WEBVTT - The PerkinElmer Story: Part One 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.280 Get in test with technology with text stuff from half 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:15.320 stuff dot com. Everyone, and welcome to text Stuff. I'm 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:18.400 Jonathan Strickland and I'm Lauren, both of them, and today 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.920 our episode, part one of a two part episode comes 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:26.279 to us courtesy of a listener request. Richard on Facebook said, 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:29.760 how about doing a show on Perkin Elmer from optics 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:33.560 for the war, computers, medical devices, etcetera. And can't forget 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:37.120 the fault faulty Hubble lends that was never tested it 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:39.519 before sending up to space. A show could have been 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:42.080 made just on this blooper. We agree, we could have 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.120 done a show really probably about the Hubble space telescope 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:48.200 in general, but we're going to cover the Perkin Elmer 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:51.320 part of that in the second part of this episode 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:55.480 because it's complex, y'all. Yeah, they really do have their 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:59.160 hands in a lot of different projects, partially because, uh, 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.680 because we're talking about multiple companies and all kinds of 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:05.520 mergers and corporate shenanigans to go on over the course 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:07.959 of this company's history. But the more that we started 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:10.880 researching that, the more we realized exactly how much they've 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:14.080 had their fingers in, how many really important historical events 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:16.120 they've had their fingers in right, and and part of 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:20.160 that complicated nature comes to us from the the the 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:24.360 the fact that two big companies merged together, or at 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:27.800 least parts of two big companies merged together to form 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:30.760 the modern day Perkin Elmer. So the very the Perkin 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:33.679 Elmer that exist today is not exactly the same company 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:37.360 that made the the ill fated mirror for the Hubble 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:40.000 space telescope um. And in fact, we have to go 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:44.040 pretty far back and look at these two individual companies 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:47.480 that remained individual companies for a really long time to 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:49.800 get a real handle on what this company is all about. 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:54.040 And also the stuff that each company makes really complicated 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:57.360 science and technology stuff. So that's why this episode is 0:01:57.400 --> 0:01:59.640 doubly complicated. You got the Shenanigans, and you got the 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:02.240 technolo oology. We could also, I mean, we could really 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:06.480 do stories on any one of these technological innovations that 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:08.960 we're going to be talking about. And uh so, you know, 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:11.880 let us know if any of them, uh sporks spark 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:14.480 your interest. Were I would like it if they would 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:19.040 spark the interest. Yeah, I um, it's true. We could 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:22.519 take any one of these and make a full episode 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:25.400 about it. Uh So, we're giving you the cliffs notes 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:27.240 version of a lot of these. We will be giving 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:30.160 you some science one oh one, which was very important 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:32.079 for me because it's been a long time since I've 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:36.200 taken any chemistry classes physics classes, so I needed the reminder. 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:38.640 I'm sure some of our listeners do too. Okay, So 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:41.280 before we get into all of this, what what is 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:44.080 Perkin Elmer? What did they do? Uh? You know, I 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:47.880 wish there were an easy, simple, like one sentence. I 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:50.480 don't know what the elevator pitch for Perkin Elmer is 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:54.920 other than to say it's an international, multibillion dollar company 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:58.360 and it calls itself a global leader focused on improving 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:02.520 human and environmental health. But that that does not give 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:05.799 you a full indication of all the stuff they do. 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:10.960 And it's pretty heavily geared toward making scientific equipment and 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:14.640 process SATs. So sort of the if you think of 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:17.920 the stuff that whenever you see like complicated things happening 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:21.960 in laboratories, they have their hands in that. So a 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:24.440 lot of it in the health industry in particular, especially 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:28.040 more recently. But you know, it's kind of funny because 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:31.640 you look back at the origins of all this and 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:35.280 you would never imagine that this incredibly complicated company would 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:38.480 spring up from from from what it did. Yeah, and 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:41.839 so Perkin Elmer was indeed started by two dudes named 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:45.440 Parking and Elmer. But due to the aforementioned of vultron 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:48.240 like combination of multiple corporations