III. PERIOD OF TECHNICAL CHEMISTRY AND IATROCHEMISTRY (CHEMISTRY IN THE RENAISSANCE AGE) RENAISSANCE AGE IN EUROPE Development of crafts and trade, the rise of the role of cities, as well as political events in Western Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries. entailed significant changes in the entire way of life

The "blue pantries" of the oceans and seas store virtually inexhaustible reserves of many chemical elements. Thus, one cubic meter of water in the World Ocean contains on average about four kilograms of magnesium. In total, over 6·10 16 tons of this element are dissolved in the waters of our planet.

To show how enormous this value is, we give the following example. Since the beginning of the new chronology, humanity has lived only a little more than 60 billion (i.e. 6·10 10) seconds. This means that if from the very first days of our era people began to extract magnesium from sea water, then in order to exhaust all water reserves of this element by now, they would have to extract a million tons of magnesium every second!

As you can see, Neptune can be calm about his wealth.

The earth's crust contains approximately 10 15 tons of nickel. Is this too much? Is there enough nickel to, say, nickel-plate our entire planet (including the surface of the World Ocean)?

A simple calculation shows that not only will there be enough, but there will also be about... 20 thousand of the same “balls” left.

Who doesn’t know the masterpieces of foundry art located on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin: “Tsar Bell” and “Tsar Cannon”. But few people probably know about other cast “kings”.

More than a thousand years ago, a cast iron “lion king” was cast in China, about six meters high and weighing almost 100 tons. A cart with horses could have driven between the legs of this huge statue.

One of the most ancient “ancestors” of the Moscow “Tsar Bell” is considered to be a Korean 48-ton bell, cast back in 770. Its sound is extremely beautiful. According to legend, the master’s daughter, in order to save her father from numerous failures during metal smelting, threw herself into the molten metal, and her dying cry froze in it.

A new exhibit recently appeared at the Museum of the History of the Peoples of Uzbekistan - a huge cast-iron cauldron discovered during excavations of a mound near Tashkent. The diameter of this cauldron, cast by ancient craftsmen, is about one and a half meters, weight - half a ton. Apparently, the “tsar-cauldron” served an entire army in ancient times: almost five thousand people could be fed from it at once.

A unique casting weighing 600 tons - a cast iron chabot (base) for the most powerful hammer at that time - was made in Russia in 1875. To cast this giant chabot, a huge foundry was built at the Motovilikha plant in Perm. Twenty cupola furnaces melted metal continuously for 120 hours. The chabot cooled for three months, then it was taken out of the mold and, using only levers and blocks, moved to the location of the hammer.

In England there is a city called Ironbridge, which translated into Russian means “Steel Bridge”. The city owes its name to the steel bridge over the River Severn, which was built two hundred years ago. This bridge is the first-born of the steel industry not only in England, but throughout the world. Ironbridge has other highlights of Britain's industrial past. The specialized museum contains many exhibits on the history of technology, demonstrating the successes of English metallurgy in the 18th and 19th centuries.

According to modern ideas, man became acquainted with metals (copper, gold, iron) only a few thousand years ago. And before, on our planet, for almost two million years, stone reigned supreme as the main material for the manufacture of tools and weapons.

However, historians sometimes come across the mention of amazing facts, which (if they are reliable!) indicate that our civilization may have had predecessors who reached a high level of material culture.

In the literature, for example, there is a message that allegedly in the 16th century, the Spaniards, who set foot on the lands of South America, found an iron nail about 20 centimeters long in the silver mines of Peru. This find would hardly have aroused interest if not for one circumstance: most of the nail was tightly cemented in a piece of rock, and this could mean that it had lain in the bowels of the earth for many tens of thousands of years. At one time, the unusual nail was allegedly kept in the office of the Viceroy of Peru, Francisco de Toledo, who usually showed it to his guests.

There are also references to other similar finds. Thus, in Australia, an iron meteorite with traces of processing was discovered in coal seams dating back to the Tertiary period. But who processed it in the Tertiary period, tens of millions of years removed from our time? After all, even such ancient fossil ancestors of humans as Pithecanthropus lived much later - only some 500 thousand years ago.

The journal "Communications of the Scottish Ancient History Society" wrote about a metal object found in the thickness of coal in the mines of Scotland. Another similar find also has a “miner’s” origin: we are talking about a gold chain, allegedly discovered in 1891 in coal seams. Only nature itself is capable of “walling up” it in a piece of coal, and this could have happened in those distant times when coal was being formed.

Where are these objects - a nail, a meteorite, a chain? After all, modern methods of analyzing materials would make it possible, at least to some extent, to shed light on their nature and age, and therefore reveal their secret.

Unfortunately, no one knows this today. And did they really exist?

On July 14, 1789, the rebellious people of France stormed the Bastille - the Great French Revolution began. Along with many decrees and resolutions of a political, social, and economic nature, the revolutionary government decided to introduce a clear metric system of measures. At the proposal of the commission, which included authoritative scientists, one ten-millionth of a quarter of the length of the Parisian geographical meridian was adopted as a unit of length - the meter. For five years, the largest French specialists in the field of astronomy and geodesy scrupulously measured the arc of the meridian from Dunkirk to Barcelona. In 1797, the calculations were completed, and two years later the first meter standard was made - a platinum ruler, called the “archive meter”, or “archive meter”. The unit of mass - the kilogram - was taken to be the mass of one cubic decimeter of water (at 4 °C) taken from the Seine. The platinum cylindrical weight became the standard of the kilogram.

Over the years, however, it became clear that the natural prototypes of these standards - the Parisian meridian and the waters of the Seine - are not very convenient for reproduction, and besides, they are not distinguished by approximate constancy. Metrologists considered such “sins” to be unforgivable. In 1872, the International Metric Commission decided to refuse the services of a natural prototype of length: this honorable role was entrusted to the “archival meter”, according to which 31 standards were made in the form of bars, but not from pure platinum, but from its alloy with iridium (10%). 17 years later, a similar fate befell the water from the Seine: a weight made of the same platinum-iridium alloy was approved as the prototype of the kilogram, and 40 of its exact copies became international standards.

Over the past century, some changes have occurred “in the kingdom of weights and measures”: the “archive meter” was forced to retire (the standard meter became a length equal to 1650763.73 wavelengths of orange radiation from the krypton isotope 86 Kr). But the “world’s most important” kilogram made of an alloy of platinum and iridium still remains in service.

The rare metal indium played an important role in... protecting London from massive German air raids during the Second World War. Due to the extremely high reflectivity of indium, mirrors made from it allowed air defense searchlights in search of air pirates to easily “pierce” with powerful beams the dense fog that often shrouds the British Isles. Since indium is a low-melting metal, the mirror was constantly in need of cooling while the searchlight was operating, but the British military department was willing to incur additional expenses, happily counting the number of enemy aircraft shot down.

In the spring of 1942, the English cruiser Edinburgh left Murmansk, accompanied by a convoy, carrying more than five tons of gold - payment from the USSR to the allies for military supplies.

However, the cruiser did not arrive at its destination port: it was attacked by fascist submarines and destroyers, which caused serious damage to it. And although the cruiser could still remain afloat, the command of the English convoy decided to sink the ship so that the most valuable cargo would not fall to the enemy.

A few years after the end of the war, an idea was born - to extract gold from the belly of a sunken ship. But it took more than a decade before the idea came to fruition.

In April 1981, an agreement was reached between the USSR and Great Britain on lifting the gold cargo, and soon the English company with which the corresponding contract was concluded began work. A specially equipped rescue ship "Stephaniturm" arrived at the site of the sinking of the Edinburgh.

To combat the sea elements, the company attracted experienced and brave divers from different countries. The difficulties lay not only in the fact that the gold rested under 260 meters of water and a layer of silt, but also in the fact that next to it there was a compartment with ammunition, ready to explode at any moment.

Days passed. Taking turns, the divers cleared the way to the gold bars step by step, and finally, late in the evening of September 16, diver from Zimbabwe John Rose lifted a heavy black piece to the surface.

When his colleagues wiped off the dirt and oil that covered the surface of the metal with gasoline, everyone saw the long-awaited yellow shine of gold. Down and Out trouble started! The ascent lasted 20 days, until the raging Barents Sea forced the divers to stop working. In total, 431 gold ingots of the highest standard (9999) weighing almost 12 kilograms were recovered from the abyss. Each of them is valued at 100 thousand pounds sterling at modern exchange rates. But 34 bars were still left at the bottom, waiting in the wings.

