Chemical Discovery on lubricants Essay

Submitted By gsandovalii70
Words: 1002
Pages: 5

Chemical Discoveries since the beginning of time have been the epitome of human adaptation, progression, and survival. Since the time began early discoveries were used to adapt to environment for survival from medicinal purposes to tools for making other discoveries. One huge discovery for the human race was lubricants. We use lubricants on the daily form our automobiles to the very doors of our homes. They are used to reduce friction between objects to prevent wear & tear drastically in drastic temperatures to provide smooth transition of energy flow through objects. Lubricants come along way just like technology of the human race. The very first traces known to man have been tracked back to the Egyptians and their carriage wheels to transport good across difficult terrains. Back then we had no hybrid versions of intricate solutions that could withstand high heats and subliminal temperatures so the oils were very primitive just like our technology. They used oxidized animal fats such as beef and vegetable oils in order to keep the gears of society moving. It remained at still point for some time until the industrial revolution of course when machinery would over run manpower in terms of mass production. As the technology progressed so did the ideal lube. In the industrial era the first form of solid lubricant was graphite. The graphite was crushed into small particles almost dust-like and it was very slippery the smaller the pieces got. Not only did they started to use a solid but started to combine the different types of fats and oils in remarkable homogenous combinations to develop more durable and higher performance master pieces. As the demand for the top notch oils for high speed moving gears hit high altitudes, the discovery sperm whale oil was by far better than any other animal based oil on the market. As this specific species of whale was almost hunted to extinction the solution was petroleum. Petroleum was everywhere and when distilled it had a lubricant and burning oil for lamps. As petroleum played a key factor in developing machinery and the very first automobiles, the discoveries of the viscosity of oils at different temperatures rose, the need to develop luxury chemically enhanced lubricants became a need. As petroleum oils were proven to be far better than any other, the question for the prize was “is it the best?” The answer would be proven no and why, since it the lubricants worked well on the ground they were assumed to work well in other situations. As aircraft would fly into the sky the discovery of yet another journey to find a better lubricant came up when the atmospheric pressures at different altitudes came into play as a variable. Thus altering different oils made the discoveries of synthetic oils & lube and their characteristics similar to mutations except no 3 headed living creatures and such. Polymers and synthetics alike were used to create greases that would be necessary for certain components. Then the famous quote “the sky is the limit” was put to test as the final frontier had to be embarked and with out the proper functionality of space age technology to take us there we wouldn’t have been hard work in laboratories developing oils and greases that would withstand temperatures and the gravitational variables of space. Developing cutting edge lube that would not only do the job inherited by its ancestry but setting the bar even higher as it would stay in place as Neil Armstrong would leave his boot print and a USA flag on the moon. If that wasn’t satisfying enough, satellites that were created to go beyond human exploration deep in space had to function as well and BAM! Lubricants played a huge role in human society without us realizing it. Not only did were they developed to little friction and keep cool gears and preventing them from corroding, created to be non-flammable,