Significance of American Chemical Society (ACS) logo

The square shaped ACS logo has two triangular parts.
- The upper half consists of a mythological phoenix bird rising from the flame. The phoenix bird symbolizes immortality, like energy, and in ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology it is associated with the sun god, the supreme source of energy.

The lower half consists of letter ACS along with 'Liebig kaliapparat glass apparatus'.

The color of the upper half is of gold whereas the bottom half is of cobalt blue which represent fire and water respectively, the key components of chemistry.

The Liebig kaliapparat glass apparatus was developed by German chemist Baron Justus von Liebig in 1830. He is widely considered as the father of organic chemistry.

Justus von Liebig (1803-73)

Kaliapparat glass apparatus is a small triangular hollow glass apparatus with five bulbs inserted along its three arms. The field of organic synthesis started with this apparatus and first precise quantification of carbon in a substance was done by this.

Liebig kaliapparat glass apparatus

When a Carbon-containing compound put into a hard glass tube alongside copper oxide and heated over a charcoal burner, forms CO₂ and water quantitatively. These then passed through a calcium chloride tube to absorb moisture and on to the 'Kaliapparat' apparus. The bulbs at the bottom held caustic potash (potassium hydroxide, KOH) to react with the CO₂ to form potassium carbonate (K₂CO₃).
The name of the apparatus was Kaliapparat (Kali-apparat) because it contained an alkali (al-kali) i.e. caustic potash (KOH). Al-kali is an arabic word, where 'al' means 'the'.

Subtracting the mass of the kaliapparat before and after the combustion gives the amount of CO₂ absorbed and hence the mass of carbon in the sample.

Liebig kaliapparat glass apparatus solved significant challenges for 19th century organic chemists with respect to accuracy, reproducible analysis of organic materials.

Liebig kaliapparat glass apparatus fabrication initiated "glassware revolution" for chemical science experiments.

Conclusion

So the ACS logo represents both traditional and fundamental values of chemical sciences.