The Chemical World This Week RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY
JANUARY
?, 19 e 3
CONCENTRATES
• Krypton tetrofluoride has been made by electric discharge at the Research Institute of Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa. Temple's Dr. A. V. Grosse, A. D. Kirshenbaum, Dr. A. G. Streng, and L. V. Streng prepared the compound by reacting 1 volume of krypton with 2 volumes of fluorine in an electric discharge vessel at liquid air temperature (85° to 86° K.) and about 10 mm. total pressure. Conversion to colorless, solid KrF 4 is nearly quantitative; 502 cc. (normal temperature and pressure) of the gas mixture gives 1.15 grams KrF 4 . Confirmation of the compound's composition is by synthesis. KrF 4 is stable for many days, and has no noticeable vapor or decomposition pressure at —78° C. At the same temperature, the vapor pressures of krypton and fluorine exceed 1 atmosphere. The product doesn't contain any silicon tetrafluoride or oxygen impurities, since both the silicon compound and oxygen have a vapor pressure of 1 or more atmosphere at —78° C. KrF 4 sublimes at from —40° to —30° C. into a liquid nitrogen trap under vacuum. The crystals are similar to those of xenon tetrafluoride, which the Temple workers have also made by electric discharge. The technique is about the same as that used by the Temple group to prepare 0 3 F 2 and 0 4 F 2 . • Availability of the Honeywell 610. the first of a group of new low cost digital computer control systems, was disclosed last week by Minneapolis-Honeywell. It is equipped throughout with silicon semiconductors for extremely high performance and reliability, Honeywell says. The system combines equipment produced by Honeywell and Scientific Data Systems, Santa Monica, Calif. Honeywell's special systems division in Pottstown, Pa., will integrate the equipment into compatible, on-line, closed-loop systems. The 610 has core and drum memories, and an add time (including memory access and indexing) of 16 microseconds. Cost of a minimum system—including computer, input multiplexer, analog-digital converter, and readout and display—is $135,000. Honeywell already has two 610's on order—one in the food industry, the other for an oxygen steel-making process. • Ultrasonic waves can be rotated by a magnetic field, according to scientists at Bell Telephone Laboratories. Bell's Herbert Matthews and R. Conway LeCraw cause a transverse ultrasonic wave traveling in an yttrium iron garnet crystal to interact with a magnetic field. This
rotates the wave's direction of polarization [Phys. Rev. Letters, 8, 397 (1962) ]. The rotation is nonreciprocal—when the wave is reflected at the crystal's end and returns to the input, it doesn't rotate back to its original direction of polarization. A new family of ultrasonic devices such as circulators and isolators now seems possible, the Bell scientists say. For example, an ultrasonic isolator might be used in ultrasonic delay lines to suppress reflections which may occur when a wave encounters a discontinuity in a system. • Italy's first commercial nuclear power station has gone critical at Latina, near Rome. The plant was built for Societa Italiana Meridionale Energia Atomica by AGIP Nucleare (part of the ENI Group) and the Nuclear Power Group of Britain. The station will feed up to 200 megawatts (net) of electricity into Italy's power system when operational this spring. It uses a natural uranium, graphite-moderated reactor cooled with carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, Societa Elettronucleare Nazionale is pushing its 150-megawatt boiling water reactor (designed by General Electric) to completion near the Garigliano River. It should achieve criticality in February or March, and be operating sometime this summer. Near Torino, Societa Elettronucleare Italiana is building its Westinghouse-designed pressurized water reactor (257 megawatts). It should go critical within a year. • The first corporate grant to underwrite loans for college students through United Student Aid Funds has been made by Standard Oil Foundation, Inc., Chicago, 111. The foundation—financed by Standard Oil Co. (Indiana) —has made a grant of $100,000 to help generate $2.5 million of nationwide loan funds. USA Funds will use the grant to match equivalent funds already deposited by colleges and universities. The resulting $200,000 reserve will underwrite a permanent loan pool of $2.5 million. On a revolving basis, the grant will help about 5000 students in each college generation, according to A. D. Marshall, president of USA Funds. Under the USA Funds program, individual banks provide the money for student loans. USA Funds acts as an endorser on these loans, maintaining an 8% reserve against the total. Banks in 41 states have adopted the USA Funds program or similar plans, and banks in the remaining states will probably cooperate by the end of 1963. JAN.
7, 1963
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