that we're going to be 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:51.200 talking about, we're kicking off by talking about some important 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:54.400 people who are neither Perkin nor Elmer, right, but they 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:57.360 are just as important to the company as it exists 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:02.480 today as anyone else. And so back in nineteen thirty one, 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:07.360 Professor Harold doc Edgerton of m i T partnered with 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:11.880 two students, Kenneth Germshalsen and Herbert Greyer to study high 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:16.599 speed photography and stroboscopic techniques. So the idea here was 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:19.200 that they wanted to, you know, photography was still a 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:23.520 fairly young uh art and science at this time, and 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:26.080 they wanted to be able to make cameras that could 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:28.440 take photos of stuff that's in motion without it being 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:31.800 really blurry. And so they really began to put their 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:33.240 minds to this, and they all kind of formed this 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:37.640 sort of research partnership, uh not necessarily thinking about making 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.320 a full company at this point, but that was the 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:45.400 origin of their part Meanwhile, in seven another partnership would form, 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:48.480 and that was between banker Richard S. Perkin, who was 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:50.520 thirty one at the time, and a court reporter by 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:52.720 the name of Charles w Elmer, who was sixty five 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:54.680 at the time. And I find their age difference just 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:56.680 interesting in the fact that they would go on to 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:58.880 do so many things together and what if they bond 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:03.880 over They were both really interested in astronomy. UM. The 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:07.880 company first helped import and then design optics and procedures 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:11.440 with with a primary interest in astronomical equipment UM and 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:14.440 and this was due to Okay, so so perkins childhood 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:17.800 passion was astronomy. He was putting together his own telescopes 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:20.040 by the age of eleven and grinding his own lenses 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:23.240 by the age of thirteen. I don't even want to 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:25.479 talk about the things I did at age thirteen. They 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:28.919 seemed so incredibly trivial in comparison. Yeah, I think I 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:31.400 was playing a lot of Donkey Kong Country at the time. Um. 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:34.400 But he he studied chemical engineering for a year at college, 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:37.640 then left for Wall Street, hence the banker thing. UM. 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:40.839 The two of them actually met when Elmer was delivering 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:44.560 an amateur astronomy lecture at the Brooklyn Institute UM. By 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:47.440 the way, the the Custer Institute and Observatory in New 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:50.840 York was named for Elmer's wife. They were really serious 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:55.880 amateur astronomers and would begin construction of that public observatory 0:05:55.920 --> 0:06:01.440 that the Custer Observatory UM in ninety eight. So Perkin 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:05.279 and Elmer began importing optical instruments from Europe because the 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:07.800 US wasn't manufacturing a whole lot of that at the time, 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:10.400 But within a year they would begin manufacturing their own 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.479 out of New Jersey. And then in nineteen thirty nine, 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:18.000 Perkin Elmer incorporates. So there's something else that happened right 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:20.120 around nineteen thirty nine. Yeah, little thing you might have 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:24.160 heard of World War two um it, but basically broke 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:26.919 out around the same time and started creating a huge 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:31.200 demand for for field optics, you know, periscopes and range finders, uh, 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:33.760 gun sights and cameras and all kinds of stuff like that. 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:36.120 And so Perkin Elmer began to branch out at the 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.080 same time that group that I talked about earlier, Edgerton 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:42.240 and germ Shausen and Greer, and I apologize if I'm 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:46.159 totally misspelling or mispronouncing rather their names that that became 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:49.000 known as E. G and G, which makes life so 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:53.440 much easier. And they also were being, uh, pretty instrumental 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:54.960 in the war effort. We'll talk a little bit about 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:58.000 that in just a couple of seconds. But nineteen forty 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:01.960 one we get into one of the first major products 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:06.480 from Perkin Elmer. It was a spectra photometer. So what 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:09.680 the heck does that mean? I mean, you hear spectro photometer, 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:11.760 and you start to try and break it down, and 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:15.240 there's only so much that an ignorant person such as 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:18.480 myself can do before I say, okay, I is it 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:22.800 a ghost light meter. No, it is not a specter photometer, 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:27.720 spectro photometer. I'm gonna go need to take some different notes. Yeah, 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:31.360 well we'll be right back. Okay, we're back, and now 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:33.840 we understand what this is kind of now, So, a 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:37.400 spectra photometer measures the amount of light that's either absorbed 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:42.920 or transmitted reflected from a sample object. So you pass 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:45.560 a beam of light through a sample and then by 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:48.160 observing the intensity of the light that reaches a detector 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:52.120 on the other side, you can determine exactly how much 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:55.080 of a particular material happens to be, say, in in 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:57.840 that sample. Usually you're talking about solution of some sort. 