All the gold recovered from the Edinburgh was delivered to Murmansk. Here it was carefully weighed, “accounted for” and then divided in accordance with the agreement: part was transferred as a reward to the “miner” company, and the rest of the gold was divided between the Soviet and British sides in a ratio of two to one.

At the end of World War II, an American submarine sank the Japanese ship Awa Maru in the East China Sea. This ship, disguised as a floating hospital, was actually carrying out a responsible mission to transport valuables looted from the countries of East and Southeast Asia. On board, in particular, there were 12 tons of platinum, a large amount of gold, including 16 tons of antique gold coins, 150 thousand carats of rough diamonds, and about 5 thousand tons of rare metals.

The wealth lost in the abyss has haunted many treasure hunters for almost four decades. With the support of the Japanese government, an expedition was recently organized to recover a ship “stuffed” with precious metals. However, the task is complicated by the fact that the location of the Ava Maru has not yet been established. True, there are reports in the press that the Japanese were ahead of the Chinese, who allegedly discovered the ship and have already begun to “clean up” the seabed.

On the northeastern coast of the Caspian Sea there is the Buzachi Peninsula. Industrial oil production began here a long time ago. This event in itself would not have caused much resonance if it had not turned out that Buzachi oil is characterized by a high content of... vanadium.

Now scientists from the Institute of Chemistry, Petroleum and Natural Salts, as well as the Institute of Metallurgy and Enrichment of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR are developing an effective technology for extracting valuable metal from oil “ore”.

Some marine plants and animals - sea cucumbers, sea squirts, sea urchins - “collect” vanadium, extracting it from the water in some way unknown to man. Some scientists believe that vanadium, present in living organisms of this group, performs the same functions as iron in the blood of humans and higher animals, that is, it helps to absorb oxygen, or, figuratively speaking, “breathe.” Other scientists believe that vanadium is necessary for the inhabitants of the seabed not for breathing, but for nutrition. Further research will show which of these scientists is right. So far, it has been possible to establish that the blood of sea cucumbers contains up to 10% vanadium, and in certain species of ascidians the concentration of this element in the blood is billions of times higher than its content in sea water. Real "piggy banks" of vanadium!

Scientists became interested in the possibility of extracting vanadium from these “piggy banks.” In Japan, for example, entire kilometers of sea coast are occupied by ascidian plantations. These animals are very prolific: up to 150 kilograms of ascidians are harvested from one square meter of blue plantations. After harvesting, the living vanadium “ore” is sent to special laboratories, where the metal needed by the industry is obtained from it. There was a report in the press that Japanese metallurgists had already smelted steel that was alloyed with vanadium, “extracted” from sea squirts.

Biologists are increasingly discovering that processes that typically require high temperatures or pressures can occur in living organisms. Thus, recently the attention of scientists has been drawn to sea cucumbers - representatives of an ancient genus that has existed for 50 million years. It turned out that in the gelatinous body of these animals up to 20 centimeters long, which usually live in the silt at the bottom of the seas and oceans, ordinary iron accumulates in the form of tiny balls (with a diameter of no more than 0.002 millimeters) right under the skin. It is still unclear how sea cucumbers manage to “extract” this iron and why they need such a “filling.” A series of experiments with iron isotopes may provide an answer to these questions.

Since the Stone Age gave up its powers to the era of copper and metal took the dominant position among the materials used by man, people have constantly looked for ways to increase its strength. In the middle of the 20th century, scientists were faced with the problems of exploring outer space, conquering the ocean depths, and mastering the energy of the atomic nucleus, and to successfully solve them they needed new structural materials, including super-strong metals.

Not long before this, physicists calculated by calculation the maximum possible strength of substances: it turned out to be tens of times greater than what was actually achieved. How can the strength characteristics of metals be brought closer to theoretical limits?

The answer, as often happened in the history of science, came completely unexpectedly. Even during the Second World War, many cases of failure of various electronic devices, capacitors, and marine telephone cables were recorded. It was soon possible to establish the cause of the accidents: the culprits were tiny (one to two microns in diameter) crystals of tin or cadmium in the form of needles and fibers, which sometimes grew on the surface of steel parts coated with a layer of these metals. To successfully combat filamentary crystals, or “whiskers” (as harmful metallic “vegetation” was called), it was necessary to study them carefully. Whiskers of hundreds of metals and compounds have been grown in laboratories in various countries. They became the object of numerous studies, as a result of which it turned out (truly, every cloud has a silver lining) that the “mustaches” have colossal strength, close to theoretical. The amazing strength of whiskers is explained by the perfection of their structure, which, in turn, is due to their miniature size. The smaller the crystal, the less likely it is to contain various defects - internal and external. Thus, if the surface of ordinary metals, even polished, at high magnification resembles a well-plowed field, then the surface of whisker crystals under the same conditions looks almost smooth (in some of them no roughness was detected even at a magnification of 40,000 times).

From the point of view of the designer, it is quite appropriate to compare the “whiskers” with an ordinary spider web, which, in terms of strength to weight or length, can be considered a “record holder” among all natural and synthetic materials.

Recently, the attention of scientists has been focused on the problems of protecting the environment from industrial pollution. Numerous studies indicate that not only in industrial areas, but also far from them, the atmosphere, soil, and trees contain many times more toxic elements such as lead and mercury.

Interesting data obtained from the analysis of Greenland firn (dense snow). Firn samples were taken from different horizons corresponding to one or another historical period. In samples dating back to 800 BC. e., for every kilogram of firn there is no more than 0.000 000 4 milligrams of lead (this figure is taken as the level of natural pollution, the main source of which is volcanic eruptions). Samples dating back to the middle of the 18th century (the beginning of the industrial revolution) contained 25 times more of it. Later, a real “invasion” of lead began on Greenland: the content of this element in samples taken from the upper horizons, i.e., corresponding to our time, is 500 times higher than the natural level.

The eternal snows of the European mountain ranges are even richer in lead. Thus, its content in the firn of one of the glaciers of the High Tatras has increased approximately 15 times over the past 100 years. Unfortunately, earlier firn samples have not been analyzed. If we proceed from the level of natural concentration, it turns out that in the High Tatras, located next to industrial areas, this level is exceeded by almost 200 thousand times!

Relatively recently, the object of study by Swedish scientists was centuries-old oak trees growing in one of the parks in the center of Stockholm. It turned out that the lead content in trees, which are up to 400 years old, has increased sharply in recent decades along with the increase in the intensity of automobile traffic. So, if in the last century oak wood contained only 0.000001% lead, then by the middle of the 20th century the lead “reserve” doubled, and by the end of the 70s it had already increased approximately 10 times. The side of trees that faces roads and, therefore, is more susceptible to exhaust gases is especially rich in this element.

In some ways, the Rhine was lucky: it turned out to be the only river on our planet after which the chemical element rhenium is named. But other chemical elements cause a lot of trouble for this river. Recently, an international seminar, or “consultation on the Rhine,” as the Western press called it, took place in Dusseldorf. The consultation participants made a unanimous diagnosis: “The river is dying.”

The fact is that the banks of the Rhine are densely “populated” with plants and factories, including chemical ones, which generously supply the river with their wastewater. Numerous sewer “tributaries” help them quite well in this. According to West German scientists, every hour 1,250 tons of various salts enter the Rhine waters - an entire trainload! Every year the river is “enriched” with 3,150 tons of chromium, 1,520 tons of copper, 12,300 tons of zinc, 70 tons of silver oxide and hundreds of tons of other impurities. Is it any wonder that the Rhine is now often called the “sinkhole” and even the “chamber pot of industrial Europe”. They also say that Rain was lucky...

Research by American physicists has shown that even in areas where there are no industrial enterprises or heavy traffic, and therefore no sources of air pollution, microscopic amounts of heavy non-ferrous metals are present.

Where do they come from?

Scientists believe that the Earth's underground ore layer containing these metals is gradually evaporating. It is known that some substances, under certain conditions, can turn into vapor directly from the solid state, bypassing the liquid state. Although the process occurs extremely slowly and on a very small scale, a certain number of “escaping” atoms still manage to reach the atmosphere. However, they are not destined to stay here: rain and snow constantly purify the air, returning evaporated metals to the land they abandoned.

Since ancient times, copper and bronze have appealed to sculptors and minters. Already in the 5th century BC. e. people learned to cast bronze statues. Some of them were gigantic in size. At the beginning of the 3rd century BC. e. for example, the Colossus of Rhodes was created - a landmark of the ancient port of Rhodes on the Aegean coast. The statue of the sun god Helios, towering 32 meters at the entrance to the inner harbor of the port, was considered one of the seven wonders of the world.

Unfortunately, the grandiose creation of the ancient sculptor Charos lasted only a little more than half a century: during an earthquake, the statue was destroyed and was then sold to the Syrians as scrap metal.

Rumor has it that the authorities of the island of Rhodes, in order to attract more tourists, intend to restore this wonder of the world in their harbor using the surviving drawings and descriptions. True, the resurrected Colossus of Rhodes will no longer be made of bronze, but of aluminum. According to the project, inside the head of the revived wonder of the world it is planned to place... a beer bar.

Not long ago, French scientists, conducting underwater research in the Red Sea, discovered a peculiar hole more than 2000 meters deep off the coast of Sudan, and the water at this depth turned out to be very hot.

The researchers descended into the hole on the Siana bathyscaphe, but soon they had to return because the steel walls of the bathyscaphe quickly heated up to 43 °C. Water samples taken by scientists showed that the pit was filled with... hot liquid “ore”: the content of chromium, iron, gold, manganese and many other metals in the water turned out to be unusually high.

For a long time, residents of Tuva noticed that droplets of a shiny liquid appeared from time to time on the rocky slopes of one of the mountains. It is no coincidence that the mountain was named Terlig-Khaya, which translated from Tuvan means “sweaty rock”. As geologists have established, the culprit is mercury, which is contained in the rocks that make up Terlig-Khaya. Now, at the foot of the mountain, workers of the Tuvacobalt plant are conducting exploration and production of “silver water”.

In Kamchatka there is Lake Ushki. Several decades ago, four metal circles - ancient coins - were found on its shore. Two coins were poorly preserved, and numismatists from the Leningrad Hermitage could only establish their Eastern origin. But the other two copper mugs told the experts a lot. They were minted in the ancient Greek city of Panticapaeum, which stood on the shore of the strait, which was called the Cimmerian Bosporus (in the area of ​​​​present-day Kerch).

It is curious that one of these coins can rightfully be considered a contemporary of Archimedes and Hannibal: scientists dated it to the 3rd century BC. The second coin turned out to be “younger” - it was made in 17 AD, when Panticapaeum became the capital of the Bosporan kingdom. On its obverse side there is an image of King Riscuporis I, and on the reverse side there is a profile of a Roman emperor, most likely Tiberius, who reigned from 14 to 37 AD. The joint “residence” of two royal persons on the coin was explained by the fact that the Bosporan kings bore the title “Friend of the Caesars and Friend of the Romans,” and therefore they placed images of Roman emperors on their money.

When and by what routes did the little copper wanderers get from the shores of the Black Sea to the hinterlands of the Kamchatka Peninsula? But ancient coins remain silent.

The Assumption Cathedral is the most beautiful building of the Moscow Kremlin. The interior of the cathedral is illuminated by several chandeliers, the largest of which is made of pure silver. During the War of 1812, this precious metal was looted by Napoleonic soldiers, but “for technical reasons” it was not possible to take it out of Russia. The silver was recaptured from the enemy, and in memory of the victory, Russian craftsmen made this unique chandelier, consisting of several hundred parts, decorated with various ornaments.

While traveling on a yacht along the rivers of Europe in the summer of 1905, the great French composer Maurice Ravel visited a large factory located on the banks of the Rhine. What he saw there literally shocked the composer. In one of his letters, he says: “What I saw yesterday is etched in my memory and will remain forever. This is a gigantic foundry where 24,000 people work around the clock. How can I convey to you the impression of this kingdom of metal, these flaming temples? fire, from this wonderful symphony of whistles, the noise of drive belts, the roar of hammers that fall on you from all sides... How musical it all is! I will definitely use it!.." The composer brought his plan to life only almost a quarter of a century later. In 1928, he wrote music for the small ballet Bolero, which became Ravel's most significant work. Industrial rhythms are clearly heard in the music - more than four thousand drum beats in 17 minutes of sound. Truly a symphony of metal!

If the ancient Greeks had known about titanium metal, it is likely that they would have used it as a building material in the construction of the buildings of the famous Athenian Acropolis. But, unfortunately, the architects of antiquity did not have this “eternal metal”. Their wonderful creations were subject to the destructive effects of centuries. Time mercilessly destroyed the monuments of Hellenic culture.

At the beginning of this century, the noticeably aged Athens Acropolis was reconstructed: individual elements of the buildings were fastened with steel reinforcement. But decades passed, the steel was eaten away by rust in some places, many marble slabs sank and cracked. In order to stop the destruction of the Acropolis, it was decided to replace the steel fastenings with titanium ones, which are not afraid of corrosion, since titanium practically does not oxidize in air. To this end, Greece recently purchased a large batch of “eternal metal” from Japan.

There is hardly a single person who has not lost anything in his life. According to the British Treasury, the British annually lose two million pounds worth of gold and silver jewelry alone, and approximately 150 million coins worth almost three million pounds sterling. Since so much is lost, it means that a lot can be found. This is why quite a few “happiness seekers” have appeared in the British Isles recently. Modern technology came to their aid: special devices such as mine detectors went on sale, designed to search for small metal objects in thick grass, in bushes and even under a layer of soil. For the right to “test the waters,” the Ministry of the Interior of England charges each person (and there are about 100 thousand of them in the country) a tax of 1.2 pounds sterling. Some people apparently managed to justify these expenses; Several times there were reports in the press that ancient gold coins had been found, the value of which on the numismatic market was very high.

In recent years, all kinds of tests to determine a person’s intellectual abilities have become fashionable. However, as an American professor believes, it is possible to completely do without tests, replacing them with an analysis of the hair of the individual being examined. Having analyzed more than 800 different curls and strands, the scientist identified a clear, in his opinion, relationship between mental development and the chemical composition of hair. In particular, he claims that the hair of thinking people contains more zinc and copper than the hair on the heads of their mentally retarded counterparts.

Is this hypothesis worth considering? Apparently, an affirmative answer can be given only if the content of these elements in the hair of the author of the hypothesis turns out to be at a sufficiently high level.

As is known, many chemical elements are necessary for the normal functioning of living and plant organisms. Typically, microelements (they are called that because they are required in microdoses) enter the body with vegetables, fruits and other foods. Recently, the Kiev Confectionery Factory began producing an unusual type of sweet product - sugar, to which microelements necessary for humans have been added. The new sugar contains manganese, copper, cobalt, chromium, vanadium, titanium, zinc, aluminum, lithium, molybdenum, of course, in microscopic quantities.

Have you tried sugar with molybdenum yet?

As you know, bronze has never been considered a precious metal. However, the Parker company intends to make nibs from this widespread alloy in a small batch of souvenir fountain pens (5,000 in total), which will be sold for the incredible price of £100. What reasons do the company's managers have to hope for the successful sale of such expensive souvenirs?

The fact is that the material for the feathers will be bronze, from which parts of the ship's equipment were made of the famous English transatlantic superliner Queen Elizabeth, built in 1940. In the summer of 1944, the Queen Elizabeth, which became a transport ship during the war, set a kind of record by transporting 15,200 military personnel across the ocean in one voyage - the largest number of people in the entire history of navigation. Fate was not kind to this largest passenger ship in the history of the world fleet. The rapid development of aviation after the Second World War led to the fact that in the 60s the Queen Elizabeth was left with virtually no passengers: the majority preferred a rapid flight over the Atlantic Ocean. The luxury liner began to generate losses and was sold to the United States, where it was planned to be laid up and equipped with fashionable restaurants, exotic bars, and gambling halls. But nothing came of this venture, and Queen Elizabeth, sold at auction, ended up in Hong Kong. Here the last sad pages of the biography of the unique giant ship were written. In 1972, a fire broke out on it, and the pride of English shipbuilders turned into a pile of scrap metal.

It was then that the Parker company came up with a tempting idea.

Vast areas of the ocean floor are covered with iron-manganese nodules. Experts believe that the time is not far off when industrial mining of underwater ores will begin. In the meantime, experiments are underway to develop technology for obtaining iron and manganese from nodules. There are already first results. A number of scientists who made a significant contribution to the development of the world's oceans were awarded an unusual commemorative medal: the material for it was iron smelted from iron-manganese nodules that were raised from the ocean floor at a depth of about five kilometers.

Toponymy (from the Greek words “topos” - place, locality, and “onoma” - name) is the science of the origin and development of geographical names. Often a locality received a name due to some characteristics characteristic of it. That is why, shortly before the war, geologists became interested in the names of some sections of one of the Caucasus ranges: Madneuli, Poladeuri and Sarkineti. After all, in Georgian “madani” means ore, “poladi” means steel, “rkina” means iron. Indeed, geological exploration confirmed the presence of iron ores in the depths of these places, and soon, as a result of excavations, ancient adits were discovered.

