Clogged sink doomed a space mission
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Two men are in a lab and they've been working hard to try and make antifreeze. They mix two chemicals together and expect to make a clear liquid. Instead, they end up with this black mess.
Kind of like licorice, I suppose.
It is not what they had in mind and they have to start all over, but it's late, so they decide to go home and deal with the mess in the morning.
The next day they come back to the lab, they try to clean up the lab, get rid of this thing that they'd made the day before. So they put it in the sink and they can't for the life of them wash it down the sink.
They throw everything at this blob and just like nothing dissolves it.
It was resistant to oils, to fuels, to solvents. It was elastic, it was chemically stable, and basically what they'd come up with was rubber, a synthetic form of rubber.
My name is Mark Fennell, and this synthetic rubber would go on to be used in cars, rockets and spaceships, and ultimately would be responsible for one of the deadliest space missions in history.
And as we go to air, NASA is about to hold a news conference on what is, tragically, America's worst disaster in space. This is Mission Control Houston at 11.48am Central Standard Time. The search and rescue teams are delayed in getting into the area because of debris continuing to fall. I would doubt very much that it would have been possible to get out with that kind of an explosion.
But, at the time, no one saw it coming.
So this is Fiona Pepper.
And I'm a science reporter with the science unit at Radio National.
Now, I get the impression that you've spent an enormous amount of the last couple of, God, months, I would say, thinking about rockets. Were you always into rockets or is this a relatively recent development?
No, this is very new. LAUGHTER Yeah, no, my space knowledge was non-existent six months ago and probably for the last eight months I have been deep in space shuttle disasters. So, yes, I've upped the ante in my space knowledge.
This is good. So you and I are coming from almost the exact opposite starting points here because I've always been obsessed with space. But the story that you're going to tell today is one that I had absolutely no concept of. So we're going to meet in the middle somewhere.
How did two men accidentally create synthetic rubber in 1926?
Great.
Okay. So to begin, you're going to take us back to 1926, quite literally 100 years ago, actually. And we're in Kansas City. Now, for people that, just to build an image in people's heads, like what is Kansas City like a century ago?
So in 1926, Kansas City was essentially this major Midwestern rail, ag and industrial hub. It's a very prosperous time, late roaring 20s. And America is going through this major industrial expansion. There's not a lot of regulation. There's not a lot of oversight. So It's sort of a time ripe for experimentation and entrepreneurship. People are just trying stuff out.
Good time to be a crazy mad scientist, yes?
Yes.
Okay, so that leads us to two gentlemen, Nathan Mnookin and Joseph Patrick.
What challenges did they face while trying to dispose of their creation?
Who are they? Well, let's start with Joseph Patrick.
We know a lot more about him than Nathan Mnookin. And he is interesting. He was a doctor. He worked in the US Army. He then segued to chemistry and he clearly had more of an interest in chemistry than in medicine. And he liked to come up with things in his lab.
And there was one day where they came across something kind of by accident. Walk me through what happened this one day in the lab.
Okay. So in the 1920s, automobile ownership was expanding. Everyone wanted a car and people needed antifreeze fluids.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:23
2
How did two men accidentally create synthetic rubber in 1926?
3:23–4:18
3
What challenges did they face while trying to dispose of their creation?
4:18–7:08
4
What significance does synthetic rubber have in automotive and aerospace industries?
7:08–25:47