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:02.120 So you shine the light through and by observing that, 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.600 by by measuring the light, you can really determine what 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.080 sort of stuff is in there and how much of 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:12.000 a concentration there is. Because different materials absorb different kinds 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:15.360 of light, different wavelengths, different colors of light. Um. So, yeah, 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:18.080 so you can figure out what type of material you're 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:21.480 dealing with or um or detect particular materials in like 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:25.200 a blood sample for example. Yeah, really really useful technology. 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:29.200 And in nineteen six the United States government awards herald 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:32.240 Doc Edgerton the Medal of Freedom for his work in 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:36.319 developing technology for night time photography. And you might wonder, well, 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:39.040 what's the big deal there, Well, when you're talking about wartime, 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:41.440 when you have to go on these missions to try 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:45.800 and determine what the enemy uh fortifications are, what they're 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:47.880 where they are, and you want to be able to 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:51.840 take these these images at night, it became incredibly important. 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:54.640 And so his work with E. G and G became 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:57.160 something that was so notable that the government ended up 0:08:57.240 --> 0:08:59.880 awarding him the Medal of Freedom after World War Two. 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:04.679 Now we move on to nineteen and E G and 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:08.439 G Incorporates. So Perkin Elmer had already incorporated E G 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:11.240 and G Incorporates. And the only real reason I could 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:13.760 find that they incorporated was not because they had intended 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:16.600 to make a big company, but was because a certain 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:20.840 governmental agency urged them to incorporate. And that would be 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:25.000 the Atomic Energy Commission or a e C. Now a 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:27.640 e C formed after the end of World War two 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:31.679 and had the goal of developing atomic energy for peace 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:35.120 time applications. So that raises the question what sort of 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:39.960 peaceful applications was E G m G working on. How 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:46.400 about creating timed and triggered nuclear bomb. Yeah, that's super peaceful. 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:51.680 So they were really looking at a triggering systems. Um 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:54.200 that not the bombs themselves. They didn't build bombs, but 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:56.680 they build the systems that either would allow a bomb 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:59.400 to trigger or a timed system that would then have 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:02.440 a bomb go off. And they weren't necessarily thinking of 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:05.720 bombs just for military purposes, as we'll find a little 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:07.280 bit later, although I think at this time it was 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:11.559 primarily for military purposes. Ah. Yeah, all of those bombs 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:14.320 for private sector purposes are I'm I'm not sure where 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:17.600 that's going. I mean, however, in better news late in 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:20.400 in in that same year, Edgerton would publish his first 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:24.480 article in National Geographic Magazine called Hummingbirds in Action. Yeah, 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:29.640 fantastic contrast to making trigger systems for nuclear bombs. And 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:33.560 if you're wondering what the whole hummingbirds and action thing was. Again, 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:37.600 he kept working on creating better and better high speed photography, 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:39.880 and he was able at this point to take pictures 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:42.960 of hummingbirds and get a clear view of their wings 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:44.920 while they were in flight instead of just that blur 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:47.959 that you would usually see. So again, more examples of 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:50.640 him working in that field. Okay, this is a lovely 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:53.920 pleasant note. While we are in this terrific mood, let's 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:57.679 take just a quick break for a word from our sponsor. Alright, 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:02.960 we're back nineteen nine. We get a the PE model 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:07.960 five to a flame photometer from Brokin Elmer. There So, 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:12.360 flame photometer, flame photometer, yep, what what's a flame photogram? 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:14.440 Oh boy, I had to do so much research in 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:16.480 this episode. So this is another instrument that helps you 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:21.800 analyze materials. Okay, so you essentially burned them to analyze them. 