of solid shot of the same calibre. To ensure that shells were loaded with their fuses towards the muzzle, in 1819, a committee of British artillery officers recognised that they were essential stores and in 1830 Britain standardised sabot thickness as a half inch. The sabot was also intended to reduce jamming during loading, despite the use of exploding shell, the use of smoothbore cannons, firing spherical projectiles of shot, remained the dominant artillery method until the 1850s. By the late 18th century, artillery could use canister shot to defend itself from infantry or cavalry attack and this involved loading a tin or canvas container filled with small iron or lead balls instead of the usual cannonball
24.
SOLAS Convention
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The current version of the SOLAS Convention is the 1974 version, known as SOLAS1974, which came into force on 25 May 1980. As of March 2016, SOLAS1974 has 162 contracting States, the SOLAS Convention in its successive forms is generally regarded as the most important of all international treaties concerning the safety of merchant ships. The first version of SOLAS was passed in 1914 in response to the sinking of the RMS Titanic and it prescribed numbers of lifeboats and other emergency equipment along with safety procedures, including continuous radio watches. The 1914 treaty never entered into due to the outbreak of the First World War. Further versions were adopted in 1929 and 1948, the 1960 Convention was adopted on 17 June 1960 and entered into force on 26 May 1965. It was the fourth SOLAS Convention and was the first major achievement for International Maritime Organization and it represented a considerable step forward in modernising regulations and keeping up with technical developments in the shipping industry. Under SOLAS1960, it could take years for amendments to be come into force since countries had to give notice of acceptance to IMO and there was a minimum threshold of countries. The 1974 SOLAS came into force on 25 May 1980,12 months after its ratification by at least 50 countries with at least 50% of gross tonnage. It has been updated and amended on numerous occasions since then, in 1975 the assembly of the IMO decided that the 1974 convention should in future use SI units only. An idea of the range of issues covered by the treaty can be gained from the list of sections, the up-to-date list of amendments to SOLAS is maintained by the IMO. Previous amendments were made in May 2011, in 2015, another later amendment is the SOLAS Container Weight Verification Regulation VI/2. This regulation, implemented by the IMO Maritime Safety Committee requires that the weight of loaded containers must be obtained prior to being onboarded on an ocean vessel. The regulation states that exporters are responsible to obtain a verified container weight. Originally scheduled for implementation on July 1,2016, the regulation allows for flexibility, as at March 2016, SOLAS1974 has 162 contracting states, which flag about 99% of merchant ships around the world in terms of gross tonnage. The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea,1974, requires flag States to ensure that their ships comply with safety standards in construction, equipment. It includes articles setting out general obligations, etcetera, followed by a divided into twelve chapters. Of these, chapter five is the one that applies to all vessels on the sea, including private yachts. Many countries have turned these international requirements into national laws so that anybody on the sea who is in breach of SOLAS V requirements may find themselves subject to legal proceedings
25.
Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad
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The Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad is a Class III railroad in the United States. The IHB is an independent railroad which is owned by Conrail Shared Assets Operations. These shareholders trace their ownership stake in IHB to previous mergers and this came from Conrail, which had owned a 51% controlling interest. Conrails ownership is traced back to the Penn Central Transportation Company and prior to that, Canadian Pacifics ownership is through its subsidiary, the Soo Line Railroad, which had inherited it from the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. The lines largest yard, is located in Riverdale, Illinois with other yards in Burnham, Calumet City, Alsip, Argo, LaGrange, Rose, in Whiting, Hammond, Michigan Ave, Lake Front in East Chicago. The Gibson Yard located in, is arguably the largest auto-switching operation in the United States and they later took over State Line tower from the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad. The Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Police Department consists of 10 sworn and dedicated Officers, the IHB Police Department operates under the authority of both state and federal statutes. The IHB Police serve to protect IHB employees, property, and assets on or about IHB property in the states of Indiana, Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Co. v. American Cyanamid Co. a landmark torts case which involved the railroad. Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad RAILChicago - Chicago RAILExperts Indiana Harbor Belt Archive Shortlines of Chicago Historical Society IHB History
26.
Brakeman
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A brakeman is a rail transport worker whose original job was to assist the braking of a train by applying brakes on individual wagons. The earliest known use of the term to describe this occupation occurred in 1833, the advent of through brakes on trains made this role redundant, although the name lives on in the United States where brakemen carry out a variety of functions both on the track and within trains. In the US, the brakeman was a member of a trains crew responsible for assisting with braking a train when the conductor wanted the train to slow down. A brakemans duties also included ensuring that the couplings between cars were set, lining switches, and signaling to the train operators while performing switching operations. In rare cases, such as descending a long, steep grade, brakemen might be assigned to several cars and be required to operate the brakes from atop the train while the train was moving. By the start of the 20th century, some local U. S. labor laws noted that enough brakemen would be staffed on every train such that a brakeman would be responsible for no more than two cars. A brakemans job was very dangerous with numerous reports of brakemen falling from trains. Individually operated car brakes were replaced by remotely-operated air brakes, eliminating the need for the brakeman to walk atop a train to set the brakes. Link and pin couplings were replaced with automatic couplings, and hand signals are now supplemented by two-way radio communication. As of 2012,24,380 brakeman jobs were staffed in the U. S. with 93% of them employed in the transport industry with much of the remainder employed by supporting companies. By 2016, the number had dropped to 19,860, with the highest employment rates in Texas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Georgia. In Germany, the brakemen occupied brakemans cabins on several or even all wagons in a train and it was a dangerous and uncomfortable role, especially in winter when it was not uncommon for brakemen to freeze to death in the unheated cabins. The function was abolished in the 1920s with the introduction of air brakes, a brakeman is sometimes seen as an assistant to the conductor in a trains operations. A passenger service trainman is often required to qualify as a conductor after 1 to 2 years experience, the rear end trainman signals to the conductor when all the trains doors are safely closed, then boards and closes his/her door. The brakeman is responsible for slowing the train down when necessary and stopping it in the station at the end of the ride
27.
