Blau gas

Blau gas (German: Blaugas) was an artificial illuminating gas similar to propane, named after its inventor, Dr. Hermann Blau of Augsburg, Germany. It was manufactured by decomposing mineral oils in retorts by heat and compressing the resulting naphtha until it liquefied. It was transported in this condition, and like LPG, upon release it assumed the gaseous state again. Chemically, it is similar to coal gas.

Blau gas is not blue, but has a rather water-like color. It was stored in steel cylinders for shipment and had the advantage that it possessed the highest specific energy of all artificially produced gases, but unlike coal gas, it was free from carbon monoxide.

Blau gas was burned for lighting and heating; a less-pure form known as Pintsch gas fueled railroad car lights and stoves in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Blau gas was most famous, however, as the buoyancy compensating fuel for the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin. It had several advantages over liquid fuels such as gasoline. It was non-explosive, and because it weighed approximately the same as air, burning it and replacing its volume with air did not lighten the airship, eliminating the need to adjust buoyancy or ballast in-flight.

Gas

Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or compound molecules made from a variety of atoms (e.g. carbon dioxide). A gas mixture would contain a variety of pure gases much like the air. What distinguishes a gas from liquids and solids is the vast separation of the individual gas particles. This separation usually makes a colorless gas invisible to the human observer. The interaction of gas particles in the presence of electric and gravitational fields are considered negligible as indicated by the constant velocity vectors in the image. One type of commonly known gas is steam.

The gaseous state of matter is found between the liquid and plasma states, the latter of which provides the upper temperature boundary for gases. Bounding the lower end of the temperature scale lie degenerative quantum gases which are gaining increasing attention. High-density atomic gases super cooled to incredibly low temperatures are classified by their statistical behavior as either a Bose gas or a Fermi gas. For a comprehensive listing of these exotic states of matter see list of states of matter.

Gas (musician)

Gas is a music project of Wolfgang Voigt (born 1961), a Cologne, Germany-based electronic musician. Voigt cites his youthful LSD experiences in the Königsforst, a German forest situated near his hometown of Köln, as the inspiration behind his work under the name Gas. He has claimed that the intention of the project is to "bring the forest to the disco, or vice-versa".

Aliases and projects

Voigt is known for his numerous, nearly inexhaustible list of one-off projects and aliases. Of these, his best known is arguably Gas, a project that saw the marriage of ambient music and 4/4 techno.

Other names under which Voigt has released music include, but are not limited to, All, Auftrieb, Brom, C.K. Decker, Centrifugal Force, Crocker, Dextro NRG, Dieter Gorny, Digital, Dom, Doppel, Filter, Freiland, Fuchsbau, Gelb, Grungerman, Kafkatrax, Love Inc., M:I:5, Mike Ink, Mint, Panthel, Popacid, Riss, RX7, Split Inc., Strass, Studio 1, Tal, Vinyl Countdown, W.V., Wassermann, and X-Lvis.

Characteristics

Gas (1981 film)

(not to be confused with a similar sounding 1970 film Gas-s-s-s)

Gas is a 1981 Canadian comedy film released by Paramount Pictures, the plot of which was inspired by the 1979 energy crisis.

Plot summary

A small Midwestern town is thrown into chaos when the local oil tycoon (Sterling Hayden) orchestrates a phony oil shortage in order to increase profits. A news reporter (Susan Anspach) tries to uncover the plot, and a radio DJ in a helicopter (Donald Sutherland) reports on the craziness caused by the gasoline shortage.

Cast

Blau (Danube)

The Blau (German pronunciation: [ˈblaʊ]) is a 15 km long river in Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany, and a left tributary of the Danube. The source of the Blau is the karst spring of Blautopf, in the town Blaubeuren, in the Swabian Jura. It flows east through Blaustein to the city of Ulm, where it empties into the Danube.

Blau valley

The valley of the Blau was formed by the Danube. When the Swabian Jura rose, the Danube initially incised a deeper and deeper valley but finally chose a course to the southwest. In the valley it left behind today, the Schmiech river flows south meeting the Danube in Ehingen (Donau), whereas the Blau flows east towards Ulm.

Coordinates: 48°23′N 9°49′E / 48.383°N 9.817°E / 48.383; 9.817

Blau (surname)

Blau is an uncommon Jewish surname with origins in western Romania and Poland. Fur traders hunted arctic foxes for their blaufuchsfell, blue fox fur, and adopted the names Blaufuchs, Blaufuks, and Blaufück. These surnames were later shortened to Blau. Notable people with the surname include: