Showing posts with label sulfide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sulfide. Show all posts

Complex Chemistry to Strike a Match

The chemistry of lighting a match.
If you want to see in a dark room, light a match. It's simple isn't it? Not so fast, it is actually quite complex. A slow motion video at 40,000 frames per second shows the process. The completed video spreads out 0.10 of a second into one and a half minutes.
The process of lighting a match
Ignition takes place inside the "live" head of the match. It is just a little explosion followed by "slow" burn. The chemical blob does not burst into pieces. I holds together with small bits rolling to the outside surface.  It looks a planet exploding.

The main ingredient of a match head is antimony trisulfide: potassium chlorate makes this burn. Ammonium phosphate is also there to reduce particles from escaping, but some smoke is inevitable. Paraffin wax coats the match down to the halfway mark to ensure the flame continues on down the matchstick.

Powdered glass and red phosphate in the strike strip on the side of the matchbox ignites by friction when the head of the match is drawn across the strip. Oxygen comes in causing ignition turning the red phosphorous into white phosphorous. Fire and flame ensues from the heated potassium chlorate. Oxygen plus sulfide makes the flame burn longer.

So when you next light a match think of the complex process, then go on doing your mundane task. Lighting a fire? haven't you been told not to fight fire with fire?  Oh, you do fight/light fire with fire!
 Chemistry by Ty Buchanan 
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Biology: Atlantic Molly fish of Mexico survive high hydrogen sulfide acid.
There is hope for the future of fish as the world is polluted more every day. Some fish can live in extreme toxic, acidic environments. For example, the Atlantic Molly fish of Mexico can survive high levels of hydrogen sulfide acid. They are the only fish in volcanic freshwater springs.
Atlantic molly fish

Mollies do not filter out the toxin. They turn on certain genes that do the filtering job for them. Of the fish's 35,000 genes 170 are enhanced in the process: these linked genes are all involved in removing hydrogen sulfide.

If things get serious and species of fish begin to die out, this group of genes could be "spliced" into the gene structure of endangered fish. They would not be the same fish, but at least some vestige of the evolutionary sequence of dying fish would live on.
 Biology by Ty Buchanan 
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FISH SURVIVES TOXINS
Atlantic Molly fish hydrogen sulfide acid live survive acid toxic environments genes articles news politics economics society anthropology historiography history sociology people nations country asia europe africa u.s. south americntral Mediterranean eastern western interesting funny technology free news sex