Celebrating the art of chemistry in the International Year of Glass
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 2:36 am
Celebrating the art of chemistry in the International Year of Glass
https://cen.acs.org/analytical-chemistr ... ar/100/i36
The United Nations declared that 2022 is the International Year of Glass, and Newscripts would like to take this opportunity to celebrate the crucial contributions of scientific glassware to chemistry. With items as varied as Pyrex flasks and cell phone screens, glass gear has long been a mainstay for researchers around the globe. Chemists in particular owe a debt of gratitude to vitreous accoutrements and the glassblowers who craft them, says Catherine M. Jackson, a chemist and historian of science at the University of Oxford. Her research centers on the evolution of the chemical sciences in the 19th century, the era when scientists took the first forays into organic synthesis and the 3D structures of molecules. “It’s through the agency of glassware that chemists first appreciate the molecular nature of matter,” Jackson tells Newscripts. Specialized glassware enabled scientists to observe chemical worlds enclosed in transparent vessels. People skilled in manipulating molten silica mixtures crafted each precious piece.
Take the kaliapparat, Jackson says. This triangular piece of glassware, which is enshrined in the American Chemical Society’s logo, was designed by Justus von Leibig in 1830. It was used to analyze the amount of carbon in organic molecules via combustion of the compound and collection of the resulting carbon dioxide. The kaliapparat made carbon analysis easier than any other methods available to scientists of the time. “By making this apparatus smaller, cheaper, much more accessible, it meant that a lot more people could get involved in chemistry,” Jackson says. Glass has remained the medium of modern chemistry ever since, she adds.
https://cen.acs.org/analytical-chemistr ... ar/100/i36
The United Nations declared that 2022 is the International Year of Glass, and Newscripts would like to take this opportunity to celebrate the crucial contributions of scientific glassware to chemistry. With items as varied as Pyrex flasks and cell phone screens, glass gear has long been a mainstay for researchers around the globe. Chemists in particular owe a debt of gratitude to vitreous accoutrements and the glassblowers who craft them, says Catherine M. Jackson, a chemist and historian of science at the University of Oxford. Her research centers on the evolution of the chemical sciences in the 19th century, the era when scientists took the first forays into organic synthesis and the 3D structures of molecules. “It’s through the agency of glassware that chemists first appreciate the molecular nature of matter,” Jackson tells Newscripts. Specialized glassware enabled scientists to observe chemical worlds enclosed in transparent vessels. People skilled in manipulating molten silica mixtures crafted each precious piece.
Take the kaliapparat, Jackson says. This triangular piece of glassware, which is enshrined in the American Chemical Society’s logo, was designed by Justus von Leibig in 1830. It was used to analyze the amount of carbon in organic molecules via combustion of the compound and collection of the resulting carbon dioxide. The kaliapparat made carbon analysis easier than any other methods available to scientists of the time. “By making this apparatus smaller, cheaper, much more accessible, it meant that a lot more people could get involved in chemistry,” Jackson says. Glass has remained the medium of modern chemistry ever since, she adds.