Author Archives: gaussling

About gaussling

Gaussling is a senior scientist in the chemical business. He occasionally breaks glassware, spreads confusion and has been known to generate new forms of hazardous waste. Gaussling also digs aerospace, geology, and community theatre.

Mining Asteroids

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The founders of the Silicon Valley startup, Planetary Resources, have announced plans for mining asteroids for valuable metals. Peter Diamandis, Eric Anderson and investors including director James Cameron and Google CEO Larry Page are behind this venture.

I’m trying to be positive here. Perhaps these fellows should visit some earthly mines and see what it takes to break actual rock and extract the value from it.

Earth bound ore bodies near the surface are commonly the result of concentration by hydrothermal flows. In the absence of water-based geothermal concentration processes, or recrystallization of PGM’s in magma chambers, the reality of economically viable ore bodies in asteroids is an open question. A lot of survey work needs to be done to answer this question.

Oh, and one more thing. When you blast rock on a largish planet like earth, the fragments fall back to the ground. This won’t happen on an itty bitty asteroid.

The talk about recovering water from asteroids to subsequently crack and make propellant is a large challenge all by itself.

I predict that civilization will slump back to a 19th century Dickensian-style world of robber barons and sharecroppers before any hardware gets to an asteroid.  Children will ask “Momma, what’s an iPad?” as they walk from their rundown subdivision to a quonset where they strip insulation from wire for copper to barter for food. It’s all so clear now …

Time to Leave Afghanistan

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It is time to withdraw our soldiers from Afghanistan. The latest example of moral depravity exhibited by members of our armed forces shows the effects of prolonged war on our citizens. The US is at war with not so much an insurgency as an idea. An idea is not a form of concentrated power. It is a form of distributed power. You can’t take out a popular idea with a bomb or a 50 cal round.  We are occupying a “country” which exists by default as a void between other countries. Afghanistan is a collection of districts occupied by a weak confederation of tribes who adhere to seventh century cosmology and religion.  A coalition of like minded religious zealots are in the process of retaking the political void which is only weakly occupied by a corrupt, reluctant and treacherous Afghan government.

These latest instances of outrageous and indefensible behavior with Afghan corpses by US forces completely negates whatever moral high ground we once occupied. We have put our troops in a place and circumstance which is unwinnable. We have exposed good men and women to unspeakable horrors and memories.  There are too many public dots to connect now that outline our own corruption in the execution of foreign policy in Afghanistan.

War inevitably corrupts its participants. Our own enthusiasm for war reflects poorly upon us and we must get a grip on this.

Early Adventures with Nitrates and Tartaric Acid

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It is a misconception that renaissance alchemists were only concerned with the philosophers stone. Hermetic alchemy was an overlap of alchemical practice within a mystical or spiritual framework. This branch of alchemy and its practitioners are perhaps better known in the popular literature than the alchemists who might be regarded as more pragmatic experimentalists.

Many alchemists over history were very practical and quite occupied with their trade in medicaments, tinctures, distillates, and elixirs or with metallurgical and compounding endeavors.  Paracelsus is regarded as an early practitioner of iatrochemical work, but within a hermetical framework.  Agricola and Biringuccio were 16th century chroniclers of metallurgy that had a basis in earlier alchemical progress.

Consider an entry from a translation of The Laboratory, or School of Arts; in which are faithfully exhibited and fully explain’d, I. A variety of curious and valuable experiments in refining … VI. A dissertation on the nature and growth of saltpeter; … Translated from the German, by Godfrey Smith, published 1738.  In this volume, available from ECCO, Eighteenth Century Collections Online, contains a passage under the heading of “To prepare Aurum Fulmina__s” (two letters obscured). I have retained the archaic character “f” in place of “s” for the reader to enjoy.

To prepare Aurum Fulmina__s

Take Gold that is refin’d with Antimony, beat it to thin Plates, put it into a Phial or Matrafs, pour Aqua Regis upon it, then fet the Phial or Mastrafs upon warm sand, till the Aqua regis is diffolv’d as much of the gold as it is able to contain, which you will knw when you fee the Ebullitions ceafe, pour your Solution by Inclination into another Glafs, and if you fee there remains any Gold in the Matrafs, dissolve it as before with a little frefh Aqua regis, mix your Diffolution, and pour to it five times as much common Water, afterwards drop into this Mixture, by Degrees, the Volatile Spirit of Sal Ammoniac, or Oil of Tartar, and you will see the Gold precipitate to the Bottom of the Glafs, let it reft a good while for the Gold to settle, then pour off the Water by Inclination, wafh your powder with warm Water, till grows infipid, dry it to the Substance of a Pafte, then form it in little round Corns, the Bignefs of a Hempfeed, dry them by the Sun, if you put one of them into a Fire, it will fly and difperfe with a terrible Noife, and beat about with great Violence. [Emphasis mine]

It seems likely that the worker is trying to refine the gold by dissolution of the Sb/Au blend by complete dissolution in aqua regia, followed by what we would now regard as a reduction of the gold solution. Quenching the aqua regia would be expected to cause the gold to reduce and fall out as the native metal. But gold chemistry is not what is interesting in this account.

