{"id":39,"date":"2019-08-17T21:52:36","date_gmt":"2019-08-18T01:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bsu.edu\/enact\/?p=39"},"modified":"2023-07-10T17:15:55","modified_gmt":"2023-07-10T21:15:55","slug":"all-for-want-of-a-button","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bsu.edu\/enact\/all-for-want-of-a-button\/","title":{"rendered":"All for Want of a Button: How Napoleon\u2019s Battle in Russia Helps Me Teach Chemistry"},"content":{"rendered":"

All for Want of a Button<\/h1>\n

How Napoleon\u2019s Battle in Russia Helps Me Teach Chemistry<\/h1>\n

By Rachel Ling<\/h2>\n

Two hundred years ago, Napoleon\u2019s army took on the Russians in a battle that marked a major strategic setback in the French invasion of Russia.\u00a0 In the end, only 10,000 Frenchmen out of more than half a million made it out of Russia alive.\u00a0 Some historians believe that this setback was not due to lack of military force, but rather to the greatest wardrobe malfunction of all time: The French army used tin buttons to secure their uniforms, unaware that tin forms many allotropes – some of them not at all suitable for frigid Russian winters.<\/p>\n

What Are You TALKING About?<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"Let<\/a><\/p>\n

Have I lost you already?\u00a0 What in the world is an allotrope?\u00a0 Why did this matter to the French soldiers? Good questions.\u00a0 Let\u2019s see if we can figure it out.<\/p>\n

Allotrope<\/a> is a word that chemists use to explain that many elements exist in different physical forms.\u00a0 Carbon, for example, is found in graphite, charcoal, and diamonds, but each of these forms are still made of the same thing: carbon atoms.\u00a0 It\u2019s just that the carbon atoms in your pencil lead are bonded together differently than the carbon atoms in a diamond engagement ring are.\u00a0 Because they are stuck together in different ways, they not only look different, but these allotropes function differently, too.<\/p>\n

Just like carbon, tin has several allotropes.\u00a0 The primary structures that tin forms are called alpha-tin (written like this: \u03b1-tin), and beta-tin (\u03b2-tin)<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 These two types of tin have very different characteristics because of the way their atoms are bonded.\u00a0 It turns out that \u03b2-tin is silver in color, metallic, and pretty malleable – it can be hammered into shapes without breaking. In other words, it seems like a great material to use for buttons\u2026 but \u03b2-tin isn\u2019t very stable in cold temperatures (Russian winters, anyone?) – when the temperature drops below about 13\u00b0C (or around 56\u00b0F), \u03b2-tin spontaneously transforms to \u03b1-tin, which is brittle and powdery: not a great attribute for something that is going to be holding your winter coat together.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it seems that the French army wasn\u2019t aware of this cold-weather transformation: their buttons quickly transformed from solid, shiny tin to brittle tin flakes that shattered in the harsh climate.\u00a0 Of course, the cold wasn\u2019t the only cause of their retreat; Napoleon\u2019s Grande Arm\u00e9e faced disease, desertions, and deaths throughout their campaign.\u00a0 But let\u2019s face it: being unable to button your coat in the face of snow, high winds, and sub-zero temperatures would make anyone want to give up and turn toward home!<\/p>\n