THE MOON:
Gases Give Answers Measurements of rare gases in lunar samples by mass spectrometry answer a big question. Preliminary studies indicate that the lunar material was formed early in the history of the solar system and is as old as the oldest rock dated in the earth's crust, says Dr. Wilmot N. Hess at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory ( L R L ) . The rare gas analyses also indicate that some of the lunar samples have been exposed to cosmic rays on the surface of the moon for hundreds of millions of years. It has been found that most of the material which the Apollo 11 astronauts brought back from the moon contains relatively large amounts of these solar wind gases. The gases are largely boiled off from the sun and caught in the crystal lattices of the lunar samples. Thus with studies of the moon samples and assignments of personnel to missions turning out as predicted by the quiet majority, some people in and out of the space program are having their day of "I told you so." Numerous scientists and specialists in studying the moon had predicted before the Apollo 11 mission that the moon was roughly as old as the earth and possibly other parts of our solar system. One widely accepted figure for the oldest dated earth rock is 3.3 to 3.5 billion years. The earth, however, is considered to be 4.5 billion years old. A little later last week, NASA officials released some results of work in the biology test laboratories in the L R L which strengthen predictions, too, that anything brought from the moon would have no effect on the earth's
Wilmot Hess Old as the earth's crust 10 C&EN SEPT. 1, 1969
biosphere. No unusual effects have been noted on any of the insects, fish, plants, germ-free mice, and Japanese quail. Testing continues. At the same time, a NASA spokesman minimized the importance of concern over the place or lack of a prominent place of the scientifically trained astronauts in the Apollo program. The success of Apollo 11 means less frequent future missions and less chance for any scientist-astronaut to fly in space. Other NASA officials have said that even with the success of Apollo 11, it is still too early to do much scientific work on the moon. The lunar module had too limited an operational time (though some plans now call for approximately doubling the time) to allow for much increased manned scientific exploration of the moon's surface and subsurface. Other programs such as the Apollo applications program to follow the eight or so remaining Apollo missions will require scientist-astronauts. The Apollo applications include some longduration earth orbital flights of up to 54 days. These are preliminary to long manned missions such as a landing on Mars and are important in various aspects of learning more about the earth.
HURRICANE DEBBIE:
Data from Seeding Count Operation Stormfury on hurricane Debbie a success even though no obvious evidence exists that the seeding with silver iodide changed the intensity of the storm. The volume of data obtained during both seeding experiments on Aug. 18 and 20 "was far more than we had any right to expect," says Dr. R. Cecil Gentry, director of the project and of the National Hurricane Research Laboratory. A vast amount of data was taken during both Eye Wall experiments, in which a part of the wall of clouds around the center of the hurricane was seeded. Temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, liquid water content, and other property data were taken as frequently as every second. In each of five flights in and over hurricane Debbie on both days some 208 cannisters containing 65 grams of silver iodide each were dumped. Between 94 and 957c of the cannisters fired, d u m p i n g the silver iodide. To their eyes and on radar screens, changes in the clouds were noted by scientists and other observers, Dr. Gentry says. Whether a change in the storm's intensity resulted from the seeding or from natural causes won't be known for several months until the data are analyzed. Any changes that
THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK
Hurricane Debbie Operation Stormfury a success
did occur from the experiments were so small that they cannot yet be distinguished from possible naturally caused changes. A significant change in the storm's intensity during the first series of experiments would have been gratifying, Dr. Gentry says, but this kind of success on a first experiment is rare. The basic objective of these experiments was achieved—that of gathering data on which to base future tests. While various kinds of seeding of hurricanes now appear to be the best way to reduce their intensity, other methods may be found either to spread the energy of a storm or to minimize addition of energy from the ocean under a storm. No new methods to do these things are yet in development. If no other suitable hurricane develops soon in this season, the Cloud Line experiment involving seeding of cumulus clouds in the Caribbean is planned for several days at about mid-September, Dr. Gentry says. This experiment aims at more clearly defining effectiveness of silver iodide seeding.
