Saturday, 11 March 2017

Plastic from Piss - Urea Formaldehyde

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Herman Boerhaave

Urea, also known as carbamide, is an organic compound with the chemical formula CO(NH2)2. This amide has two –NH2 groups joined by a carbonyl (C=O) functional group.


Urea was first discovered in urine in 1727 by the Dutch scientist Herman Boerhaave -


When "salt of urine" is combined with formaldehyde (discovery by Hofmann see here), polymerisation occurs and urea-formaldehyde plastic is formed -





Bernhard Tollens

In 1884 the urea-formaldehyde polymer was prepared, for the first time, by Tollens & Hölzer, although they were unaware of its nature and it's mentioned only in passing by Tollens -


(… from urea and formaldehyde, on the other hand, Dr. Hölzer obtained a solid, almost insoluble derivative.)
from Tollens, B. (1884) "Ueber einige Derivate des Formaldehyds" (On some derivatives of formaldehyde), Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft, 17 : 653-659. Full article here


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Unrelated to this post, below is an example of
eclectic science esoterica 

Bellows expansion joints taken from a medium-pressure (150-300 psi) steam line.
Destroyed due to steam-generated water hammer, probably in excess of 5000 psi.



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