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Matchstick Rockets. Incorporating all that you know about unit two. What are the components of a Matchstick?.
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Matchstick Rockets Incorporating all that you know about unit two
What are the components of a Matchstick? • Modern safety matches contain powdered glass and red phosphorus on the striker surface and Potassium chlorate and Antimony (III) sulfide in the match head.Strike anywhere matches contain Phosphorus sesquisulfide and Potassium chlorate. A small amount of red phosphorus is sometimes added to the tip.
History? • The original self-starting or independently igniting matches were developed by Chancel about 1805. • These were replaced by strike-anywhere matches (called Lucifers) by 1827. They smelled bad and ignited violently. • White phosphorus was added to improve the burning and odor, but made the matched less stable. It was soon replaced by red phosphorus.
1609 – Putrefied Urine?!? • Phosphorus was one of the first elements isolated that was not found naturally. • 1669 – HennigBrant allowed a vat of urine to putrefy (hoping he could make gold from it). • He then boiled the resulting liquid until it created a sticky paste (he was hoping to siphon off the vapors and condense that into gold) • Gold didn’t appear, but he did get a white waxy substance that glowed in the dark. • Evaporating urine produced ammonium sodium hydrogenphosphate (microcosmic salt), which yielded sodium phosphite upon heating. When heated with carbon (charcoal) this decomposed into white phosphorus and sodium pyrophosphate.
Glow in the dark pee?!? • Other methods of isolating phosphorus from urine soon followed – some more efficient (such as the process developed by Robert Boyle in 1680). • 1830 – white phosphorus added to matches (although the gas produced was deadly) • 1892 – First matchbook • 1910 Diamond Match Company made first non-poisonous match using sesquisulfide of phophorous
Today • The Diamond Match Company, for example, makes more than 12 billion matches a year. Approximately 500 billion matches are used annually in the United States. Sources: Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., about.com Yahoo Answers: What chemicals are in the head of a match?
Matches • Key Questions: • What are the physical properties of matches? • What are the chemical properties of matches? • What Newton’s Law will apply to the matchstick rockets? • What Gas Law(s) are we going to be observing with the matchstick rockets?