Climate Quote by John Cage
““Dad's oil dehydrator was a contained electrostatic field, one electrode down the center, the other the container's inner wall. Principal problem was finding a dielectric to separate the two. Refuse oil poured in came out as oil of the highest grade, dry chemicals, and drinking water. Petroleum Rectifying Company successfully prohibited its use.””
About This Quote
Source Article: Interview in The New Yorker, 1962
A device used static electricity to purify oil, but the challenge was finding a material that could separate the electrodes without breaking down.
In simple terms: Oil was cleaned using an electrostatic field, but a suitable dielectric was hard to find.
Key Takeaway
Innovate material science for better separation.
Themes
technology
innovation
materials science
Mood
curious
analytical
Type
technical
historical
When to use this quote
- industrial oil refining
- chemical engineering
- environmental cleanup
- research labs
Key Concepts
electrostatics
dielectric breakdown
purification processes
Questions to Reflect On
- What modern materials could solve this?
- How does this compare to modern filtration?
A Different Perspective
Finding a dielectric that works at scale remains difficult.
![“It was at Harvard not quite forty years ago that I went into an anechoic [totally silent] chamber not expecting in that silent room to hear two sounds: one high, my nervous system in operation, one low, my blood in circulation. The reason I did not expect to hear those two sounds was that they…” quote by John Cage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/153/john-cage-2094_blood_it-was-at-harvard-not-quite-forty-years_56114.jpg)
