Lye is a corrosive alkaline substance, commonly sodium hydroxide (NaOH, also known as 'caustic soda') or historically potassium hydroxide (KOH, from hydrated potash). Previously, lye was among the many different alkalis leached from hardwood ashes. Today lye is commercially manufactured using a membrane cell method.

Solid dry lye is commonly available as flakes, pellets, microbeads, and coarse powder (most commonly flakes). It is also available as solution, often dissolved in water. Lye is valued for its use in food preparation, soap making, biodiesel production, and household uses, such as oven cleaner and drain opener.

Food uses

Lye is used to cure many types of food, such as lutefisk, green olives, canned mandarin oranges, hominy, lye rolls, century eggs, and pretzels. It is also used as a tenderizer in the crust of baked Cantonese moon cakes, and in lye-water "zhongzi" (glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in palm leaves), in chewy southern Chinese noodles popular in Hong Kong and southern China, and in Japanese ramen. In the United States, food-grade lye must meet the requirements outlined in the Food Chemicals Codex (FCC), as prescribed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Lower grades of lye are commonly used as drain openers and oven cleaners and should not be used for food preparation. Lye is a strong alkali, producing highly basic solutions.

Safety

Both wetdry lye and lye solutions are highly caustic and will degrade organic tissue.

Hazardous reactions

Solid sodium hydroxide or solutions containing high concentrations of sodium hydroxide may cause chemical burns, permanent injury or scarring, and blindness. Lye may be harmful or fatal if swallowed.

Solvation of sodium hydroxide is highly exothermic, and the resulting heat may cause heat burns or ignite flammables.

The combination of aluminium and sodium hydroxide results in a large production of hydrogen gas: 2Al(s) + 6NaOH(aq) → 3H₂(g) + 2Na₃AlO₃(aq). Hydrogen gas is flammable; mixing lye (sodium hydroxide) and aluminium in a closed container is therefore dangerous. In addition to aluminium, lye (sodium hydroxide) may also react with magnesium, zinc (galvanized), tin, chromium, brass, and bronze to produce hydrogen gas and is therefore dangerous.

Lye intoxication can cause esophageal stricture.

Protection

Personal protective equipment including safety glasses, chemical-resistant gloves, and adequate ventilation are required for the safe handling of lye. When in the close proximity of lye dissolving in an open container of water, a vapor-resistant face mask is recommended. Abstaining from protection can result in serious injuries.

Storage

Lye is a deliquescent salt and has a strong affinity for moisture. Lye will deliquesce (dissolve or melt) when exposed to open air. It will absorb a relatively large amount of water from the atmosphere (air) if exposed to it. Eventually, it will absorb enough water to form a liquid solution because it will dissolve in the water it absorbs.

Hygroscopic substances are often used as desiccants to draw moisture away from water-sensitive items. Desiccants should never be placed inside a canister of lye because lye has much stronger hygroscopic properties than activated carbon and silica gel (the most common ingredients in commercial desiccant packets) and will pull and absorb the water from the desiccant packets.

Lye should be stored in air-tight plastic containers. Glass should never be used for storage as lye will slowly eat away at this material. The containers should be labeled to indicate the potential danger of the contents and stored away from children, pets, heat, and moisture.

Notes

References

Category:Bases Category:Hydroxides Category:Household chemicals Category:Deliquescent substances Category:Desiccants Category:Soaps Category:Sodium compounds

be-x-old:Луг bg:Сода каустик cs:Louh de:Alkalische Lösung el:Αλισίβα es:Sosa caustica fr:soude hu:Lúg it:Lisciva nl:Natronloog no:Lut pt:soda cáustica ru:Гидроксид натрия fi:Lipeä

Len Lye, born Leonard Charles Huia Lye (5 July 1901, Christchurch, New Zealand - 15 May 1980, Warwick, New York), was a New Zealand-born artist known primarily for his experimental films and kinetic sculpture. His films are held in archives such as the New Zealand Film Archive, British Film Institute, Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Pacific Film Archive at University of California, Berkeley. Lye's sculptures are found in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and the Berkeley Art Museum. Although he became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1950, much of his work went to New Zealand after his death, where it is housed at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth.

Career

As a student, Lye became convinced that motion could be part of the language of art, leading him to early (and now lost) experiments with kinetic sculpture, as well as a desire to make film. Lye was also one of the first Pākehā artists to appreciate the art of Māori, Australian Aboriginal, Pacific Island and African cultures, and this had great influence on his work. In the early 1920s Lye travelled widely in the South Pacific. He spent extended periods in Australia and Samoa, where he was expelled by the New Zealand colonial administration for living within an indigenous community.

Working his way as a coal trimmer aboard a steam ship, Lye moved to London in 1926. There he joined the Seven and Five Society, exhibited in the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition and began to make experimental films. Following his first animated film ''Tusalava'', Lye began to make films in association with the British General Post Office, for the GPO Film Unit. His 1935 film ''A Colour Box'', an advertisement for "cheaper parcel post", was the first direct film screened to a general audience. It was made by painting vibrant abstract patterns on the film itself, synchronizing them to a popular dance tune by Don Baretto and His Cuban Orchestra. A panel of animation experts convened in 2005 by the Annecy film festival put this film among the top ten most significant works in the history of animation (his later film ''Free Radicals'' was also in the top 50).

