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Newsletter of the Central Wisconsin Section - American Chemical Society Volume 27 •No 1•February 3, 2003

the AlembicChair's Corner

Happy New Year!

When Dave Lewisdescribed to me the responsibilitiesof the chair, he neglected to remindme that writing for the Alembicwas part of the responsibilities.Since I tell my students that theyshou ld be grateful foropportunities to improve theirwriting skills, I suppose I shouldwelcome this opportunity.

I thank Dave Thiel andother members of the executivecommittee for their hard work thispast year. I found the recentseminars on Raman Spectroscopyand West Nile disease interestingand presented at a level appropriatefor our audience. Our meetingtopics for 2003 should be asstimulating and informative. Pleaseinvite your students, area chemistryteachers, friends and colleagues toour meetings as this is a great wayto attract new participants. I ampleased and grateful that MartinRudd and Dana Haagenson, twonew residents in the CentralWisconsin Section, have agreed toassist the local section this year.Martin of UW-Marathon Countyhas agreed to be our NationalChemistry Week Coordinator andhost our October Meeting andDana of UW-Marshfield hasagreed to host our Novembermeeting.

For 2003, I would like toincrease our efforts to improve thepublic understanding of chemistry.I spent last winter in London andhad the opportunity to attendFriday Evening Discourses at theRoyal Institution of Great Britain.Although the discourses serve lessof the general public today than atthe time of Faraday, they were wellattended by adults of all disciplinesand disseminated information onnew directions in science. I ask inthe section to provide ideas forhow the ACS Central WisconsinSection can participate ininforming adults about currenttopics in chemistry.

Our February meeting willbe at UW-Marshfield (WoodCounty) and feature the currentwork of Prof. John Droske (UW-SP) with the Smithsonian. Johnhas been working to preserve thespacesuits used by NASAastronauts and will discuss hisresearch efforts in a talk entitled“ P o l y m e r s i n Museums:Restoration and Preservation of theSaturn V Rocket and ApolloSpacesuits”. The seminar is onFebruary 19, 2003 and hosted byTom Marty. I look forward toseeing you all in Marshfield!

Robin

ACS - CWSMini-Directory

ChairRobin S. TankeDept. of Chemistry, UW-SPStevens Point WI 54481phone (715) 346-4325(office)email rtanke@uwsp.edu

Chair-ElectDon Showalter

Secretary - TreasurerTip Randall

CouncilorC. Marvin Lang

Alternate CouncilorDave Lewis

Newsletter EditorTom ZamisDept. of Chemistry, UW-SP,Stevens Point WI 54481phone (715) 346-3258(office)email tzamis@uwsp.edu

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Polymers in Museums: Restoration and Preservation of the Saturn V Rocket and Apollo Spacesuitsby

John DroskeProfessor of Chemistry, UWSP

Wednesday, February 19, 7:30 pmUW-Marshfield/Wood County

Aldo Leopold Science Building Room 127

Dinner: 6:00 pm – China ChefAbstract:Space-age materials generally are believed to “last forever”. Unfortunately, especially for artifacts withhistorical significance, this is proving not to be the case. Synthetic polymers, like other organic-based materials,may degrade over time and some artifacts from the Apollo program are showing significant degradation. Forexample, some rubber gloves from the Apollo missions are hardened and literally are crumbling. We have beenusing thermogravimetric analysis and infrared spectroscopy to characterize Apollo spacesuits that are part ofthe Smithsonian collection. Our efforts to characterize the degradation of the suits and to suggest ways toimprove the storage and display of these important suits will be discussed. Last summer, we were contractedby the Smithsonian to analyze the external foam from the Saturn V rocket that is on display at Johnson SpaceCenter. The presentation will include the characterization that was done to determine the relative condition ofthe foam as part of the Save America’s Treasures Saturn V restoration project.

The Speaker:JOHN P. DROSKE is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He received his B.S. andM.S. in Chemistry from DePaul University and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Colorado State University underthe direction of the late John K. Stille.

His research interests are in synthetic polymer chemistry and his undergraduate research group has prepared hightemperature resistant polymers, electrically conductive polymers, and degradable copolymers for bone replacementapplications. In 2000, he was named Polymer Advisor for the Materials Research Group Panel at the SmithsonianInstitution.

John is the founding director of the POLYED National Information Center for Polymer Education that is housed atUWSP and, for 2001-2003, is President of the Intersociety Polymer Education Council. With Bob Badger, Johncurrently is involved in an NSF-funded effort to develop college-level, polymer curricular materials that will bedisseminated via the internet. He has received the UWSP University Scholar Award and the ACS Polymer Divisions’Joint Distinguished Service Award.

Dinner with our guest speaker will be at the China Chef, 233S. Central Avenue (downtown Marshfield) at 6 pm.Make reservations by Tuesday at 4 PM by contactingTom Marty at 715-389-6502 or tmarty@uwc.edu.