Rail transport
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Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, also known as tracks. It is also referred to as train transport. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles run on a flat surface. Tracks usually consist of rails, installed on ties and ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels. Other variations are possible, such as slab track, where the rails are fastened to a concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface. Rolling stock in a transport system generally encounters lower frictional resistance than road vehicles, so passenger. The operation is carried out by a company, providing transport between train stations or freight customer facilities. Power is provided by locomotives which either draw electric power from a railway system or produce their own power. Most tracks are accompanied by a signalling system, Railways are a safe land transport system when compared to other forms of transport. The oldest, man-hauled railways date back to the 6th century BC, with Periander, one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Rail transport blossomed after the British development of the steam locomotive as a viable source of power in the 19th centuries. With steam engines, one could construct mainline railways, which were a key component of the Industrial Revolution, also, railways reduced the costs of shipping, and allowed for fewer lost goods, compared with water transport, which faced occasional sinking of ships. The change from canals to railways allowed for markets in which prices varied very little from city to city. In the 1880s, electrified trains were introduced, and also the first tramways, starting during the 1940s, the non-electrified railways in most countries had their steam locomotives replaced by diesel-electric locomotives, with the process being almost complete by 2000. During the 1960s, electrified high-speed railway systems were introduced in Japan, other forms of guided ground transport outside the traditional railway definitions, such as monorail or maglev, have been tried but have seen limited use. The history of the growth, decline and restoration to use of transport can be divided up into several discrete periods defined by the principal means of motive power used. The earliest evidence of a railway was a 6-kilometre Diolkos wagonway, trucks pushed by slaves ran in grooves in limestone, which provided the track element. The Diolkos operated for over 600 years, Railways began reappearing in Europe after the Dark Ages. The earliest known record of a railway in Europe from this period is a window in the Minster of Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany
28.
Railroad tie
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A railroad tie/railway tie/crosstie or railway sleeper is a rectangular support for the rails in railroad tracks. Generally laid perpendicular to the rails, ties transfer loads to the track ballast and subgrade, hold the rails upright, railroad ties are traditionally made of wood, but pre-stressed concrete is now also widely used, especially in Europe and Asia. Steel ties are common on secondary lines in the UK, plastic composite ties are also employed, as of January 2008, the approximate market share in North America for traditional and wood ties was 91. 5%, the remainder being concrete, steel, azobé and plastic composite. Approximately 3,520 wooden crossties are used per mile of railroad track in the US,2,640 per mile on main lines in the UK. The type of railroad tie used on the predecessors of the first true railway consisted of a pair of stone blocks laid into the ground, one advantage of this method of construction was that it allowed horses to tread the middle path without the risk of tripping. In railway use with heavier locomotives, it was found that it was hard to maintain the correct gauge. The stone blocks were in any case unsuitable on soft ground, such as at Chat Moss, bi-block ties with a tie rod are somewhat similar. Historically wooden rail ties were made by hewing with an axe, a variety of softwood and hardwoods timbers are used as ties, oak, jarrah and karri being popular hardwoods, although increasingly difficult to obtain, especially from sustainable sources. Sometimes non-toxic preservatives are used, such as copper azole or micronized copper, New boron-based wood preserving technology is being employed by major US railroads in a dual treatment process in order to extend the life of wood ties in wet areas. Some timbers are durable enough that they can be used untreated, problems with wooden ties include rot, splitting, insect infestation, plate-cutting, also known as chair shuffle in the UK and spike-pull. For more information on wooden ties the Railway Tie Association maintains a website devoted to wood tie research. Wooden ties can, of course, catch fire, as they age they develop cracks that allow sparks to lodge so that they catch fire more easily, concrete ties are cheaper and easier to obtain than timber and better able to carry higher axle-weights and sustain higher speeds. Their greater weight ensures improved retention of track geometry, especially when installed with continuous-welded rail, concrete ties have a longer service life and require less maintenance than timber due to their greater weight, which helps them remain in the correct position longer. Concrete ties need to be installed on a well-prepared subgrade with a depth on free-draining ballast to perform well. Concrete ties amplify wheel noise, so wooden ties are used in densely populated areas. On the highest categories of line in the UK, pre-stressed concrete ties are the only permitted by Network Rail standards. Steel ties are formed from pressed steel and are trough-shaped in section, the ends of the tie are shaped to form a spade which increases the lateral resistance of the tie. Housings to accommodate the system are welded to the upper surface of the tie
29.
