Distillations Episode 90: Useful Waste
Series: Distillations - The Chemistry Podcast
From: Chemical Heritage Foundation
Length: 00:11:29
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
What’s better than recycling? Reducing waste! OK, maybe not better, but equally important. In this episode of Distillations, we learn about industrial waste reduction. First we find out about one of the oldest waste products that has found a use – carbon black. Next up, discover the truth about Vaseline. Also a byproduct. And finally, we talk with Roger Horowitz about gelatin and its history. Horowitz is currently a Gordon Cain Fellow at CHF, and he is also the associate director of the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library.
Broadcast History
Podcast on March 12, 2010.
Transcript
DISTILLATIONS EPISODE 91: USING WASTE
0:00 UP THEME MUSIC
Hello, and welcome to Distillations – extracts from the past, present and future of chemistry. I’m Meir Rinde. On today’s show we’ll explore how some byproducts have become products of their own. We’ll learn how a cast off from the oil industry became a hot commodity. And we’ll talk to a food scholar who explains how waste from a slaughterhouse became America’s favorite jiggly snack. That’s all coming up on today’s episode of Distillations.
MONOLOGUE
Many products land on the shelves as an afterthought. Sometimes a scientist or inventor is looking to create a solution for one problem and stumbles across an answer to another. Or someone realizes that a byproduct being tossed could be converted into something useful or, at the least, marketable. Today, playgrounds, tennis courts, and running tracks are often created out of recycled...
Read the full transcript
Timing and Cues
00:00 Opening Credits
00:31 Introduction
01:11 Chemical Agent: Carbon Black
03:04 Chemistry in Your Cupboard: Vaseline
05:49 Conversation with Roger Horowitz
10:55 Closing Credits
Additional Credits
This episode was written and researched by Victoria Indivero, Michal Meyer, and Maggie Wood.
Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music from the PodSafe Music Network. Additional music includes “Poor Man’s Train,” by Gerry Wall and The Jell-O Instant Pudding Song, posted to YouTube by user Becktionary.
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