III. THE PERIOD OF TECHNICAL CHEMISTRY AND IATROCHEMISTRY (CHEMISTRY IN THE RENAISSANCE) RENAISSANCE IN EUROPE The development of crafts and trade, the rise of the role of cities, as well as political events in Western Europe in the XII and XIII centuries. entailed significant changes in the whole way of life

The "blue storerooms" of the oceans and seas store practically inexhaustible reserves of many chemical elements. So, in one cubic meter of water in the World Ocean contains on average about four kilograms of magnesium. In total, more than 6 · 10 16 tons of this element are dissolved in the waters of our planet.

To show how tremendous this value is, let us give the following example. Since the beginning of the new chronology, humanity has lived only a little more than 60 billion (i.e. 6 · 10 10) seconds. This means that if from the very first days of our era people began to extract magnesium from sea water, then in order to exhaust all water reserves of this element by now, it would be necessary to extract a million tons of magnesium every second!

As you can see, Neptune can be calm about his wealth.

The earth's crust contains approximately 10-15 tons of nickel. Is this a lot? Will there be enough nickel to, say, nickel our entire planet (including the surface of the World Ocean)?

A simple calculation shows that not only will it be enough, but will also remain for about ... 20 thousand of the same "balls".

Who does not know the masterpieces of the foundry art that are located on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin: "Tsar Bell" and "Tsar Cannon". But probably few know about other cast "kings".

More than a thousand years ago, a cast-iron "lion king" about six meters high and weighing almost 100 tons was cast in China. A cart with horses could pass between the legs of this huge statue.

One of the most ancient "ancestors" of the Moscow "Tsar Bell" is the Korean 48-ton bell, cast back in 770. Its sound is extraordinarily beautiful. According to legend, the daughter of the master, in order to save her father from numerous failures in smelting metal, threw herself into the molten metal, and her death cry froze in it.

A new exhibit has recently appeared in the Museum of the History of the Peoples of Uzbekistan - a huge cast-iron cauldron discovered during excavations of a mound near Tashkent. The diameter of this cauldron, cast by ancient craftsmen, is about one and a half meters, its weight is half a ton. Apparently, the "tsar-cauldron" served in ancient times a whole army: from it it was possible to feed almost five thousand people at once.

A unique casting weighing 600 tons - a cast-iron shabot (base) for the most powerful hammer at that time - was made in Russia in 1875. To cast this giant shabot, a huge foundry was built at the Motovilikhinsky plant in Perm. Twenty cupolas continuously melted the metal for 120 hours. The shabot cooled down for three months, then it was removed from the mold and, with the help of only levers and blocks, was moved to the location of the hammer.

In England there is the city of Ironbridge, which means "Steel Bridge" in Russian. The city owes its name to the steel bridge over the Severn River, which was built two hundred years ago. This bridge is the firstborn of the steel industry, not only in England, but throughout the world. Ironbridge is also home to other landmarks of British industry of the past. The specialized museum contains many exhibits on the history of technology, demonstrating the successes of English metallurgy in the 18th and 19th centuries.

According to modern concepts, man became acquainted with metals (copper, gold, iron) only a few millennia ago. And before on our planet for almost two million years, stone reigned supreme as the main material for the manufacture of tools and weapons.

However, historians sometimes come across the mention of amazing facts that (if only they are reliable!) Indicate that our civilization may have had predecessors who reached a high level of material culture.

In the literature, for example, there is a message that allegedly in the 16th century the Spaniards, who set foot on the lands of South America, found an iron nail about 20 centimeters long in the silver mines of Peru. This find would hardly have aroused interest, if not for one circumstance: most of the nail was densely cemented in a piece of rock, which could mean that it had lain in the bowels of the earth for many tens of millennia. At one time, an unusual nail was allegedly kept in the office of the Viceroy of Peru, Francisco de Toledo, who usually showed it to his guests.

There are also known references to other similar finds. So, in Australia, an iron meteorite with traces of processing was discovered in coal seams dating back to the Tertiary period. But who processed it in the Tertiary period, tens of millions of years distant from our time? Indeed, even such ancient fossil human ancestors as Pithecanthropus lived much later - just some 500 thousand years ago.

About a metal object found in the thickness of coal in the mines of Scotland, wrote the journal "Messages of the Scottish Society of Ancient History". Another similar find also has a "miner's" origin: we are talking about a gold chain, allegedly discovered in 1891 in coal seams. Only nature itself is capable of "enclosing" it in a piece of coal, and this could have happened in those distant times when coal was being formed.

Where are they, these objects - a nail, a meteorite, a chain? After all, modern methods of analyzing materials would allow at least to some extent to shed light on their nature and age, and therefore to reveal their secret.

Unfortunately, nobody knows this today. And were they really?

On July 14, 1789, the insurgent people of France took the Bastille by storm - the Great French Revolution began. Along with many decrees and regulations of a political, social, economic nature, the revolutionary government decided to introduce a clear metric system of measures. At the suggestion of the commission, which included reputable scientists, one ten-millionth part of a quarter of the length of the Paris geographic meridian was adopted as a unit of length - a meter. For five years, the largest French experts in the field of astronomy and geodesy meticulously measured the arc of the meridian from Dunkirk to Barcelona. In 1797, the calculations were completed, and two years later, the first standard meter was made - a platinum ruler, called the "archive meter", or "archive meter". The unit of mass - kilogram - was the mass of one cubic decimeter of water (at 4 ° C) taken from the Seine. The platinum cylindrical weight has become the standard of the kilogram.

Over the years, however, it became clear that the natural prototypes of these standards - the Parisian meridian and the waters from the Seine - are not very convenient for reproduction, and besides, they are not distinguished by approximate constancy. Scientists-metrologists considered such "sins" unforgivable. In 1872, the International Metric Commission decided to abandon the services of a natural prototype of length: this honorable role was entrusted to the "archival meter", according to which 31 standards were made in the form of bars, but not from pure platinum, but from its alloy with iridium (10%). After 17 years, a similar fate befell the water from the Seine: a weight made of the same platinum-iridium alloy was approved as the prototype of the kilogram, and 40 of its exact copies became international standards.

Over the past century, "in the kingdom of weights and measures" there have been some changes: the "archival meter" was forced to retire (the length equal to 1,650,763.73 wavelengths of the orange radiation of the 86 Kr isotope krypton was the standard of the meter). But the "most important in the world" kilogram of platinum-iridium alloy is still in service.

The rare metal indium played an important role in ... protecting London from massive German air raids during the Second World War. Due to the extremely high reflectivity of indium, mirrors made from it made it possible for air defense searchlights in search of pirates to easily "pierce" with powerful beams the dense fog that often envelops the British Isles. Since indium belongs to low-melting metals, during the operation of the searchlight, the mirror constantly needed cooling, but the British military department willingly went to additional costs, with satisfaction counting the number of downed enemy aircraft.

In the spring of 1942, the British cruiser Edinburgh departed Murmansk, accompanied by a convoy, with more than five tons of gold on board - a payment from the USSR to its allies for military supplies.

However, the cruiser did not arrive at the port of destination: it was attacked by fascist submarines and destroyers, which caused serious damage to it. And although the cruiser could still remain afloat, the command of the English convoy decided to sink the ship so that the most valuable cargo would not fall on the enemy.

A few years after the end of the war, the idea was born - to extract gold from the wreck of a sunken ship. But it took more than one decade before the idea came true.

In April 1981, an agreement was reached between the USSR and Great Britain on the lifting of the gold cargo, and soon the British company, with which the corresponding contract was signed, began to work. A specially equipped rescue ship Stefaniturm arrived at the site of the Edinburgh sinking.

To combat the sea element, the company has attracted experienced and courageous divers from different countries. The difficulties lay not only in the fact that the gold rested under a 260-meter layer of water and a layer of silt, but also in the fact that next to it there was a compartment with ammunition, ready to explode at any moment.

The days passed. Replacing each other, the divers step by step cleared the way for the gold bars, and finally, late in the evening of September 16, a diver from Zimbabwe, John Rose, raised a heavy black bar to the surface.

When his colleagues wiped off the dirt and fuel oil that covered the surface of the metal with gasoline, everyone saw the long-awaited yellow shine of gold. Down and Out trouble started! The ascent lasted 20 days, until the raging Barents Sea forced the divers to stop working. In total, 431 gold bars of the highest standard (9999) weighing almost 12 kilograms were extracted from the abyss. Each of them at the modern rate is estimated at 100 thousand pounds sterling. But 34 ingots are still at the bottom to wait in the wings.

All the gold lifted from Edinburgh was delivered to Murmansk. Here it was carefully weighed, "capitalized" and then divided in accordance with the agreement: part was transferred as a reward to the "miner" company, and the rest of the gold was divided between the Soviet and British parties in a ratio of two to one.

At the end of World War II, an American submarine sank the Japanese ship Awa Maru in the East China Sea. This ship, disguised as a floating hospital, was actually carrying out a responsible mission to transport valuables looted in the countries of East and Southeast Asia. On board, in particular, there were 12 tons of platinum, a large amount of gold, including 16 tons of antique gold coins, 150 thousand carats of rough diamonds, about 5 thousand tons of rare metals.