...Perhaps someday in the fifth or tenth millennium, scientists will pay attention to the name of the ancient city of Magnitogorsk. Geologists and archaeologists will roll up their sleeves, and work will begin to boil where steel once boiled.

Nowadays, when the inquisitive gaze of scientists penetrates further into the depths of the Universe, the interest of science in the microworld, full of secrets and curious facts, does not weaken. Several years ago, for example, one of the employees of the Woodshall Oceanographic Institute (USA, Massachusetts) managed to discover bacteria capable of orienting themselves in the Earth’s magnetic field and moving strictly in a northerly direction. As it turned out, these microorganisms have two chains of crystalline iron, which apparently play the role of a kind of “compass”. Further research should show for which “travels” nature provided bacteria with this “compass.”

One of the most interesting exhibits of the Nizhny Tagil Museum of Local Lore is a massive table-monument made entirely of copper. What is it remarkable about? The answer to this question is given by the inscription on the table top: “This is the first copper in Russia, found in Siberia by the former commissar Nikita Demidov according to the letters of Peter I in 1702, 1705 and 1709, and this table was made from this original copper in 1715.” The table weighs about 420 kilograms.

What collections does the world know! Postage stamps and postcards, ancient coins and watches, lighters and cacti, match and wine labels - these days you won’t surprise anyone. But Z. Romanov, a foundry master from the Bulgarian city of Vidin, has few competitors. He collects cast iron figurines, but not artistic products, such as the famous Kasli casting, but those “works of art” of which he is the author. molten cast iron. During casting, the splashes of metal, as they harden, sometimes take on bizarre shapes. The foundryman's collection, which he called "Cast Iron Jokes", contains figurines of animals and people, fabulous flowers and many other curious objects that were created by cast iron and noticed by the keen eye of the collector.

Somewhat more cumbersome and, perhaps, less aesthetically pleasing are the exhibits from the collection of one of the US residents: he collects cast-iron covers from sewer wells. As they say, “no matter what the child amuses himself with...” However, the wife of the happy owner of numerous lids, apparently, reasoned differently: when there was no more free space left in the house, she realized that the family hearth had a lid, and filed for divorce.

Silver coins were first minted in Ancient Rome in the 3rd century BC. For more than two thousand years, silver coped well with one of its functions - serving as money. And today silver coins are in circulation in many countries. But here’s the problem: inflation and rising prices for precious metals, including silver, on the world market have led to the fact that a noticeable gap has formed between the purchasing power of a silver coin and the cost of the silver contained in it, which is growing every year. For example, the value of the silver contained in the Swedish krona, issued between 1942 and 1967, today is actually 17 times higher than the official rate of this coin.

Some enterprising individuals decided to take advantage of this discrepancy. Simple calculations have shown that it is much more profitable to extract silver from one-crown coins than to use them for their intended purpose in stores. By melting crowns into silver, businessmen “earned” about 15 million crowns over several years. They would have melted silver further, but the Stockholm police stopped their financial and metallurgical activities, and the smelting businessmen were brought to trial.

For many years, the weapons department of the State Historical Museum displayed the hilt of a sword made by Tula craftsmen at the end of the 18th century and presented by them to Catherine II. Of course, the hilt intended as a gift to the empress was not simple or even gold, but diamond. More precisely, it was strewn with thousands of steel beads, which the craftsmen of the Tula Arms Plant gave the appearance of diamonds using a special cut.

The art of cutting steel apparently arose at the beginning of the 18th century. Among the numerous gifts Peter I received from the people of Tula, an elegant safe box with faceted steel balls on the lid attracted attention. And although there were few edges, the metal “precious stones” played and attracted the eye. Over the years, the diamond cut (16–18 facets) is replaced by the diamond cut, where the number of facets can reach hundreds. But turning steel into diamonds required a lot of time and labor, so often steel jewelry turned out to be more expensive than real jewelry. At the beginning of the last century, the secrets of this wonderful art were gradually lost. Alexander I also had a hand in this, categorically forbidding gunsmiths to engage in such “trinkets” at the factory.

But let's return to the hilt. During the renovation of the museum, the hilt was stolen by swindlers who were seduced by the many diamonds: it never occurred to the robbers that these “stones” were made of steel. When the “fake” was discovered, the annoyed thieves, trying to cover their tracks, committed another crime: they broke the priceless creation of Russian craftsmen and buried it in the ground.

Nevertheless, the hilt was found, but corrosion mercilessly dealt with the man-made diamonds: the vast majority of them (about 8.5 thousand) were covered with a layer of rust, and many were completely destroyed. Almost all experts believed that it was impossible to restore the hilt. But still, there was a person who took on this most difficult task: he became the Moscow artist-restorer E.V. Butorov, who had already restored many masterpieces of Russian and Western art.

“I was well aware of the responsibility and complexity of the work ahead,” says Butorov. “Everything was unclear and unknown. The principle of assembling the handle was unclear, the technology for making the diamond edge was unknown, there were no tools necessary for restoration. Before starting work, I spent a long time studying the era of the creation of the hilt, the technology of weapons production of that time.”

The artist was forced to try different cutting methods, combining restoration work with research. The work was complicated by the fact that the “diamonds” differed noticeably both in shape (oval, marquise, fancy, etc.) and in size (from 0.5 to 5 millimeters), a “simple” cut (12 –16 faces) alternated with “royal” (86 faces).

And now behind us are ten years of intense jewelry work, crowned with great success by a talented restorer. The newly born hilt is exhibited in the State Historical Museum.

Mayakovskaya is rightfully considered one of the most beautiful stations of the Moscow metro. It captivates Muscovites and guests of the capital with its amazing lightness of forms and grace of lines. But, apparently, few people know that this soaring openwork of the underground vestibule was achieved due to the fact that during its construction, for the first time in the practice of domestic metro construction, steel structures were used, which were able to absorb the monstrous load of many meters of soil.

The station's builders also used steel as a finishing material. According to the project, corrugated stainless steel was required for cladding the arched structures. Specialists from Dirigiblestroy provided great assistance to the metro builders. The fact is that this enterprise had the latest technology for that time, including the only wide-strip roll forming mill in the country. At that time, an all-metal folding airship designed by K. E. Tsiolkovsky was being installed at this enterprise. The shell of this airship consisted of metal "shells" connected into a movable "lock". A special mill was built for rolling such parts.

The honorary order of the metro builders "Dirizhable Stroy" was completed on time; To be on the safe side, this organization sent its installers to the metro station, who proved to be excellent even deep underground.

In 1958, in Brussels, an unusual building, the Atomium, majestically rose above the territory of the World Industrial Exhibition. Nine huge (18 meters in diameter) metal balls seemed to hang in the air: eight were at the tops of the cube, the ninth was in the center. It was a model of the iron crystal lattice, magnified 165 billion times. The atomium symbolized the greatness of iron - a metal worker, the main metal of industry.

When the exhibition closed, small restaurants and observation decks were placed in the Atomium balls, which were visited by about half a million people annually. It was assumed that the unique building would be dismantled in 1979. However, given the good condition of the metal structures and the considerable income generated by the Atomium, its owners and the Brussels authorities signed an agreement extending the life of this “monument” to iron for at least another 30 years, i.e. until 2009.

On August 18, 1964, in the pre-dawn hour, a space rocket launched on Mira Avenue in Moscow. This star ship was not destined to reach the Moon or Venus, but the fate prepared for it is no less honorable: forever frozen in the Moscow sky, the silvery obelisk will carry through the centuries the memory of the first path laid by man in the distances of space.

For a long time, the authors of the project could not choose the facing material for this majestic monument. First, the obelisk was designed in glass, then in plastic, then in stainless steel. But all these options were rejected by the authors themselves. After much thought and experimentation, the architects decided to go with highly polished titanium sheets. The rocket itself, which crowned the obelisk, was made of titanium.

This “eternal metal,” as titanium is often called, was also preferred by the authors of another monumental structure. At the competition of monument designs in honor of the centenary of the International Telecommunication Union, organized by UNESCO, the first place (out of 213 submitted projects) was taken by the work of Soviet architects. The monument, which was supposed to be installed on the Place des Nations in Geneva, was supposed to be two concrete shells 10.5 meters high, lined with plates of polished titanium. A person walking between these shells along a special path could hear his voice, steps, the NOISE of the city, and see his image in the center of circles going off to infinity. Unfortunately, this interesting project was never realized.