Wildfire suppression
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Wildfire suppression is a range of firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires. Firefighting efforts in wild land areas require different techniques, equipment, Wildfire suppression also addresses the issues of the wildland-urban interface, where populated areas border with wild land areas. Wildland fire, known in Australia as bush fire, has played a role in Australia due to arid conditions. Canada contains approximately 4,020,000 square miles of forest land, seventy-five percent of this is boreal forest, made up primarily of coniferous trees. More than 90 percent of Canadian forest land is owned. The Federal Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center provides operational fire-control services, during a typical year there are over 9,000 forest fires in Canada, burning an average of 2.5 million hectares or 9,700 square miles. The number of fires and area burned can vary dramatically from year to year, average suppression costs are $500 million to $1 billion annually. In Canada, two-thirds of all forest fires are caused by people, while lightning causes the remaining third, despite this, lightning fires account for over 85 percent of the area burned in Canada, largely because many of the lightning-caused fires occur in remote, inaccessible areas. Currently about ninety percent of forest fires are fought, generally fires near communities, industrial infrastructure, and forests with high commercial and recreation value are given high priority for suppression efforts. In remote areas and wilderness parks, fires may be left to burn as part of the ecological cycle. Wildfire suppression in the United States has had a long and varied history, in the 1960s, policies governing wildfire suppression changed due to ecological studies that recognized fire as a natural process necessary for new growth. Today, policies advocating complete fire suppression have been exchanged for those who encourage wildland fire use, or the allowing of fire to act as a tool, average suppression costs are $4 billion to $4.5 billion annually. Protection of human life is first priority for firefighters, since 1995, when arriving on a scene, a fire crew will establish safety zones and escape routes, verify communication is in place, and designate lookouts. This allows the firefighters to engage a fire with options for a retreat should their current situation become unsafe, briefings may be done to inform new fire resources of hazards and other pertinent information. A great emphasis is placed on safety and preventing entrapment, a situation where escape from the fire is impossible, as a last resort, many wildland firefighters carry a fire shelter. In this inescapable situation, the shelter will provide limited protection from radiant and convective heat, entrapment within a fire shelter is called a burnover. In Australia, firefighters rarely carry fireshelters, rather training is given to locate natural shelters or the use of handtools to create protection, or in the instance of burnover in a Tanker or other fire appliance, fire over-run training is used. Hazards beyond the fire are posed as well, a very small sample of these include, unstable hazard trees, animals, electrical cables, unexploded ordnance, hazardous materials, rolling and falling debris, and lightning
30.
Controlled burn
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Fire is a natural part of both forest and grassland ecology and controlled fire can be a tool for foresters. Hazard reduction or controlled burning is conducted during the months to reduce fuel buildup. Controlled burning stimulates the germination of some desirable forest trees, and reveals soil mineral layers which increases seedling vitality, thus renewing the forest. Some cones, such as those of Lodgepole Pine and Sequoia, are serotinous, as well as many chaparral shrubs, in industrialized countries, controlled burning is usually overseen by fire control authorities for regulations and permits. The party responsible must delineate the intended time and place, obtaining a permit may not limit liability if the fire burns out of control. There are two causes of wildfires. One is natural and the other is people, controlled burns have a long history in wildland management. Pre-agricultural societies used fire to both plant and animal life. Fire history studies have documented periodic wildland fires ignited by indigenous peoples in North America, fires, both naturally caused and prescribed, were once part of natural landscapes in many areas. Studies have shown that between the mid Holocene and the 17th century AD, wildland fires annually burned between 45. 0% and 87. 5% of present-day Californias total land, for example. These practices ended in the early 20th century when US fire policies were enacted with the goals of suppressing all fires, since 1995, the US Forest Service has slowly incorporated burning practices into its forest management policies. Back burning involves starting small fires along a man made or natural firebreak in front of a fire front. Back burning reduces the amount of fuel available to the main fire by the time that it reaches the burnt area. Back burning is utilized in controlled burning and during wildfire events, while controlled burns utilize back burning during planned fire events to create a black line, back burning or backfiring is also done to stop a wildfire that is already in progress. Firebreaks are also used as an anchor point to start a line of fires along natural or manmade features such as a river. It is called back burning because the fires are designed to burn back towards the main fire front and are usually burning and traveling against ground level winds. Another consideration is the issue of fire prevention, in Florida, during the drought in 1995, catastrophic wildfires burned numerous homes. But forestry managers in the Florida Division of Forestry noted that the problem was previous cessation of controlled burning, resulting from complaints by homeowners
31.
