Episode 30: The portable Gas Analyser
Before the invention of electronic devices, simple daily tasks such as measuring chemical compounds in the air, required ostentatious devices that carried out physicochemical measurements. The portable gas analyser, also known as the Orsat apparatus, made these measurements possible in 1873. It is estimated that the model that belongs to the Técnico collection, has arrived at the time of the Chemical Engineering Laboratories’ creation.
It became a piece of laboratory equipment universally used, which allowed to compare measurements carried out in different laboratories, namely very important measurements such as the analysis of gases that factories release into the air, hazardous air quality in heavily polluted cities or indoor car parks, and also car exhaust smoke. Some of these measurements can save lives.
- Acknowledgements:
Dulce Simão
Moisés Pinto
Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm
Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.