And recently, a monument to Yuri Gagarin was erected in Moscow: a twelve-meter figure of cosmonaut No. 1 on a high column-pedestal and a model of the Vostok spacecraft, which carried out the historic flight, are made of titanium.

Several years ago, the French company Interforge announced its desire to purchase a heavy-duty press for stamping complex large-sized parts for aviation and space technology. Leading companies from many countries took part in this unique competition. Preference was given to the Soviet project. An agreement was soon concluded, and at the beginning of 1975, at the entrance to the ancient French city of Issoire, a huge production building arose, built for one machine - a uniquely powerful hydraulic press with a force of 65 thousand tons. The contract provided not just for the supply of equipment, but for the delivery of the press on a turnkey basis, i.e. installation and commissioning by Soviet specialists.

Exactly on the deadline established by the contract, November 18, 1976, the press stamped the first batch of parts. French newspapers called it the “machine of the century” and cited interesting figures. The mass of this giant - 17 thousand tons - is twice the mass of the Eiffel Tower, and the height of the workshop where it is installed is equal to the height of Notre Dame Cathedral.

Despite its enormous size, the process is characterized by high stamping speed and unusually high accuracy. On the eve of the launch of the unit, French television showed how a two-thousand-ton press beam carefully cracks walnuts without damaging their core, or pushes a matchbox placed “on its butt” without leaving the slightest damage on it.

At the ceremony dedicated to the handover of the press, V. Giscard d'Estaing, then the President of France, spoke. He spoke the final words of his speech in Russian: “Thank you for this excellent achievement, which brings honor to Soviet industry.”

Several years ago, a new research institute for light metals was created in Cleveland (USA). At the opening ceremony, the traditional ribbon stretched in front of the entrance to the institute was made of... titanium. To cut it, the mayor of the city was forced to use a gas torch and safety glasses instead of scissors.

A few years ago, a new exhibit appeared at the Museum of History and Reconstruction of Moscow - an iron ring. And although this modest ring could not be compared with luxurious rings made of precious metals and precious stones, the museum workers gave it a place of honor in their exhibition. What attracted their attention to this ring?

The fact is that the material for the ring was the iron of the shackles that the Decembrist Evgeniy Petrovich Obolensky, the chief of staff of the uprising on Senate Square, had been wearing for a long time in Siberia, sentenced to eternal hard labor. In 1828, the highest permission came to remove the shackles from the Decembrists. Brothers Nikolai and Mikhail Bestuzhev, who were serving their sentence at the Nerchinsk mines together with Obolensky, made commemorative iron rings from his shackles.

More than a hundred years after Obolensky’s death, the ring was kept along with other heirlooms in his family, passing from generation to generation. And today, the descendants of the Decembrist donated this unusual iron ring to the museum.

For more than a century, people have been using razor blades - thin, sharpened plates made of different metals. Omniscient statistics claim that today about 30 billion blades are produced annually in the world.

At first they were made mainly from carbon steel, then it was replaced by “stainless steel”. In recent years, the cutting edges of blades have been coated with a thin layer of high-molecular polymer materials that serve as a dry lubricant in the process of cutting hair, and to increase the durability of the cutting edges, atomic films of chromium, gold or platinum are sometimes applied to them.

In 1974, a discovery was registered in the USSR, which is based on complex biochemical processes performed. bacteria. Long-term study of antimony deposits has shown that antimony in them gradually oxidizes, although under normal conditions such a process cannot occur: this requires high temperatures - more than 300 ° C. What reasons make antimony violate chemical laws?

A study of samples of oxidized ore showed that they were densely populated with previously unknown microorganisms, which were the culprits of oxidative “events” in the mines. But, having oxidized antimony, the bacteria did not rest on their laurels: they immediately used the energy of oxidation to carry out another chemical process - chemosynthesis, i.e., to convert carbon dioxide into organic substances.

The phenomenon of chemosynthesis was first discovered and described back in 1887 by the Russian scientist S. N. Vinogradsky. However, until now, science knew only four elements, the bacterial oxidation of which releases energy for chemosynthesis: nitrogen, sulfur, iron and hydrogen. Now antimony has been added to them.

Which Muscovites or guests of the capital have not been to the State Department Store - GUM? The shopping arcade building, built almost a hundred years ago, is experiencing its second youth. Specialists from the All-Union Production Research and Restoration Plant completed extensive work on the reconstruction of GUM. In particular, the galvanized iron roof, which had worn out over many years, was replaced with modern roofing material - “tiles” made of sheet copper.

For many years, scientists have been arguing over the unique creation of ancient Egyptian craftsmen - the golden mask of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Some claimed that it was made from a whole bar of gold. Others believed that it was assembled from separate parts. To establish the truth, it was decided to use a cobalt gun. Using a cobalt isotope, or more precisely the gamma rays it emitted, it was possible to establish that the mask actually consists of several parts, but so carefully fitted to one another that it was impossible to notice the joint lines with the naked eye.

In 1980, a famous collection of ancient Egyptian art was exhibited in West Berlin. The center of attention, as always, was the famous mask of Tutankhamun. Unexpectedly, on one of the days of the exhibition, experts noticed three deep cracks on the mask. Probably, for some reason, the “seams,” i.e., the joining lines of individual parts of the mask, began to diverge. Seriously alarmed, representatives of the Commission for Culture and Tourism of Egypt hastened to return the collection to Egypt. Now the word is up to the examination, which should answer the question, what happened to the most valuable work of art of antiquity?

As on Earth, metals in their pure form are relatively rare on the Moon. Nevertheless, it has already been possible to find particles of metals such as iron, copper, nickel, and zinc. In a sample of lunar soil taken by the Luna-20 automatic station in the continental part of our satellite - between the Sea of ​​Crisis and the Sea of ​​Plenty - native aluminum was discovered for the first time. When studying a lunar fraction weighing 33 milligrams at the Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the USSR Academy of Sciences, three tiny particles of pure aluminum were identified. These are flat, slightly elongated grains measuring 0.22, 0.15 and 0.1 millimeters with a matte surface and silver-gray when freshly fractured.

The crystal lattice parameters of native lunar aluminum turned out to be the same as those of pure aluminum samples obtained in terrestrial laboratories. In nature on our planet, native aluminum was found by scientists only once, in Siberia. According to experts, this metal should be more common in its pure form on the Moon. This is explained by the fact that the lunar soil is constantly “fired” by streams of protons and other particles of cosmic radiation. Such bombardment could disrupt the crystal lattice and break the bonds of aluminum with other chemical elements in the minerals that make up the lunar rock. As a result of the “breakdown”, particles of pure aluminum appear in the soil.

Three quarters of a century ago the Battle of Tsushima took place. In this unequal battle with the Japanese squadron, the depths of the sea swallowed up several Russian ships and among them the cruiser Admiral Nakhimov.

Recently, the Japanese company Nippon Marine decided to raise a cruiser from the bottom of the sea. Of course, the operation to raise the Admiral Nakhimov is explained not by a love of Russian history and its relics, but by the most selfish considerations: there is information that on board the sunken ship there were gold bars, the value of which in current prices can range from 1 to $4.5 billion.

It has already been possible to determine the place where the cruiser lies at a depth of about 100 meters, and the company is ready to begin lifting it. According to experts, this operation will last several months and will cost the company approximately one and a half million dollars. Well, you can risk millions for the sake of billions.

Products made from wood or stone, ceramics or metal, made hundreds and sometimes thousands of years ago, decorate the stands of the largest museums in the world and take pride of place in numerous private collections. Lovers of antiquities are ready to pay fabulous amounts of money for the works of ancient masters, and some enterprising lovers of money, in turn, are ready to create a wide assortment and profitably sell “objects of deep antiquity.”

How to distinguish genuine rarities from finely crafted fakes? Previously, the only “device” for this purpose was the experienced eye of a specialist. But, alas, you cannot always rely on him. Today, science makes it possible to fairly accurately determine the age of various products made from any materials.

Perhaps the main objects of falsification are gold jewelry, figurines, coins of ancient peoples - the Etruscans and Byzantines, the Incas and Egyptians, the Romans and Greeks. Methods for establishing the authenticity of gold objects are based on technological examination and analysis of the metal. By one or another impurity, old gold can be easily distinguished from new gold, and the metal processing methods used by ancient masters and the nature of their creativity are so original and unique that the chances of counterfeiters to succeed are reduced to zero.