The Spirit of Sal Ammoniac, meaning either ammonia itself or ammonium chloride, would do as follows: the ammonium would ion pair with nitrate and, upon drying, leave a residue of ammonium nitrate, which is an explosive. Simple open burning of  small kernels material enriched in ammonium nitrate might be expected to deflagrate or pop, as indicated in the end of the description.

The Oil of Tartar, however, might have an altogether different fate when dissolved in aqua regia. Oil of Tartar is a concentrated aqueous solution of potassium (or Na) tartrate.  In solution with aqua regia, one would reasonably expect the two hydroxy groups of tartaric acid to form the dinitro ester if appropriate nitrating species are present. A nitrate ester group is a common explosophore and consists of O2N-O-C comprising an oxygen linkage between NO2 and carbon. This linkage is sensitive to low levels of stimulus, making compounds with such linkages susceptible to rapid or explosive decomposition. The nitrite ester is listed as an explosophore as well.

The nitration of tartaric acid is described in US patent 1,506,728. This patent teaches the use of the standard H2SO4 catalyzed HNO3 nitration of the tartaric acid diol functionality to form a dinitro ester via the standard nitronium ion formation. In the case of aqua regia, the presence of NO2(+) is questionable. Aqua regia is known to produce nitrosyl chloride, ClNO which dissociates to Cl2 and NO.  Literature on the nitration of alcohols to nitro esters in aqua regia is non-existant in Chemical Abstracts. There are a few citations describing aromatic nitration by aqua regia, but no clear description of nitro ester formation.  Indeed, there are many descriptions of direct extraction of gold from aqua regia using isoamyl alcohol with no warnings of explosive or nitro formation.

There are, however, reports of the use of ClNO to produce organonitrites when reacted with a monohydroxy alcohol (Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association (1912-1977) (1932), 21, 125-8). It is possible that a tartaric nitrite was formed which may be energetic to some extent.

But perhaps the application of Occams Razor is needed. Potassium or sodium tartrate would be mildly basic and upon addition to a mineral acid solution, it would neutralize the acid in sufficient quantities, affording potassium or sodium nitrate (saltpeter). On evaporation of water, the saltpeter residues would be comingled with tartaric acid, comprising a fuel/oxidizer mixture.

Small quantities of crude nitrate esters, nitrite esters, or nitrate salts could have been present in the dried paste, giving the pyrotechnic effect described. The formation of energetic materials was not the primary purpose of the procedure, although the observed behavior of the residues was apparently compelling enough to document.

Waterboarding in the Spanish Inquisition

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The Spanish Inquisition lasted from 1478 to 1834 and was started by the monarchs Ferdinand II and Isabella.  The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon to Isabella of Castile united two kingdoms on the Iberian pennisula.  The Spanish Inquisition was set apart from the long running and contemporary papal inquisitions through a special papal bull issued from Pope Sixtus IV to the Spanish monarchy. The crown was able to gain political control over the appointment of inquisitors in Castile which, until then, had managed to avoid the implementation of inquisitions by the church.

The priviledged commission granted to the Spanish Inquisition afforded considerable magisterial control to the Spanish Monarchy and allowed it to focus on the eradication of Jewish and Muslim influence in Spain. Prior to the issuance of the bull, the church had a focus on the reconciliation of heretics back to the church.  Under the Spanish Crown, however, judiazing heretics were the subject of particularly enthusiastic prosecution. Under the guise of spiritual mandate, Jews were compelled to leave behind their wealth and exit Spain or convert to Christianity. But all would not bode well for the conversos.

Over time, the conversos and their decendants would be suspected of secret Judiazing and the practice of Mosaic law.  A kind of circuit court of inquisitors was instituted early in the Inquisition whereupon a select Grand Inquisitor would oversee the conduct of Inquisitions throughout the realm on behalf of the Crown.

A codified system of procedures and functionaries was put in place for the conduct of inquisitions.  Suspected heretics were always presumed guilty until they could prove their innocence.  An inquisition was conducted in a way so as to elicit a confession since this was regarded as the best form of evidence of guilt. Torture was instituted and performed when stubborn heretics failed to confess to the satisfaction of the inquisitors.

The variety of torture techniques included hanging the defendant by his wrists which were tied behind his back (the garrucha); stretching the defendant on the rack (the potro); or pouring water down the nose and throat of the defendant to simulate drowning (the toca).  These techniques were conducted in order to produce a satisfactory confession.

At the conclusion of the inquisition, the guilty defendant was “relaxed” to the constable for punishment or execution. In this system, there was no external authority such as the pope to contradict the will of the Crown in the roundup and prosecution of suspected heretics.

Of special interest is the toca. This seems to be a form of what we now call “waterboarding”.  It is generally agreed that when the Inquisitors performed it, it was regarded as a form of torture. The contemporary practice is defined as “enhanced interrogation”.

It was the Spain of this Inquisition period that set sail for the Americas in search of wealth and for natives to convert to Christianity. Unfortunately for the native people of the Americas, these visitors had a frothy zeal for heavy metals and Christ.

