Playing with Fire Trivia Quiz

Answer: Chemist

Walker set up a pharmacy in his home town of Stockton-on-Tees. He had originally been taken on as an apprentice by the town's surgeon but found that he couldn't stomach the operations so he turned his hand to being a druggist. A sideline to the pharmacy was his manufacture of an explosive chemical for use in the percussion caps used in firearms. By accident he discovered that a concoction of antimony sulfide and potassium chlorate would ignite when rubbed on a rough surface. He then used his skills to incorporate a little sulphur to the mix, which would transfer that flame to a splinter of wood, and a little gum to hold it together to create the first match. He packaged them into little tins and sold them under the title of "Congreves" for the price of one shilling for fifty matches.

Walker was not the first man to patent matches. That honour belongs to Samuel Jones who traded under the name of Lucifer matches but his lodgement of the patent came well after Walker's invention. Walker had been encouraged by a number of people to record a patent (among them Michael Faraday) but refused saying that this invention should be available to the people. Despite this he still managed to retire as a reasonably wealthy man.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member pollucci19.

Answer: Edward Craven Walker

While a patron in an English pub in the 1940s, Edward Craven Walker saw a device made from an egg-timer that inspired the lava lamp. It took him over a decade to develop the lamp as we know it. There is a secret mixture of substances in the glass but wax is a main part. When the lamp is off and cold, the substance in the bottom of the lamp is a solid, like a lump. Once the lamp is turned on and it heats, the lump begins to melt and expand. It floats to the top of the globe. As it goes higher and away from the heat it begins to cool and descend. This is a constant flow while the lamp is on.

Walker was a naturist. Under the pseudonym Michael Keatering, he directed a naturist film that was the first for public release in the UK. The film was titled "Travelling Light" in 1959, when nudity was a no-no in Britain!

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member jaknginger.

Answer: Robert Bunsen

Bunsen is most famous for the open flame burner that is named after him but also has an award named after him and his partner Gustav Kirchhoff, a physicist. The research of Bunsen and Kirchhoff in emission spectra led to their discoveries of cesium in 1860 and rubidium in 1861. The Bunsen-Kirchhoff Award for spectroscopy was created by the German Working Group for Applied Spectroscopy in 1990 to recognize "outstanding achievements" in analytical spectroscopy. It was Bunsen's work in spectroscopy that led to the development of his now famous burner.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member tazman6619.

Answer: Richard Fiedler

Flamethrowers work by a stream of inflammable liquid or gas being ignited. The inflammable substance is propelled from a tank, usually by compressed nitrogen, and is then ignited, sending out a stream of flame. These devices were used to destroy buildings and crops, and were also used against enemy troops, inflicting horrendous injury and/or death. Refinement of the device has meant that it is effective over a greater distance and the use of slightly viscous liquids means that it burns for longer.

Though it is possible that both the Greeks and Chinese had early versions of this weapon, the modern version was invented by Richard Fiedler, a German, in 1901.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member vegemitekid.

Answer: False

That honour belongs to Etienne Lenoir who produced an electric version in 1860 but it was Honold who created the first high voltage magneto ignition unit in 1902, which would hasten the development of the spark ignition engine.

Sometimes it's a case of who you and not what you know. Gottlob's father was close friends of Robert Bosch's father and got him (Gottlob) a job in the Bosch factory when he was only fourteen years old. This inspired him to make this his career and he enrolled in the Stuttgart University's Engineering faculty. In 1901 he returned to the Bosch factory and within twelve months resolved the issue that automotive pioneer Karl Benz described as the "problem of all problems". Honold would also provide input into the internal combustion engine and designed a system of mirrors that would provide headlights with greater intensity.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member pollucci19.

Answer: Airplane

Swedish inventor and industrialist Nyberg (1858-1939) developed a vaporizing technique in 1882 upon which all modern blowtorches are based. His blowtorch was fueled by kerosene whereas modern blowtorches are fueled by propane. Nyberg used four of his blowtorches to create a steam engine to power his experimental airplane Flugan or 'The Fly'. The blowtorches heated a boiler that was able to create 10 horsepower at 2000 rpm. His design had limited success.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member tazman6619.

