CZ:Featured article/Current: Difference between revisions

From Citizendium
Jump to navigation Jump to search
imported>Anthony.Sebastian
(Milton did most of the work on this article and should get first billing)
imported>John Stephenson
(template)
 
(146 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
== '''[[Volatility (chemistry)]]''' ==
{{:{{FeaturedArticleTitle}}}}
''by  [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] (and [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony.Sebastian]])
<small>
 
==Footnotes==
----
{{Image|Vapor Pressure Chart2.png|right|250px|Example vapor pressure graphs of various liquids.}}
 
In [[chemistry]] and [[physics]], '''volatility''' is a term used to characterize the tendency of a substance to vaporize.<ref>'''Note:''' To vaporize means to become a [[vapor]], the gaseous state of the substance.</ref> It is directly related to a substance' s [[vapor pressure]]. At a given [[temperature]], a substance with a higher vapor pressure will vaporize more readily than a substance with a lower vapor pressure.<ref>[http://www.bae.uky.edu/~snokes/BAE549thermo/gasesvapor.htm Gases and Vapor] ([[University of Kentucky]] website)</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=James G. Speight|title=The Chemistry and Technology of Petroleum|edition=4th Edition|publisher=CRC Press|date=2006|isbn=0-8493-9067-2}}</ref><ref name=Kister>{{cite book|author=Kister, Henry Z.|title=[[Distillation Design]]|edition=1st Edition|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1992|isbn=0-07-034909-6}}</ref> In other words, at a given temperature, the more volatile the substance the higher will be the pressure of the vapor in dynamic equilibrium with its vaporizing substance&mdash;i.e., when the rates at which molecules escape from and return into the vaporizing substance are equal.
 
In common usage, the term applies primarily to [[liquid]]s. However, it may also be used to characterize the process of  [[Sublimation (chemistry)|sublimation]] by which certain [[solid]] substances such as [[ammonium chloride]] (NH<sub>4</sub>Cl) and [[dry ice]], which is solid [[carbon dioxide]] (CO<sub>2</sub>), change directly from their solid form to a vapor without becoming a liquid.
 
Any substance with a significant vapor pressure at temperatures  of about 20 to 25 °[[Celsius (unit)|C]]  (68 to 77 °[[Fahrenheit (unit)|F]]) is very often referred to as being ''volatile''.
 
=== Vapor pressure, temperature and boiling point ===
 
The vapor pressure of a substance is the pressure at which its gaseous (vapor) phase is in equilibrium with its liquid or solid phase. It is a measure of the tendency of [[molecule]]s and [[atom]]s to escape from a liquid or solid.
 
At [[atmospheric pressure]]s, when a liquid's vapor pressure increases with increasing temperatures to the point at which it equals the atmospheric pressure, the liquid has reached its [[boiling point]], namely, the temperature at which the liquid changes its state from a liquid to a gas throughout its bulk. That temperature is very commonly referred to as the liquid's ''normal boiling point''.
 
Not surprisingly, a liquid's normal boiling point will be at a lower temperature the greater is the tendency of its molecules to escape from the liquid, namely, the higher is its vapor pressure. In other words, the higher is the vapor pressure of a liquid, the higher is the volatility and the lower is the normal boiling point of the liquid. The adjacent vapor pressure chart graphs the dependency of vapor pressure upon temperature for a variety of liquids<ref name=Perry>{{cite book|author=R.H. Perry and D.W. Green (Editors)|title=Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook | edition=7th Edition|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1997|id=ISBN 0-07-049842-5}}</ref> and also confirms that liquids with higher vapor pressures have lower normal boiling points.
 
 
''[[Volatility (chemistry)|.... (read more)]]''
 
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="width: 90%; float: center; margin: 0.5em 1em 0.8em 0px;"
|-
! style="text-align: center;" | &nbsp;[[Volatility (chemistry)#References|notes]]
|-
|
{{reflist|2}}
{{reflist|2}}
|}
</small>

Latest revision as of 10:19, 11 September 2020

The Irvin pin. The eyes have always been red, but there are urban legends about the meanings of other colors.
A pin from another company, possibly Switlik or Standard Parachute. This style is common in catalogs and auctions of military memorabilia.

The Caterpillar Club is an informal association of people who have successfully used a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft. After authentication by the parachute maker, applicants receive a membership certificate and a distinctive lapel pin.

History

Before April 28, 1919 there was no way for a pilot to jump out of a plane and then to deploy a parachute. Parachutes were stored in a canister attached to the aircraft, and if the plane was spinning, the parachute could not deploy. Film industry stuntman Leslie Irvin developed a parachute that the pilot could deploy at will from a back pack using a ripcord. He joined the Army Air Corps parachute research team, and in April 1919 he successfully tested his design, though he broke his ankle during the test. Irvin was the first person to make a premeditated free fall jump from an airplane. He went on to form the Irving Airchute Company, which became a large supplier of parachutes. (A clerical error resulted in the addition of the "g" to Irvin and this was left in place until 1970, when the company was unified under the title Irvin Industries Incorporated.) The Irvin brand is now a part of Airborne Systems, a company with operations in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K.[1].

An early brochure [2] of the Irvin Parachute Company credits William O'Connor 24 August 1920 at McCook Field near Dayton, Ohio as the first person to be saved by an Irvin parachute, but this feat was unrecognised. On 20 October 1922 Lieutenant Harold R. Harris, chief of the McCook Field Flying Station, jumped from a disabled Loening W-2A monoplane fighter. Shortly after, two reporters from the Dayton Herald, realising that there would be more jumps in future, suggested that a club should be formed. 'Caterpillar Club' was suggested because the parachute canopy was made of silk, and because caterpillars have to climb out of their cocoons and fly away. Harris became the first member, and from that time forward any person who jumped from a disabled aircraft with a parachute became a member of the Caterpillar Club. Other famous members include General James Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh and (retired) astronaut John Glenn.

In 1922 Leslie Irvin agreed to give a gold pin to every person whose life was saved by one of his parachutes. By 1945 the number of members with the Irvin pins had grown to over 34,000. In addition to the Irvin Air Chute Company and its successors, other parachute manufacturers have also issued caterpillar pins for successful jumps. Irvin/Irving's successor, Airborne Systems Canada, still provides pins to people who made their jump long ago and are just now applying for membership. Another of these is Switlik Parachute Company, which though it no longer makes parachutes, still issues pins.

Footnotes