Experts recognize copper and bronze fakes by the surface features of the metal, but mainly by its chemical composition. Since it has changed several times over the centuries, each period is characterized by a certain content of the main components. Thus, in 1965, the collection of the Berlin Kunshandel Museum was replenished with a valuable exhibit - a bronze late antique watering can in the shape of a horse. This watering can, or rhyton, was thought to represent “a Coptic work of the 9th–10th centuries.” Exactly the same bronze rhyton, the authenticity of which was beyond doubt, is kept in the Hermitage. A careful comparison of the exhibits led scientists to believe that the Berlin horse is nothing more than a skillfully crafted fake. And indeed, the analysis confirmed the fears: the bronze contained 37–38% zinc - a bit too much for the 10th century. Most likely, experts believe, this rhyton was born only a few years before it came to the Kunsthandel, that is, around 1960 - during the “rush hour” of fashion for Coptic products.

To determine the authenticity of ancient ceramics, scientists have successfully used the method of archaeomagnetism. What does it consist of? When the ceramic mass is cooled, the iron particles it contains have a “habit” of lining up along the lines of force of the Earth’s magnetic field. And since it changes over time, the nature of the arrangement of iron particles also changes, thanks to which, through simple research, it is possible to determine the age of the “suspected” ceramic product. Even if the counterfeiter managed to select the composition of the ceramic mass, similar to the ancient compositions, and skillfully copy the shape of the product, then, of course, he is not able to arrange the iron particles accordingly. This is what will give him away.

As you know, metals have a fairly high coefficient of thermal expansion.

For this reason, steel structures, depending on the time of year, and therefore on the ambient temperature, become longer or shorter. Thus, the famous Eiffel Tower - the “iron madame”, as Parisians often call it - is 15 centimeters higher in summer than in winter.

Our planet is not very hospitable to celestial wanderers: upon entering the dense layers of its atmosphere, large meteorites usually explode and fall to the earth's surface in the form of so-called “meteor showers”.

The heaviest such “rain” fell on February 12, 1947 over the western spurs of the Sikhote-Alin. It was accompanied by the roar of explosions; a fireball was visible within a radius of 400 kilometers - a bright fireball with a huge glowing smoky tail.

To study such unusual “atmospheric precipitation”, an expedition of the Committee on Meteorites of the USSR Academy of Sciences soon arrived in the area where the space alien fell. In the taiga wilds, scientists found 24 craters with a diameter of 9 to 24 meters, as well as more than 170 craters and holes formed by particles of “iron rain”. In total, the expedition collected over 3,500 iron fragments with a total weight of 27 tons. According to experts, before meeting the Earth, this meteorite, called Sikhote-Alin, weighed about 70 tons.

Geologists often use the “services” of many plants, which serve as unique indicators of certain chemical elements and, thanks to this, help to detect deposits of the corresponding minerals in the soil. And a mining engineer from Zimbabwe, William West, decided to involve representatives not of flora, but of fauna, as assistants in geological searches, more precisely, ordinary African termites. When building their cone-shaped “dormitories” - termite mounds (their height sometimes reaches 15 meters), these insects penetrate deep into the ground. Returning to the surface, they take with them building material - soil “samples” from different depths. That is why the study of termite mounds - determining their chemical and mineral composition - allows us to judge the presence of certain minerals in the soil of a given area.

West conducted many experiments, which then formed the basis of his “thermite” method. The first practical results have already been obtained: thanks to engineer West’s method, rich gold-bearing strata were discovered.

Antarctica, discovered in 1820, still remains a continent of mysteries: after all, almost its entire territory (by the way, almost one and a half times the area of ​​Europe) is encased in an ice shell. The ice thickness averages 1.5–2 kilometers, and in some places reaches 4.5 kilometers.

It is not easy to look under this “shell,” and although scientists from a number of countries have been conducting intensive research here for more than a quarter of a century, Antarctica has not revealed all of its secrets. In particular, scientists are interested in the natural resources of this continent. Many facts suggest that Antarctica has a common geological past with South America, Africa, Australia and, therefore, these regions should have approximately similar mineral spectrums. Thus, Antarctic rocks apparently contain diamonds, uranium, titanium, gold, silver, and tin. In some places, seams of coal and deposits of iron and copper-molybdenum ores have already been discovered. For now, mountains of ice stand as an obstacle on the way to them, but sooner or later these riches will be at the disposal of people.