Answer: Henry Bessemer

Steel is an iron alloy containing between 0.002% and 2.1% of carbon by weight. Historically, steel was manufactured by heating wrought iron together with carbon from charcoal or coke for seven days. Wrought iron contains very little carbon and was imported from Sweden, thereby adding to the cost of steel. Bessemer's invention, called the Bessemer process, produced quality steel in only half an hour from pig iron, which is an inexpensive intermediate product derived by smelting iron ore. The Bessemer process reduces the impurities and carbon content in pig iron by using pressurized hot air to heat and combust the impurities. In this way, the amount of coke needed for producing steel is reduced to just the amount needed to melt the starting pig iron.

Although the Bessemer process cut costs in starting material, fuel and time, steel manufacturers had trouble getting the method to work for them due to differing impurities in the starting material. This problem was eventually solved by English metallurgist Robert Forester Mushet.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member purelyqing.

Answer: Charles Goodyear

Charles Goodyear developed the process in 1839 and spent years perfecting and understanding it. He was intrigued by the gum elastic product that was being manufactured into many products, but that eventually rotted and he made it a mission to make the product more durable. In 1838 he met Nathaniel Hayward who was experimenting with drying rubber with sulfur. Goodyear was intrigued by Hayward's work and furthered the process by heating the mixture, and vulcanization was born. It took years to perfect and in 1844, he finally felt confident to take out a U.S. patent for the process. He lost out on a British patent to Thomas Hancock who applied in 1843 and finalized in 1844. In 1855 there was a trial for the rights to the British patent with claims that Hancock had copied Goodyear, but that was not proved in court so Hancock won and Goodyear was unable to share in the royalties of Hancock.

Goodrich started his business with a license from Goodyear. While he was alive he came up with an idea to wrap the rubber product to prevent it from freezing and put it to use in garden hoses. He also sold bicycle tires. After his death, his company came up with the radial tire and eventually developed PVC, synthesized rubber, and developed NASA spacesuits. The company is now owned by the Michelin corporation.

Dunlop is credited with the discovery of the pneumatic tire/tyre. This helped him develop one of Britain's largest industrial companies. In the 1970s the company failed to keep up with evolving trends and eventually was acquired by BTR plc. The Dunlop name is still viable but has been fragmented to many other companies.

Firestone started his company in 1900 with pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other wheeled vehicles of the time. He was the first to recognize the potential of tires for automobiles and partnered with Henry Ford to become the sole supplier to the burgeoning Ford Motor Company. The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company was sold in 1988 to the Japanese Bridgestone Corporation.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member TAKROM.

Answer: Napalm

Louis Fieser and his team at Harvard University developed synthetic napalm while in the process of looking for synthetic rubber during WWII. After testing at the Jefferson Proving Ground and the Dugway Proving Ground, their formula was approved and used in flamethrowers and incendiary bombs by the allies. Napalm went on to be by used in other conflicts after WWII and one image that is associated with its use in modern warfare is the photograph of Phan Thi Kim Phuc taken during Vietnam War.

Louis' success in developing napalm led to the design of another incendiary weapon but the project wasn't fully ready till 1946, so it was never deployed. The project was originally known as the Bat Bomb but went on to be renamed Project X-Ray. The plan was to have a small incendiary device attached to bats that would ignite when the bat roosted during the day inside rooftops. Since Japanese houses were mainly wooden construction it made sense why the project went forward. Unfortunately, some bats managed to escape at Carlsbad Army Airfield Auxiliary Air Base, New Mexico setting fire to portions of the base.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member zonko.

Answer: True

Although Pasteur patented his method of heating these beverages to between 60 and 100 degrees Celsius and this process has become known as pasteurization, the concept of heating wine to prevent spoilage can be traced back to China in 1117 AD. Further, Japanese monks were using the process 300 years before Pasteur. In the West, the concept of using heat to preserve foods was first used by Nicholas Appert who submitted his ideas to the French army after 15 years of experimenting and was awarded 12,000 francs for his work in 1810. But it was Pasteur who discovered why the heating worked and what was happening on a microbiological level that revolutionized the field.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member tazman6619.