Wonder World of Chemistry (1936)

[Music] e [Music] of this found a wide variety of basic materials these provided by Nature have been used in the Ser mankind for many years wood coal light water oil cotton and many others until a short time ago these things were used just as they had been used for gener ation P but in recent years science took a the farm the mine the forest even the air and the Sea were called upon to contribute basic raw materials in response to chemistry's NeverEnding study and continuing research and every year Dupont buys from the farm from the mine and the forest vast quantities of materials to be converted by industry into products that provide better things for Better Living and these familiar everyday basic materials are converted into products of thrilling Beauty and wide utility when modern chemistry and modern industry join hands in serving our modern [Music] America the DuPont company one of the representative chemical manufacturers in this country plays an important part in developing new things better things at less cost and in creating greater opportunities for employment Dupont transforms natural raw materials into many chemical products these go to more than 100 branches of American industry for conversion into articles that serve human needs and desires this transformation is not the result of any Supernatural power magic rather it represents years of systematic work by Earnest searching chemists as we proceed with our tour of this Wonder World let's take a look at a few of these better things you read them all from products that bring comfort and happiness in your daily life to those which serve industry in the march of [Music] progress at trap shooting or ski or in the the field millions of Sportsmen derive much satisfaction from good ammunition made possible by Dependable smokeless powder a product of the chemist skill particularly when this ammunition is used in a fine Parker or Remington [Music] gun and here is one of DuPont's early chemical contributions Dynamite this industrial explosive has aided materially in the forward March of American progress building our railroads and [Music] tunnels of fine [Music] highways and iron ore for modern building construction [Music] clearing farms and swamp lands resting Co from [Music] mines serving in gigantic construction Works where but for Dynamite black powder and other industrial explosives vast projects of national importance could never be realized and now let's learn something about how the chemist Works in developing new products from familiar materials obtained from familiar places here and [Music] there cotton and wood plantations vast Acres of standing Timber from cotton and wood chemist obtains celluloses the fiber structure of practically all plants from cellul chemistry creates an almost end variety of new and fine things for modern living sulfur and salt both familiar to us but note the essential products which these two basic materials contribute to the laboratory [Music] shells and so after thousands of years of man's dependence upon products in their natural state we find today our men of science drawing from these same basic well-known materials the parts and elements the separate compounds needed to create new things new articles better suited to our modern needs for example water air and coold what can be made from these heat steam gas perhaps but waight now we're in DuPont's plant in Bell West Virginia water air and coal and chemistry are going to work an ample supply of nitrogen in fixed form particularly ammonia and nitric acid is needed for a variety of purposes industry needs nitrogen Farmers need nitrogen INF fertilizers to renew the soil and so here nitrogen from the air and hydrogen from water are combined to produce ammonia this chemical Union is one of the real advances of science huge amounts of coal are required in the process forcing these two gases to combine requires pressures of astonishing intensity pressures as high as 15,000 lb to the square in this ammonia is processed to make ingredients for the FES needed for America's agricultural lands thus chemistry has safeguarded forever a continuing supply of the vital compounds so essential to food crops throughout the land chemistry also gives the farmer seed disinfectants his most powerful weapons to fight certain diseases carried on the seed and in the soil aiding him to increase greatly the quantity and quality of his crops then two in his struggle against all the hungry hordes of insects chemistry lends a hand it supplies the farmer with plant sprays and insecticides with which to protect his crops in other fields too water air and coal contribute to our Comforts and protection ammonia changing from a liquid to a gas absorbs heat lowers the temperature and gives us Refrigeration water coal and air when chemistry takes a hand can blow hot or cold change the mixture of gases vary the pressure and you have the cheap ingredient ingredient of zerone anti-rust anti-free solution for your motor [Music] car on with the march of chemistry and now one of the most recent achievements in this amazing field chemistry that stretch it let's hear a chemist explain what happens a settlin is chemically combined with itself then with hydroc Chic acid and chlorine is obtained this produces a solid tough elastic product extremely resistant to oils solvents heat and even sunlight so this chloroprene rubber neoprene is not a duplication of Nature's handwork but an entirely new creation of chemical science neoprene looks like rubber acts like rubber does practically everything that rubber will do and is actually better than natural rubber for many purposes another example of how chemistry improves our nature neoprene is built through elaborate chemical processes from such