Municipal budgetary educational institution "Secondary school No. 4" in Safonovo, Smolensk region Project The work was carried out by: Ksenia Pisareva, 10th grade Anastasia Strelyugina, 10th grade Supervised the work by: Natalya Ivanovna Sokolova, teacher of biology and chemistry 2015/2016 academic year Project Theme "Chemical substances used in architecture" Project typology: abstract individual short-term Purpose: integration on the topic "Architectural Monuments" of the subject "World Artistic Culture" and information about chemical substances used in architecture. Chemistry is a science associated with many fields of activity, as well as with other sciences: physics, geology, biology. It did not bypass one of the most interesting types of activity - architecture. A person working in this field inevitably has to deal with different types of building materials and somehow be able to combine them, add something to them for greater strength, durability, or to give the most beautiful appearance to the building. To do this, architecture needs to know the composition and properties of building materials, it is necessary to know their behavior in normal and extreme environmental conditions of the area in which construction is being carried out. The purpose of this work is to introduce the buildings that are most interesting in their architectural design and talk about the materials used in their construction. No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Project section Assumption Cathedral St. Isaac's Cathedral Intercession Cathedral Smolensk Assumption Cathedral St. Vladimir Church Presentation Objects used Photo Photo Photo Photo Photo Vladimir Assumption Cathedral It is located in Vladimir. The “Golden Age” of the construction of ancient Vladimir is the second half of the 12th century. The Assumption Cathedral of the city is the earliest architectural monument of this period. Built in 1158-1160 under Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, the cathedral later underwent significant reconstruction. During the fire of 1185, the old Assumption Cathedral was severely damaged. Prince Vsevolod III, “who did not look for craftsmen from the Germans,” immediately began to restore it using local craftsmen. The building was made of hewn white stone, which formed a powerful “box” of the wall, which was filled with rubble and durable lime mortar. For information, rubble stone is large pieces of irregular shape measuring 150-500 mm, weighing 20-40 kg, obtained during the development of limestone, dolomite and sandstone (less often), granite and other igneous rocks. The stone obtained during blasting operations is generally called “ragged”. The rubble stone must be homogeneous, have no signs of weathering, delamination or cracks, and not contain loose and clayey inclusions. The compressive strength of stone from sedimentary rocks is not less than 10 MPa (100 kgf/cm), the softening coefficient is not less than 0.75, frost resistance is not less than 15 cycles. Rubble stone is widely used for rubble and rubble concrete masonry of foundations, walls of unheated buildings, retaining walls, ice cutters and tanks. The new Assumption Cathedral was created in the era of Vsevolod, about whom the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” wrote that the prince’s warriors could “splash the Volga with their oars.” The cathedral from one-domed becomes five-domed. There is relatively little sculptural decoration on its facades. Its plastic richness lies in the profiled slopes of slit-like windows and wide perspective portals with an ornamented top. Both its exterior and interior take on a new character. The interior decoration of the cathedral amazed contemporaries with its festive folk quality, which was created by the abundance of gilding, majolica floors, precious utensils and especially fresco murals. St. Isaac's Cathedral One of the no less beautiful buildings is St. Isaac's Cathedral, located in St. Petersburg. In 1707, the church, called St. Isaac's, was consecrated. On February 19, 1712, the public wedding ceremony of Peter I and Ekaterina Alekseevna took place there. On August 6, 1717, the second St. Isaac's Church was founded on the banks of the Neva, built according to the design of the architect G.I. Mattarnovi. Construction work continued until 1727, but already in 1722 the church was mentioned among the existing ones. However, the place for its construction was chosen poorly: the banks of the Neva had not yet been strengthened, and the beginning of soil sliding caused cracks in the walls and arches of the buildings. In May 1735, a fire broke out from a lightning strike, completing the destruction that had begun. On July 15, 1761, by decree of the Senate, the design and construction of the new St. Isaac's Church was entrusted to S.I. Chevakinsky, the author of St. Nicholas Cathedral. But he did not have to carry out his plan. Construction dates have been postponed. Having ascended the throne in 1762, Catherine II entrusted the design and construction to the architect Antonio Rinaldi. The cathedral was conceived with five intricately designed domes and a high bell tower. Marble cladding should add sophistication to the color scheme of the facades. This rock got its name from the Greek “mramoros” - brilliant. This carbonate rock is composed primarily of calcite and dolomite, and sometimes includes other minerals. It arises in the process of deep transformation of ordinary, that is, sedimentary limestones and dolomites. During metamorphic processes occurring under conditions of high temperature and high pressure, sedimentary limestones and dolomites recrystallize and become compacted; Many new minerals are often formed in them. For example, quartz, chalcedony, graphites, hematite, pyrite, iron hydroxides, chlorite, brucite, tremolite, garnet. Most of the listed minerals are observed in marble only in the form of single grains, but sometimes some of them are contained in significant quantities, determining important physical, mechanical, technical and other properties of the rock. Marble has a well-defined grain: on the surface of the chipped stone, reflections are visible that appear when light is reflected from the so-called cleavage planes of calcite and dolomite crystals. The grains are small (less than 1 mm), medium and large (several millimeters). The transparency of the stone depends on the size of the grains. Thus, Carrara white marble has a compressive strength of 70 megapascals and it collapses faster under load. The tensile strength of fine-grained marble reaches 150-200 megapascals and this marble is more resistant. But construction was extremely slow. Rinaldi was forced to leave St. Petersburg without completing the work. After the death of Catherine II, Paul I commissioned the court architect Vincenzo Brenna to hastily complete it. Brenna was forced to distort Rinaldi’s project: reduce the size of the upper part of the cathedral, build one instead of five domes; The marble cladding was extended only to the cornice; the upper part remained brick. The raw materials for sand-lime brick are lime and quartz sand. When preparing the mass, lime makes up 5.56.5% by weight, and water 6-8%. The prepared mass is pressed and then heated. The chemical essence of the hardening process of sand-lime brick is completely different than with a binder based on lime and sand. At high temperatures, the acid-base interaction of calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)2 with silicon dioxide SiO2 is significantly accelerated with the formation of calcium silicate salt CaSiO3. The formation of the latter ensures the bond between the sand grains, and, consequently, the strength and durability of the product. As a result, a squat brick building was created that was not in harmony with the ceremonial appearance of the capital. On April 9, 1816, during an Easter service, damp plaster fell from the vaults onto the right choir. Soon the cathedral was closed. In 1809, a competition was announced to create a project for the reconstruction of St. Isaac's Cathedral. Nothing came of the competition. In 1816, Alexander I instructed A. Betancourt to prepare regulations for the reconstruction of the cathedral and select an architect for this. Betancourt suggested entrusting this work to a young architect who came from France, Auguste Ricard de Montferrand. A. Betancourt presented the album with his drawings to the king. Alexander I liked the work so much that he issued a decree appointing Montferrand “imperial architect.” Only on July 26, 1819, the solemn act of renovation of St. Isaac's Church took place. The first granite stone with a gilded bronze plaque was placed on the piles. Granites are among the most common construction, decorative and facing materials and have played this role since ancient times. It is durable, relatively easy to process into different shapes, holds polish well and weathers very slowly. Typically, granite has a granular, uniform structure and, although it consists of multi-colored grains of different minerals, its overall color tone is uniform pink or gray. A geologist called granite a crystalline rock of deep igneous or mountain origin consisting of three main minerals: feldspar (usually about 30-50% of the rock volume), quartz (about 30-40%) and mica (up to 10-15%) . This is either pink microcline or orthoclase, or white albite or onigoclase, or two feldspars at once. Similarly, micas are either muscovite (light mica) or biotite (black mica). Sometimes other minerals are present in granite instead. For example, red garnet or greenhorn blende. All the minerals that make up granite are chemically silicates, sometimes with a very complex structure. On April 3, 1825, the Montferrand processing project was established. When constructing walls and support pylons, lime mortar was carefully prepared. Sifted lime and sand were alternately poured into the tubs so that one layer lay on top of the other, then they were mixed, and this composition was kept for at least three days, after which it was used for brickwork. Interestingly, lime is the oldest binding material. Archaeological excavations have shown that in the palaces of ancient China there were wall paintings with pigments fixed with slaked lime. Quicklime - calcium oxide CaO - was produced by roasting various natural calcium carbonates. CaCO₃ CaO +CO₂ The content of small amounts of undecomposed calcium carbonate in quicklime improves the binding properties. Lime slaking comes down to converting calcium oxide into hydroxide. CaO + H₂O Ca (OH)2 + 65 kJ Lime hardening is associated with physical and chemical processes. Firstly, mechanically mixed water evaporates. Secondly, calcium hydroxide crystallizes, forming a calcareous framework of intergrown Ca(OH)₂ crystals. In addition, Ca(OH)₂ interacts with CO₂ to form calcium carbonate (carbonation). Poorly or “falsely” dried plaster can lead to peeling of the oil paint film due to the formation of soap as a result of the interaction of calcium alkali with drying oil fats. The addition of sand to lime paste is necessary because otherwise, when hardened, it shrinks severely and cracks. The sand serves as a kind of reinforcement. Brick walls were built from two and a half to five meters thick. Together with marble cladding, this is 4 times the usual wall thickness of civil buildings. External marble cladding, 5-6 cm thick, and internal, 1.5 cm thick, were made together with the brickwork of the walls and connected to it with iron hooks. The ceilings were made of brick. The sidewalk was supposed to be made of Serdobol granite, and the space behind the fence was to be paved with red marble platforms and a red granite border. White, gray, black and colored marbles are found in nature. Colored marbles are very widespread. There is no other decorative stone, with the exception, perhaps, of jasper, which would be characterized by very diverse colors and patterns, like colored marble. The color of marble is usually caused by a finely crystalline, often dusty, admixture of brightly colored minerals. Red, violet, purple colors are usually attributed to the presence of red iron oxide, the mineral sematite. Intercession Cathedral Intercession Cathedral (1555-1561) (Moscow) Built in the 16th century. by the brilliant Russian architects Barma and Postnik, the Intercession Cathedral - the pearl of Russian national architecture - logically completes the ensemble of Red Square. The cathedral is a picturesque structure of nine high towers, decorated with fancy domes of various shapes and colors. Another small figured (tenth) dome crowns St. Basil's Church. In the center of this group rises the main tower, sharply different in size, shape and decoration - the Church of the Intercession. It consists of three parts: a tetrahedron with a square base, an octagonal tier and a tent ending in an octagonal light drum with a gilded head. The transition from the octagonal part of the central part of the tower to the tent is carried out using a whole system of kokoshniks. The base of the tent rests on a wide white stone cornice shaped like an eight-pointed star. The central tower is surrounded by four large towers, located along the cardinal points, and four small ones, located diagonally. The