UW-Marshfield/Wood County is located on the west side oftown, 2000 W. Fifth St. From Hwy. 97 (North Central Ave.)go to 5th Street, turn west. Once on 5th Street, continue 20blocks to campus.

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R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R RACS - Central Wisconsin Section 2003 Meeting Schedule

DATE LOCATION SPEAKER TOPIC HOST

Feb. 19 Marshfield John DroskePolymers in Museums: Restoration andPreservation of the Saturn V Rocket and

Apollo SpacesuitsTom Marty

March 5 Eau Claire William Zoller The Former Soviet Union and theNuclear Waste Program

Dave Lewis

April 16 Eau Claire Jim Phillips A Concerned Scientist’s Best Attempt atAssessing Global Climate Change

Dave Lewis

May 7 Stevens Point John Fortman The Chemistry of Flight Marv Lang

Sept 10 WisconsinRapids

Robert Radel Chemical Weapons: What, Where, How Dave Thiel

October 15 Wausau Robert Bates The Chemistry and Alchemy of Brewing Martin Rudd

November Marshfield Kevin Lang Monoclonal Antibodies DanaHaagenson

ACS-CWS Web Page

www.uwsp.edu/chemistry/acscws/

Contains the most up-to-dateinformation about section activitiesincluding all issues of the Alembicand meeting notices.

UW-SP Professor Honored

C. Marvin Lang,professor of chemistry at theUniversity of Wisconsin-StevensPoint, was awarded the Harryand Carol Mosher Award onJanuary 17th by the Santa ClaraValley Section of the AmericanChemical Society (ACS).

Lang is one of only 20people in the nation to havereceived this prestigious award.He joins such world-renownedchemists as Robert Brasted ofthe University of Minnesota,Jean’ne Shreeve of theUniversity of Idaho and Harryand Carol Mosher for whom theaward was named. This year’spresentation was held in San

Jose, Calif., at which time Langpresented an address.

Th is award wasestablished in 1980 by the SantaClara Valley Section of ACS torecognize and encourageoutstanding work in chemistry,to advance chemistry as aprofession, and to recognizeservice to ACS. The award isnamed for Professor HarryMosher of Stanford University,Palo Alto, Calif., and Dr. CarolMosher of Stanford ResearchInstitute, Menlo Park, Calif.,charter members and long-timesupporters of the organization.Only scientists residing in theUnited States who are ACSmembers are eligible for theaward.

Lang came to UWSP in1964. He received a bachelor’sdegree in mathematics andchemistry from ElmhurstCollege in Illinois, a master’s inchemistry from UW-Madisonand a doctorate in physicalchemistry from the University of

Wyoming. He has presentednumerous lectures, workshopsand school demonstrations to a

wide range of audiencesthroughout the country includingin Hawaii and at Disneyworld’sEPCOT Center, as well as in thenation of Finland. In 1997 Langreceived the national Helen M.Free Award for Public Outreachfrom ACS. In 2001, UWSP’sAcademy of Letters and Sciencedesignated him a Eugene KatzDistinguished Letter and ScienceFaculty Member.

Lang has conductedmany educational workshopsand written several technicalarticles for the Finnish ChemicalSociety. For his efforts insupport of Finnish chemicaleducation, he was elected tol i f e t i m e c o r r e s p o n d i n gmembership in the FinnishChemical Society (SKS) in1999, the eighth American sodesignated.

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Chemistry Olympiad TimeBy Laura Cole

The local competition for theChemistry Olympiad is fastapproaching. Announcementswill be sent out this week to highschools within our section.Please encourage high schoolteachers you know to participatein the program. From the localcompetition, which is a multiplechoice test, a high school seniorwill be awarded the OutstandingHigh School Student award fromour section. Once the localcompetition is complete, 8students are selected toparticipate in the NationalChemistry Olympiad Exam.This year the National Exam forour section will be hosted byUW-SP on April 26. ContactLaura Cole, UW-SP, email:lcole@uwsp.edu, phone: 715-346-4302 for more information.

Molecules of the Month

H2 is the elemental state ofhydrogen--the most abundantelement in the universe. As afuel, when hydrogen reacts withoxygen, it produces energy andwater. During his State of theUnion address last week,President Bush proposed $1.2billion in research funding "sothat America can lead the worldin developing clean, hydrogen-powered automobiles."

Tetrachloroethylene (perc) isthe most popular solvent anddegreaser used by dry cleaners.

Environmental concerns andc o s t s a s s o c i a t e d withtetrachloroethylene disposal havelead some businesses to pursuealternative silicone- andsupercritical CO2-based cleaningprocesses.

Diflufenican is an herbicideused to control weeds aroundwinter cereal crops. It works byi n h i b i t i n g c a r o t e n o i dbiosynthesis.

