Pearl Harbor Day

Mitsubishi_A6M2_Zero

This aircraft accompanied by twice as many dive/torpedo bombers attacked our Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  The attack was a surprise attack so our people were unprepared.  I believe there were around 2400 casualties.  Fortunately our air craft carries were on a mission and were undamaged.

This occured on December 7, 1941 before I was born.  My parents not unlike many young couples of the time were married on Dec. 21, 1941.  I was born eight months before the end of that war and I suppose I have followed it for that reason.

I have watched all the movies about it that I can find.  I will watch Tora, Tora, Tora this year because it is in my opinion the best of them all.  It was a long time ago.  I think that I gain more perspective each time I consider this happening.  Those boys were children and many of them died on the first day of the war.

A Personal Word

My wife, Carol, is feeling badly again and I may not be back for a while.  I will try.  I am writing this on Dec. 2 which means I have one blog ahead at this time.

A Few Words on Sublimation

Matter, such as water, can be in three states: solid, ice; liquid, water; and gas, water vapor.  Most of matter changes state in this or the reverse order.  It does not skip from solid to gas without going through the central stage.  There are, however; some exceptions:  CO2  and Pt for example. The solid state of CO2 is dry ice.  Dry ice skips the central state and goes directly to the gaseous state.  We sometimes receive shipments of food containing dry ice to keep it cold.  You can see it going to vapor directly by the vapor effervescing from it.  My kids used to say it smokes.

Ice, frozen water, melts to its liquid state; water.  If you heat water it will eventually get to its boiling point 212° F.  At that point, steam rises from it and into the air.  The steam is water vapor.

Platinum, like CO2 goes directly from its solid state to its gaseous state.  This characteristic can be used as part of the sublimation process to purify it from its impurities.  During the sublimation process of platinum, is vaporized with heat.  It then solidifies on the cool "cold finger" back to a solid, having been purified in the process.

Sublimation Process

Thanks to Lisa Nichols' article on, Sublimation we have the diagram above.  The nipple on the side of the outer tube is attached to a vacuum pump which lowers the air pressure in the space between the inner and outer test tubes.  This pressure drop expedites the process.  The sublimed platinum is drawn and attached to the cooler "room temperature cold finger" tube.

I've said all this hoping to make what is to a difficult concept to me clear to you whom I assume can understand.

Sublimed Platinum

I think the ridges and valleys are provided to aid in locating the attachment of the sublimed platinum.  This must be the outer surface of the "cold finger tube" in the industrial process of sublimation.  The sample does not provide the location source of the platinum.

Sublimed Platinum