For almost four decades, wealth that has gone into the abyss has haunted many treasure seekers. With the support of the Japanese government, an expedition has recently been organized to lift a ship "stuffed" with precious metals. However, the task is complicated by the fact that the location of the "Awa Maru" has not yet been established. True, there are reports in the press that the Japanese were ahead of the Chinese, who allegedly discovered the ship and had already begun to "clean up" the seabed.

On the northeastern coast of the Caspian Sea, there is the Buzachi peninsula. Industrial oil production began here a long time ago. By itself, this event would not have caused a great resonance if it had not turned out that Buzachinskaya oil is characterized by a high content of ... vanadium.

Now scientists of the Institute of Chemistry, Oil and Natural Salts, as well as the Institute of Metallurgy and Beneficiation of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR are developing an effective technology for extracting valuable metal from oil "ore".

Some sea plants and animals - sea cucumbers, ascidians, sea urchins - "collect" vanadium, extracting it from the water in some unknown way. Some scientists believe that vanadium, which is present in living organisms of this group, performs the same functions as iron in the blood of humans and higher animals, that is, it helps to absorb oxygen, or, figuratively speaking, "breathe". Other scientists believe that the inhabitants of the seabed need vanadium not for breathing, but for food. Which of these scientists is right, further research will show. So far, it has been possible to establish that the blood of sea cucumbers contains up to 10% vanadium, and in some species of ascidians, the concentration of this element in the blood is billions of times higher than its content in seawater. Real "piggy banks" of vanadium!

Scientists are interested in the possibility of extracting vanadium from these "piggy banks". In Japan, for example, whole kilometers of sea coasts are occupied by ascidian plantations. These animals are very fertile: up to 150 kilograms of ascidians are removed from one square meter of blue plantations. After harvesting, living vanadium "ore" is sent to special laboratories, where the metal needed by the industry is obtained from it. The press reported that Japanese metallurgists had already smelted steel, which was alloyed with vanadium, "extracted" from ascidians.

Biologists are increasingly discovering that living organisms can undergo processes that typically require high temperatures or pressures. So, recently the attention of scientists was drawn to sea cucumbers - representatives of an ancient genus that has existed for 50 million years. It turned out that in the gelatinous body of these animals up to 20 centimeters long, which usually live in silt at the bottom of the seas and oceans, ordinary iron accumulates directly under the skin in the form of tiny balls (no more than 0.002 millimeters in diameter). It is still unclear how sea cucumbers manage to "extract" this iron and why they need such a "filling". A series of experiments with iron isotopes may answer these questions.

Since the Stone Age surrendered to the era of copper and metal took the leading position among the materials used by man, people have constantly looked for ways to increase its strength. In the middle of the 20th century, scientists faced the problems of space exploration, the conquest of the ocean depths, the mastery of the energy of the atomic nucleus, and for their successful solution they needed new structural materials, "including ultra-strong metals.

Shortly before this, physicists calculated the maximum possible strength of substances by calculation: it turned out to be tens of times more than actually achieved. How can the strength characteristics of metals be brought closer to theoretical limits?

The answer, as has often happened in the history of science, came quite unexpectedly. Even during the Second World War, many cases of failure of various electronic devices, capacitors, and marine telephone cables were recorded. Soon it was possible to establish the cause of the accidents: the culprits were the smallest (one to two microns in diameter) crystals of tin or cadmium in the form of needles and fibers, which sometimes grew on the surface of steel parts covered with a layer of these metals. To successfully combat whiskers, or "whiskers" (as the harmful metal "vegetation" was called), it was necessary to study them carefully. In laboratories around the world, whiskers of hundreds of metals and compounds have been grown. They have become the object of numerous studies, as a result of which it has become clear (truly, every cloud has a silver lining) that "mustaches" have colossal strength, close to theoretical. The amazing strength of whiskers is due to the perfection of their structure, which, in turn, is due to their miniature size. The smaller the crystal, the less likely the presence of various defects - internal and external - in it. So, if the surface of ordinary metals, even polished, at high magnification resembles a well-plowed field, then the surface of whiskers under the same conditions looks almost even (some of them did not show roughness even at 40,000 times magnification).

From the point of view of the designer, it is quite appropriate to compare the "mustache" with an ordinary spider web, which, in terms of strength to weight or length, can be considered the "record holder" among all natural and synthetic materials.

In recent years, the attention of scientists has been focused on the problems of protecting the environment from industrial pollution. Numerous studies indicate that not only in industrial areas, but also far from them, the atmosphere, soil, trees contain many times more toxic elements such as lead and mercury.

The data obtained from the analysis of Greenland firn (dense snow) are curious. Firn samples were taken from different horizons corresponding to a particular historical period. In samples dated 800 BC. e., for each kilogram of firn there is no more than 0,000,000 4 milligrams of lead (this figure is taken as the level of natural pollution, the main source of which is volcanic eruptions). Samples dating back to the middle of the 18th century (the beginning of the industrial revolution) already contained 25 times more of it. Later, a real "invasion" of lead began on Greenland: the content of this element in samples taken from the upper horizons, that is, those corresponding to our time, is 500 times higher than the natural level.

The eternal snows of European mountain ranges are even richer in lead. Thus, its content in the firn of one of the High Tatras glaciers has increased by about 15 times over the past 100 years. Unfortunately, earlier firn samples were not analyzed. If we proceed from the level of natural concentration, then it turns out that in the High Tatras, located near the industrial regions, this level is exceeded almost 200 thousand times!

Relatively recently, the object of study by Swedish scientists was the centuries-old oak trees growing in one of the parks in the center of Stockholm. It turned out that the content of lead in trees, whose age reaches 400 years, has increased dramatically in recent decades along with the increase in traffic intensity. So, if in the last century oak wood contained only 0.000 001% lead, then by the middle of the XX century the lead "reserve" had doubled, and by the end of the 70s it had already increased by about 10 times. Particularly rich in this element is the side of the trees that faces the roads and, therefore, is more susceptible to exhaust gases.

In some ways, the Rhine was lucky: it turned out to be the only river on our planet, after which the chemical element is named - rhenium. But on the other hand, other chemical elements bring a lot of troubles to this river. Recently, an international seminar, or "council on the Rhine," as the Western press called it, took place in Dusseldorf. The participants of the council made a unanimous diagnosis: "The river is about to die."

The fact is that the banks of the Rhine are densely "populated" with factories and factories, including chemical factories, which generously supply the river with their wastewater. Numerous sewer "tributaries" help them quite well. According to West German scientists, 1,250 tons of various salts enter the Rhine waters every hour - a whole train! Every year the river is "enriched" with 3150 tons of chromium, 1520 tons of copper, 12,300 tons of zinc, 70 tons of silver oxide and hundreds of tons of other impurities. Is it any wonder that the Rhine is now often called the "gutter" and even the "chamber pot of industrial Europe". They also say that Rain was lucky ...

Studies by American physicists have shown that even in areas where there are no industrial enterprises and busy automobile traffic, and therefore sources of air pollution, there are microscopic amounts of heavy non-ferrous metals in it.

Where do they come from?

Scientists believe that the Earth's underground ore layer containing these metals is gradually evaporating. It is known that some substances under certain conditions can turn into vapor directly from the solid state, bypassing the liquid state. Although the process is extremely slow and on a very small scale, a number of fugitive atoms still manage to reach the atmosphere. However, they were not destined to stay here: rains and snows constantly purify the air, returning the evaporated metals to the land they abandoned.

Since ancient times, sculptors and embossers have liked copper and bronze. Already in the 5th century BC. NS. people learned to cast bronze statues. Some of them were gigantic in size. At the beginning of the 3rd century BC. NS. was created, for example, the Colossus of Rhodes - the landmark of the ancient port of Rhodes on the coast of the Aegean Sea. The statue of the sun god Helios, 32 meters high at the entrance to the inner harbor of the port, was considered one of the seven wonders of the world.

Unfortunately, the grandiose creation of the ancient sculptor Charos existed for only a little more than half a century: during an earthquake, the statue collapsed and was then sold to the Syrians as scrap metal.

Rumor has it that the authorities of the island of Rhodes, in order to attract more tourists, intend to restore this wonder of the world in their harbor using the preserved drawings and descriptions. True, the resurrected Colossus of Rhodes will no longer be made of bronze, but of aluminum. According to the project, it is planned to place ... a beer bar inside the head of the revived wonder of the world.

Not so long ago, French scientists, conducting underwater research in the Red Sea, discovered not far from the shores of Sudan a kind of pit more than 2000 meters deep, and the water at this depth turned out to be very hot.

The explorers sank into the sinkhole on the Siana bathyscaphe, but they soon had to return, as the steel walls of the bathyscaphe quickly heated up to 43 ° C. Water samples taken by scientists showed that the pit was filled with ... hot liquid "ore": the content of chromium, iron, gold, manganese and many other metals in the water turned out to be unusually high.