Chemjobs Launches

Feb. 10, 2003

Chemical & Engineering NewsClassifieds & Careers Online(Chemjobs) will launch onFebruary 10, 2003.! This new“one-stop career shop”combines the features ofJobspectrum.org—for example,resume posting--with the C&ENonline classified ads to providecareer resources for both job-seekers and employers. ACSmembers will be able to view themost recent C&EN classifiedads that appeared in the printversion of the magazine; non-members will be able to viewthem after two weeks. Chemjobswill be the prime site for“quality jobs and qualitychemists” to find each other.Chemjobs will also have anarchive of useful career resourceinformation and articles fromC&EN and a direct link to ACSDepartment of Career Services.!Stay tuned and log on Feb. 10:http://www.cen-chemjobs.org

This Month in ChemicalHistory

Harold Goldwhite, California State University,Los Angeleshgoldwh@calstatela.edu

Prepared for SCALACS, the Journal of theSouthern California Section of the AmericanChemical Society

The start of a new yearturns my attention to some of thenoteworthy anniversaries thatmark the year 2003. Thequatercentenary of what isprobably the first scientificsociety falls in this year. In 1603Federigo Cesi established theAccademia dei Lincei in Rome.The name means, literally, theAcademy of Lynxes, but a freertranslation might be the Societyof the Sharp-eyed. Galileobecame a member of thisacademy, and I believe it is stillin existence. It predates theBritish Royal Society by over 50years. Also in 1603 WilliamGilbert, the English physicianand natural philosopher, died.Gilbert published his best-known work, De Magnete, in1600, and this book can beclaimed as the first scientificmonograph. Based extensivelyon Gilbert's experiments itdescribes phenomena in theareas of magnetism and staticelectricity, and likens the earth toa great spherical magnet.

In 1703 Isaac Newtonwas elected President of theRoyal Society. His Principia hadbeen published in 1687 and hisreputation as a leading worldscientist was firmly established.In the following year,encouraged by his colleagues,Newton published his mostaccessible book, Opticks, inwhich the famous experiment ofthe colors, the refraction of whitelight into its components, isdescribed. Opticks contains afascinating set of unansweredQueries as an appendix, in whichNewton's views on the particulatenature of matter, and the forcesdriving chemical reactions, are

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implied. As is well establishednow, Newton was a practicingalchemist and spent much of histime on alchemical experiments;this work was not published byNewton.

In 1753 Linnaeuspublished his great work on theclassification of plants, SpeciesPlantarum, for which hedeveloped his system, which iss t i l l u sed , o f binarynomenclature. It is very likelythat this system influenced thegroup of French chemists,including Lavoisier, Berthelot,Fourcroy, and De Morveau, toput forward their new binarysystem of chemical nomenclatureat the end of the eighteenthcentury, and that system is alsostill with us. Also in 1753Benjamin Thompson was bornin Woburn, Massachusetts. Oneof the most colorful figures inscience, Thomson sampledcareers in commerce andteaching, and studied briefly atHarvard. He married a wealthywidow (who predeceased him),and served briefly with a Britishregiment. This unpopular choicein just pre-revolutionary NewEngland made him decide toleave for England, where hebecame acquainted with manyleading figures, includingscientists. He was elected Fellowof the Royal Society in 1779. Hereturned briefly to America butleft again to enter the service ofthe Elector of Bavaria. Hedeveloped soup kitchens for thepoor, planned a major publicpark, invented an efficient newstove and was made a Count ofthe Holy Roman Empire in 1791,taking the title of CountRumford.! As Minister of Warfor Bavaria he oversaw theMunich arsenal, and in observingthe boring of cannon wasimpressed by the large amountof heat energy released in theprocess. He hypothesized thatthis demonstrated that heat was amode of motion, and not asubstance (caloric) as the most

prevalent view of the time held.Returning to England in 1798 hehelped found the RoyalInstitution, choosing HumphryDavy as one of its firstlaboratory directors. ButRumford could never stopmoving, it seems. In 1801 hereturned to France, settled inParis, and in 1805 marriedLavoisier's widow, a marriagethat turned out to be stormy andunsuccessful. Rumford died inParis in 1814.

I'll whet your appetite formore 2003 anniversaries bymentioning just one from 1803, avery rich year in chemicalhistory. William Henry, amember of the ManchesterLiterary and PhilosophicalSociety, and a good friend ofJohn Dalton, announced to theSociety and published in itsjournal his studies of thesolubilities of gases in water atdifferent pressures, which wenow summarize as Henry's Law.This law which implies themechanical behavior of gasparticles influenced Dalton'sthinking on his way to the atomictheory.

2003 ACS-CWS Election

Fifteen ballots were tallied forthe 2003 section election.Congratulations and thanks to:

Chair Elect 2003/Chair 2004Don Showalter

Secretary/Treasurer 2003Tip Randall

Councilor 2003-2005Marv Lang

Alternate Councilor 2003-2005Dave Lewis