OCR Text |
Show Keeping Up WitfScience ByScjnc ervce Science Service. 'WNU Service. Potent Explosive Is Produced From Cornstarch Waste Product Has More Power Than Nitroglycerin KANSAS CITY. An explosive explo-sive more powerful than nitroglycerin nitro-glycerin can be made from the corn pro'duct wastes of the nation, na-tion, it was revealed by Prof. Edward Bartow, president of the American Chemical society, at the Chemists' convention here. No more dream is the new explosive explo-sive and blasting agent which outdoes out-does dynamite in potency. Powder companies are already Investigating the new material, and if the costs can be lowered America will not only find its corn a valuable industrial indus-trial commodity In the explosives field but a line of defense in time of wnr Sugar-Like Substance. Basic material of the new explosive explo-sive is a sugar-like substance, inositol, inosi-tol, made from the waste "steeped" waters in which corn is soaked as a step In the manufacture of cornstarch. corn-starch. Inositol, said Professor Bartow, Bar-tow, can be converted Into an explosive ex-plosive known as hexanitroglycerin, containing six nitrogen atoms. Ordinary Or-dinary nitroglycerin Is technically known by the chemical name of trinitroglycerin and has three nitrogen nitro-gen atmos. The explosive hexanitroglycerin, Professor Bartow pointed out, has advantages over ordinary nitroglycerin nitroglyc-erin because it Is a solid compound instead of a liquid and can thus be used directly as a blasting agent, like dynamite. Its explosive properties prop-erties are essentially the same as those of nitroglycerin. Advantages Over Dynamite. Dynamite is useful because it Is a solid material and can be more easily handled than a liquid explosive. explo-sive. The Inherent disadvantages of dynamite, Professor Bartow Indicated, In-dicated, Is that while It contains powerful nitroglycerin, the latter must be soaked up by sponge-like, non-reacting rare earths. Thus the solid dynamite is only part nitroglycerin. nitro-glycerin. The rest Is absorbent material. The basic material Inositol, from which such a super-explosive could be made, has been known for many years as a laboratory curiosity, said Doctor Bartow. It could be purchased pur-chased on the open market In gram amounts for a cost of about $j00 a pound. |