Lye also worked for the GPO Film Unit's successor, the Crown Film Unit producing wartime information films, such as ''Musical Poster Number One''. On the basis of this work, Lye was later offered work for ''The March of Time'' newsreel in New York. Leaving his family in England, Lye moved to New York in 1943.

In ''Free Radicals'' he used black film stock and scratched designs into the emulsion. The result was a dancing pattern of flashing lines and marks, as dramatic as lightning in the night sky. In 2008, this film was added to the United States National Film Registry.

Lye continued to experiment with the possibilities of direct film-making to the end of his life. In various films he used a range of dyes, stencils, air-brushes, felt tip pens, stamps, combs and surgical instruments, to create images and textures on celluloid. In ''Color Cry'', he employed the "photogram" method combined with various stencils and fabrics to create abstract patterns. It is a 16mm direct film featuring a searing soundtrack by the blues singer Sonny Terry.

As a writer, Len Lye produced a body of work exploring his theory of ''IHN'' (Individual Happiness Now). He also wrote a large number of letters and poems. He was a friend of Dylan Thomas, and of Laura Riding and Robert Graves (their Seizin Press published ''No Trouble'', a book drawn from Lye's letters to them, his mother, and others, in 1930). The NZEPC (New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre) website contains a selection of Lye's writings, which are just as surprising and experimental as his work in other media. One of his theories was that artists attempt to reproduce themselves in their works, which he exposited in an essay complete with visual examples.

right|thumb|250px|A 45m Wind Wand on the New Plymouth waterfrontLye was also an important kinetic sculptor and what he referred to as "Tangibles". He saw film and kinetic sculpture as aspects of the same "art of motion", which he theorised in a highly original way in his essays (collected in the book ''Figures of Motion'').

Many of his kinetic works can be found at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth, Taranaki including a 45-metre high ''Wind Wand'' near the sea. The ''Water Whirler'', designed by Lye but never realised in his lifetime, was installed on Wellington's waterfront in 2006. His "Tangibles" were shown at MOMA in New York in 1961 and are now found worldwide. In 1977, Len Lye returned to his homeland to oversee the first New Zealand exhibition of his work at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Shortly before his death in 1980, Lye and his supporters established the Len Lye Foundation, to which he gave his work . The Gallery is the repository for much of this collection, employing a full-time curator to ensure its preservation and appropriate exhibition.

Lye was a maverick, never fitting any of the usual art historical labels. Although he did not become a household name, his work was familiar to many film-makers and kinetic sculptors - he was something of an "artist's artist", and his innovations have had an international influence. He is also remembered for his colourful personality, amazing clothes, and highly unorthodox lecturing style (he taught at New York University for three years).

In 2010 a retrospective of his work was held at Ikon, Birmingham UK.

Personal life

Lye was married twice. His first wife was Jane (Florence Winifred) Thompson with whom he had two children:

Bix Lye, also a sculptor, who lives and works in Williamsburg, New York

Yancy Ning Lou Lye (born 20 May 1940, Chiswick, London)

In Las Vegas in May 1948, Lye married his second wife, Annette "Ann" Zeiss (born 1910, Minnesota) on the same day he obtained a divorce from Jane. Ann was formerly married to Tommy Hindle, a British journalist.

Further information

There are two documentaries about Lye: ''Flip and Two Twisters'' and ''Doodlin''', and a DVD of Lye's talks illustrated with slides: ''Len Lye Talks about Art''.

Filmography

''Tusalava'' (1929)

''The Peanut Vendor'' (1933)

''Kaleidoscope'' (1935) in Dufaycolor

''A Colour Box'' (1935) in Dufaycolor

''Rainbow Dance'' (1936) in Gasparcolor

''The Birth of The Robot'' (1936) in Gasparcolor

''Trade Tattoo'' (1937) in Technicolor

''Full Fathom Five'' (1937)

''Colour Flight'' (1937) in Gasparcolor

'' North or Northwest? (''N or NW?'')'' (1938)

''Swinging the Lambeth Walk]'' (1939) in Dufaycolor

''Musical Poster Number One'' (1940) in Technicolor

''When the Pie Was Opened'' (1941)

''Kill or Be Killed'' (1942)

''Color Cry'' (1952)

''Rhythm'' (1957)

''Free Radicals'' (1958, revised 1979)

''Particles in Space'' (1979)

''Tal Farlow'' (completed posthumously, 1980)

References

Notes

Further reading

Auckland City Art Gallery (1980) ''Len Lye: A personal mythology'' (catalogue published in conjunction with an exhibition of his paintings, steel-motion contributions and films). ISBN 0-86463-100-6

Bouhours, Jean Michel and Horrocks, Roger (ed) (2000) ''Len Lye'', Paris, Edition Centre Pompidou. ISBN 2-84426-034-9

Curnow, Wystan and Horrocks, Roger (1984)'' Figures of Motion: Len Lye, Selected Writings''', Oxford University Press/Auckland University Press, 1984. ISBN 0-19-647996-7

