This week Reactions is on the road.
We’re in West Orange New Jersey at
the laboratory of one of the greatest
inventors of all-time: Thomas Edison.
Edison recognize the value of chemistry
and almost all of his inventions and
a lot of it happened right here.
The Thomas Edison National Historical
park is practically a giant time capsule.
Inside its many buildings are more
than four hundred thousand items
dating back to the 1880s. But it's not
just the artifacts that make it amazing.
It also a template for modern research
and development laboratories everywhere.
The West Orange facility was state of the
art when it opened in 1887 and Edison’s
idea was to make it a one-stop shop.
“You have all that you need here.
You have your chemist, you have your
machinists, You have your physicist.
you have people know about electronics.
And if you're interested in getting
into those areas, you've got
that that expertise here.”
Edison was particularly interested in chemistry.
Not only did he build a giant facility
for chemical research, he had his own
private laboratory in another building.
His love dates back to the
experiments of his childhood.
“He was always a chemist.
He started as a young child,
he had a chemistry lab in his bedroom,
until a certain accident, then his
mother has sent him into the basement.
He had a chemistry lab on the train that he worked on.
So he always valued chemistry in many different forms.”
From batteries, to rubber to recorded music,
chemistry was at the heart of many
of Edison’s world-changing inventions.
His phonograph records evolved from
an etching on tinfoil to wax cylinders.
“He experimented with many different kinds
of waxes and eventually came up with
that number very hard waxes, black waxes
as well as a blue amberol wax that
he eventually commercialized.”
Eventually Edison settled on the more
popular disc shape and used various polymers
and resins to coat a wooden core.
These records were easily mass produced
and highly durable, which is
particularly useful for the portable
phonograph sold by the Edison Company.
Edison phonographs were the first devices
able to reproduce recorded sound.
Thanks Edison he didn't need to see a live performance.
You could get down to hot beats from
Rico Caruso, the Fisk Jubilee singers
and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
And where would portable music players
be these days without a good battery.
Guess who helped usher in the modern battery?
In 1900s, Edison set out to produce an
alternative to the batteries of the day.
“Lead acid batteries at the time were
heavy, they were expensive, they
would spill acid all over the place.
He was looking for a different variant on that.”
Edison put nine years worth of work into
battery research, dealing with laboratory
and commercial failures along the way.
Eventually the Edison storage battery
emerged from West Orange in 1909.
Using a nickel iron alkaline system
that is a precursor to the modern lithium
ion batteries, like the one in the
phone you might be watching this on.
“If you look at your cell phone,
there number of components or features
to it that can be traced back Edison.
It’s got a light in it,
obviously from Edison.
It's got a voice transmitter,
it’s got recorded music on it,
obviously the phonograph itself.
It's got images on it,
motion picture camera,
goes back to Edison as well.”
And many others ideas started here in West Orange.
That incomparable facility is now
a national historic chemical landmark.
“It's not only a commemoration of Edison
and his efforts, but it also highlights
the need for innovation and invention.
He had tremendous impact on the course of human history.
And people should be inspired when
they come here to do same thing.”
Hopefully this video at least inspire you to hit the subscribe button.
For more history check out our video on
Five Black Chemists who changed the World.
And if you’re into inventions,
why not check out how Artificial Snow is made.
Thanks for watching,
and we’re back next week with
more chemistry fun and facts.