For a long time, the inhabitants of Tuva noticed that from time to time droplets of a shiny liquid appeared on the stone slopes of one of the mountains. It is no coincidence that the mountain was named Terlig-Khaya, which means "sweaty rock" in Tuvan. As established by geologists, the "fault" in this is the mercury, which is contained in the rocks that make up Terlig-Khaya. Now, at the foot of the mountain, workers of the Tuvacobalt combine are conducting exploration and production of "silver water".

There is Lake Ushki in Kamchatka. Several decades ago, four metal circles were found on its banks - ancient coins. Two coins were poorly preserved, and the numismatists of the Leningrad Hermitage could only establish their eastern origin. But two other copper mugs told the specialists a lot. They were minted in the ancient Greek city of Panticapaeum, which stood on the shore of the strait, which was called the Cimmerian Bosporus (in the area of ​​present-day Kerch).

It is curious that one of these coins can be rightfully considered a contemporary of Archimedes and Hannibal: scientists dated it to the 3rd century BC. The second coin turned out to be "younger" - it was made in 17 AD, when Panticapaeum became the capital of the Bosporus kingdom. On its obverse there is an image of King Riskuporides the First, and on the reverse - the profile of the Roman emperor, most likely Tiberius, who ruled from 14–37 AD. The joint "residence" on the coin of two royal persons at once was explained by the fact that the Bosporan kings bore the title "Friend of Caesars and friend of the Romans", and therefore placed images of Roman emperors on their money.

When and in what ways did the little copper wanderers get from the shores of the Black Sea to the depths of the Kamchatka Peninsula? But ancient coins remain silent.

The Assumption Cathedral is the most beautiful building in the Moscow Kremlin. The interior of the cathedral is illuminated by several chandeliers, the largest of which is made of pure silver. During the war of 1812, this precious metal was plundered by Napoleon's soldiers, but "for technical reasons" it was not possible to take it out of Russia. Silver was recaptured from the enemy, and in memory of the victory, Russian craftsmen made this unique chandelier, consisting of several hundred parts decorated with various ornaments.

While traveling on a yacht along the rivers of Europe in the summer of 1905, the great French composer Maurice Ravel visited a large factory located on the banks of the Rhine. What he saw there literally shocked the composer. In one of his letters, he says: “What I saw yesterday engraved in my memory and will remain forever. This is a gigantic foundry, which employs 24,000 people around the clock. How can I convey to you the impression of this kingdom of metal, these burning temples fire, from this wonderful symphony of whistles, the noise of driving belts, the roar of hammers falling on you from all sides ... How musical it is! I certainly use it! .. "The composer realized his plan only after almost a quarter of a century. In 1928 he wrote the music for the small ballet Bolero, which became Ravel's most significant work. Industrial rhythms are clearly heard in the music - more than four thousand drum beats in 17 minutes of sounding. Truly a symphony of metal!

If the ancient Greeks knew about the titanium metal, then it is likely that they would have used it as a building material in the construction of the buildings of the famous Athenian Acropolis. But, unfortunately, the architects of antiquity did not have this "eternal metal" at their disposal. Their wonderful creations have been subject to the destructive effects of centuries. Time mercilessly destroyed the monuments of Hellenic culture.

At the beginning of our century, the noticeably aging Athenian Acropolis was reconstructed: individual elements of the buildings were fastened with steel reinforcement. But decades passed, steel in some places was eaten by rust, many marble slabs sagged and cracked. To stop the destruction of the Acropolis, it was decided to replace the steel mounts with titanium ones, which are not afraid of corrosion, since titanium practically does not oxidize in air. For this, Greece has recently purchased from Japan a large consignment of "eternal metal".

It is unlikely that there is at least one person who has not lost anything in his life. According to the British Treasury, the British annually lose two million pounds of gold and silver jewelry alone, and approximately 150 million coins worth almost three million pounds. Since so much is lost, so much can be found. That is why a lot of "happiness seekers" have appeared on the British Isles lately. Modern technology came to their aid: special devices such as a mine detector, designed to search for small metal objects in dense grass, in thickets of bushes, and even under a layer of soil, went on sale. For the right to "test the waters", the Ministry of the Interior of England levies a tax of 1.2 pounds sterling from everyone who wishes (and there are about 100 thousand of them in the country). Some have apparently succeeded in justifying these costs; several times in the press there were reports that ancient gold coins were found, the value of which is very high on the numismatic market.

In recent years, all kinds of tests have become fashionable to determine the intellectual abilities of a person. However, according to a certain American professor, you can completely do without tests, replacing them with an analysis of the hair of the examined individual. Having analyzed more than 800 different-colored curls and strands, the scientist revealed, in his opinion, a clear relationship between mental development and the chemical composition of hair. In particular, he argues that the hair of thinking people contains more zinc and copper than the vegetation on the heads of their mentally retarded brethren.

Is this hypothesis worthy of attention? Apparently, an affirmative answer can be given only if the content of these elements in the hair of the author of the hypothesis is at a sufficiently high level.

As you know, many chemical elements are necessary for the normal functioning of living and plant organisms. Typically, trace elements (they are called so because they are required in micro doses) enter the body with vegetables, fruits and other food. Recently, the Kiev Confectionery Factory began producing an unusual type of sweet product - sugar, to which microelements necessary for a person are added. The new sugar contains manganese, copper, cobalt, chromium, vanadium, titanium, zinc, aluminum, lithium, molybdenum, of course, in microscopic quantities.

Have you tried sugar with molybdenum yet?

As you know, bronze has never been considered a precious metal. However, Parker intends to make a small batch of souvenir fountain pens (five thousand in total) from this widespread alloy nibs, which will sell for the fabulous price of £ 100. What are the reasons for the leaders of the company to hope for the successful sale of such expensive souvenirs?

The fact is that the material for the feathers will be bronze, from which parts of the ship equipment of the famous British transatlantic superliner Queen Elizabeth, built in 1940, were made. In the summer of 1944, Queen Elizabeth, which became a transport ship during the war, set a kind of record by ferrying 15,200 servicemen across the ocean in one voyage - the largest number of people in the history of navigation. Fate was not favorable to this largest passenger ship in the history of the world fleet. The rapid development of aviation after the Second World War led to the fact that in the 60s, Queen Elizabeth was left practically without passengers: the majority preferred a swift flight over the Atlantic Ocean. The luxury liner began to bring losses and was sold in the United States, where it was supposed to be put on the hitch, having equipped it with fashionable restaurants, exotic bars, and gambling halls. But nothing came of this venture, and "Queen Elizabeth", sold at auction, ended up in Hong Kong. Here the last sad pages of the biography of the unique giant ship were added. In 1972, a fire broke out on it, and the pride of British shipbuilders turned into a heap of scrap metal.

It was then that Parker had a tempting idea.

Vast areas of the ocean floor are covered with ferromanganese nodules. Experts believe that the time is not far off when commercial mining of underwater ores will begin. In the meantime, experiments are underway to develop a technology for producing iron and manganese from nodules. There are already some first results. A number of scientists who made a significant contribution to the development of the world's oceans were awarded an unusual commemorative medal: the material for it was iron smelted from ferromanganese nodules that were raised from the ocean floor at a depth of about five kilometers.

Toponymy (from the Greek words "topos" - a place, locality, and "onoma" - a name) is the science of the origin and development of geographical names. Often times, the area received a name due to some characteristic features of it. That is why, shortly before the war, geologists became interested in the names of some sections of one of the Caucasian ranges: Madneuli, Poladeuri and Sarkinety. Indeed, in Georgian "madani" means ore, "poladi" - steel, "rkina" - iron. Indeed, geological exploration confirmed the presence of iron ores in the depths of these places, and soon, as a result of excavations, ancient adits were also discovered.

... Perhaps someday in the fifth or tenth millennium, scientists will pay attention to the name of the ancient city of Magnitogorsk. Geologists and archaeologists will roll up their sleeves, and work will boil where steel once boiled.

Nowadays, when the inquisitive gaze of scientists penetrates further and further into the depths of the Universe, the interest of science in the microworld, full of secrets and curious facts, does not weaken. Several years ago, for example, one of the employees of the Woodshall Oceanographic Institute (USA, Massachusetts) managed to find bacteria that can orient themselves in the Earth's magnetic field and move strictly in a northward direction. As it turned out, these microorganisms have two chains of crystalline iron, which, apparently, play the role of a kind of "compass". Further research should show what kind of "travel" nature provided bacteria with this "compass".

One of the most interesting exhibits of the Nizhniy Tagil Museum of Local Lore is a massive table-monument made entirely of copper. Why is he so remarkable? The answer to this question is given by the inscription on the top of the table: "This is the first copper in Russia, found in Siberia by the former commissar Nikita Demidov according to the letters of Peter I in 1702, 1705 and 1709, and from this original copper this table was made in 1715". The table weighs about 420 kilograms.