NICKEL:
Strikes Squeeze Supply Nickel supplies for the chemical world are fast drying u p as two strikes greatly constrict the nickel pipeline from Canada. At present, 'there is no production at Sudbury, Ont., by far the world's largest nickel source. Strikes there at International Nickel and Falconbridge show signs of sailing past Labor D a y with no talks scheduled. A pinch on chemical construction may result. One stainless steel pro-
ducer tells C&EN that its dwindling nickel supply is forcing a shift away from high-nickel grades used in chemical processes. A spokesman for this source, Crucible Steel, states that the company and other stainless producers are having to stretch their nickel, which is getting low. Another stainless producer, Allegheny Ludlum, confirms steady deliveries this month. "We're not discounting the strikes, but production of nickel steels won't be affected in September," a spokesman says. On the user level, chemical construction companies tell C&EN that their projects are not affected to date. Lummus, for example, reports no holdup in stainless steel deliveries for current projects. When the Ontario strikes began July 10 at Inco and Aug. 21 at Falconbridge, the guessing went both ways on settlement prospects. But now the situation has worsened because talks at Inco have broken down. The company states, "No purpose can be served by further bargaining sessions which convey to our employees and to the public the wrong impression that significant progress has been or is being made on the major monetary issues facing both sides since the strike began on July 10." Inco says that its offer to the union stands at $1.05 per hour over three years. Average wage before the strike was $3.09. The union (United Steelworkers of America) tells C&EN that this offer really amounts to 89 cents and that a safe guess puts its own demand around $2.00. The pinch which the strikes make comes clear from a few figures. In terms of 1968 nickel production, Sudbury accounted for 400 million pounds of 'the Free World's total consumption of 807 million pounds. As it is, this may be Sudbury's last great, if negative, hour in the spotlight. World nickel sources outside Canada are rapidly expanding, especially in New Caledonia. The latest project for the island is a joint 100 million pound-per-year venture by American Metal Climax, new to nickel, and Société Minière et Métallurgique de Penarroya, S.A., of France. Others lately have involved Inco (C&EN, March 24, page 37), Kaiser, and the former French monopoly on the island, Société le Nickel (C&EN, May 19, page 14). Amax has also signed an option agreement to buy from Cuban American Nickel Co. its Port Nickel refinery at Braithwaite, La. The operation, shut down since Cuba nationalized its nickel source in 1959, is designed to produce 50 million pounds per year of combined nickel and cobalt metal.
RADIOACTIVE ENZYMES:
New Tool for Research Radioactive enzymes, a powerful research tool for biochemists, will soon be available commercially for the first time. Starting next month Worthington Biochemical Corp. will offer research quantities of both radioactive enzymes and radioactive substrates. The first seven high-purity tritiated enzymes of the series will be ribonuclease, pepsin, chymotrypsin, trypsin, lysozyme, deoxyribonuclease, and collagenase. The first four substrates will be deoxyribonucleic acid, ribonucleic acid, soybean trypsin inhibitor, alpha-casein. Other radioactive enzymes and substrates will be added to the series later
In sequence studies a researcher will now have a ready way to detect if the fragment he is studying is indeed from the protein he is interested in, and not from the enzyme he used to cleave it. The new labeled enzymes are tritiated by the Wilzbach process. This involves exposing the enzyme, initially prepared by column chromatography, to tritium gas under reduced pressure. The tritiated product is then reprocessed to remove any trace of protein degradation and to remove all readily exchangeable tritium. In fact, about 99% of the tritium originally in the product is removed. However, Dr. Baker points out that residual labeling can withstand acid hydrolysis of the enzyme in 6N acid at 110° C. and that amino acid analysis in connection with liquid scintillation counting shows that individual amino acid molecules making up the enzyme are labeled. Dr. Baker explains that the technique for making these labeled enzymes involves tritiating them enough to give adequate sensitivity without abolishing their enzymic activity. This has been done because the activities of the enzymes about to be offered range between 30 and 150% of the original, unlabeled activities.
THERMOPLASTICS:
Per Ardua ad Astrel
Labeled enzymes Tool for research
by the Freehold, N.J., company, which has specialized in producing enzymes for research and clinical testing since its founding in 1947. The radioactivity level of the new labeled enzymes will range from 3 to 30 microcuries per milligram. It will be possible to detect them, via their radioactivity, at concentrations as much as an order of magnitude lower than concentrations at which unlabeled enzymes can be detected by current analytical methods based on enzymic activity. Also, the labeled enzymes can still be detected when they are inactivated or inhibited. The new labeled products will be particularly useful in tissue culture studies and in protein and nucleic acid sequence studies, according to Dr. A. Leroy Baker, Worthington's technical director. In tissue culture work a researcher will now have a much easier and more reliable method to check if all of an enzyme that he has used in tissue preparation has been removed.
Materials engineers may have to reevaluate thermoplastics for high-temperature applications. 3M Co. has developed a polyarylsulfone thermoplastic—tradenamed Astrel—that has both high compressive and high tensile strength up to 500° F. Astrel also is chemically resistant to acids, bases, jet fuels, hydraulic fluids, and solvents, 3M's product manager Lou Cove says. "These properties, combined with a dielectric strength of 350 volts per mil, provide new design concepts for materials engineers. "We expect Astrel to win markets not only from thermosetting plastics, but also from metals, ceramics, and other thermoplastics/' he explains. 3M is currently selling developmental quantities of the plastic for $25 a pound. However, the price is expected to be lowered in the future. A commercial plant, scheduled for completion early next year, is being built in Decatur, Ala. Chemically, Astrel is phenol and biphenol groups linked by oxygen and sulfone groups. It can be used for extended time periods, at 500° F., under load without deforming, which is more than 100° higher than any other thermoplastic now on the market, according to 3M. The tensile strength of the new thermoplastic is 13,500 p.s.i. at 500° F. Compressive SEPT. 1, 1969 C&EN
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