Matches, Very Cheap and Very Useful

"Household" safety matches. (Picture from: http://en.wikipedia.org/)

Matches are tools to start a fire in a controlled manner. A match consists of a wooden stick which one end is covered with a phosphor material that will generally produce a flame when rubbed against each
specific surface.

John Walker (1781-1859)  
(Picture from: http://en.wikipedia.org/)

Chinese peoples since the year 577 have developed a simple match made ​​of sticks that contain sulfur. Ignited with a match that swiped first discovered by English chemist John Walker on December 31, 1827, discovery was preceded by Robert Boyle in 1680's with a mixture of phosphorus and sulfur, but his efforts at that time not yet reached a satisfactory outcome.

Walker discovered a mixture of antimony (III) sulfide, potassium chlorate, natural gum, and starch can be ignited by menggesekkannya on rough surfaces. Walker did not patent his invention. He even show it off to the front of the crowd so much to emulate. One scientist who is imitating Samuel Jones, who later founded a match factory named Lucifers.

An igniting match. (Picture 
from: http://en.wikipedia.org/)

In 1830 Charles Sauria re-formulate matches used white phosphorus, to eliminate the smell. However, phosphorus disastrous because they contain toxins. Many workers who have poisoned the match. Children who play with phosphorus may have abnormalities of bone growth. This makes a world government banned the use of white phosphorus as a match maker.

On January 28, 1911, Diamond match company received a patent for a match from a non-toxic sulfur. Although now more widely used gas lighters in the world, but lighter than sulfur material was used because the price is very cheap. Currently, Diamond match company produces more than 12 billion matches per year. It is estimated, about 500 trillion lighters manufactured in the United States each year. *** [SEPTI | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 21062012]

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