There are so many collections that the world does not know! Postage stamps and postcards, old coins and watches, lighters and cacti, match and wine labels - today you will not surprise anyone with this. But Z. Romanov, a foundry foreman from the Bulgarian city of Vidin, has few competitors. He collects figurines from cast iron, but not art products, such as the famous Kasli casting, but those "works of art" of which he is the author. molten cast iron. During casting, metal spatter, freezing, sometimes takes on bizarre shapes. In the foundry's collection, which he called "Cast Iron Jokes", there are figurines of animals and people, fabulous flowers and many other curious objects that cast iron created and noticed the keen gaze of the collector.

Somewhat more cumbersome and, perhaps, less aesthetic exhibits from the collection of one of the residents of the United States: he collects cast-iron covers from sewer wells. As the saying goes, "whatever the child is amused with ..." However, the wife of the happy owner of numerous covers, apparently, reasoned differently: when there was no more free space in the house, she realized that a cover had come to the family hearth and filed for divorce.

Silver coins were first minted in Ancient Rome in the 3rd century BC. For more than two millennia, silver has done an excellent job with one of its functions - to serve as money. And today silver coins are in circulation in many countries. But here's the trouble: inflation and the rise in prices for precious metals, including silver, on the world market have led to the fact that a noticeable gap has formed between the purchasing power of a silver coin and the value of the silver enclosed in it, which is growing every year. So, for example, the value of the silver contained in the Swedish krona, issued in the period from 1942 to 1967, today actually turned out to be 17 times higher than the official exchange rate of this coin.

Some enterprising people decided to take advantage of this discrepancy. Simple calculations showed that it is much more profitable to extract silver from one-crown coins than to use them for their intended purpose in stores. By melting the crowns into silver, the businessmen "earned" about 15 million crowns in several years. They would have smelted silver further, but the Stockholm police stopped their financial and metallurgical activities, and businessmen-smelters were brought to justice.

For many years, the weapons department of the State Historical Museum exhibited the hilt of a sword made by Tula craftsmen at the end of the 18th century and donated to Catherine II. Of course, the hilt intended as a gift to the empress was not simple and not even gold, but diamond. More precisely, it was strewn with thousands of steel beads, which the craftsmen of the Tula Arms Plant, using a special cut, gave the appearance of diamonds.

The art of cutting steel appeared, apparently, at the beginning of the 18th century. Among the numerous gifts received by Peter I from the Tula, an elegant safe box with faceted steel balls on the lid attracted attention. And although there were few facets, the metal "precious stones" played, attracted the eye. Over the years, diamond cutting (16-18 facets) is replaced by brilliant cut, where the number of facets can reach hundreds. But turning steel into diamonds took a lot of time and labor, so steel jewelry was often more expensive than real jewelry. At the beginning of the last century, the secrets of this wonderful art were gradually lost. Alexander I also put his hand to this, who categorically forbade the armourers to engage in such "trinkets" at the factory.

But back to the hilt. During the renovation of the museum, the hilt was stolen by crooks who were seduced by a multitude of diamonds: it never occurred to the robbers that these "stones" were made of steel. When the "fake" was discovered, the annoyed kidnappers, trying to cover their tracks, committed another crime: they broke the priceless creation of Russian craftsmen and buried it in the ground.

Still, the hilt was found, but corrosion mercilessly cracked down on man-made diamonds: the vast majority of them (about 8.5 thousand) were covered with a layer of rust, and many were completely destroyed. Almost all experts believed that it was impossible to restore the hilt. But nevertheless, a man was found who took on this most difficult task: he was the Moscow artist-restorer E.V. Butorov, on whose account there were already many revived masterpieces of Russian and Western art.

“I was perfectly aware of the responsibility and complexity of the work ahead,” says Butorov. "Everything was unclear and unknown. The principle of assembling the handle was not clear, the technology for making a diamond facet was unknown, there were no tools necessary for restoration. Before starting work, I studied for a long time the era of the hilt, the technology of weapons production of that time."

The artist was forced to try various methods of cutting, combining restoration work with research research. The work was complicated by the fact that the "diamonds" were noticeably different both in shape (oval, "marquise", "fancy", etc.), and in size (from 0.5 to 5 millimeters), "simple" cut (12 –16 faces) alternated with "royal" (86 faces).

And now behind ten years of intense jewelry work, crowned with great success of the talented restorer. The newly born hilt is exhibited at the State Historical Museum.

Mayakovskaya is rightfully considered one of the most beautiful stations of the Moscow metro. It fascinates Muscovites and guests of the capital with its amazing lightness of forms and grace of lines. But, apparently, few know that this soaring openwork of the underground vestibule was achieved due to the fact that during its construction, for the first time in the practice of domestic metro construction, steel structures were used that were able to perceive the monstrous load of a multi-meter layer of soil.

The station builders also used steel as a finishing material. According to the project, corrugated stainless steel was required for facing the arched structures. Dirigiblestroy specialists rendered great help to the metro builders. The fact is that this enterprise had the latest technology for that time, including the country's only broadband roll-forming mill. It was at this enterprise that the all-metal folding airship, designed by K.E. Tsiolkovsky, was being mounted at that time. The shell of this airship consisted of metal "shells" connected to form a movable "lock". For rolling such parts, a special mill was built.

The honorary order of the metro builders "Dirigible Stroy" was completed on time; for reliability, this organization sent its installers to the metro station, who were at a height deep underground.

In 1958, in Brussels, an unusual building, the Atomium, was majestically towering over the territory of the World Industrial Exhibition. Nine huge (18 meters in diameter) metal balls seemed to be hanging in the air: eight - along the tops of the cube, the ninth - in the center. It was a model of the crystal lattice of iron, magnified 165 billion times. The Atomium symbolized the greatness of iron - the metal worker, the main metal of the industry.

When the exhibition closed, small restaurants and viewing platforms were placed in the balls of the Atomium, which were visited by about half a million people annually. It was assumed that the unique building will be dismantled in 1979. However, given the good condition of the metal structures and the considerable revenues generated by the Atomium, its owners and the Brussels authorities signed an agreement extending the life of this “monument” to iron by at least another 30 years, that is, until 2009.

On August 18, 1964, at the hour before dawn, a space rocket was launched on Prospekt Mira in Moscow. This starship was not destined to reach the Moon or Venus, but the fate prepared for it is no less honorable: forever frozen in the Moscow sky, the silvery obelisk will carry through the centuries the memory of the first path paved by man in space.

For a long time, the authors of the project could not choose the facing material for this majestic monument. First, the obelisk was designed in glass, then in plastic, then in stainless steel. But all these options were rejected by the authors themselves. After much thought and experimentation, the architects decided to stick with titanium sheets that were polished to a shine. The rocket itself, which crowned the obelisk, was also made of titanium.

This "eternal metal", as titanium is often called, was also preferred by the authors of another monumental structure. At the competition of projects of monuments in honor of the centenary of the International Telecommunication Union, organized by UNESCO, the first place (out of 213 submitted projects) was taken by the work of Soviet architects. The monument, which was supposed to be installed in the Place des Nations in Geneva, was supposed to be two concrete shells 10.5 meters high, lined with plates of polished titanium. A person walking between these shells along a special path could hear his own voice, footsteps, the NOISE of the city, see his image in the center of the circles going into infinity. Unfortunately, this interesting project never came to fruition.

And recently a monument to Yuri Gagarin was erected in Moscow: the 12-meter figure of cosmonaut No. 1 on a high column-pedestal and the model of the Vostok spacecraft, on which the historic flight was made, are made of titanium.

Several years ago, the French firm Interforge announced its desire to acquire a heavy-duty press for stamping complex large-sized parts of aviation and space technology. Leading firms from many countries took part in a kind of competition. The preference was given to the Soviet project. Soon, an agreement was concluded, and at the beginning of 1975, at the entrance to the ancient French city of Issoir, a huge production building arose, built for one machine - a hydraulic press with a unique capacity with an effort of 65 thousand tons. The contract envisaged not just the supply of equipment, but the delivery of the press on a turnkey basis, that is, installation and start-up by Soviet specialists.

Exactly on the date specified in the contract, November 18, 1976, the press stamped the first batch of parts. French newspapers called it "the machine of the century" and quoted curious numbers. The mass of this giant - 17 thousand tons - is twice the mass of the Eiffel Tower, and the height of the workshop where it is installed is equal to the height of Notre Dame Cathedral.

Despite its enormous size, the process is characterized by a high punching speed and unusually high precision. On the eve of the start-up of the unit, French television showed how a two-thousand-ton press traverse neatly cracks walnuts without damaging their core, or pushes a matchbox put on the bottom without leaving the slightest damage on it.

At the ceremony dedicated to the transfer of the press, V. Giscard d'Estaing, then President of France, spoke. The closing words of his speech, he said in Russian: "Thank you for this excellent achievement, which does honor to Soviet industry."

Several years ago, a new research institute for light metals was established in Cleveland (USA). At the opening ceremony, the traditional ribbon stretched in front of the entrance to the institute was made of ... titanium. To cut it, the mayor of the city had to use a gas burner and goggles instead of scissors.

