Combustion early experiments with

By the late 1940s methods of ionization counting had been developed for the estimation of 14C. Thin layers of suitably prepared material could be counted in windowless counters, with the emissions being detected by the probe in a flow of inert gas. Otherwise 14C-containing material could be combusted to 14C02 and this drawn over the probe. Neither method was very convenient to use and the instruments were costly. Early experiments with 14C were mainly performed in the U.S. (see below). 

Early experiments of Berl and coworkers (15, 16), together with the findings of Withrow and Rassweiler (136), support the metallic theory of antiknock action. In Berl s work colloidal lead exhibited antiknock action, while colloidal lead oxide had no effect. Spectra of engine knocking combustion obtained by Withrow and Rassweiler showed the presence of metallic lead but not lead oxide or other lead oxides. The metallic theory is also supported by other investigators (96, 101, ) ... 

In the formation of valuable oxygen-containing compounds by the controlled or partial oxidation of hydrocarbons, such as benzene, two factors are of great importance, i.e., temperature and type of catahst. Other factors such as composition of hydrocarbon-air mixture and time of contact are also important. All of these factors are intimately related to each other and the successful operation of the process depends upon the control of each of them. It was early found that if mixtures of benzene apor and air in excess of tliat necessary for complete combustion were passed through heated tubes of such non-catalytic materials as iron, silica, aluminum, etc., and the temperature allowed to rise at will, only complete combustion products could be obtained, and no intermediate oxidation products could be isolated. On the other hand, if such mixtures of benzene vapor and air were passed over a catalyst such as platinum black, complete combustion also occurred but at a temperature far below that necessary in the empty tube made of non-catalytic material. However, only very small amounts of intermediate products could be obtained with such an active catalyst even when the temperatures were carefully controlled or the time of contact made very short. It is difficult to form any definite idea as to the temperatures which were actually attained by the reacting gases in most of the early experiments reported in the literature. Lack of uniformity in construction of reaction chambers, in displacement of cata-... 

Priestley, Joseph (1733-1804) British chemist, who in 1755 became a Presbyterian minister. In Leeds, in 1767, he experimented with carbon dioxide ( fixed air ) from a nearby brewery with it he invented soda water. He moved to a ministry in Birmingham in 1780, and in 1791 his revolutionary views caused a mob to burn his house, as a result of which he emigrated to the USA in 1794. In the early 1770s he experimented with combustion and produced the gases hydrogen chloride, sulphur dioxide, and dinitrogen oxide (nitrous oxide). In 1774 he isolated oxygen see also Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent). 

As experiments at Sun Oil Co. in the early 1930s indicated, there were serious disadvantages associated with alcohol. Wliile alcohol did in fact appear to increase the octane number, it left large amounts of deposits in the engine. Alcohol also vaporized out of the gas tank and engine at rapid rates. And the combustion temperature of the alcohol group is lower than for hydrocarbons because it is already partially oxidized. 

The formation of water and carbon in rapid hydrocarbon combustion, as in explosions, represents the best experimental evidence in support of this mechanism."1 The failure of Bone to detect methanol among the oxidation products in his experiments weakens this theory considerably, however. The only intermediate compound that could be identified was an aldehyde which together with water usually appeared as the early product. This is true of the higher paraffins as well as of methane. 

---