Horrocks, Roger (2002) ''Len Lye: A Biography'', Auckland, Auckland Univ Press. ISBN 1-86940-247-2

Horrocks, Roger (ed) (2002) ''Happy Moments: Text and Images By Len Lye'', Auckland, The Holloway Press. ISBN 0-9582313-3-8

Kashmere, Brett (2007) "Len Lye" in ''Senses of Cinema'' (Revised text of an entry first published in ''The Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film'', 2006)

Len Lye in ''Te Ara'' online encyclopedia

Horrocks, Roger (2009) ''Art that Moves: The Work of Len Lye'', Auckland, Auckland Univ Press. ISBN 978-1-86940-422-2

Horrocks, Roger (ed) (2009) ''Body English: Text and Images By Len Lye'', Auckland, The Holloway Press. ISBN 0-9582313-9-7

External links

Biography, Work listings and more

from the ''Dictionary of New Zealand Biography''

Work by Len Lye in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Works, on New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre website

Listen to two Len Lye MP3s on thewire.co.uk

Informations on Len Lye's Wind Wand

Len Lye's work in the collection of Te Papa

"Len Lye: The Body Electric; Ikon Gallery, Burmingham, UK"

Category:New Zealand emigrants to the United States Category:Drawn-on-film animation Category:Experimental filmmakers Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:New Zealand film producers Category:New Zealand sculptors Category:People from Christchurch Category:Visual music artists Category:1901 births Category:1980 deaths

ca:Len Lye de:Len Lye fr:Len Lye it:Len Lye nl:Len Lye

name	Omar
background	solo_singer
birth name	Omar Lye-Fook
born	October 14, 1968London, England
instrument	Vocals
genre	Neo soul, soul
occupation	Singer, songwriter, musician
years active	Late 1980s–present
label	Kongo, Talkin' Loud, RCA, Naïve, Blunt Music
notable instruments	}}

Omar Lye-Fook (born 14 October 1968, London), and known as Omar, is an internationally acclaimed British soul singer, songwriter and musician. Omar grew up in Canterbury, Kent. He learned his craft classically, playing the trumpet, piano and percussion. Omar also spent two years at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, and the Guildhall School of Music in London. His most well-known song was his debut single "There's Nothing Like This". It reached #14 in the UK Singles Chart on re-release in 1991. Allmusic noted that he is described by some as the father of British neo soul.

Career

Following his first two single releases, "Mr Postman" and "You and Me" featuring backing vocals from Caron Wheeler, Omar released his first album, entitled ''There's Nothing Like This'' in 1990. Initially released on his father's record label, Kongo Records, it entered the UK Albums Chart, peaking at #54.

In 2006, the Urban Music Awards presented Omar with the Best Neo Soul Act and Outstanding Achievement Awards.

After studying at the Identity Drama School, on 11 June 2009, Omar made his acting debut in Ché Walker's musical, ''Been So Long''.

Personal life

Omar is sometimes credited as Omar Hammer. His birth father's surname is Lye-Fook, while his stepfather's surname is Hammer. He and his siblings, two brothers and a sister are all musicians. Samia Lye-Fook (Omar's sister, and youngest of the four) is a BRIT School alumna, who has provided background vocals for some of Omar's recordings.

Omar became the father of twins in early 2008.

Discography

Albums

''There's Nothing Like This'' (1990) - UK #19 (re-issue)

''Music'' (1992) - UK #17

''For Pleasure'' (1994) - UK #50

''This Is Not a Love Song'' (1997) - UK #50

''Best By Far'' (2001)

''Sing (If You Want It)'' (2006)

Chart singles

!Year	Title	UK Singles Chart	!Label
	"There's Nothing Like This"		Kongo Records
	"Your Loss My Gain"		Talkin' Loud
	"Music"		Talkin' Loud
	"Outside" / "Saturday"
	"Keep Steppin'"		RCA
	"Say Nothin'"		RCA
	"Golden Brown"		RCA

Collaborations

Some of the musicians Omar has performed with include (but are not limited to): {| |width="30"|  |valign="top"|

Angie Stone

Caron Wheeler

|width="30"|  |valign="top"|

Carleen Anderson

Galliano

|width="30"|  |valign="top"|

Erykah Badu

Guru

|width="30"|  |valign="top"|

Kele Le Roc

Stevie Wonder

|width="30"|  |valign="top"|

Syreeta Wright

|width="30"|  |valign="top"| Common - on the 2004 ''Electric Circus'' track, "The Hustle"

Ol' Dirty Bastard

|}

References

External links

Omarmusic.net Official website

Soul Jones Presents

Projectvibe.net Omar Biography, discography, and interview at Projectvibe.net

Soulwalking biography

Omar interview at http://www.britishhiphop.co.uk

Category:1968 births Category:Living people Category:Jamaican people of Indian descent Category:Jamaican people of Chinese descent Category:English people of Chinese descent Category:English people of Indian descent Category:English people of Jamaican descent Category:People from London Category:People from Canterbury Category:Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Category:Neo soul singers Category:British soul singers

fr:Omar Lye-Fook