My Science School

So important was the metal-working industry of Belgium that a building in Brussels called the Atomium was made in the shape of a molecule of iron — magnified 165 billion times!

Andre Waterkeyn was born 1917 in Wimbledon, London and died in Brussels in 2005 at the age of 88. In a moment of quite delightful synchronicity Double Stone Steel are building a new stainless steel colouring factory in Wimbledon.

In 1954 Waterkeyn whilst working for Fabrimetal a group of metal fabrication companies, was asked to design a building that would showcase Belgian engineering skills to the world. An iron crystal magnified 165 billion times was deemed the way to go.

Three industrial groups – the Federation of the metalworking, mechanical and electrotechnical engineering industries, the Belgian blast-furnace and steel working group and the Union on non-ferrous metals industries – joined together in a non-profit-making organisation and appointed André Waterkeyn as Managing Director.

The Atomium was a monumental image of the then new and exciting nuclear age. During the fair, the Atomium held an exhibition showing the benefits of nuclear science to mankind. This was the age where the boffins around the world were convinced that nuclear science would completely remove the need for anyone work or for any other type of power generation system. Electricity would be so cheap that it would be free to all. The world would find its Utopia at long last. The Nuclear age was going to be, safe, cheap and simple. Nuclear power would save the world. I am not sure the general public were convinced as the memory of the nuclear booming in Japan were very fresh.

The Atomium consists of nine spheres, each sphere having a diameter of 18m.The spheres are connected by twenty, 23m long metal tubes, the tubes have a diameter 3.3m. The tubes allow the visitor to move between the spheres using escalators or staircases. The structure stands on three pillars known as ‘bipods’. In 1958 the Atomium had the fastest lift in Europe, reaching speeds of 5 meters per second.

The original construction of the frame was in steel, with 10-12mm aluminium panels. The spheres’ aluminium is an alloy called ‘Peraluman 15’ which was then covered with a thin sheet of aluminium called ‘reflectal’, which was then highly polished. In 2004 the building was shut to the public to be refurbished. The original aluminium panels being replaced by polished stainless steel panels. Over 6000 honeycombed panels were fabricated in 1.2mm, grade 316L with a rock wool insulation core and a 1mm galvanised interior skin. The building looks wonderful and should stand for many many years.

“The story of the Atomium is, above all, one of love, the love that the Belgians have for an extraordinary structure symbolising a frame of mind that wittily combines aesthetic daring with technical mastery. The appearance of the Atomium is unusual and unforgettable. It has a rare quality of lifting everyone’s spirits and firing their imagination.”

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Iron is the most widely used of all metals. It is cheap and very strong, so it can be used to make the supports for huge buildings and bridges. The Industrial Revolution would not have been possible without iron to make the machinery used in new factories. Today most iron is made into steel, a metal that can be used for a wider variety of purposes than any other metal on Earth.

Iron is an incredibly useful substance. It's less brittle than stone yet, compared to wood or copper, extremely strong. If properly heated, iron is also relatively easy to shape into various forms, as well as refine, using simple tools. And speaking of those tools, unlike wood, iron can handle high temperatures, allowing us to build everything from fire tongs to furnaces out of it. In contrast to most substances, you can also magnetize iron, making it useful in the creation of electric motors and generators. Finally, there certainly aren't any iron shortages to worry about. The Earth’s crust is 5 percent iron, and in some areas, the element concentrates in ores that contain as much as 70 percent iron.

When you compare iron and steel with something like aluminum, you can see why it was so important historically. To refine aluminum, you need access to huge quantities of electricity. Furthermore, to shape aluminum, you have to either cast it or extrude it. Iron, however, is much easier to manipulate. The element has been useful to people for thousands of years, while aluminum really didn't exist in any meaningful way until the 20th century.

­Fortunately, iron can be created relatively easily with tools that were available to primitive societies. There will likely come a day when humans become so technologically advanced that iron is completely replaced by aluminum, plastics and things like carbon and glass fibers. But right now, the economic equation gives inexpensive iron and steel a huge advantage over these much more expensive alternatives.

The only real problem with iron and steel is rust. Fortunately, you can control rust by painting, galvanizing, chrome plating or coating the iron with a sacrificial anode, which corrodes faster than the stronger metal. Think of this last option as hiring a bodyguard to take a bullet for the president. The more active metal has to almost completely corrode before the less active iron or steel begins the process.

­Humans have come up with countless uses for iron, from carpentry tools and culinary equipment to complicated machinery and instruments of torture. Before iron can be put to any of these uses, however, it has to be mined from the ground.

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Smelting is what is known as a reduction reaction. It is a method of extracting iron from iron ore. Iron ore, or haematite, is a rock that contains iron and oxygen. The process of smelting takes place in a blast furnace, where iron ore, limestone and coke (a form of carbon) are heated together while hot air is blasted into the furnace. The carbon in the coke reacts with the oxygen in the air to form carbon monoxide. This is turn takes oxygen from the iron ore, leaving behind iron mixed with a little carbon.