Driptorch
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A driptorch is a tool used in wildfire suppression, controlled burning, and other forestry applications to intentionally ignite fires. The wick is ignited and allows the fire to be directed as needed, the spout and wick can be secured upside down inside the canister for storage or transport. Typically the fuel used is a mixture of gasoline and diesel with a ratio of 30% to 70% respectively, although, sometimes heavier oils are used to increase adhesion of the liquid fuel to the vegetation, and increase burn time and heat. Variations of the driptorch can be attached to vehicles to ignite a fire while driving slowly along the ignition line. Another variant of the driptorch is the helitorch, which is attached to a helicopter and is used to fire from the air. The intentional ignition of fires is a common firefighting tactic, a burnout is a smaller fire ignited along a control line ahead of the main fire. The intent is to consume fuel ahead of the main fire, a backfire is a more aggressive type of burning done to influence the behavior of the main fire. Fire flapper Flare Flare gun Glossary of wildland fire terms McLeod Pulaski Media related to driptorches at Wikimedia Commons
32.
Wilderness
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Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. Some governments establish them by law or administrative acts, usually in land tracts that have not been modified by human action in great measure, the main feature of them is that human activity is restricted significantly. These actions seek not only to preserve what already exists, but also to promote and advance a natural expression, Wilderness areas can be found in preserves, conservation preserves, National Forests, National Parks and even in urban areas along rivers, gulches or otherwise undeveloped areas. These areas are considered important for the survival of species, biodiversity, ecological studies, conservation, solitude. Wilderness is deeply valued for cultural, spiritual, moral, some nature writers believe wilderness areas are vital for the human spirit and creativity. They may also preserve historic genetic traits and provide habitat for flora and fauna that may be difficult to recreate in zoos. The word wilderness derives from the notion of other words. The mere presence or activity of people does not disqualify an area from being wilderness, many ecosystems that are, or have been, inhabited or influenced by activities of people may still be considered wild. This way of looking at wilderness includes areas within which natural processes operate without human interference, the WILD Foundation states that wilderness areas have two dimensions, they must be biologically intact and legally protected. The World Conservation Union classifies wilderness at two levels, Ia and Ib, activities on the margins of specific wilderness areas, such as fire suppression and the interruption of animal migration also affect the interior of wildernesses. Especially in wealthier, industrialized nations, it has a legal meaning as well. Many nations have designated wilderness, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, looked at through the lens of the visual arts, nature and wildness have been important subjects in various epochs of world history. An early tradition of landscape art occurred in the Tang Dynasty, the tradition of representing nature as it is became one of the aims of Chinese painting and was a significant influence in Asian art. In the 13th century, Shih Erh Chi recommended avoiding painting scenes lacking any places made inaccessible by nature, for most of human history, the greater part of the Earths terrain was wilderness, and human attention was concentrated in settled areas. The first known laws to protect parts of nature date back to the Babylonian Empire, Ashoka, the Great Mauryan King, defined the first laws in the world to protect flora and fauna in Edicts of Ashoka around 3rd Century B. C. In the Middle Ages, the Kings of England initiated one of the world’s first conscious efforts to natural areas. They were motivated by a desire to be able to hunt wild animals in private hunting preserves rather than a desire to protect wilderness, nevertheless, in order to have animals to hunt they would have to protect wildlife from subsistence hunting and the land from villagers gathering firewood. Similar measures were introduced in other European countries, the idea of wilderness having intrinsic value emerged in the Western world in the 19th century
33.
Firefighter
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In some areas, they are also trained in Emergency Medical Services and operate ambulances in addition to being a firefighter. The fire service, or fire and rescue service, also known in countries as the fire brigade or fire department, is one of the three main emergency services. Firefighting and firefighters have become ubiquitous around the world, from wildlands to urban areas, according to Merriam-Websters Dictionary, the English word firefighter has been used since 1903. In urban areas across the world the population is protected by paid full time firefighters. The goals of firefighting are, As such, the skills required for operations are regularly practiced during training evaluations throughout a firefighters career. In the United States, the preeminent fire training and standards organization is the National Fire Protection Association, often initial firefighting skills are taught during a local, regional, or state approved fire academy. Depending on the requirements of a department, additional skills and certifications such as technical rescue, Firefighters work closely with other emergency response agencies, most particularly local and state police departments. The increasing role of firefighters in providing medical services also brings firefighters into common overlap with law enforcement. One example of this is a state law requiring all gunshot wounds to be reported to law enforcement agencies. Fire fighting has some skills, prevention, self-preservation, rescue, preservation of property, basic first aid. Firefighting is further broken down into skills which include size-up, extinguishing, ventilation, salvage, wildland firefighting includes size up, containment, extinguishment, and mop up. Search and Rescue, which has already mentioned, is performed early in any fire scenario and many times is in unison with extinguishing. Fire suppression systems have a record for controlling and extinguishing unwanted fires. Many fire officials recommend that every building, including residences, have sprinkler systems. Correctly working sprinklers in a residence greatly reduce the risk of death from a fire, with the small rooms typical of a residence, one or two sprinklers can cover most rooms. Other methods of prevention are by directing efforts to reduce known hazardous conditions or by preventing dangerous acts before tragedy strikes. Tools are generally carried at all times and are important for not only forcible entry, a self-contained breathing apparatus delivers air to the firefighter through a full face mask and is worn to protect against smoke inhalation, toxic fumes, and super heated gases. The PASS device sounds an alarm that can assist another firefighter, Firefighters often carry personal self-rescue ropes
34.
