51 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
51 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
| File Name : SOUNDKEM.ASC | Online Date : 10/06/94 |
|
|
| Contributed by : Jerry Decker | Dir Category : KEELY |
|
|
| From : KeelyNet BBS | DataLine : (214) 324-3501 |
|
|
| KeelyNet * PO BOX 870716 * Mesquite, Texas * USA * 75187 |
|
|
| A FREE Alternative Sciences BBS sponsored by Vanguard Sciences |
|
|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|
|
From Science Digest - December 1982
|
|
|
|
Sound-Wave Chemistry
|
|
|
|
Cheaper drugs and detoxified poisons are among the POTENTIAL results of using
|
|
high-frequency SOUND WAVES to "clean" the surface of chemical reactants.
|
|
|
|
Ultrasonic waves have long been used to scrub such hard-to-wash objects as
|
|
large machinery and delicate jewelry. Now, researchers at North Dakota State
|
|
University believe that they can also remove impurities from the surface of
|
|
solids used in chemical reactions.
|
|
|
|
According to chemist Philip Boudjouk, when ultrasonic waves pass through a
|
|
liquid reactant in which solid ones are suspended, bubbles form. When these
|
|
burst, they release energy that smashes into the suspended molecules. The
|
|
impact is thought to have a cleansing action - literally vibrating away the
|
|
surface coating.
|
|
|
|
In addition, Boudjouk explains, as ultrasonic waves travel through a
|
|
suspension, they momentarily produce pressures UP TO 147,000 pounds per square
|
|
inch and increase its temperature several thousand degrees in microscopic
|
|
regions, but NEVER MORE than 10 degrees OVERALL.
|
|
|
|
Yet these fleeting conditions are enough to SIGNIFICANTLY accelerate chemical
|
|
reactions. "In some instances where it usually takes a whole day to make a
|
|
certain compound, it takes only a minute using ultrasound," he says.
|
|
|
|
Boudjouk claims that by using ultrasonic waves to synthesize compounds such as
|
|
drugs, many time-consuming purification steps can be avoided. Because
|
|
SONICATION seems to be more efficient than conventional heat in ACTIVATING
|
|
chemical REACTIONS, they can be started at lower than normal temperatures,
|
|
thereby decreasing the formation of unwanted by-products and thus increasing
|
|
yield. According to Boudjouk, one reaction normally carried out at several
|
|
hundred degrees was performed at room temperature with ultrasound.
|
|
|
|
Another promising application of ultrasonic waves is in the DEACTIVATION of
|
|
dangerous chemicals, Boudjouk reports. He thinks the waves act as a catalyst,
|
|
facilitating reactions that DETOXIFY POISONS.
|
|
|
|
"This is all good news for the chemical industry," he says. "They've pounced
|
|
on the idea already, and we've just begun to publish - the ink isn't dry."
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|