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:24.560 So I hope you don't need it after you analyze it, 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:27.000 because you're going to be out of luck. So what 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:29.760 you usually would do is you would spray a solution 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:33.320 of metallic salts. You would have these metallic ions in 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.560 a solution that you you spray into a chamber that 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:41.040 has an extremely hot flame. We're talking like degrees celsius 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:44.000 hot enough to vaporize the sample YEA, and then the 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:47.960 light given off by the vaporized solution can be analyzed. Uh, 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:50.880 and certain elements will give off certain types of light 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:54.480 during this vaporization process of exactly, so you'll get different 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.319 colors that way, and by analyzing those colors, you can 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:01.840 determine exactly what those elements are and their concentration within 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:06.239 that mixture. So it's usually used in inorganic chemistry applications 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:09.199 because again you're looking at metallic ions, you're not you're 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:13.640 not looking at organics like carbon based material. So let's 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:15.760 move on to nineteen fifty. That's when E. G and 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:19.680 G perfects an ultra high speed photography technique that allows 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:24.000 a camera with no moving mechanical parts to take images 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.000 with an exposure time as short as four millions of 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:30.679 a second, So there was a very specific reason they 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:33.120 wanted to develop this camera. That was around the same 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:36.520 time that that nuclear blast testing was going on. Yeah, 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:39.520 so we're we're talking about areas in the South Pacific, 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:43.640 uninhabited areas in the South Pacific where the United States 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:47.000 was testing nuclear bombs, and they needed to be able 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:49.000 to take images of this. But the problem was that 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:51.600 those bombs give off a little bit of light, and 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:53.680 by a little bit of light, I mean a whole 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:57.360 bunch of light, so much light. So finding a way 0:12:57.360 --> 0:12:59.280 to have a camera that could take that image with 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:02.839 stand that much light was really challenging. And they found 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:05.679 this way of creating a camera where as soon as 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:08.880 that that light hit the camera, it would then activate 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:12.200 the shutter without any mechanical parts, so it could take 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:15.080 that picture that instant and they could get a really 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:19.240 good look at what happens the moment after a bomb explodes. Yeah. 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:23.079 A couple of years later, Edgerton would be the photographer 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:26.079 who who went to the South Pacific to take pictures 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:29.280 of the h bomb there. Yeah. He uh, he stood 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:32.640 always away several miles. Yeah, it's not not good to 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:36.400 be right at ground zero. For that ninety one, Perkin 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:40.920 Elmer offers an infrared spectra photometer. So essentially we're talking 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:45.520 about just uh an additional tool here for chemical analysis, 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:48.280 and it allows you to use a different, different part 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.000 of the spectrum of light, the infrared spectrum, in that 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:53.960 type of analysis, which gave you a broader range of 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:57.439 materials you could use that that particular process on so 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:00.480 important development. I have nothing more to say of at it, 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:02.520 but I do have a lot to say about this one, 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:05.640 so let's see if I can say it correctly. Nineteen 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:12.000 fifty four, Perkin Elmer introduces the TI Celius electrophoresis instrument. Wow, 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:13.680 I think I got that on the first try. You did, 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:17.400 so I had to sit there. I saw electrophoresis and 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:20.120 you know, kind of like spectro photometer. I see this word. 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:22.920 I'm thinking, I know what some of these syllables mean. 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:25.680 What the heck is this? We we actually talked a 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:27.840 little bit about this in our episode on how gene 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:32.040 Therapy works, which was published on December. Come on, Lauren, 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:35.320 I don't remember what episodes we do when I'm aware. 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:38.280 That's why. That's why I'm reminding for it. For anyone 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:41.200 else out there who perhaps has a vaguely faulty memory 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:44.960 kind of like me. Yes, but so okay, So what 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:48.800 is electrophoresis? This is actually really cool and it did 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:51.240 start to sound familiar as I was looking more into it. 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:53.520 I wish my brain would just hold onto information longer. 