Phosphine
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Phosphine is the compound with the chemical formula PH3. It is a colorless, flammable, toxic gas and pnictogen hydride, pure phosphine is odorless, but technical grade samples have a highly unpleasant odor like garlic or rotting fish, due to the presence of substituted phosphine and diphosphane. With traces of P2H4 present, PH3 is spontaneously flammable in air, phosphines are also a group of organophosphorus compounds with the formula R3P. Organophosphines are important in catalysts where they complex to various ions, complexes derived from a chiral phosphine can catalyze reactions to give chiral. Philippe Gengembre, a student of Lavoisier, first obtained phosphine in 1783 by heating phosphorus in a solution of potash. He considered diphosphine’s formula to be PH2, and thus an intermediate between elemental phosphorus, the polymers, and phosphine. Calcium phosphide produces more P2H4 than other phosphides because of the preponderance of P-P bonds in the starting material, the name phosphine first appeared in combined form in 1857. The gas PH3 was named phosphine by 1865, PH3 is a trigonal pyramidal molecule with C3v molecular symmetry. The length of the P-H bond is 1.42 Å, the H-P-H bond angles are 93. 5°. The dipole moment is 0.58 D, which increases with substitution of methyl groups in the series, CH3PH2,1.10 D, 2PH,1.23 D, 3P,1.19 D. In contrast, the moments of amines decrease with substitution, starting with ammonia. For this reason, the pair on phosphorus may be regarded as predominantly formed by the 3s orbital of phosphorus. The upfield chemical shift of the atom in the 31P NMR spectrum accords with the conclusion that the lone pair electrons occupy the 3s orbital. This electronic structure leads to a lack of nucleophilicity and an ability to form only weak hydrogen bonds, the aqueous solubility of PH3 is slight,0.22 mL of gas dissolve in 1 mL of water. Phosphine dissolves more readily in non-polar solvents than in water because of the non-polar P-H bonds and it is technically amphoteric in water, but acid and base activity is poor. Proton exchange proceeds via a phosphonium ion in solutions and via PH2− at high pH, with equilibrium constants Kb =4 × 10−28. Phosphine burns producing a white cloud of phosphorus pentoxide,2 PH3 +4 O2 → P2O5 +3 H2O Phosphine may be prepared in a variety of ways. Industrially it can be made by the reaction of phosphorus with sodium or potassium hydroxide
35.
Calcium carbide
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Calcium carbide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula of CaC2. Its main use industrially is in the production of acetylene and calcium cyanamide, the pure material is colorless, however pieces of technical-grade calcium carbide are grey or brown and consist of about 80–85% of CaC2. In the presence of moisture, technical-grade calcium carbide emits an unpleasant odor reminiscent of garlic. Applications of calcium carbide include manufacture of gas, and for generation of acetylene in carbide lamps, manufacture of chemicals for fertilizer. Calcium carbide is produced industrially in an arc furnace from a mixture of lime. The carbide product produced generally contains around 80% calcium carbide by weight, the carbide is crushed to produce small lumps that can range from a few mm up to 50 mm. The impurities are concentrated in the finer fractions, the CaC2 content of the product is assayed by measuring the amount of acetylene produced on hydrolysis. As an example, the British and German standards for the content of the fractions are 295 L/kg and 300 L/kg respectively. Impurities present in the carbide include phosphide, which produces phosphine when hydrolysed, the method for the production in an electric arc furnace was discovered in 1892 by T. L Willson and independently by H. Moissan in the same year. Pure calcium carbide is a colourless solid, the common crystalline form at room temperature is a distorted rock-salt structure with the C22− units lying parallel. The reaction of carbide with water, producing acetylene and calcium hydroxide, was discovered by Friedrich Wöhler in 1862. CaC2 +2 H2O → C2H2 + Ca2 This reaction was the basis of the manufacture of acetylene. At high temperatures, CaC2 reacts with water vapor to give calcium carbonate, carbon dioxide, today acetylene is mainly manufactured by the partial combustion of methane or appears as a side product in the ethylene stream from cracking of hydrocarbons. Approximately 400,000 tonnes are produced this way annually, in China, acetylene derived from calcium carbide remains a raw material for the chemical industry, in particular for the production of polyvinyl chloride. Locally produced acetylene is more economical than using imported oil, production of calcium carbide in China has been increasing. In 2005 output was 8.94 million tons, with the capacity to produce 17 million tons, in the USA, Europe, and Japan, consumption of calcium carbide is generally declining. Production levels in the USA in 1990s were 236,000 tons per year, Calcium carbide reacts with nitrogen at high temperature to form calcium cyanamide, CaC2 + N2 → CaCN2 + C Commonly known as nitrolim, calcium cyanamide is used as fertilizer. It is hydrolysed to cyanamide, H2NCN, Calcium carbide is used, in the desulfurisation of iron as a fuel in steelmaking to extend the scrap ratio to liquid iron, depending on economics
36.