Several years ago, a new exhibit appeared in the Museum of History and Reconstruction of Moscow - an iron ring. And although this modest ring could not be compared with luxurious rings made of precious metals and precious stones, the museum workers gave it a place of honor in their exposition. What attracted this ring to their attention?

The fact is that the material for the ring was the iron shackles worn for a long time in Siberia by the Decembrist Yevgeny Petrovich Obolensky, the chief of staff of the uprising on Senate Square, who was sentenced to eternal hard labor. In 1828, the highest permission came to remove the shackles from the Decembrists. Brothers Nikolai and Mikhail Bestuzhev, who were serving their sentences at the Nerchinsk mines, together with Obolensky, made commemorative iron rings from his shackles.

More than a hundred years after the death of Obolensky, the ring was kept along with other relics in his family, passing from generation to generation. And nowadays, the descendants of the Decembrist donated this unusual iron ring to the museum.

For more than a century, people have been using razor blades - thin sharpened plates made of different metals. All-knowing statistics claim that today about 30 billion blades are produced in the world every year.

At first, they were made mainly of carbon steel, then "stainless steel" came to replace it. In recent years, the cutting edges of the blades have been coated with the thinnest layer of high molecular weight polymer materials that serve as dry lubricant in the process of cutting hair, and to increase the durability of the cutting edges, atomic films of chromium, gold or platinum are sometimes applied to them.

In 1974, a discovery was registered in the USSR, which is based on complex biochemical processes performed. bacteria. Long-term study of antimony deposits has shown that antimony in them is gradually oxidized, although under normal conditions such a process cannot proceed: this requires high temperatures - more than 300 ° C. What are the reasons forcing antimony to violate chemical laws?

Examination of oxidized ore samples showed that they were densely populated with previously unknown microorganisms, which were the culprits of oxidative "events" in the mines. But, having oxidized antimony, the bacteria did not rest on their laurels: they immediately used the energy of oxidation to carry out another chemical process - chemosynthesis, i.e., to convert carbon dioxide into organic substances.

The phenomenon of chemosynthesis was first discovered and described back in 1887 by the Russian scientist S.N. Vinogradsky. However, until now, science has known only four elements, the bacterial oxidation of which releases energy for chemosynthesis: nitrogen, sulfur, iron and hydrogen. Now antimony has been added to them.

Who from Muscovites or guests of the capital has not been to the State Department Store - GUM? The shopping arcade, built almost a hundred years ago, is experiencing its second youth. Specialists of the All-Union Industrial Scientific Restoration Plant have carried out extensive work on the reconstruction of GUM. In particular, the galvanized iron roof, which has worn out over the years, has been replaced with modern roofing material - "tiles" made of sheet copper.

For many years, scientists have been arguing over the unique creation of ancient Egyptian masters - the golden mask of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Some claimed that it was made from a whole bar of gold. Others believed that it was assembled from separate parts. To establish the truth, it was decided to use the cobalt cannon. With the help of the isotope of cobalt, more precisely the gamma rays emitted by it, it was possible to establish that the mask really consists of several parts, but so carefully fitted to one another that it was impossible to notice the joint lines with the naked eye.

In 1980, the famous collection of ancient Egyptian art was on display in West Berlin. The center of attention, as always, was the famous mask of Tutankhamun. Suddenly, on one of the days of the exhibition, experts noticed three deep cracks on the mask. Probably, for some reason, the "seams", that is, the lines of the joint of the individual parts of the mask, began to diverge. Alarmed in earnest, representatives of the Commission for Culture and Tourism of the Arab Republic of Egypt hastened to return the collection to Egypt. Now the word is for the examination, which should answer the question, what happened to the most valuable work of art of antiquity?

As on Earth, pure metals are relatively rare on the Moon. Nevertheless, it has already been possible to find particles of such metals as iron, copper, nickel, zinc. In a sample of lunar soil taken by the automatic station "Luna-20" in the continental part of our satellite - between the Sea of ​​Crises and the Sea of ​​Abundance - native aluminum was first discovered. In the study of the lunar fraction weighing 33 milligrams at the Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, three tiny particles of pure aluminum were identified. These are flat, slightly elongated grains of 0.22, 0.15 and 0.1 millimeters in size with a matte surface and silvery-gray in a fresh fracture.

The crystal lattice parameters of native lunar aluminum turned out to be the same as those of pure aluminum samples obtained in terrestrial laboratories. In nature, on our planet, native aluminum was found by scientists only once in Siberia. According to experts, this metal should be found more often in its pure form on the Moon. This is explained by the fact that the lunar soil is constantly "bombarded" by streams of protons and other particles of cosmic radiation. Such bombardment can disrupt the crystal lattice and break the bonds of aluminum with other chemical elements in the minerals that make up the lunar rock. As a result of the "rupture of relations", particles of pure aluminum appear in the soil.

Three quarters of a century ago, the Battle of Tsushima took place. In this unequal battle with the Japanese squadron, the deep sea swallowed up several Russian ships, among them the cruiser Admiral Nakhimov.

Recently, the Japanese firm Nippon Marine decided to lift the cruiser from the seabed. Of course, the operation to raise the "Admiral Nakhimov" is explained not by love for Russian history and its relics, but by the most selfish considerations: there is information that there were gold bars on board the sunken ship, the cost of which in current prices can range from 1 to $ 4.5 billion.

It has already been possible to determine the place where the cruiser lies at a depth of about 100 meters, and the company is ready to start lifting it. According to experts, this operation will last several months and will cost the company about $ 1.5 million. Well, for the sake of billions, you can risk millions.

Products made of wood or stone, ceramics or metal made hundreds, and sometimes thousands of years ago, adorn the stands of the largest museums in the world and take pride of place in numerous private collections. Lovers of antiquity are ready to pay fabulous money for the works of ancient masters, and some enterprising lovers of money, in turn, are ready to create in a wide range and profitably sell "deep antiquities".

How to distinguish genuine rarities from finely crafted forgeries? Previously, the only "device" for this purpose was the experienced eye of a specialist. But, alas, you cannot always rely on him. Today, science makes it possible to fairly accurately determine the age of various products from any materials.

Perhaps the main object of falsification is gold jewelry, statuettes, coins of ancient peoples - Etruscans and Byzantines, Incas and Egyptians, Romans and Greeks. Methods for establishing the authenticity of gold items are based on technological examination and analysis of the metal. For one or another impurity, old gold can be easily distinguished from new, and the metal processing methods used by ancient masters and the nature of their work are so original and unique that the chances of falsifiers for success are reduced to zero.

Experts recognize copper and bronze forgeries by the surface features of the metal, but mainly by its chemical composition. Since it has changed several times over the centuries, each period is characterized by a certain content of the main components. So, in 1965, the collection of the Berlin Kunsthandel Museum was replenished with a valuable exhibit - a bronze late antique watering can in the shape of a horse. This leica, or rhyton, was thought to represent "a Coptic work of the 9th-10th centuries." Exactly the same bronze rhyton, the authenticity of which was beyond doubt, is kept in the Hermitage. Careful comparison of the exhibits has led scientists to believe that the Berlin horse is nothing more than a skillfully made forgery. Indeed, the analysis confirmed the fears: bronze contained 37–38% zinc - too much for the 10th century. Most likely, experts believe, this rhyton was born only a few years before it got to the Kunsthandel, that is, around 1960 - at the "rush hour" of the fashion for Coptic products.

To determine the authenticity of ancient ceramics, scientists have successfully applied the method of archeomagnetism. What does it consist in? When the ceramic mass is cooled, the iron particles contained in it have a "habit" of aligning along the lines of force of the Earth's magnetic field. And since it changes over time, the nature of the arrangement of iron particles also changes, due to which, through simple research, it is possible to determine the age of the "suspected" ceramic product. Even if the forger managed to select the composition of the ceramic mass, similar to the ancient compositions, and skillfully copy the shape of the product, then, of course, he was not able to arrange the iron particles in the appropriate way. This is what will give him away.

As you know, metals have a fairly high coefficient of thermal expansion.

For this reason, steel structures, depending on the season, and therefore on the ambient temperature, become longer or shorter. For example, the famous Eiffel Tower - "Madame of Iron", as Parisians often call it, is 15 centimeters higher in summer than in winter.

Our planet is not very hospitable to celestial wanderers: when entering the dense layers of its atmosphere, large meteorites usually explode and fall on the earth's surface in the form of so-called "meteor showers".

The most abundant such "rain" fell on February 12, 1947 over the western spurs of the Sikhote-Alin. It was accompanied by a roar of explosions, a bolide was seen within a radius of 400 kilometers - a bright fireball with a huge glowing smoky tail.

To study such unusual "atmospheric precipitation", an expedition of the Committee on Meteorites of the USSR Academy of Sciences soon arrived in the area of ​​the space alien's impact. In the taiga wilds, scientists have found 24 craters with a diameter of 9 to 24 meters, as well as more than 170 craters and holes formed by particles of "iron rain". In total, the expedition collected over 3500 iron fragments with a total weight of 27 tons. According to experts, before meeting the Earth, this meteorite, called the Sikhote-Alin, weighed about 70 tons.

