Copper(II) Acetate - History

History

Copper(II) acetate was historically prepared in vineyards, since acetic acid is a byproduct of fermentation. Copper sheets were alternately layered with fermented grape skins and dregs left over from wine production and exposed to air. This would leave a blue substance on the outside of the sheet. This was then scraped off and dissolved in water. The resulting solid was used as a pigment, or combined with arsenic trioxide to form copper acetoarsenite, a powerful insecticide and fungicide called Paris Green or Schweinfurt Green.

During the Second World War copper acetate was used as shark repellent. Under war conditions, before adoption it has been tested only very briefly (while in general successfully). The source says copper acetate does repel sharks in some situations but not in all.


Read more about this topic:  Copper(II) Acetate

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    The history of medicine is the history of the unusual.
    Robert M. Fresco, and Jack Arnold. Prof. Gerald Deemer (Leo G. Carroll)

    If you look at the 150 years of modern China’s history since the Opium Wars, then you can’t avoid the conclusion that the last 15 years are the best 15 years in China’s modern history.
    J. Stapleton Roy (b. 1935)

    I assure you that in our next class we will concern ourselves solely with the history of Egypt, and not with the more lurid and non-curricular subject of living mummies.
    Griffin Jay, and Reginald LeBorg. Prof. Norman (Frank Reicher)