Acetylene
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Acetylene is the chemical compound with the formula C2H2. It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne and this colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is unstable in its form and thus is usually handled as a solution. Pure acetylene is odorless, but commercial grades usually have a marked odor due to impurities, as an alkyne, acetylene is unsaturated because its two carbon atoms are bonded together in a triple bond. The carbon–carbon triple bond places all four atoms in the straight line. Acetylene was discovered in 1836 by Edmund Davy, who identified it as a new carburet of hydrogen and it was rediscovered in 1860 by French chemist Marcellin Berthelot, who coined the name acétylène. Berthelots empirical formula for acetylene, as well as the alternative name quadricarbure dhydrogène were incorrect because chemists at that used the wrong atomic mass for carbon. Berthelot was able to prepare this gas by passing vapours of organic compounds through a red-hot tube and he also found acetylene was formed by sparking electricity through mixed cyanogen and hydrogen gases. Berthelot later obtained acetylene directly by passing hydrogen between the poles of a carbon arc, commercially available acetylene gas could smell foul due to the common impurities hydrogen sulfide and phosphine. However, as purity increases it will become odourless, since the 1950s, acetylene has mainly been manufactured by the partial combustion of methane or appears as a side product in the ethylene stream from cracking of hydrocarbons. Approximately 400,000 tonnes were produced by method in 1983. Its presence in ethylene is usually undesirable because of its explosive character and it is selectively hydrogenated into ethylene, usually using Pd–Ag catalysts. Until the 1950s, when oil supplanted coal as the source of reduced carbon. In the US, this process was an important part of the late-19th century revolution in chemistry enabled by the hydroelectric power project at Niagara Falls. In terms of valence bond theory, in each carbon atom the 2s orbital hybridizes with one 2p orbital thus forming an sp hybrid, the other two 2p orbitals remain unhybridized. The two ends of the two sp hybrid orbital overlap to form a strong σ valence bond between the carbons, while on each of the two ends hydrogen atoms attach also by σ bonds. The two unchanged 2p orbitals form a pair of weaker π bonds, since acetylene is a linear symmetrical molecule, it possesses the D∞h point group. At atmospheric pressure, acetylene cannot exist as a liquid and does not have a melting point, the triple point on the phase diagram corresponds to the melting point at the minimum pressure at which liquid acetylene can exist
37.
Martha Coston
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Martha Jane Coston was an inventor and businesswoman best known for her invention of the Coston flare, a device for signaling at sea. She was born Martha Jane Hunt in Baltimore, Maryland, at age 15 or 16, she eloped with a Benjamin Franklin Coston, age 21, who had already acquired a reputation as a promising inventor. As a young man, he director of the U. S. Navy’s scientific laboratory in Washington. At the Washington Navy Yard, he developed a signaling rocket and he also experimented with color-coded night signals to allow communication between ships, which at that time was limited to visual signals such as flags during the day and lanterns at night. After a dispute over payment for his work on the primer, Coston resigned his commission with the Navy in 1847. His work with chemical fumes at both the Navy Yard and the Boston Gas Company caused his health to deteriorate, and he died in 1848 as a result of the chemical exposure and his work on the signal flares, while important, was limited to plans and chemical formulas. While searching through her husbands papers, she discovered the notes he had written on night signaling at the Navy Yard and her husband’s incomplete work needed substantial additional effort before it could be turned into a practical signaling system. For nearly ten years, Martha Coston worked to develop a system of flare signaling based on her husbands earlier work, with a limited knowledge of chemistry and pyrotechnics, she relied on the advice of hired chemists and fireworks experts, with mixed results. She established the Coston Manufacturing Company to manufacture the signal flares, on April 5,1859, she was granted U. S. Patent number 23,536 for a night signal and code system. Using different combinations of colors, it enabled ships to signal to one another, captain C. S. McCauley of the U. S. Navy recommended the use of her flares to Secretary of the Navy Isaac Toucey in 1859. After extended testing, which demonstrated the effectiveness of the system, the U. S. Navy ordered a set of 300 flares. Coston then obtained patents in England, France, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands and she remained in Europe until 1861, when she returned to the U. S. on the outbreak of the Civil War. She went directly to Washington, where she petitioned Congress to purchase the patent so that the flares could be used in the approaching conflict. After some delay, Congress passed an act on August 5,1861, authorizing the U. S. Navy to purchase the patent for $20,000, though less than the $40,000 she had originally demanded. Coston flares also played an important role in coordinating naval operations during the battle of Fort Fisher in North Carolina on January 13–15,1865, in 1871, Coston obtained a patent in her own name - Patent No. 115,935, Improvement in Pyrotechnic Night Signals, in addition to working on improvements to the signaling system, she continued to press claims for additional compensation from the U. S. government. Due to wartime inflation, the Coston Manufacturing Company supplied flares to the U. S. Navy at less than cost, although she pressed her claims for over ten years, she was offered only $15,000 additional reimbursement
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United States Navy
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The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U. S. Navy is the largest, most capable navy in the world, the U. S. Navy has the worlds largest aircraft carrier fleet, with ten in service, two in the reserve fleet, and three new carriers under construction. The service has 323,792 personnel on duty and 108,515 in the Navy Reserve. It has 274 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of October 2016, the U. S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which was established during the American Revolutionary War and was effectively disbanded as a separate entity shortly thereafter. It played a role in the American Civil War by blockading the Confederacy. It played the role in the World War II defeat of Imperial Japan. The 21st century U. S. Navy maintains a global presence, deploying in strength in such areas as the Western Pacific, the Mediterranean. The Navy is administratively managed by the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Navy is itself a division of the Department of Defense, which is headed by the Secretary of Defense. The Chief of Naval Operations is an admiral and