Geologists often use the "services" of many plants, which serve as a kind of indicators of certain chemical elements and, thanks to this, help to discover the deposits of the corresponding minerals in the soil. And a mining engineer from Zimbabwe, William West, decided to attract representatives of not flora, but fauna, more precisely, ordinary African termites, as assistants in geological searches. During the construction of their cone-shaped "hostels" - termite mounds (their height sometimes reaches 15 meters), these insects penetrate deep into the ground. Returning to the surface, they carry with them building material - soil "samples" from different depths. That is why the study of termite mounds - the determination of their chemical and mineral composition - makes it possible to judge the presence of certain minerals in the soil of a given area.

West conducted many experiments, which then formed the basis of his "termite" method. The first practical results have already been obtained: thanks to the method of engineer West, rich gold-bearing layers have been discovered.

Antarctica, discovered in 1820, still remains a continent of mysteries: after all, almost all of its territory (by the way, almost one and a half times the area of ​​Europe) is encased in an ice shell. The thickness of the ice is on average 1.5–2 kilometers, and in some places it reaches 4.5 kilometers.

It is not easy to look under this "shell", and although scientists from a number of countries have been conducting intensive research here for more than a quarter of a century, Antarctica has not revealed all its secrets. In particular, scientists are interested in the natural resources of this continent. Many facts indicate that Antarctica has a common geological past with South America, Africa, Australia and, therefore, these regions should have approximately similar ranges of minerals. So, Antarctic rocks, apparently, contain diamonds, uranium, titanium, gold, silver, tin. In some places, coal seams, deposits of iron and copper-molybdenum ores have already been discovered. The mountains of ice are still an obstacle on the way to them, but sooner or later these riches will be at the disposal of people.

