Stories tagged chemistry
A fun way to learn about elements
There is a video channel on You Tube that will feature a video about each element on the periodic table. I am featuring the video on sodium below.
Sodium is amazing
When sodium is placed in water it floats because it is lighter than water. It also reacts with water. Sodium, because it is more reactive, takes the place of of one of the hydrogen atoms in water, (HOH). The hydrogen replaced is freed and the heat energy of the reaction often ignites the hydrogen. The burning hydrogen combines with oxygen in the air releasing energy which appears to be an explosion (or is it an implosion). All I know is that when my high school companions threw a chunk of it in the river the result was water blasted 13 feet into the air.
Sodium is hazardous
One should note that the sodium attached to the remaining OH from the water molecule makes sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Sodium Hydroxide is the active ingredient in Drano which eats through fat, grease, and skin. I learned the hard way that it burned skin and ruined clothing.
Video about sodium (Na)
Click here to see more videos about elements from the periodic chart.
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Ice cream is a delicious treat on a hot day: provided you DON'T SOAK IT IN ANTIFREEZE!!!
Courtesy Clover_1
Let me start by stating this as clearly as I can:
ETHYLENE GLYCOL, THE ANTIFREEZE COMMONLY USED IN CARS, IS POISON!! DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, DRINK ANTIFREEZE!
There, are we all clear on that? Good.
A scientist in Wisconsin has developed an edible antifreeze that will prevent ice crystals from forming in that block of old ice cream you forgot about in the back of your freezer.
DO NOT PUT ANTIFREEZE IN YOUR ICE CREAM!
The edible antifreeze is made from a fruit enzyme that cuts proteins into smaller pieces and keeps them from freezing. It might also be used to protect meats from “freezer burn.”
DO NOT SOAK YOUR MEAT IN ANTIFREEZE!
We hope you have enjoyed our little discourse on the wonders of food processing.
fireworks
Courtesy ®oberto Scientists are working to create more environmentally sensitive pyrotechnics . Their research may have far reaching applications. Many military missiles and flares share a similar chemical make-up to fireworks. By adjusting the formula, scientists hope to reduce the amount of perchlorate involved in each reaction.
Researchers in France have invented a new type of rubber that repairs itself. Press two pieces together, and they bond together without using any kind of glue or heat.
Don't do drugs!: This guy may have just seen Lucy in the sky with diamonds!
Courtesy Mark RyanDr. Albert Hofmann, the Swiss scientist who synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) died yesterday at his home in Basel, Switzerland. He was 102.
Hofmann was working for Sandoz Pharmaceuticals (now Novartis) when he first synthesized LSD-25 in 1938. However, he set it aside and didn’t stumble upon its hallucinogenic powers until 5 years later, when, while synthesizing a new batch for study, he accidentally ingested some of it from his fingertips.
Once that genie was let out of the bottle, Hofmann went whole-hog investigating the drug’s possibilities, doing many experiments on himself and his colleagues.
He later became director of Sandoz’s natural products department studying other natural mind-altering substances, such as those found in Mexican mushrooms (psilocybin) and in the seeds of the morning glory species Rivea corymbosa (lysergic acid amide).
Hofmann referred to LSD as “medicine for the soul” and spent much of his life trying to convince others of its medicinal and therapeutic value, although he admitted it could be dangerous in the wrong hands. The drug was made illegal after a rise in popularity by counterculture youth during the 1960s.
"I produced the substance as a medicine,” he once said. “It's not my fault if people abused it.”
LINKS
Associated Press story
Albert Hofmann link on Wikipedia
More on LSD
Cupid's arrow is dipped in neurotransmitters
Kissing chemistry
Courtesy David Ball The effect of Cupid's chemicals on my body some 40 years ago are unforgettable. I had so much energy I thought I would burst. I did about 50 pushups trying to relieve the pressure. I couldn't sleep. My pits were secreting overtime. Can you remember the feelings your first love (crush) produced?
The chemistry of love
- Lust is the first of the three stages of love, followed by attraction, then attachment. Lust is driven by the sex hormones testosterone and oestrogen. These hormones "get you out looking for anything". The Science of Love (bbc.co.uk)
- Attraction: By scanning brains of individuals looking at photos of their lovers during that "crazed, can't-think-of-anything-but stage of romance", scientists noted increased blood flow in areas of the brain with high concentrations of receptors for dopamine.
dopamine (is) associated with states of euphoria, craving and addiction. High levels of dopamine are also associated with norepinephrine, which heightens attention, short-term memory, hyperactivity, sleeplessness and goal-oriented behavior. In other words, couples in this stage of love focus intently on the relationship and often on little else. How Stuff Works
- Attachment (or bonding): Being obsessed with ones lover is not compatible with raising children so another love potion is needed. Three chemicals associated with the formation of long-term, monogamous relationships are oxytocin, vasopressin, and endorphins.