The majority of Earth’s iron, however, exists in iron ore. Mined right out of the ground, raw ore is mix of ore proper and loose earth called gangue. The ore proper can usually be separated by crushing the raw ore and simply washing away the lighter soil. Breaking down the ore proper is more difficult, however, as it is a chemical compound of carbonates, hydrates, oxides, silicates, sulfides and various impurities.

To get to the bits of iron in the ore, you have to smelt it out. Smelting involves heating up ore until the metal becomes spongy and the chemical compounds in the ore begin to break down. Most important, it releases oxygen from the iron ore, which makes up a high percentage of common iron ores.

The most primitive facility used to smelt iron is a bloomery. There, a blacksmith burns charcoal with iron ore and a good supply of oxygen (provided by a bellows or blower). Charcoal is essentially pure carbon. The carbon combines with oxygen to create carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide (releasing lots of heat in the process). Carbon and carbon monoxide combine with the oxygen in the iron ore and carry it away, leaving iron metal.

In a bloomery, the fire doesn't get hot enough to melt the iron completely. Instead, the iron heats up into a spongy mass containing iron and silicates from the ore. Heating and hammering this mass (called the bloom) forces impurities out and mixes the glassy silicates into the iron metal to create wrought iron. Wrought iron is hardy and easy to work, making it perfect for creating tools.

Tool and weapon makers learned to smelt copper long before iron became the dominant metal. Archeological evidence suggests that blacksmiths in the Middle East were smelting iron as early as 2500 B.C., though it would be more than a thousand years before iron became the dominant metal in the region.

­To create higher qualities of iron, blacksmiths would require better furnaces. The technology gradually developed over the centuries. By the mid-1300s, taller furnaces and manually operated bellows allowed European furnaces to burn hot enough to not just soften iron, but actually melt it.

Frost is formed overnight when the air temperature drops below 0°C (32°F) and the dew freezes. Clouds in the sky act as insulation, preventing the heat from the Sun that has built up in the land, sea and air during the day from escaping. This means that the temperature is less likely to drop below freezing. When the sky is clear, the day’s heat is able to escape easily, and a frost is likely.

There are several factors that influence whether frost will form on a given day or not. These factors include temperature of the surface (e.g. grass, window) on which it forms, clearness of the sky during the evening and night, wind speed during the night and humidity levels.

Surface temperature is one main factor of which frost forms. Within a certain area, there can be a difference of temperature readings. For example, when the weather personnel read the current temperature, they are receiving these readings from an outdoor weather station or what is called the Stevenson Screen (instrument shelter). These weather stations are sensors which are placed 4 feet 11 inches (1.5 meters) above ground level. The actual ‘ground or surface temperature’ could be lower than what the local weather personnel state as the ground is almost 5 feet lower than the sensor. If the temperature of the item’s surface is below freezing [32? F (0? C)], the water droplets or dew will turn into frost.

A clear or cloudy sky also will influence the formation of frost. If the sky is clear and calm while the temperatures continue to fall into the evening, the chance for frost increases. If the sky is cloudy as the evening approaches, the clouds will help contain the heat emitted from the earth’s surface. This will keep the ground warmer making frost a less likely possibility.

Another factor assisting in the formation of frost is wind. If there is no wind, the air is still and the colder air will settle on the ground. However, if there is a slow, gentle wind, the colder air will be pushed along and not have the chance to settle on the ground making frost a bit difficult to form. The most damaging wind type is one which is very cold and has below freezing temperatures. If frost forms during this time, it can be severely damaging to plants and other surfaces.

Finally, an important factor in the formation of frost is the humidity in the air. Air holds water vapor and can contain up to 100% water vapor saturation. This is known as 100% relative humidity. At this point, the air can no longer hold any additional water vapor so the water begins to condense into a liquid form. If the temperature is above freezing, dew will form leaving droplets of water on many different types of surfaces.

Plants and animals are made up of cells, each of which is surrounded by a cell wall. Some foods contain a great deal of water. As the water freezes, it expands, breaking the cell walls. When the food is defrosted, its texture has been changed and what remains may well be just a mushy mass. It is not dangerous to eat this food, but it may not look or taste very pleasant.

Foods in the freezer — are they safe? Every year, thousands of callers to the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline aren't sure about the safety of items stored in their own home freezers. The confusion seems to be based on the fact that few people understand how freezing protects food. Here is some information on how to freeze food safely and how long to keep it.

You can freeze almost any food. Some exceptions are canned food or eggs in shells. However, once the food (such as a ham) is out of the can, you may freeze it. Being able to freeze food and being pleased with the quality after defrosting are two different things. Some foods simply don't freeze well. Examples are mayonnaise, cream sauce and lettuce. Raw meat and poultry maintain their quality longer than their cooked counterparts because moisture is lost during cooking.

Food stored constantly at 0 °F will always be safe. Only the quality suffers with lengthy freezer storage. Freezing keeps food safe by slowing the movement of molecules, causing microbes to enter a dormant stage. Freezing preserves food for extended periods because it prevents the growth of microorganisms that cause both food spoilage and foodborne illness.