lower tier rests with its edges on a complex-shaped and beautifully designed plinth made of red brick and white stone. Red clay brick is made from clay mixed with water, then molded, dried and fired. Formed brick (raw) should not crack when drying. The red color of the brick is due to the presence of Fe₂O₃ in the clay. This color is obtained if firing is carried out in an oxidizing atmosphere, that is, with an excess of oxygen. In the presence of reducing agents, grayish-lilac tones appear on the brick. Currently, hollow bricks are used, that is, they have cavities inside of a certain shape. For cladding buildings, two-layer bricks are made. When molding it, a layer of light-burning clay is applied to an ordinary brick. Drying and firing of two-layer facing bricks is carried out using conventional technology. Important characteristics of brick are moisture absorption and frost resistance. To prevent damage from weathering, brickwork is usually protected with plaster and tiling. A special type of fired clay brick is clinker. It is used in architecture for cladding the plinths of buildings. Clinker bricks are made from special clay with high viscosity and low deformability during firing. It is characterized by relatively low water absorption, high compressive strength and high wear resistance. Smolensk Assumption Cathedral From whichever direction you approach Smolensk, you can see the domes of the Assumption Cathedral - one of the largest churches in Russia - from afar. The temple crowns a high mountain located between two ravines deeply cut into the coastal slope. Crowned with five chapters (instead of seven according to the original version), festive and solemn, with lush Baroque decor on the facades, it rises high above the urban development. The grandeur of the building is felt both outside, when you stand at its foot, and inside, where, among the space filled with light and air, a gigantic, unusually solemn and magnificent gilded iconostasis rises upward, shimmering with gold - a miracle of wood carving, one of the outstanding works of decorative art of the 18th century , created in 1730-1739 by the Ukrainian master Sila Mikhailovich Trusitsky and his students P. Durnitsky, F. Olitsky, A. Mastitsky and S. Yakovlev. Next to the Assumption Cathedral, almost close to it, there is a two-tier cathedral bell tower. Small, it is somewhat lost against the background of the huge temple. The bell tower was built in 1767 in the forms of the St. Petersburg Baroque according to the design of the architect Pyotr Obukhov, a student of the famous Baroque master D.V. Ukhtomsky. In the lower part of the bell tower, fragments of the previous building from 1667 are preserved. The Assumption Cathedral in Smolensk was built in 1677-1740. The first cathedral on this site was founded back in 1101 by Vladimir Monomakh himself. The cathedral became the first stone building in Smolensk, it was rebuilt more than once - including the Assumption Cathedral in Smolensk by the grandson of Monomakh, Prince Rostislav, until in 1611 the surviving defenders of Smolensk, who defended themselves for 20 months from the troops of the Polish king Sigismund III, finally, when the Poles They broke into the city and blew up the powder magazine. Unfortunately, the cellar was located right on Cathedral Hill, and the explosion practically destroyed the ancient temple, burying many Smolensk residents and the ancient tombs of Smolensk princes and saints under its rubble. In 1654, Smolensk was returned to Russia, and the pious Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich allocated as much as 2 thousand silver rubles from the treasury for the construction of a new main temple in Smolensk. The remains of the ancient walls, under the leadership of the Moscow architect Alexei Korolkov, were dismantled for more than a year, and in 1677 the construction of a new cathedral began. However, due to the fact that the architect violated the specified proportions, construction was suspended until 1712. Assumption Cathedral in Smolensk. In 1740, under the leadership of architect A.I. Shedel, the work was completed and the temple was consecrated. In its original form, it stood for only twenty years, due to the presence of different architects and constant changes in the project. It ended with the collapse of the central and western chapters of the cathedral (there were seven in total at that time). The top was restored in 1767-1772, but with a simple traditional five-domed structure, which we now see. This cathedral is not only visible from everywhere, it is also truly huge - twice the size of the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin: 70 meters high, 56.2 meters long and 40.5 meters wide. The decoration of the cathedral is made in the Baroque style both outside and inside. The interior of the cathedral amazes with its pomp and luxury. Work on painting the temple lasted 10 years under the leadership of S.M. Trusitsky. Assumption Cathedral in Smolensk. The magnificent iconostasis, 28 meters high, has survived to this day, but the main shrine - the icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria - disappeared in 1941. Assumption Cathedral in Smolensk The cathedral bell tower, fading against the background of the huge temple, was built in 1763-1772. from the northwest of the cathedral. It was erected on the site of the previous bell tower, and the ancient foundations have been preserved at the base. At the same time, the cathedral fence was built with three high gates, shaped like triumphal arches. From the central street, a wide granite staircase of the same time leads up to Cathedral Hill, ending in a walkway. The cathedral was spared both by time and the wars that passed through Smolensk. After taking the city, Napoleon even ordered a guard to be posted, marveling at the splendor and beauty of the cathedral. The cathedral is now operational and services are held there. St. Vladimir's Church in Safonovo, Smolensk Region In May 2006, the city of Safonovo celebrated a significant anniversary - a hundred years ago the first church parish was opened on the territory of the future city. At that time, on the site of the current city blocks there were a number of villages, villages and farmsteads surrounding the railway station, which was called “Dorogobuzh” after the nearby county town. The closest village to the station was the village of Dvoryanskoye (current Krasnogvardeyskaya Street) and across the Velichka River from it was the landowner Tolstoy estate (now in its place is a small park). Tolstoy, which received its name from the Tolstoy nobles, has been known since the beginning of the 17th century. By the beginning of the 20th century it was a small owner's estate with one yard. Its owner was an outstanding public figure of the Smolensk province, Alexander Mikhailovich Tukhachevsky, a relative of the famous Soviet marshal. Alexander Tukhachevsky in 1902-1908 headed Dorogobuzh local government - zemstvo assembly, and in 1909-1917. led the provincial zemstvo council. The noble families owned the Leslie and Begichev families. The construction of a railway station on the banks of the Velichka River in 1870 turned this remote place into one of the most important economic centers of Dorogobuzh district. Timber warehouses, inns, shops, a postal station, a pharmacy, bakeries appeared here... The population of the station village began to grow. A fire brigade appeared here, and with it in 1906 a public library was organized - the first cultural institution of the future city. It is probably no coincidence that in the same year the spiritual life of the area received organizational form. In 1904, a stone temple was erected next to Tolstoy in the name of Archangel Michael, thereby turning the owner's estate into a village. Probably, the Archangel Church was for some time assigned to one of the nearby villages. However, already on May 4 (May 17 - according to the current style) 1906, a decree of the Holy Government Synod No. 5650 was issued, which stated: “At the newly built church in the village of Tolstoy, Dorogobuzh district, open an independent parish with a clergy of a priest and a psalm-reader in order to maintain The clergy of the newly opened parish relied exclusively on exquisite local funds.” Thus began the life of the parish of the village of Tolstoy and the Dorogobuzh station. Nowadays, the heir to the church in the village of Tolstoy is the St. Vladimir Church located in its place. Fortunately, history has preserved for us the name of the builder of the Archangel Michael Church. He was one of the most famous Russian architects and engineers, Professor Vasily Gerasimovich Zalessky. He was a nobleman, but initially his family belonged to the clergy and was known in the Smolensk region since the 18th century. People from this family entered the civil and military service and, having reached high ranks and ranks, claimed noble dignity. Since 1876, Vasily Gerasimovich Zalessky served as a city architect at the Moscow City Government and erected most of his buildings in Moscow. He built factory buildings, public houses, and private mansions. Probably the most famous of his buildings is the house of sugar refiner P.I. Kharitonenko on Sofiyskaya Embankment, where the residence of the English ambassador is now located. The interiors of this building were decorated by Fyodor Shekhtel in an eclectic style. Vasily Gerasimovich was a leading specialist in Russia in ventilation and heating. He had his own office, engaged in work in this area. Zalessky carried out extensive teaching activities and published a popular textbook on building architecture. He was a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Society of Architects, a member of the Moscow Architectural Society, and headed the Moscow branch of the Society of Civil Engineers. At the end of the 19th century, V.G. Zalessky acquired a small estate of 127 acres in the Dorogobuzh district with the village of Shishkin. It was picturesquely located on the banks of the Vopets River. Now Shishkino is the northern outskirts of the city of Safonov. The estate was bought by Zalessky as a summer cottage. Despite the fact that Shishkino was a place of rest for Vasily Gerasimovich from his extensive professional activities, he did not remain aloof from the life of the local area. At the request of the chairman of the Dorogobuzh district assembly, Prince V.M. Urusov, Zalessky drew up plans and estimates for free for the construction of zemstvo primary schools with one and two classrooms. Two miles from Shishkin in the village of Aleshina, the Dorogobuzh zemstvo began to create a large hospital. In 1909, Vasily Zalessky accepted the obligation to be a trustee of this hospital under construction, and in 1911 he offered to equip it with central heating at his own expense. At the same time, the zemstvo asked him “to take part in supervising the construction of the hospital in Aleshin.” V.G. Zalessky was an honorary trustee of the fire brigade of the Dorogobuzh station and a donor of books for its public library. It is curious that in addition to the Archangel Michael Church in the village of Tolstoy, V.G. Zalessky is also related to the Smolensk Assumption Cathedral. According to his relatives, he installed central heating there. Soon after the opening of the parish, a parochial school appeared in the village of Tolstoy, which had its own building. The first mention of it dates back to 1909. The current St. Vladimir Church of Safonov is famous for its beautiful church choir. A remarkable fact is that a century ago the same glorious choir was in the church in the village of Tolstoy. In 1909, in an article in the Smolensk Diocesan Gazette, dedicated to the consecration of the newly built large nine-domed church in the village of Neyolova, it was reported that during the solemn service, the singing choir from the Dorogobuzh station sang beautifully. The Archangel Michael Church, like any newly built church, did not have ancient icons and was probably quite modest in its interior decoration. In any case, the rector of the temple noted in 1924 that only two icons - the Mother of God and the Savior - have any artistic value. Currently, the name of only one rector of the temple is known. From December 1, 1915 and at least until 1924, he was Father Nikolai Morozov. He probably served in the Tolstoy church in subsequent years. In 1934, the church in the village of Tolstoy was closed by decree of the Smolensk Regional Executive Committee No. 2339 and was used as a warehouse for high-quality grain. During the Great Patriotic War, the church building was destroyed and only in 1991, according to the only surviving photograph, the destroyed church was rebuilt through the efforts of its abbot, Father Anthony Mezentsev, who now heads the community of the Boldinsky Monastery with the rank of archimandrite. Thus, the first temple of Safonov completed the circle of its life, in some ways repeating the path of the Savior: from crucifixion and death for faith to the resurrection by Divine Providence. Let this miracle of the revival from the ashes of the destroyed Safonov shrine become for the residents of the city a vivid example of the creative power of the human spirit and the faith of Christ.