The Chemical World This Week
MORE MOLECULES FOUND IN INTERSTELLAR SPACE Ethanol has been found in interstellar space by an international team of 13 scientists working at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) facility at Kitt Peak, near Tucson, Ariz. Moreover, earlier this month, several members of the team identified an additional molecule—silicon monosulfide, SiS—bringing to 32 the number of molecular species identified in space so far. They also have found a "heavy water" isotope, HDO. The team detected ethanol by picking up radio emissions at two frequencies characteristic of its trans configuration—85.3 and 90.1 gigaHertz—when the Kitt Peak 36-foot-diameter radiotélescope was aimed toward a vast cloud of dust and gas near the center of the Milky Way. This cloud, Sagitarrius B2 (located in the direction of the constellation Sagitarrius), is the largest interstellar dust cloud in this galaxy, measuring up to 50 light years in diameter, and has been the prime site for finding new molecules in space. Among the team members working on the ethanol discovery are Dr. Benjamin M. Zuckerman of the University of Maryland, Dr. Barry E. Turner of NRAO, Dr. Donald Johnson of the National Bureau of Standards, Dr. Nicholas Fourikis of Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Dr. Patrick E. Palmer of the University of Chicago, and Dr. A. Edward Lilley of the Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass. Dr. Mark A. Gordon, an NRAO assistant director, notes that "two thirds of the molecules found in space have been found with NRAO's Tucson radiotélescope." The millimeter-wave portion of the radiospectrum in which this telescope operates is known to be rich in molecular emission lines, but "the problem has been to get higher sensitivity." A key to discovery of ethanol, which has weak emission lines, was development of a radio receiver of 10 times greater sensitivity. "Ten years ago," Gordon continues, "the pressure and gas density in space were considered so 4
C&EN Nov. 4, 1974
low that no one even dreamed there could be anything more than di- Kitt Peak radiotélescope has uncovered atomic molecules. But now we're up two thirds of molecules found in space to nine atoms—C2H5OH." Only one other nine-atom molecule has been abundance on earth—such as chlorine, phosphorus, iron, and found so far—dimethyl ether. Discovery of ethanol is significant magnesium. Discovery of ethanol in space for astrochemistry in several other respects, Gordon and Palmer be- has produced a stream of jokes from lieve. For one thing, "ethanol has the scientists involved. Indeed, a very rich spectrum, and it prom- C&EN learns, several alcoholic ises to be a very useful tool to probe puns were excised by sober National for conditions in space." (Effects on Science Foundation officials from its emission lines could enable NRAO's announcement of the determination of absolute tempera- discovery (NSF supported the work in part). For example, team scitures and densities.) Turner notes that the search for entists calculate that if all the new molecules will now focus on ethanol in Sagitarrius B2 were more complex molecules, and on condensed and28 bottled, it would compounds bearing elements not amount to 10 fifths of 80-proof yet found but which are next in whiskey.
AIF blasts lack of federal energy policy Project Independence may succeed in making the U.S. independent of foreign energy sources by 1985, but skeptics abounded at the winter meeting of the Atomic Industrial Forum (AIF) last week in Washington, D.C. A recurring theme at the meeting was the lack of a federal energy policy. Despite former Federal Energy Administrator John C. Sawhill's claim that Project Independence contains an implicit energy policy, primarily based on voluntary conservation, most AIF members remained unconvinced. They identified the biggest handicaps to energy development as continued difficulties in attracting the necessary investment capital, unnecessarily encumbering siting and licensing regulations for power plants, and a lack of public understanding of overall energy problems. AIF chairman William R. Gould notes that enough damage already has been done to virtually ensure a major energy crisis in the early 1980's. Cancellations and deferment of new plant construction have severely hampered the timely replacement of plants that will become obsolete by 1980. Gould also cites some ancillary problems, such as the decline of a number of basic industries (foundries, for example)
that supply basic components for power plants. The energy crisis, P. G. Brittain, president of Texas Utilities Services, told the meeting, isn't so much a matter of a total fuel shortage as it is a misapplication of available fuels. Nuclear and coalfired plants could more than meet future electricity needs, but Brittain believes that "the ballgame hasn't really changed and the roadblocks to nuclear and coal are just as numerous as they ever were." This theme is echoed by Lelan F. Sillin Jr., president of Northeast Utilities. Converting base-load plants to coal or nuclear power is the best short-term solution to the problem, but this is effectively being prevented by environmental restrictions and credit problems. The problem of public acceptance of nuclear power plants may be the biggest hurdle of all. George J. Stathakis, general manager of General Electric's nuclear energy division, objects to the persistent efforts of the press to set the industry, the public, and government officials against each other in an "artificial contest" that could only compound the problems. Current alarms over safety and reliability ignore the perfect safety record of commercial power plants, he says.
