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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington N.Z. Vol. 10, No. 5. May, 7, 1947

Chem. Soc. Forum on Industrial Chemistry

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Chem. Soc. Forum on Industrial Chemistry

Twenty students attended the meeting of the Chemistry Society, held at 7 p.m. on April 23. The object of the meeting, the subject for which was "Aspects of Industrial Chemistry," was to give students some idea of the type of work they might be employed on upon graduation. Four aspects were presented by part-time students working in outside laboratories.

Mr. Cryer, covering the board with a maze of organic formulas, dealt with the chemistry of the production of high octane gasoline. An interesting point brought out in the course of the lecture was the fact that the increase in octane rating of gasoline caused by the addition of lead tetraethyl is not clearly understood.

From his experience with a consulting analytical chemist Mr. Beck brought in some useful points of view, many of which could be taken more notice of in the teaching of analytical chemistry. "In analytical chemistry," he said, "It's not what you do, it's the way that you do it that counts. Routine methods, of which there are hundreds, are only of limited utility and are not to be followed slavishly but merely used as a guide in tackling a particular problem." He drew some interesting illustrations from samples he had handled at various times. Judging by the number of brewery samples the work seems very interesting.

Complete with sections of his product, Mr. Saxton from Exide Batteries delivered his address on "Storage Batteries." He stressed the importance of absolute purity of materials used in forming the battery; small amounts of foreign metallic impurities being extremely deleterious to the life of the battery. Chemical control of raw materials is thus very important.

"Paint Chemistry," dealt with by Mr. Harris, has many ramifications and in the process of transforming the art of painting into a science the chemist and physicist is being increasingly employed. Increasing amounts of pure research are now being done in this field, one of the problems being considered being the effect of the various higher fatty acids on the properties of paint.

Each speaker answered a number of questions on his subject. The meeting concluded over supper.

... not very dramatic ...

... not very dramatic ...