Municipal budgetary educational institution "Secondary School No. 4" in Safonovo, Smolensk Region Project The work was completed by: Pisareva Ksenia, grade 10 Anastasia Strelyugina, grade 10 Supervised the work: Sokolova Natalya Ivanovna, teacher of biology and chemistry 2015/2016 academic year Project Theme “Chemical substances used in architecture ”Typology of the project: abstract individual short-term Objective: integration on the topic“ Monuments of architecture ”of the subject“ World artistic culture ”and information on chemicals used in architecture. Chemistry is a science associated with many fields of activity, as well as with other sciences: physics, geology, biology. She did not pass by one of the most interesting types of activity - architecture. A person working in this field inevitably has to deal with different types of building materials and somehow be able to combine them, add something to them for greater strength, durability, or to give the most beautiful appearance to the building. For this, architecture needs to know the composition and properties of building materials, it is necessary to know their behavior in the usual and extreme conditions of the external environment of the area in which the construction is being carried out. The task of this work is to acquaint with the most interesting buildings in their architectural design and to tell about the materials used in their construction. № 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Project section Assumption Cathedral St. Isaac's Cathedral Intercession Cathedral Smolensk Assumption Cathedral Svyatot-Vladimirovsky Cathedral Presentation Used objects Photo Photo Photo Photo Photo Vladimir Assumption Cathedral It is located in Vladimir. The "Golden Age" of the construction of ancient Vladimir - the second half of the XII century. The Assumption Cathedral of the city is the earliest architectural monument of this period. Built in 1158-1160 during the reign of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, the cathedral later underwent significant restructuring. During a fire in 1185, the old Assumption Cathedral was badly damaged. Prince Vsevolod III, "not looking for masters from the Germans," immediately proceeds to restore it by the forces of local masters. The building was built of hewn white stone, which formed a powerful "box" of the wall, which was filled with rubble on a strong lime mortar. For your information, rubble stone is large pieces of irregular shape with a size of 150-500 mm, weighing 20-40 kg, obtained during the development of limestone, dolomite and sandstone (less often), granite and other igneous rocks. The stone obtained during blasting operations is collectively called "torn". The rubble stone should be homogeneous, free from signs of weathering, stratification and cracks, and not contain loose and clay inclusions. The compressive strength of a stone from sedimentary rocks is not less than 10 MPa (100 kgf / cm), the softening coefficient is not less than 0.75, frost resistance is not less than 15 cycles. Rubble stone is widely used for rubble and rubble concrete laying of foundations, walls of unheated buildings, retaining walls, ice cutters and reservoirs. The new Assumption Cathedral was created in the era of Vsevolod, about whom the author of "The Lay of Igor's Host" wrote that the prince's soldiers could "splash the Volga with the oars." The cathedral is transformed from a single dome into a five domed one. There is relatively little sculptural decoration on its facades. Its plastic wealth is in the profiled slopes of slit-like windows and wide perspective portals with an ornamented top. Both its exterior and interior take on a new character. The interior decoration of the cathedral amazed contemporaries with a festive nationality, which was created by an abundance of gilding, majolica floors, precious utensils and especially fresco murals. St. Isaac's Cathedral One of the equally beautiful buildings is St. Isaac's Cathedral, located in St. Petersburg. In 1707, the church, which received the name of St. Isaac's, was consecrated. On February 19, 1712, a public wedding ceremony of Peter I with Ekaterina Alekseevna took place there. On August 6, 1717, on the banks of the Neva, the second St. Isaac's Church was laid, built on the project of the architect G.I. Mattarnovi. Construction work continued until 1727, but already in 1722 the church was mentioned among the existing ones. However, the site for its construction was not chosen well: the banks of the Neva had not yet been fortified, and the incipient landslide caused cracks in the walls and vaults of buildings. In May 1735, a fire broke out from a lightning strike, completing the destruction that had begun. On July 15, 1761, by a decree of the Senate, S.I. Chevakinsky, the author of the Nikolsky Cathedral. But he did not have to carry out his plan. Construction dates have been postponed. Having ascended the throne in 1762, Catherine II commissioned the design and construction of the architect Antonio Rinaldi. The cathedral was conceived with five intricately designed domes and a high bell tower. Marble cladding should come up with sophistication in the color scheme of the facades. This rock got its name from the Greek “marbled” - brilliant. This carbonate rock is composed mainly of calcite and dolomite, and sometimes includes other minerals. It arises in the process of deep transformation of ordinary, that is, sedimentary limestones and dolomites. During the processes of metamorphism, taking place under conditions of high temperature and high pressure, sedimentary limestones and dolomites are recrystallized and compacted; many new minerals are often formed in them. For example, quartz, chalcedony, graphite, hematite, pyrite, iron hydroxides, chlorite, brucite, tremolite, garnet. Most of the listed minerals are observed in marbles only in the form of single grains, but sometimes some of them are contained in significant quantities, determining important physicomechanical, technical and other properties of the rock. Marble has a well-pronounced granularity: on the surface of a stone chip, reflections are visible that arise when light is reflected from the so-called cleavage planes of calcite and dolomite crystals. The grains are small (less than 1 mm), medium and large (a few millimeters). The transparency of the stone depends on the size of the grains. Thus, Carrara white marble has a compressive strength of 70 megapascals and it breaks down faster under load. The tensile strength of fine-grained marble reaches 150-200 megapascals and this marble is more resistant. But construction was proceeding extremely slowly. Rinaldi was forced to leave Petersburg without completing the work. After the death of Catherine II, Paul I commissioned the court architect Vincenzo Brenna to hastily complete it. Brenna was forced to distort Rinaldi's project: to reduce the size of the upper part of the cathedral, to build one instead of five; the marble facing was brought only up to the cornice, the upper part remained brick. Lime and quartz sand are used as raw materials for silicate bricks. When preparing the mass, lime is 5.56.5% by weight, and water is 6-8%. The prepared mass is pressed and then heated. The chemical essence of the hardening process of silicate bricks is completely different than with a binder based on lime and sand. At high temperatures, the acid-base interaction of calcium hydroxide Ca (OH) 2 with silicon dioxide SiO2 is significantly accelerated with the formation of calcium silicate salt CaSiO3. The formation of the latter provides a bond between the sand grains, and, consequently, the strength and durability of the product. As a result, a squat brick building was created, which did not harmonize with the ceremonial appearance of the capital. On April 9, 1816, during the Easter service, damp plaster fell from the vaults onto the right choir. Soon the cathedral was closed. In 1809, a competition was announced to create a project for rebuilding St. Isaac's Cathedral. Nothing came of the competitions. In 1816, Alexander I instructed A. Betancourt to prepare a regulation for the reconstruction of the cathedral and select an architect for this. Bettencourt suggested entrusting this work to a young architect who came from France, Auguste Ricard de Montferrand. A. Bettencourt presented the album with his drawings to the tsar. Alexander I liked the work so much that there was a decree appointing Montferrand "imperial architect". Only on July 26, 1819 the solemn act of renewal of St. Isaac's Church took place. The first granite stone with a bronze gilded board was laid on the piles. Granites are among the most common building, decorative and facing materials and have been in this role since ancient times. It is durable, it is relatively easy to process, giving different shapes to products, it holds polish well and wears out very slowly. Usually granite has a granular homogeneous structure and, although it consists of multi-colored grains of different minerals, the general tone of its color is even pink or gray. A geologist called granite a crystalline rock of deep magmatic or mountainous origin, consisting of three main minerals: feldspar (usually about 30-50% of the volume of the rock), quartz (about 30-40%) and mica (up to 10-15%) ... This is either a pink microcline or orthoclase, or white albite or onygoclase, or two feldspars at once. Likewise, micas are provided by either muscovite (light mica), or biotite (black mica). Sometimes, instead of them, other minerals are present in granite. For example, red garnet or green hornblende. All the minerals that make up granite are silicates by chemical nature, sometimes of a very complex structure. The Montferrand Recycling Project was established on April 3, 1825. When erecting the walls and supporting pylons, a lime mortar was carefully prepared. Sifted lime and sand were alternately poured into the tubs so that one layer lay on another, then they were mixed, and this composition was kept for at least three days, after which it was used for brickwork. Interestingly, lime is the oldest binding material. Archaeological excavations have shown that in the palaces of ancient China there were wall paintings with pigments fixed with slaked lime. Quicklime - calcium oxide CaO - was obtained by calcining various natural calcium carbonates. CaCO₃ CaO + CO₂ The presence of small amounts of undecomposed calcium carbonate in the quicklime improves the binding properties. Slaking lime is reduced to the conversion of calcium oxide into hydroxide. CaO + H₂O Ca (OH) 2 + 65 kJ Lime hardening is associated with physical and chemical processes. First, mechanically mixed water evaporates. Secondly, calcium hydroxide crystallizes, forming a calcareous framework of intergrown Ca (OH) ₂ crystals. In addition, Ca (OH) ₂ interacts with CO₂ with the formation of calcium carbonate (carbonization). Poorly or "falsely" dried plaster can lead to peeling of the oil paint film due to the formation of soap as a result of the interaction of calcium alkali with drying oil fats. The addition of sand to the lime paste is necessary because otherwise it shrinks and cracks when hardened. The sand serves as a kind of reinforcement. Brick walls were erected with a thickness of two and a half to five meters. Together with marble cladding, this is 4 times the usual wall thickness of civil structures. The outer marble facing, 5-6 cm thick, and the inner one, 1.5 cm thick, were made together with the brickwork of the walls and connected with it with iron hooks. The floors were made of bricks. The sidewalk was supposed to be made of Serdobol granite, and the space behind the fence was to be paved with red marble ladders and a red granite border. White, gray, black and colored marbles are found in nature. Colored marbles are very widespread. There is no other decorative stone, with the exception, perhaps, of jasper, which would be characterized by a very varied color and pattern, like colored marble. The color of marble is usually caused by a fine-crystalline, more often dust-like, admixture of brightly colored minerals. Red, violet, purple colors are usually attributed to the presence of red iron oxide, a mineral of Sematite. Intercession Cathedral Intercession Cathedral (1555-1561) (Moscow) Built in the 16th century. by the brilliant Russian architects Barma and Postnik, the Pokrovsky Cathedral - the pearl of Russian national architecture - logically completes the ensemble of Red Square. The cathedral is a picturesque structure of nine high towers, decorated with bizarre domes of various shapes and colors. Another small figured (tenth) dome crowns the Church of St. Basil the Blessed. In the center of this group rises the main tower, the Church of the Intercession, which is sharply different in size, shape and decoration. It consists of three parts: a tetrahedron with a square base, an octagonal tier and a tent, ending with an octagonal light drum with a gilded dome. The transition from the octagonal part of the central part of the tower to the tent is carried out with the help of a whole system of kokoshniks. The base of the tent rests on a wide white-stone cornice shaped like an eight-pointed star. The central tower is surrounded by four large towers located in the cardinal directions, and four small ones located diagonally. The lower tier rests with its faces on a plinth of red brick and white stone, complex in shape and beautiful in design. Red clay bricks are made from clay mixed with water, followed by molding, drying and firing. The formed brick (raw) must not crack during drying. The red color of the brick is due to the presence of Fe₂O₃ in the clay. This color is obtained if firing is carried out in an oxidizing atmosphere, that is, with an excess of oxygen. In the presence of reducing agents, grayish-lilac tones appear on the brick. Currently, hollow bricks are used, that is, having a certain shape inside a cavity. For cladding buildings, a two-layer brick is made. When molding it, a layer of light-setting clay is applied to an ordinary brick. Drying and firing of two-layer facing bricks is carried out according to the usual technology. The important characteristics of bricks are moisture absorption and frost resistance. To prevent destruction from weathering, brickwork is usually protected with plaster, tiling. A special type of fired clay brick is clinker. It is used in architecture for cladding the basements of buildings. Clinker bricks are made from special clay with high viscosity and low deformability during firing. It is characterized by relatively low water absorption, high compressive strength and high wear resistance. Smolensk Assumption Cathedral From whatever side you approach Smolensk, the domes of the Assumption Cathedral - one of the largest churches in Russia - are visible from afar. The temple crowns a high mountain located between two deeply cut into the coastal slope, a mountain. Crowned with five chapters (instead of seven according to the original version), festive and solemn, with magnificent baroque decor on the facades, it rises high above the city buildings. The immensity of the building is felt both outside, when you stand at its foot, and inside, where, among the space filled with light and air, the gigantic, unusually solemn and magnificent gilded iconostasis goes up, shimmering with gold - a miracle of wood carving, one of the outstanding works of decorative art of the 18th century , created in 1730-1739 by the Ukrainian master Sila Mikhailovich Tru-sitsky and his students P. Durnitsky, F. Olitsky, A. Mastitsky and S. Yakovlev. Next to the Assumption Cathedral, almost right next to it, there is a two-tiered cathedral bell tower. Small, it is somewhat lost against the backdrop of a huge temple. The bell tower was built in 1767 in the form of the Petersburg Baroque by the architect Pyotr Obukhov, a student of the famous baroque master D.V. Ukhtomsky. Fragments of the previous building of 1667 are preserved in the lower part of the bell tower. The Assumption Cathedral in Smolensk was built in 1677-1740. The first cathedral on this site was founded back in 1101 by Vladimir Monomakh himself. The cathedral became the first stone building in Smolensk, was rebuilt more than once - including the Assumption Cathedral in Smolensk by the grandson of Monomakh, Prince Rostislav, while in 1611 the surviving defenders of Smolensk, who defended themselves from the troops of the Polish king Sigismund III for 20 months, finally, when the Poles did burst into the city, blew up a powder magazine. Unfortunately, the cellar was located right on the Cathedral Hill, and the explosion practically destroyed the ancient temple, burying under its ruins many Smolyans and the ancient tombs of the Smolensk princes and saints. In 1654, Smolensk was returned to Russia, and the pious Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich allocated from the treasury as much as 2 thousand rubles in silver for the construction of a new main church in Smolensk. The remains of the ancient walls under the leadership of the Moscow architect Alexei Korolkov were dismantled for more than a year, and in 1677 the construction of a new cathedral began. However, due to the fact that the architect violated the given proportions, construction was suspended until 1712. Assumption Cathedral in Smolensk. In 1740, under the leadership of the architect A.I.Shedel, the work was completed, and the temple was consecrated. In its original form, it stood for only twenty years, - the presence of different architects and constant changes in the project affected. It ended with the collapse of the central and western chapters of the cathedral (there were seven of them then). The top was restored in 1767-1772, but with a simple traditional five-domed, which we now see. This cathedral is not only visible from everywhere, it is also truly huge - twice the size of the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin: 70 meters high, 56.2 meters long and 40.5 meters wide. The cathedral is decorated in the Baroque style both outside and inside. The interior of the cathedral is striking in its splendor and luxury. The work on the painting of the temple lasted 10 years under the leadership of S.M. Trusitsky. Assumption Cathedral in Smolensk. The magnificent iconostasis of 28 meters in height has survived to this day, but the main shrine - the icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria - disappeared in 1941. Assumption Cathedral in Smolensk The cathedral bell tower, fading against the background of a huge church, was built in 1763-1772. from the northwest of the cathedral. It was erected on the site of the former bell tower, and ancient foundations have been preserved at the base. At the same time, the fence of the cathedral was built with three high gates, shaped like triumphal arches. A wide granite staircase of the same time leads up from the central street to the Cathedral Mountain, ending in a gulbis. The cathedral was spared both by time and by the wars that passed through Smolensk. After the capture of the city, Napoleon even ordered to put up guards, amazed at the splendor and beauty of the cathedral. Now the cathedral is functioning, services are being conducted in it. St. Vladimir's Church in Safonovo, Smolensk Region In May 2006, the city of Safonovo celebrated a significant anniversary - a hundred years ago, the opening of the first church parish on the territory of the future city took place. At that time, on the site of the current city quarters, there were a number of villages, villages and farms that surrounded the railway station, which was called "Dorogobuzh" in the nearby district town. The closest to the station were the village of Dvoryanskoye (present-day Krasnogvardeyskaya Street) and across the Velichka River from it - the Tolstoy estate (now there is a small park in its place). Tolstoy, which got its name from the Tolstoy nobles, has been known since the beginning of the 17th century. By the beginning of the 20th century, it was a small owner's estate with one yard. Its owner was an outstanding public figure of the Smolensk province, Alexander Mikhailovich Tukhachevsky, a relative of the famous Soviet marshal. Alexander Tukhachevsky in 1902-1908 headed the Dorogobuzh local government - the zemstvo assembly, and in 1909-1917. headed the provincial zemstvo council. The noble family of Leslie and the Begichevs owned the noble estate. The construction of a railway station on the banks of the Velichka River in 1870 turned this provincial town into one of the most important economic centers of the Dorogobuzh district. There appeared timber warehouses, inns, shops, a post station, a pharmacy, bakeries ... The population of the station settlement began to grow. A fire brigade appeared here, and with it in 1906 a public library was organized - the first cultural institution of the future city. It is probably no coincidence that in the same year the spiritual life of the district also received an organizational form. In 1904, next to Tolstoy, a stone church was erected in the name of the Archangel Michael, thus the owner's estate turned into a village. Probably, the Archangel Church was for some time assigned to one of the nearest villages. However, already on May 4 (May 17 - N.S.), 1906, a decree of the Most Holy Government Synod No. 5650 was issued, which stated: the clergy of the newly opened parish was attributed exclusively to exquisite local funds. " This is how the life of the parish of the village of Tolstoy and the Dorogobuzh station began. Now the heir to the church of the village of Tolstoy is the St. Vladimir Church located in its place. Fortunately, history has preserved the name of the builder of the Archangel Michael Church. It was one of the most famous Russian architects and engineers, Professor Vasily Gerasimovich Zalessky. He was a nobleman, but initially his family belonged to the clergy and was known in the Smolensk region since the 18th century. People from this family entered the civil and military service and, reaching high ranks and ranks, complained of noble dignity. Vasily Gerasimovich Zalessky since 1876 served as a city architect at the Moscow City Council and erected most of his buildings in Moscow. He built factory buildings, public houses, and private mansions. Probably, the house of the sugar refinery PI Kharitonenko on the Sofiyskaya embankment, where the residence of the British ambassador is now located, is most famous of all of his buildings. The interiors of this building were decorated by Fyodor Shekhtel in the eclectic style. Vasily Gerasimovich was a leading specialist in ventilation and heating in Russia. He had his own office, which was engaged in work in this area. Zalessky was engaged in extensive teaching activities, published a popular textbook on building architecture. He was a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Society of Architects, a member of the Moscow Architectural Society, and headed the Moscow branch of the Society of Civil Engineers. At the end of the 19th century, V.G. Zalessky acquired in the Dorogobuzh district a small estate of 127 acres with the village of Shishkin. It was picturesquely located on the banks of the Vopets River. Now Shishkino is the northern outskirts of the city of Safonov. The estate was bought by Zalessky as a summer residence. Despite the fact that Shishkino was a place of rest for Vasily Gerasimovich from his extensive professional activities, he did not stay away from the life of the local area. At the request of the chairman of the Dorogobuzh district assembly, Prince V.M. Urusov, Zalessky drew up plans and estimates for the construction of zemstvo primary schools with one and two classrooms free of charge. Two versts from Shishkin in the village of Alyoshin, the Dorogobuzh zemstvo began to create a large hospital. In 1909, Vasily Zalessky assumed the obligation to be the trustee of this hospital under construction, and in 1911 he proposed to equip it with central heating at his own expense. At the same time, the zemstvo asked him "to take part in the supervision of the hospital in Alyoshin." VG Zalessky was an honorary trustee of the fire brigade of the Dorogobuzh station and a donor of books for its public library. It is curious that in addition to the Archangel Michael Church of the village of Tolstoy, V.G. Zalessky is also related to the Smolensk Assumption Cathedral. According to the testimony of his relatives, he arranged central heating there. Soon after the opening of the parish in the village of Tolstoy, a parish school appeared, which had its own building. The first mention of it dates back to 1909. The current St. Vladimir Church of Safonov is famous for its beautiful church choir. A remarkable fact is that a century ago the same glorious choir was in the church of the village of Tolstoy. In 1909, in a note from the Smolensk Diocesan Gazette, dedicated to the consecration of the newly built large nine-domed church in the village of Neyolova, it was reported that the choir from the Dorogobuzh station sang beautifully during the solemn service. The Archangel Michael Church, like any newly built church, did not have ancient icons and was probably rather modest in its interior decoration. In any case, the rector of the church in 1924 noted that only two icons - the Mother of God and the Savior - have any artistic value. At present, the name of only one abbot of the temple is known. From December 1, 1915 and at least until 1924, he was father Nikolai Morozov. He probably served in the Tolstoy Church in subsequent years. In 1934, the church of the village of Tolstoy was closed by the decree of the Smolensk Regional Executive Committee No. 2339 and was used as a warehouse for high-quality grain. During the Great Patriotic War, the church building was destroyed and only in 1991, according to the only surviving photograph, the destroyed church was rebuilt by the efforts of its abbot, Father Anthony Mezentsev, who now heads the community of the Boldinsky monastery in the rank of archimandrite. So the first temple of Safonov completed the circle of its life, in some way repeating the path of the Savior: from crucifixion and death for faith to resurrection by Divine providence. May this miracle of rebirth from the ashes of the destroyed Safonov shrine become for the city residents a vivid example of the creative power of the human spirit and the faith of Christ.

