DEVELOPMENT OF SYNTHETIC RUBBER IN WW II AMERICA
Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941 an event which compelled the United States of America to join the war. This saw the country lose 97% of its natural rubber supply imported from the Far East and faced a severe rubber shortage. The situation was exacerbated by high need of rubber for military applications. Soldiers needed rubber for boots, gas masks, tanks, life rafts, vehicles, bombers, ships among others. Rubber was essential for victory to be achieved in the war. The high demand for rubber coupled with dwindling reserves forced the government to put together a task team of engineers assembled from all over the country to develop synthetic rubber.
The task team comprised of researchers from rival companies and warring nations. Competitors had to put their differences aside if success was to be achieved. Chemical Heritage Foundation’s Centre for Oral History created an exhibit compiled from oral interviews of engineers who took part in the program. The program was a success and by the end of the war, America’s synthetic rubber production had risen from zero to 770,000 tons, which was more than enough to support her war efforts (Discover Magazine).
INVENTION OF NEW COOLING MATERIAL AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY
The MIT Technology Review reports of a new unnamed cooling material Invented at Stanford University. The material, which is intended to be used for cooling buildings, operates by reflecting light and radiating heat at frequencies that can vent through the earth’s atmosphere. As a result, the material attains a temperature lower than the ambient which makes it suitable for house cooling applications. The inventors of the technology have tested the material on a rooftop at Stanford University and plans are underway for trial mass production (Bourzac).
TRANSPARENT ALUMINUM
Physics.org reported how Oxford scientists developed new transparent aluminum. Transparent aluminum is made by bombarding ordinary aluminum with strong soft x-ray beams. The beams knock out electrons from aluminum atoms without altering its crystal structure. This process makes aluminum transparent and invisible to ultraviolet radiation.
Transparent aluminium is a new kind of matter that never existed before. The scientists as quoted by Physics.org believe that its properties match those of matter at large planets. The scientists hope that the transparent aluminum will shed light on the physical and chemical processes that occur during the creation of miniature stars by laser implosions. This knowledge will help in the development of nuclear fusion technology on earth..
Transparent aluminum is meant to be used for creating armor. The material posses enough mechanical strength to withstand the .50 AP ammunition that pierces the traditional laminated glass armor (Ragan).
Works Cited
Bourzac, Katherine. Material Cools Buildings by Sending Heat into Space. MIT, 2014. Web, 4 Dec 2014.
Discover Magazine. Rubber Matters. Kalmbach Publishing Co., 2014. Web, 4 Dec 2014.
Physics.org. Transparent aluminium is 'new state of matter. n.p., 2014. Web, 4 Dec 2014.
Ragan, Sean. Transparent Aluminum. Maker Media, Inc, 2014. Web, 4 Dec 2014.
