RUBBER INTO HORN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 22, 27 January 1936, Page 6

RUBBER INTO HORN.

_____ i What happens to ordinary substances when , tliey are powerfully squeezed—put under ] pressures approaching those in the interior of c the earth, has roused the speculation of scien- t tists for a generation. But it remained for Dr. j Pcrcy Williams Bridgman, of Harvard University, to devise means of exerting the force t necessary' to find out. The results were not f particularly startling until, recently, Dr. <= Bridgman thought it would be interesting to f give the material a twist, or "shear," while g it was subjected to great pressure. "The c theory behind the experiment," explained I "Science Service," "was that if atoms and a molecules of substances could be made to slide v over one another while under very high pres- r sures they would take up new positions per- \ manently and hence create new and different y materials." Under pressures up to 700,000 v pounds per square inch, these changes were i twisted into existence: Rubber was derubber- li ised into a translucent hornlike material. 111 Sulphur became a sticky, rubbery mass. Tin I turned out to be an excellent lubricant. Harm- s less, inert substances like lead dioxide ex- r ploded violently, leaving the pure metal be- r hind. ' Jf