Chemicals are widely used not only for chemical experiments, but also for the manufacture of various crafts, as well as building materials.

Chemicals as building materials

Consider a number of chemical elements that are used in construction and not only. For example, clay is a fine-grained sedimentary rock. It consists of minerals of the kaolinite group, montmorillonite, or other layered aluminosilicates. It contains sandy and carbonate particles. Clay is a good waterproofing agent. This material is used for making bricks and as a raw material for pottery.

Marble is also a chemical material that consists of recrystallized calcite or dolomite. The color of marble depends on the impurities included in it and can have a striped or variegated shade. Iron oxide turns the marble red. With the help of iron sulfide, it takes on a blue-black hue. Other colors are also due to admixtures of bitumen and graphite. In construction, marble is understood as actually marble, marbled limestone, dense dolomite, carbonate breccias and carbonate conglomerates. It is widely used as a finishing material in construction, for the creation of monuments and sculptures.

Chalk is also a white sedimentary rock that does not dissolve in water and is organic. It is mainly composed of calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate and metal oxides. Chalk is used in:

• medicine;
• sugar industry, for cleaning glassy juice;
• production of matches;
• coated paper production;
• for vulcanizing rubber;
• for the manufacture of compound feed;
• for whitewashing.

The field of application of this chemical material is very diverse.

These and many other substances can be used for construction purposes.

Chemical properties of building materials

Since building materials are also substances, they have their own chemical properties.

The main ones include:

1. Chemical resistance - this property shows how resistant the material is to the effects of other substances: acids, alkalis, salts and gases. For example, marble and cement can be damaged by acid, but they are resistant to alkali. Silicate building materials, on the contrary, are resistant to acids, but not to alkali.
2. Corrosion resistance is the property of a material to withstand environmental influences. Most often this refers to the ability to keep moisture out. But there are also gases that can cause corrosion: nitrogen and chlorine. Biological factors can also cause corrosion: exposure to fungi, plants or insects.
3. Solubility is a property in which a material has the ability to dissolve in various liquids. This characteristic should be taken into account when selecting building materials and their interaction.
4. Adhesion is a property that characterizes the ability to bond with other materials and surfaces.
5. Crystallization is a characteristic in which a material can form crystals in a vapor, solution or melt state.

The chemical properties of materials must be taken into account when carrying out construction work in order to avoid incompatibility or undesirable compatibility of some building materials.

Chemical curing composites

What are chemically cured composites and what are they used for?

These are materials that are a system of two components, for example, "powder-paste" or "paste-paste". In this system, one of the components contains a chemical catalyst, usually benzene peroxide or another chemical polymerization activator. When the components are mixed, the polymerization reaction begins. These composite materials are more often used in dentistry for the manufacture of fillings.

Nanodispersed materials in chemical technology

Nanodispersed substances are used in industrial production. They are used as an intermediate phase in the preparation of materials with a high degree of activity. Namely, in the manufacture of cement, the creation of rubber from rubber, as well as for the manufacture of plastics, paints and enamels.

When creating rubber from rubber, finely dispersed soot is added to it, which increases the strength of the product. In this case, the filler particles must be small enough to ensure the homogeneity of the material and have a high surface energy.

Chemical technology of textile materials

Chemical technology of textile materials describes the processes for the preparation and treatment of textiles using chemicals. Knowledge of this technology is necessary for textile industries. This technology is based on inorganic, organic, analytical and colloidal chemistry. Its essence lies in highlighting the technological features of the processes of preparation, coloring and finishing of textile materials of various fibrous composition.

You can learn about these and other chemical technologies, for example, such as the chemical organization of genetic material at the "Chemistry" exhibition. It will take place in Moscow, on the territory of the Expocentre.