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:58.080 So electrophoresis is a process where chemists use charged electric 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:01.920 fields to manipulate molecules within a solution. So you've got 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:05.280 a solution in there if you use this this uh, 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:08.520 if you apply this um electric field to the fluid, 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:12.320 you can actually move molecules around within a solution and 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:16.240 thus start to sort them right. And by by tuning 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:19.000 that field, yeah, you can you can select molecules for 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:22.480 for their size, or their makeup, or or their charge exactly. 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:25.320 So this means that within a solution itself, which may 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:27.800 have lots of different types of molecules in it, you 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:30.840 can start to sort things through. Again, very important in chemistry. 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:34.120 Not something that I would necessarily ever use, or that 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:36.400 anyone with the in the right mind would ever let 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:39.680 me get near. But it's super cool. No, no electricity 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:41.760 for you ever. No, I'm not even allowed to use 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:45.280 a computer anymore. I get all my information by talking 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:49.320 to this guy on the street. He's nice, though, breakin 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:53.880 Elmer unveils the vapor fractometer. When am I going to 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:57.680 land on an instrument that I understand immediately just based 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:01.240 upon the name? I? How how many degrees do you have? 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:05.840 In scientific I have zero degrees and never Yeah, it's 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:07.920 probably never gonna happen. So this is the first commercially 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:13.480 available gas chromatograph chromatograph. So now this case, I knew 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:16.760 what a chromatograph was. That one I understood. Um, I've 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:19.440 never used one, but I am familiar with what they're 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:21.120 supposed to do. That's actually when I had to look 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:22.760 up some good times. I'm glad. I'm glad that we 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:25.360 flipped back and forth. So in order to understand exactly 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:27.920 what a chromatograph is and why it's important, we need 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:31.360 to do a little chemistry one oh one, right, all right, 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:33.320 just to just to define some terms. So first we're 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:36.440 gonna define the term mixture, and it's pretty much what 0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:38.600 you would think it is. A mixture is a substance 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:42.120 of at least two or more components that are mixed 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:45.440 together but do not in any way chemically combine. Right, 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:48.800 you can physically separate the components of a mixture. Right, 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:51.160 So if you if you thought of like, um, I 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:56.000 don't know, iron filings and some non ferres material like sand, 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:58.480 and you mix them together. If you had a magnet, 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:01.160 you could pull the iron silings out of that without 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:05.920 affecting the sand. There's no chemical common combining going on there. Right, 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:08.560 Then you have solution. And a solution is sort of 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:11.600 a subset of what a mixture is. So not all 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:15.359 mixtures are solutions, but all solutions are mixtures, right, And 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:18.640 in this one. In in a solution, you've got one 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:22.639 substance that has been dissolved into another. That the solute 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:26.000 is dissolved into the solvent. That's correct, And so it 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:29.199 makes it look like it's a single substance because of 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:33.399 that that dissolving factor. So saltwater, for example, looks like 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:36.040 it's a single substance. It's just it's it's water that 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:38.639 happens to be salty. But if you were to boil 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:41.359 off the water, the salt would remain behind, once again 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:43.480 showing that this is truly a mixture. The salt has 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:47.760 not chemically bonded in this case, so you do have 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:49.800 to go an extra step there by boiling it. You 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:52.120 can't just physically remove it like you know. You could 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:55.080 maybe filter it out the thousand times using very very 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:58.000 fine filters, but that's it still is a lot more 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:01.960 work than you know your basic macro exture. Sure. Sure, However, 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:06.080 compounds are materials in which two or more elements have 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:10.040 chemically combined. Right, So salt is an example. Salt water 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:12.919 is a mixture, but salt is a compound. Salt is 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:16.480 sodium and chloride that has been combined together chemically, and 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:20.720 that changes the chemical composition. So you anyone who's done 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:24.520 any chemistry knows sodium, for example, explosive when it comes 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:28.560 in contact with water, uh, chlorine and it's and it's 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:32.439 our chloride and all of those kind of a lovely materials, 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:35.919 not so