
Air samples collected by James Lovelock from New Zealand and South Africa
- Made:
- 1980-1989 in New Zealand and South Africa
- preparer:
- James Ephraim Lovelock











Air samples in ten sealed glass tubes, collected by James Lovelock whilst studying chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in New Zealand and South Africa, c. 1985.
These glass tubes are a time capsule of our atmosphere. They were left over from a research trip scientist and inventor James Lovelock undertook to measure levels of a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gas that had been widely used in fire extinguishers. Armed with glass tubes and a flask of liquid nitrogen, he used a technique called cryogenic pumping to concentrate the air 100 times before sealing each tube with a blow torch.
Details
- Category:
- Experimental Chemistry
- Object Number:
- 2012-124
- Materials:
- glass
- type:
- sample
- credit:
- Lovelock, James Ephraim