Kunal Patel

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Term Paper Title	Kunal Patel
# of Words	1236
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.94

Kunal Patel
U.S. History I
Mrs. Farrington
  The discovery of ether was the greatest American discovery because it helped many to overcome the pain of surgery and helped to form the Theory of Relativity.  Without ether, surgery could be one of the most feared things in the world for it would be extremely painful without any type of anesthetic and we may have not known as much as we do about physics today.
The substance ether itself was originally discovered somewhere in the 4th century B.C. by the Greeks.  However, the anesthetic properties of ether were discovered in 1842 by an American surgeon named Crawford Williamson Long.  He had discovered this while removing a tumor from the neck of a patient.  Unfortunately for him, he didn't tell anybody until 1849 while an American dentist named William Morton had proved ether's anesthetic properties in public in 1846, thus taking credit for the discovery.
Ether, usually called ethyl ether or diethyl ether, is a liquid compound that is colorless whose chemical formula is (C2H5)2O.  It extremely dangerous, being very flammable and explosive.  It has a strong, distinguishing smell and is said to be extremely sweet so that it burns.  While it is not soluble in water, ether can be mixed with most organic compounds, mainly liquids.  Ether is a very important organic solvent itself, being used all over the world in laboratories as a dissolvent for fats, oils, resins, and alkaloids.  If ether vapor and air are mixed, the result is an extremely volatile substance.  Also, if ether is partially oxidized, the result is a volatile peroxide compound.  Therefore, it is imperative that ether be properly stored and used.
Ether is still prepared by the pretty much the same organic reaction as in the 13th century when it was discovered.  This reaction is the heating of ethyl alcohol along with a powerful sulfuric acid at a temperature between 130 and 150 degrees C.  If this temperature is not maintained and is higher then ethylene gas is produced.  This raw ether must be purified by mixing it limewater,  then with the anhydrous salt calcium chloride, and finally boil it again.  Even though it contains a small amount of water, it is still fit for most of its multiple purposes, even for anesthetical use.  To create pure ether, one must boil the partially raw ether near phosphorous pentoxide or metallic sodium.
Ether's anesthetical uses are invaluable.  Its use in an operating room is probably one of the greatest things that has ha...

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