CHEMISTRY DISCOVERY

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 77, 17 April 1937, Page 15

CHEMISTRY DISCOVERY

Lucite, Foundation of New Industry

t>h' THE New Yoxk Patent Law Assoeiation were given a demonstration at their annual dinner rqeently, of Lucite, a erystal-clear plastio, th© latest product of chemical re. ■earch and already the foundtion of a new industry. - , Pormerly ' ka.own as* Pontalite, Lucite has beoH charaeterised by attorneys and , technicians ahhe (f a verifable gold mina of surprises." Mgny of it§ optica'l quUlities equa! the purest quartz crystal, yet the plastie after manufaeture ean be cast, cqt, ceKitiprited, carved, drilled^ molded, sawed or polished Its resists 4 eoneentrated hydroehlorie or sulpburic acid soluHons as high as 50 per cent. and, like quartz, it • baa q3gu lighting faeu.lti^, trapsmitting ligkt around a bend without l|ghting up the eurves. In addition it transmits a large portion of the sun's nltraviolet liglit, eliminnted by ordinary glass. Preedom from eolour permits iubxicfttiBu jptO 4elicutq tipted sh§des. ^tuart R Miller ' of the du Pqnf Company W|s in charge of demonstrations before the patent attprneys. Hlustrathag Its quartz-like propertles he piqced a ma«» of the th|pnopl^|ic rwin, Ijueite^ ovex a Ught, treating a quartz exystal in the same way. Pron? the light source oame various wavelengths of Ijght regqle,ted hy CotDing filtered glasses of red, yellow, green. blue and viqlqt whieh were prpjeeted through the erystal and plastie masees Bpsansq* eaeh of these materiqls h^ the same property of propagating light

withis itself, and becauuso the interna) fractures of the two masses are at various angles, the light was reflected from suoh interior surfaces iu a myriad of colours. The effeet was a beautiful mixture of constantly ehanging qolours in, which tl*p light appearefl fo trayel sometimes in waves, scunetimes as if tracing a path along a fine line in the crys(t«Jline mr plastie mqss, tand at cther txmes by alternate. f ading and glpwiug, bursts of cojour were effeoted as. though fr-em an open flre. The demonstration was intended to show that ti16 plastie seems to hqve the same strfletural formatiQn as that of roek quartz erystal so far as optical qualities are concerned. In anather demonstration the phospho.reacence of Lueite was dramatioally ehpwn. The house lights were turned off4 fqllowing which a rpd of the, plastie was exposed in front of ^ mercury vapo.ur- ultrarviolet lanip for 6,0 seconds. JDturing this time, if was explainedj the plastie absorbed ultra-violet rayp. The rod was then waved in the, air, and for at least 10, seconds a, brilliant bluegreen phpsphqreipepce ghone {in the dark. Though intereeting, this particular property of Lucite has no eommercial valnej the demonstratiou being giyen to emphasise the faet that researcE Work may develop chaTacteristie" apd qualities fqr which no purpose is known at the present time, but which mgy proye useful in the fufcure.