well-known materials as Limestone coal water and salt and the finished product gives us scores of Articles so essential to Industry and here is a story of a pinch of salt from the millions of tons which came IND R puts to hundreds of uses every year chemists take salt and make things as far apart as insecticides for the farmer and cosmetics for beautiful women and from the same Source come materials to case steel and bleach Fabrics as white as snow we all think of salt is a lucky material we're lucky to have men who know po again we all realize its importance to us it's light heat po but let's learn something more about this remarkable material from a chemist who will give us the facts coal when distilled produces a black gummy product known as colar this yields a number of complex hydrocarbons the crudes these hydrocarbons are fur and that's important not so long ago America got its Dy chiefly from foreign sources then this Supply was cut off which resulted in high prices and poor quality this threw a challenge to the American chemists and the challenge was accepted today thanks to chemistry America produces a complete range of dyes for every need of a quality Second To None flowers and cold tar a strange pair yet curiously enough they hold something in common fragrance nature gave fragrance to the flowers but our friend Kar got his from the chem that is the chemist uses this substance to produce bases for perfume which in turn become Essences of delic a delight next time you look at a piece of coal you can imagine a rainbow of color or a bouquet of sweet smelling [Music] flowers here we see a few of the laboratory tests which are made in order to assure uniform quality and durability in the finished product and so because of the coated textile fabric duport fabid thousands of people today enjoy the style color and texture of this durable waterproof material in hundreds of beautiful and useful articles and incidentally the well-known washable windowshade material tontine is also made by the same process now we begin again with cellulose in the making of a new and different product once transparent cellulose film was just an idea now it's everywhere a substance is beautiful and cheap shimmery as a moon beam and it is produced from The Towering spruce tree chips of wood put through various chemical processes result in a thick liquid called viscos this liquid forced through a long narrow slip flows evenly into an acid bath coagulates instantly and becomes a thin flexible fill then it is purified and bleached until it is crystal clear and finally it is subjected to a separate process to make it moist proof and that amazing transformation created by chemistry gives you the familiar sparkling transparent cellulos film for which DuPont's name is cellophane this partnership between cellulos and the chemist has created an astonishing array of beautiful and useful things to make life happier and more enjoyable it gives you still another product that has affected the lives of millions rayon yarn Mother Nature is often times far too slow for this fast moving civilization of ours she is wasteful as well and seldom changes her own method of doing a job so chemistry again departed from Nature's age-old ways and turned once more to the forests in the cotton fields this time for materials with which to make new textile Yarns by one process a Visos solution is squirted through tiny nozzles into an acid bath and finally emerges as fine filaments for textile Fabrics another man-made textile fiber made by a different process is the on a seal nowadays no one need wait while a few generations of silk worms March their leisurely ways through the leaves of the mulbury tree Gorgeous Fabrics of every kind of every Hue and shade modern Fabrics of today are all chemistry and a yard wide and behind this very scene behind every picture you see on the screen there is cellulose chemistry 2 motion to film one of the important factors in Modern Life Begins as the fuzz and eventually becomes our entertainment news comate and [Music] drama let's look at that scene from our fashion review as a scientist would see it under the lens of a powerful microscope photographic CS acting on the sensitive ulion which covers the film base etch delicate patterns of light and Shadow that give us the pictorial reflection of Nature's art and Beauty in form chemistry also takes you behind the scenes of a different Studio the human Workshop safety x-ray film made from cellulose acetate is an invaluable diagnostic Aid to doctors and dentists in their treatment of injuries and disease it also serves industry by searching the inner depths of metals for hidden flaws but still chemistry Marches On chemical products of equal importance to The Familiar things we buy daily are the heavy chemicals which to most of us are merely names yet they serve too in almost every field of Industry their jobs to make our lives healthier happier and more complete nearly everything you use has been either created or improved by chemistry your clothing is made of better fabrics and has the D your food has better protection better Refrigeration better flavor your car has better finishes better gasoline lubricants better rubber your house has better paint furnishings and Equipment every year dupart alone spends more than $6 million on chemical research research to improve existing products and to develop entirely new ones and for the future through the efforts of chemists explorers in this new field will come new and even more remarkable developments products which will affit our lives and continue the march of chemistry in the progress of our country and as the years go by coupon company which has served this country since 182 will continue to provide for Better Living Through [Music] Chemistry