Talk:Heptazine
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Topic/title
editThis article currently seems to discuss various tri-s-triazines, of which melem is but one. Should the article be re-focused on melem specifically, or moved to a broader title, such as heptazine? ENeville (talk) 06:01, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
A name-change to heptazine would be useful V8rik (talk) 16:31, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
Melem, Melon, and meli-melonite
editSilly thought of the day: I wonder whether Liebig's "melon" may be the inspiration for Jules Verne's fictitious super-explosive "meli-melonite", which is thusly described in Sans dessus dessous ("Out of kilter"), 1889:
- Tout ce qu’on sait, c’est qu’elle est formée par la réaction d’un méli-mélo de substances organiques et d’acide azotique. Un certain nombre de radicaux monoatomiques se substituent au même nombre d’atomes d’hydrogène, et on obtient une poudre qui, comme le fulmi-coton, est formée par la combinaison et non par le simple mélange des principes comburants et combustibles.
- "all that is known of it is that it is a mixture of organic substances with nitric acid. A certain number of monatomic radicles are substituted for the same number of atoms of hydrogen, and a powder is obtained, which, like fulmi-cotton, is formed by combination, not by mechanical mixture of the principal comburents and combustibles."
The name is a play of words on (quite obviously) the French expression "méli-mélo = mixture" and (according to the French wikipedia) the "mélinite" (picric acid with gun cotton) invented by French chemist Eugène Turpin (1848—1927) and used for a time in the French army. (According to the French article, Turpin even sued Verne for difamation because of a related explosive mentioned in Face au Drapeau ("Facing the Flag"), 1896.) But even if this is correct, perhaps it is only half the story? Given Verne's general acquaintance with the scientific discoveries of his day, it is not at all unlikely that he may have heard of (or read) Liebig's compound with such a suggestive name (to a Frenchman at least). But I guess that we will never know... All the best, --Jorge Stolfi (talk) 19:45, 5 July 2009 (UTC)