the senior naval officer of the Department of the Navy. The CNO may not be the highest ranking officer in the armed forces if the Chairman or the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, the United States Navy is a seaborne branch of the military of the United States. The Navys three primary areas of responsibility, The preparation of naval forces necessary for the prosecution of war. The development of aircraft, weapons, tactics, technique, organization, U. S. Navy training manuals state that the mission of the U. S. Armed Forces is to prepare and conduct prompt and sustained combat operations in support of the national interest, as part of that establishment, the U. S. Navys functions comprise sea control, power projection and nuclear deterrence, in addition to sealift duties. It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, the Navy was rooted in the colonial seafaring tradition, which produced a large community of sailors, captains, and shipbuilders. In the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, Massachusetts had its own Massachusetts Naval Militia, the establishment of a national navy was an issue of debate among the members of the Second Continental Congress. Supporters argued that a navy would protect shipping, defend the coast, detractors countered that challenging the British Royal Navy, then the worlds preeminent naval power, was a foolish undertaking. Commander in Chief George Washington resolved the debate when he commissioned the ocean-going schooner USS Hannah to interdict British merchant ships, and reported the captures to the Congress
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United States Life-Saving Service
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The United States Life-Saving Service was a United States government agency that grew out of private and local humanitarian efforts to save the lives of shipwrecked mariners and passengers. It began in 1848 and ultimately merged with the Revenue Cutter Service to form the United States Coast Guard in 1915, the concept of assistance to shipwrecked mariners from shore based stations began with volunteer lifesaving services, spearheaded by the Massachusetts Humane Society. It was recognized that only small boats stood a chance in assisting those close to the beach, a sailing ship trying to help near to the shore stood a good chance of also running aground, especially if there were heavy onshore winds. The Massachusetts Humane Society founded the first lifeboat station at Cohasset, the stations were small shed-like structures, holding rescue equipment that was to be used by volunteers in case of a wreck. The stations, however, were only near the approaches to ports and, thus. That same year the Massachusetts Humane Society also received funds from Congress for life saving stations on the Massachusetts coastline, between 1848 and 1854 other stations were built and loosely managed. The stations were administered by the United States Revenue Marine and they were run with volunteer crews, much like a volunteer fire department. In September 1854, a Category 4 hurricane, the Great Carolina Hurricane of 1854, swept through the East Coast of the United States, causing the deaths of many sailors. This storm highlighted the poor condition of the equipment in the life saving stations, the training of the crews. Additional funds were appropriated by Congress, including funds to employ a full-time keeper at each station, still not officially recognized as a service, the system of stations languished until 1871 when Sumner Increase Kimball was appointed chief of the Treasury Departments Revenue Marine Division. One of his first acts was to send Captain John Faunce of the Revenue Marine Service on an tour of the life saving stations. Captain Faunces report noted that apparatus was rusty for want of care, Kimball convinced Congress to appropriate $200,000 to operate the stations and to allow the Secretary of the Treasury to employ full-time crews for the stations. Kimball instituted six-man boat crews at all stations, built new stations, by 1874, stations were added along the coast of Maine, Cape Cod, the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and Port Aransas, Texas. The next year, more stations were added to serve the Great Lakes, in 1878, the network of life saving stations were formally organized as a separate agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, called the Live-Saving Service. The stations of the Service fell into three categories, lifesaving, lifeboat, and houses of refuge, lifesaving stations were manned by full-time crews during the period when wrecks were most likely. On the East Coast, this was usually from November to April, by 1900, the active season was year-round. Most stations were in isolated areas and crewmen had to perform open beach launchings and that is, they were required to launch their boats from the beach into the surf. That section gave rise to the rescue crews unofficial motto, You have to go out, before 1900, there were very few recreational boaters and most assistance cases came from ships engaged in commerce
40.
Lighting
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Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve a practical or aesthetic effect. Lighting includes the use of artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight. Daylighting is sometimes used as the source of light during daytime in buildings. This can save energy in place of using lighting, which represents a major component of energy consumption in buildings. Proper lighting can enhance performance, improve the appearance of an area. Indoor lighting is accomplished using light fixtures, and is a key part of interior design. Lighting can also be a component of landscape projects. With the discovery of fire, the earliest form of lighting used to illuminate an area were campfires or torches. As early as 400,000 BCE, fire was kindled in the caves of Peking Man, prehistoric people used primitive oil lamps to illuminate surroundings. These lamps were made from naturally occurring materials such as rocks, shells, horns and stones, were filled with grease, lamps typically used animal or vegetable fats as fuel. Hundreds of these lamps have been found in the Lascaux caves in modern-day France, oily animals were also used as lamps after being threaded with a wick. Fireflies have been used as lighting sources, candles and glass and pottery lamps were also invented. Chandeliers were a form of light fixture. A major reduction in the cost of lighting occurred with the discovery of whale oil, in 1849, Dr. Abraham Gesner, a Canadian geologist, devised a method where kerosene could be distilled from petroleum. Earlier coal-gas methods had been used for lighting since the 1820s, gesners kerosene was cheap, easy to produce, could be burned in existing lamps, and did not produce an offensive odor as did most whale oil. It could be stored indefinitely unlike whale oil, which would eventually spoil, the American petroleum boom began in the 1850s. By the end of the decade there were 30 kerosene plants operating in the United States, the cheaper, more efficient fuel began to drive whale oil out of the market. John D. Rockefeller was most responsible for the success of kerosene
41.