healthy to be around. But sodium chloride, when 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:39.560 you add the two together, totally harmless, table salt delicious, yes, 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:45.000 as moderate amounts people moderate amounts. So chromatography refers to 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:48.840 this broad collection of physical methods that are used to 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:52.800 separate and analyze complex mixtures, and it gets its name 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:56.240 from the practice of using these methods to separate out 0:18:56.280 --> 0:18:59.360 the various pigments that were found in plants, and each 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:03.080 pigment was different colors. So the process became known as chromatography, 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:05.800 or if you were to translate, it would roughly mean 0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:10.439 to right colors right w R I T E. So 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:12.719 we still use that term today, even if we're not 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:15.159 really concerned about colors at all. We just want to 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:16.800 be able to separate out a mixture. I think in 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:19.560 most most cases these days, we're not concerned about colors. 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:23.600 That's usually the case. Yet, So in gas chromatography, the 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:28.080 process of separating these components of a mixture out is 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:31.840 going to involve first again vaporizing the sample, right, yeah, 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:33.560 which makes sense because you want it to be a 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:36.680 gas example, happens to be liquid or solid. That's that's 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:40.080 a problem right there. Um. Then you're going to pass 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:43.280 the gas through this equipment and the different components in 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:45.960 it are going to migrate at different rates based on 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:49.800 on the size or some of the chemical uh chemical 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:52.560 properties properties exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah. So if you have 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:55.760 just just imagine you've got this gas, it's got different 0:19:55.760 --> 0:20:00.320 types of molecules in it by by applying some force 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:03.040 to it, depending upon what you know, what method you're using, 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:06.960 because again, chromatography is a collection of processes. Then these 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:11.560 molecules of different components move at different speeds. Usually what 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:16.320 they're moving through is this absorptive materials. And okay, that's 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:19.640 ad absorptive. I did not mispronounce that. That's that's absorptive, 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:22.639 not absorptive UM. And I just like saying that word 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:26.840 now um and and adsorptive surface is um. I mean basically, 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:29.840 it's something that stuff sticks to. It's a physical process, 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:32.960 which differentiates it from absorption, which is either chemical or 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:36.439 energetic UM. For for example, water sticks to sand or 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:40.040 silica gel, which is essentially really fancy sand. And if 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:42.560 you want to watch a whole video about that, I 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:44.560 talked about it on brain stuff. So you can just 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:48.439 search for silica gel brain stuff on your interweb's brows 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:51.240 arab choice and then you can find out all about 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:54.320 this stuff. So you then have these two or more 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:57.639 components within a mixture moving at different speeds against this 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:01.160 adsorptive material and so they're going and to stick at 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:05.080 different points on this absorbative surface, which ultimately means you've 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:08.960 separated out those materials. Very important in chemistry and the 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:11.920 big benefit of the vapor fractometer. Ha ha, you thought 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:14.399 we forgot about that that's the whole reason we had 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:17.919 chemistry one on one people. But the vapor fractometer the important. 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:19.760 The reason why it was important was because it didn't 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:24.919 require specialists. It didn't require a highly trained chemist to 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:28.159 operate it, so that you could separate out these materials 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:30.800 within a complex mixture, which meant that you could have 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:34.119 lab technicians running this instrument and then you could have 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:37.560 your fancy schmancy scientists doing something else somewhere else. It 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:40.439 was really kind of a labor saving device in a 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:43.080 lot of ways in the laboratory. Sure, and if you're 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:45.640 wondering what exactly this kind of thing is used for, um, 0:21:45.640 --> 0:21:48.359 it can be. It can it can automatically determine, say 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:51.600 like the alcohol level and blood or um the flavors 0:21:51.720 --> 0:21:54.560 or pollutants or other chemical compounds and stuff like water 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:58.800 or food or booze, which are all important to chemically. 0:21:59.040 --> 0:22:03.480 These are important things. So nineteen fifty six that's when E. 0:22:03.680 --> 0:22:09.120 G and G participates in programs to develop nuclear propulsion engines. 0:22:09.400 --> 0:22:11.720 I'm just saying that to make people a mad nuclear 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:15.399 propulsion engines for space vehicles. They also start to develop 0:22:15.440 --> 0:22:18.320 commercial products for the first time, including flash tubes and 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:21.880