SECTION VI 

 CHEMISTRY IN INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH 



By Harrison E. Howe 

 Editor, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Washington, D. C. 



ABSTRACT 



This brief discussion points out the place of chemistry 

 among basic sciences, distinguishes between the fields of 

 pure and applied chemistry, and lists the following 

 factors as those which motivate chemical research: 

 Desire for new knowledge, dissatisfaction with a 

 product or a process, hope of fulfilling a new need, 

 possibility for utilization of raw materials or waste 

 products. 



It is pointed out that some industries — being born of 

 research — pursue it as a matter of course and owe most 

 of their success to such a policy. Forward looking 

 executives initiate research seeking the advantages it is 

 known to afford. In addition research is undertaken 

 by those who are continually combatting or actively 

 creating competition, and others obliged by law to do 

 so, for example, those who must dispose of waste which 

 is either a nuisance or a hazard. 



The facilities for industrial research are discussed. 

 These include laboratories of manufacturers, educa- 



tional institutions, research foundations, endowed 

 institutes and occasionally those of the Government, 

 the services of consultants and sometimes of trade 

 associations. 



How research may begin is indicated, and the im- 

 portance of the time element is stressed since this is 

 often overlooked by those just beginning research. 



A considerable portion of the chapter is devoted to 

 accomplishments of chemical research. Examples in- 

 clude creation of new industries, breaking of monopolies, 

 improvement of products, utilization of wastes, reduc- 

 tion of costs, discovery of new raw materials and new 

 uses for old products, manufacture of new products, and 

 invention of new processes. 



Future trends are discussed from the standpoint of 

 controlling factors. These include new techniques, 

 competitive situations which may develop, and public 

 opinion. Brief mention is made of fields in which 

 greatest activity is expected in the future. 



Chemistry and Its Field 



Chemistry may be defined as the science which deals 

 with the composition of matter and the changes it 

 undergoes under various conditions of temperature and 

 pressure. The chemist is particularly concerned with 

 reactions between elements, their compounds, and 

 mixtures. These reactions produce still other com- 

 pounds, and todaj' much of chemistry has to do with 

 so controlling the direction and extent of these reac- 

 tions as to produce satisfactory yields of predetermined 

 new compounds. 



Chemistry, physics, and mathematics are the basic 

 branches of science. Chemistry is one of the funda- 

 mental sciences, hence it is but natural that its field of 

 application is one of the broadest. This accounts in 

 large measure for the early application of chemical 

 research to industrial problems, its utilization in the 

 broad fields of biology and medicine, and for chemistry 

 as employed in plant control even where physical rather 

 than chemical changes are involved. For example. 



chemical analysis is important in determining the prop- 

 erties of metals and alloys used Ln a machine shop 

 where the transformations are almost wholly in the 

 field of physics. The types of research in which chem- 

 istry is employed will be discussed later and in greater 

 detail. 



Two great divisions of chemistrj' — pure and ap- 

 plied — are still recognized, though often the borderline 

 is indistinct. "Pxu-e chemistry" is the term used to 

 describe work undertaken primarily to expand knowl- 

 edge in the science. It is carried on without reference 

 to the possible practical application of the new truths 

 discovered or of the new data established. It is science 

 for the sake of science, and in the past there have been 

 examples of workers who discontinued a chosen line of 

 study as soon as it became evident to them that what 

 they were doing had some industrial application. The 

 declaration of Millikan that "all research to be justi- 

 fied must ultimately be useful" is recognized as sound 

 by an increasing number of workers in pure science. 



223 