Reference:  Lu Ann Homza, The Spanish Inquisition, 1474-1614, 2006, Hackett Publishing Company, ISBN 0-87220-794-3.

Spectrum, Spectra, Spectre

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I’m not feeling especially peevish just now, truly, but I will say that a linguistic habit I’m running into more frequently is beginning to rub me the wrong way. That habit is the misuse of the word “spectra”.

I hear many people using the word “spectra” as the singular form rather than the word “spectrum”.  Spectra is the plural form of the word spectrum.

The spectre of spectra as spectrum shines like a specular glare from a speculum mirror in the corner of my consciousness.

Soft Drink Bottlers Charged with Greenhouse Gas Violations

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International soft drink giants Coca Cola and Pepsi have been charged with greenhouse gas emission violations by the Europese Kooldioxidecommissie (EK) in Modderkip, The Netherlands.  The soft drink manufacturers were indicted for their part in the worldwide spread of efforvescent emissions of a greenhouse gas.

Viktor Fischkopf, Titular Comissioner of the EK, issued a press release stating that the soft drink companies have been brought before the court for international conspiracy to supply carbonation for the express purpose of emission through direct efforvescence and by fugitive emissions from bottling, eructation, and flatulence. While the charges fall short of crimes against humanity, a conviction by the EK may result in embargo of goods in participating nations.

Representatives of Coca Cola and Pepsi have declined to comment. However, one executive from Coca Cola subsidiary Fanta spoke on the condition of anonymity. “We will fight this with all of the resources we can summon. If we lose this fight, the peoples of the world face the grim prospect of flat, uncarbonated Coke. It’s unthinkable. The word ‘soda’ will become meaningless.”

Thorium power. Will the US get on board?

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Everybody knows by now that China is flush with rare earth elements (REE’s), or at least to the uppermost extent that any country can be. And, everybody knows the market hijinks that China has planned with REE’s, namely, buy all the REE’s you want from them, as long it is in a value-added manufactured good.

What most folks are probably not aware of is that the ore bodies that carry the REE’s (Sc, Y, and the Lanthanides) are usually enriched in thorium and/or uranium.  So much so that no little amount of skill and equipment is needed to separate Th & U from the REE’s. The US and USSR developed much of this separations technology post WWII and for decades thereafter. Much of this art is in the US patent literature. The rest of it is buried in dusty, obscure volumes on library shelves.

The art of REE separation is arcane and somewhat isolated from the rest of inorganic chemistry owing to its specialized nature. Most of the separations art relies on leaching and elaborate solvent exchange schemes.  Ion exchange technology is also highly represented in this domain.  Few chemistry students are exposed to this science and most of the cold war era practitioners are retired, ailing, or deceased.

Chemistry students rarely see this art for another reason. It is generally practiced by engineers and metallurgists who seem to be in a perpetual phase separation from the standard chemistry curriculum. I would argue that this distinction is mainly cultural.

Back to the Chinese. While Americans have been busy yammering about drill-baby-drill, or following the escapades of reality show imbeciles or a thousand other idiotic distractions, we have failed to focus pressure on our government to consider technologies like thorium power or molten salt reactor technology.

While a gullible and frankly, cognitively impaired, vocal minority in the US accept that we have a right to $<3.00/gal gasoline, we are being distracted into the warm feather bed of self-congratulation and delusion about our supposed exceptionalism. I sense that our culture is beginning to show a type of exceptionalism that is not very admirable.

While American voters are being spun up into a frenzy again about commodity oil prices, China has been promulgating its national industrial policies. American industrial policy seems to be about lining the citizens up for accelerating consumption. China’s industrial policy emphasis seems to be about putting infrastructure and capacity in place for exports as well as anticipated internal consumption.

China has a substantial presence in mineral rich Africa. China imports copper ore from Peru and Chile. Not finished copper- but copper ore. China keeps the value added steps for its own coffers. Most distressingly, China is busily working on copper mining in Afganistan while our kids fight and die there in an intractable cultural shooting war. Did you get that?

China is mining in Afganistan and Americans are paying to die there.

While the US pays to make the world safe for commerce, China is spreading out over the world looking for scarce resources like copper under the umbrella of stability.  While China mines copper in Afganistan, the USA consumes copper in Afganistan in the form of brass bullet casings ejected over the landscape. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc.

Is this a diatribe against all things Chinese? Absolutely not. If anything, China has skillfully mastered it’s range of control and made purposeful, long term plans to reach its goals. Like its plans for Thorium-based molten salt reactors. Thorium power is undergoing a bit more examination now, as described in this Forbes article.

Here is a point I’d like to get across. The present boom in REE exploration and mining is in a good place for thorium extraction. If thorium were to be part of the extracted value rather than a costly sidestream in need of segregation and remediation, then the subsequently improved economics of REE extraction and greater availability might translate to lower REE costs for users of rare earth metal technology.

There is a crucial synergy here that the US would do well to exploit. But it requires vision, long term planning, and regulatory flexibility in the handling, accumulation, and processing of thorium.  These attributes the US now lacks. The current lead pipe doctrines of American politics represents a critical systems failure of our culture. We cannot continue to regard middle-ground compromise as total forfeiture.