PUBPOL 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Engine Knocking, Tetraethyllead, Thomas Midgley Jr.
Document Summary
People have always known that lead is toxic, but it is useful. Health lecture 4: lead guest lecture: ancient romans used it as poison. How did lead enter the environment: thomas midgley jr, charles kettering, tetraethyl lead (december 9, 1921) 1911: kettering invents the electric self-starter: afe, easy a(cid:374)d does(cid:374)"t (cid:374)eed a (cid:272)(cid:396)a(cid:374)k. 1912: produced cadillac with a self-starter: had a problem with a knocking noise because of the type of low-grade fuel. Ethanol: cheap and easy to make, works as fuel, solves engine knock problem, the supply of gasoline could potentially be a problem. Why not ethanol: easy to make, could(cid:374)"t (cid:271)e pate(cid:374)ted, the oil (cid:272)o(cid:373)pa(cid:374)ies did(cid:374)"t (cid:449)a(cid:374)t to (cid:373)ake it. Tetraethyl lead: 1921: proposed, 1922: tel (cid:862)a (cid:272)olo(cid:396)less li(cid:395)uid of s(cid:449)eetish odo(cid:396), (cid:448)e(cid:396)y poiso(cid:374)ous if a(cid:271)so(cid:396)(cid:271)ed through the skin, (cid:396)esulti(cid:374)g i(cid:374) lead poiso(cid:374)i(cid:374)g al(cid:373)ost i(cid:373)(cid:373)ediately(cid:863) pie(cid:396)(cid:396)e du po(cid:374)t, 1923: production begins in dayton.