"Oxytocin is released during child birth and also helps the breast express milk. Oxytocin is also released by both sexes during orgasm and it is thought that it promotes bonding when adults are intimate." oxytocin.org.
Endorphins, released during physical contact or sex, produce a general sense of well-being, including feeling soothed, peaceful and secure. Vasopressin and oxytocin, also released during sex, are believed to interfere with the dopamine and norepinephrine pathways, which might explain why passionate love fades as attachment grows.
Love is like an addiction
Scientists are discovering that the same chemical process that takes place with addiction takes place when we fall in love. Brain scans of those love crazed individuals in the experiment above showed activity in the same brain area as those using cocaine or nicotine. Similar to other addictive chemicals, the chemical effects of passionate love lose their strength over time, too. After two or three years the chemicals responsible for "that lovin' feeling" (adrenaline, dopamine, norepinephrine, phenylethylamine, etc.) dwindle. Hopefully by then oxytocin, vasopressin, and endorphins resulting from physical intimacy are sufficient to keep the relationship going.
Want to learn more about how love works?
Here is a link to more articles about how love works.
Nipping crime in the bud: When asked whether or not this method could be used to find the source of other illegal drugs, the Alaskan scientist stated, "Um... What?"
(photo by ilmungo)
Sometimes I place quotation “marks” randomly. It’s a kind of written-language Tourette’s Syndrome, and I live in constant fear that its effects might “lead” people to false conclusions. “”
Anyhow, scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks are developing methods of tracing samples of marijuana back to their points of origin by studying the “isotopic fingerprint” of the plants. Presumably this is to aid people suffering from the advanced stages glaucoma find their medicine.
Whatever the reason for it might be, the process for determining the growing location of the drug is an interesting one. Isotopes, for those of you who are still reading, are, of course, elements with the same number of protons and electrons, but different numbers of neutrons. For example, the element nitrogen can be found with 13 neutrons, 14 neutrons, or 15 neutrons – those are all isotopes of nitrogen.
When you look at the ratio of isotopes in an object, you can sometimes find out where that object came from geographically, because certain areas will sometimes have isotopic signatures. This is how scientists figured out where Otzi the Iceman came from: the enamel on his teeth had an isotopic match with a small region in Italy, so it’s very likely he grew up there.
Applying this basic method to marijuana, the Alaskan scientists are finding that isotopic levels of hydrogen and oxygen in the plants can show where the water they were fed with came from. Carbon in the plant can show whether or not it was grown indoors. Nitrogen isotope levels can also be used to learn about plants’ origins. Combining the information from all of these ratios, researchers are attempting to construct a map of marijuana isotopic signatures, so that any sample with unknown origins could be matched up with a specific location.
In order to achieve this isotope map, however, the project director says he needs “time, money and many more samples of marijuana.”
Plastic is a ball: Look how far plastic technology has come. We wouldn't have these cool balls without its invention 100 years ago. (Photo by Liethwalker)Benjamin Braddock, Dustin Hoffman’s character in the film “The Graduate,” should have listened to that sage piece of advice…that the wave of the future was plastics.
It’s proven to be quite a resilient substance. This year marks 100th anniversary of the creation of the plastic. Can you think of a day in your life that plastic hasn’t played some important part of?
Inventor of the process of making plastic – Leo Baekeland – created the process of developing phenol-formaldehyde polymer resin in 1907. The new material found new uses over the quickly as rayon, cellophane, PVC and polyethylene, to name just a few.
Sticking around: New and new uses are being found for plastic, even in its 100th year. These hay bales in Ireland are wrapped in plastic to keep the moisture out. (Photo by bigeoino)And it’s probably going to be around for a while longer. New coming uses for plastic, things that are still in the development stages, include plastic hemoglobin-like material that can be used in human blood and airplane parts that can change shape depending on the weather and air conditions that a plane is flying through.
With all that development, however, there are still some big challenges. Only about 10 percent of all plastic is recycled, which means a growing supply of plastic wastes that have to be dealt with in a reasonable fashion.
So if you’re looking for a reason to have a party, why not celebrate plastic’s 100th birthday!
Percy JulianPBS will air a documentary tomorrow night on Percy Julian an important scientist you may never have heard of before :
"Born the grandson of Alabama slaves during segregation in 1899 and facing a lifetime of personal and professional challenges, Percy Lavon Julian nevertheless went on to become one of the 20th century's most influential scientists."
French engineer and chemist Georges Claude died on May 23, 1960. In 1902, he invented the neon light (obviously near and dear to our hearts!) by applying electricity to a sealed tube of neon gas. Used to promote a Packard car dealership in Los Angeles, the first neon signs in the US cost $24,000.
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