Flare (countermeasure)
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A flare or decoy flare is an aerial infrared countermeasure used by a plane or helicopter to counter an infrared homing surface-to-air missile or air-to-air missile. Flares are commonly composed of a composition based on magnesium or another hot-burning metal. The aim is to make the infrared-guided missile seek out the signature from the flare rather than the aircrafts engines. In contrast to radar-guided missiles, IR-guided missiles are very difficult to find as they approach aircraft and they do not emit detectable radar, and they are generally fired from a rear visual-aspect, directly toward the engines. In most cases, pilots have to rely on their wingmen to spot the missiles smoke trail, more advanced electro-optical systems can detect missile launches automatically from the distinct thermal emissions of a missiles rocket motor. The aircraft would then pull away at an angle from the flare. Optimally, the seeker head is then confused by this change in temperature and flurry of new signatures. The most modern IR-guided missiles have sophisticated on-board electronics that help discriminate between flares and targets, reducing the effectiveness of countermeasures, consequently, flare dispensers are now fitted to helicopters. Indeed almost all of the UKs helicopters, whether they are transport or attack models, are equipped with flare dispenser or missile approach warning systems, similarly, the US armed forces have adopted defensive technology on their helicopters. This caused concerns in some European countries, which proceeded to ban such aircraft from landing at their airports, a flare goes through three main stages, ignition, deployment, and decoying. Most flares, like the MJU-27A/B flares, must be kept in a storage compartment before deployment. These flares, known as flares, are made of special materials that ignite when they come in contact with the air. This is a safety and convenience factor, since attempting to ignite a flare inside the fuselage, flares are most commonly gravity-fed from a dispenser inside the aircrafts fuselage. These dispensers can be programmed by the pilot or ground crew to dispense flares in short intervals, one at a time, long intervals, or in clusters. Most currently used flares are of the variety, and thus the dispensers do not have to ignite. With pyrotechnic flares, a lanyard automatically pulls off a friction cap covering the end of the flare as it falls from the dispenser. A friction surface inside the cap rubs against the end of the flare. Flares burn at thousands of degrees, which is hotter than the exhaust of a jet engine
42.
Infrared homing
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Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared light emission from a target to track and follow it. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as heat-seekers, many objects such as people, vehicle engines and aircraft generate and emit heat, and as such, are especially visible in the infrared wavelengths of light compared to objects in the background. Infrared seekers are passive devices, which, unlike radar, provide no indication that they are tracking a target and this makes them suitable for sneak attacks during visual encounters, or over longer ranges when used with a forward looking infrared system or similar cuing system. This makes heat-seekers extremely deadly, 90% of all United States air combat losses over the past 25 years have been due to infrared-homing missiles and they are, however, subject to a number of simple countermeasures, most notably dropping flares behind the target to provide false heat sources. This only works if the pilot is aware of the missile, the first IR devices were experimented with in the pre-World War II era. During the war, German engineers were working on heat seeking missiles and proximity fuses, truly practical designs did not become possible until the introduction of conical scanning and miniaturized vacuum tubes during the war. These early examples had significant limitations and achieved very low rates in combat during the 1960s. A new generation developed in the 1970s and 80s made great strides, the latest examples from the 1990s and on have the ability to attack targets out of their field of view, behind them, and even pick out vehicles on the ground. The infrared sensor package on the tip or head of a missile is known as the seeker head. The NATO brevity code for an air-to-air infrared-guided missile launch is Fox Two, there was little application at the time, and he allowed his 1904 patent to lapse. Nevertheless, it was used for time by the US Navy as a secure communications system. In 1930 the introduction of the Ag-O-Cs photomultiplier provided the first practical solution to the detection of IR, amplifying the signal emitted by the galena, the photomultiplier produced a useful output that could be used for detection of hot objects at long ranges. This sparked developments in a number of nations, notably the UK, eventually they dissolved the Committee and reformed, leaving Lindemann off the roster, and filling his position with well known radio expert Edward Victor Appleton. In Germany, radar research was not given nearly the same level of support as in the UK, IR research was led primarily by Edgar Kutzscher at the University of Berlin working in concert with AEG. This provided enough light to see the target at short range and these proved largely useless in practice and the pilots complained that the target often only became visible at 200 metres, at which point they would have seen it anyway. Only 15 were built and were removed as German airborne radar systems improved though 1942, AEG had been working with the same systems for use on tanks, and deployed a number of models through the war, with limited production of the FG1250 beginning in 1943. This work culminated in the Zielgerät 1229 Vampir riflescope which was used with the StG44 assault rifle for night use, the devices mentioned previously were all detectors, not seekers. They produce either a signal indicating the direction of the target, or in the case of later devices
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