Freezing to 0 °F inactivates any microbes — bacteria, yeasts and molds — present in food. Once thawed, however, these microbes can again become active, multiplying under the right conditions to levels that can lead to foodborne illness. Since they will then grow at about the same rate as microorganisms on fresh food, you must handle thawed items as you would any perishable food. Trichina and other parasites can be destroyed by sub-zero freezing temperatures. However, very strict government-supervised conditions must be met. Home freezing cannot be relied upon to destroy trichina. Thorough cooking, however, will destroy all parasites.

Freshness and quality at the time of freezing affect the condition of frozen foods. If frozen at peak quality, thawed foods emerge tasting better than foods frozen near the end of their useful life. So freeze items you won't use quickly sooner rather than later. Store all foods at 0° F or lower to retain vitamin content, color, flavor and texture.

Melons, which have very high water content, do not freeze successfully. Other fruits may still be edible after freezing but have a different texture.

Two things have to happen to the mixture of dairy products and flavourings that make up ice-cream: they must be frozen and they must be stirred, to prevent large ice crystals from forming. Before electrical freezing machines were available, the ice-cream mixture was put into a chum, around which a mixture of salt and ice was packed. Heat from the ice-cream mixture gradually passed into the colder ice, until the cream itself was frozen. Meanwhile, the mixture was stirred by means of a paddle connected to a handle outside the tub. This became harder work as the ice-cream froze!

There is a good summary in The National Trust Book of Sorbets, Flummeries and Fools by Colin Cooper English (published 1985). Time-consuming and costly, the old-fashioned way was to place the ingredients into a thin drum, which was then sunk into a larger container which held a mixture of ice and salt. Although water freezes at 32F (0C), milk and cream will not freeze until they are down to 20F (-6.7C). The salt melts the ice and produces a brine with a temperature around 17F (-8.3C), and it is this freezing brine which provides the refrigeration. The effort needed to produce a serving of ice-cream in an early Victorian household can be seen in this 1856 recipe: 'Break a pail of ice in pieces, add four pounds of salt and mix well; put a pewter freezing-can in an empty pail and surround it with ice; put the pudding ... into the can, and turn it very rapidly with the finger and thumb; when the pudding adheres to the sides of the can, scrape off with a spittle or spoon. When the pudding has become stiff, put it into a mould, cover it up with a lid, having put two plies of paper between; bury the mould in the ice; when wanted, take a basin of cold water and wash off the salt, take off the cover, turn it out on a dish and serve.' All this assumes that you have a handy supply of ice. Those who could afford it had ice-cellars or ice-houses built underground, in which ice from the winter could be kept, insulated by the air trapped in a layer of straw, reeds, chaff or bundles of thin wood faggots throughout the rest of the year. The idea seems to have been used first by the Chinese. At the time of Confucius (500 BC) there were accounts of ice-cellars. Alexander the Great is said to have employed slaves in relays to carry snow and ice down from the mountains. The ice-cream recipe was brought back to Venice from China by Marco Polo in 1292. By the mid-19th century a number of freezing mixtures had been devised, which did not require snow or ice to start them off. They included such lethal cocktails as a mixture of sal ammoniac, nitre and water, said to reduce the temperature from 50F to 10F; nitrate of ammonia and water (50F down to 4F); and sulphate of soda with dilute sulphuric acid (50F down to 3F).

Icebergs are huge chunks of ice that break off from the frozen seas at the North and South Poles as the weather becomes warmer. They can be enormous and are all the more dangerous for shipping because nine-tenths of the iceberg is invisible under water. The famous RMS Titanic was sunk by an iceberg in 1912.

Most icebergs in the Northern Hemisphere break off from glaciers in Greenland. Sometimes they drift south with currents into the North Atlantic Ocean. Icebergs also calve from glaciers in Alaska. In the Southern Hemisphere, almost all icebergs calve from the continent of Antarctica.

Some icebergs are small. Berg bits are floating sea ice that stretch no more than 5 meters (16.5 feet) above the ocean. Growlers are even smaller.

Icebergs can also be huge. Some icebergs near Antarctica can be as big as Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. As little as one-eighth of an iceberg is visible above the water. Most of the mass of an iceberg lies below the surface of the water. This is where the phrase "tip of the iceberg" came from, meaning only part of an idea or problem is known.

There are many different kinds of icebergs. Brash ice, for instance, is a collection of floating ice and icebergs no more than 2 meters (6.5 feet) across. A tabular berg is a flat-topped iceberg that usually forms as ice breaks directly off an ice sheet or ice shelf.

The ice below the water is dangerous to ships. The sharp, hidden ice can easily tear a hole in the bottom of a ship. A particularly treacherous part of the North Atlantic has come to be known as Iceberg Alley because of the high number of icebergs that find their way there. Iceberg Alley is located 250 miles east and southeast of Newfoundland, Canada.

In 1912, the Titanic, a large British ocean liner on its way to New York, struck an iceberg and sank in Iceberg Alley. More than 1,500 people drowned. Soon after the Titanic sank, an International Ice Patrol was established to track icebergs and warn ships. That patrol continues today.

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