Chemistry Tools

Chemistry tools are quite varied. Multiple tools for heating, protracting, and containing the substances. Above is an image of just of a few tools used commonly in labs and classrooms.

Burning Issues in Chemistry

Global warming, waste management, and recycling are all issues we are familiar with. Chemistry is key in changing our past mistakes into cures for our Earth. The ICCA (International Council of Chemical Associations) Their pressing issues involve "green chemistry" specially designed not to emit hazardous waste. The American Chemistry Society is using cigarette butts to protect oil tankers against rust. This normally costs the companies millions but with cigarettes dissolved in water they can cut the cost by nearly 100%. 9 chemicals including nicotine are responsible for this value. Nearly 4.5 million cigarettes are dumped a year onto the ground. Besides looking horrible they poison fish because when it rains the runoff goes into the water. I believe another issue could be added to the mix, nuclear waste and plant management. It is more efficient to process energy from these plants. If scientists could find a way to make them more reliable and safe then we would reduce our carbon output.  Currently, working in a nuclear plant is shown to cause cancer from breathing in the fumes. One must mine the heavy elements, also causing lung damage. Nuclear waste has no safe way of being contained. In the U.S. all they do is bury it under ground. For 60 years the amount of waste has been building up. The waste is unsafe to be released into the world. Chemists should come up with a way of neutralizing the effects of the waste. 

http://www.icca-chem.org/

http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ACSPILOT4HOME&node_id=84&use_sec=false&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=476f1937-36a4-4880-a429-fa3f70bd1e05

"Intersex" Fish Found in Susquehanna River

 http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/green/bs-gr-fish-20101102,0,4595447.story

In Pennsylvania, US,  "intersex" fish are cropping up. These male small mouth bass have female traits. Over 90% tested have immature eggs. Scientists are looking into this abnormality of nature. What is causing these mutations? Arigcultural run off or consumer products such as medicines are linked to it. Vicki Blazer, a fishery biologist with US Geographical Survey, has seen other cases like this when studying the Potomac watershed. It came to her attention when she was studying bacterial infections in the fish. Not only are they mutating but newly hatched fish are dying.  Blazer links this to hormonal chemicals dumped around agricultural and developed areas. Herbicides containing atrazine is a main culprit. Syngenta, a company that produces it claims that tests from the 1970's show that it does no harm to the fish. To solve this troubling dilemma scientists are studying fish chronically exposed to chemicals in herbicides and other pollution.

To progress further in research scientists need to conduct more tests with  chemicals and how they affect fish. The article also mention that there may be a direct link to a change in diet.

Absolute Zero: Part 1

Today in science class we watched the video Absolute Zero about the cold: what it is, how people perceived it in the past, and some of the unique properties. This documentary is named so because absolute zero is the coldest temperature there is.  There were many interesting facts about how early scientists developed theories on the cold. One of the more strange yet incorrect theories is about calhors, a mysterious "element" in the 1700s which invisibly made things cold. Since then we have developed a long way in our understanding. The cold is the lack of atomic movement; heat is movement. Important inventions such as the refrigeration, flash freezing, steam engine, and air conditioner were all developed by manipulating the temperatures of our surroundings. In modern times scientists strive towards the goal of creating absolute zero, which is not found in nature. Strange properties are attributed to matter when it becomes super frozen. A new state know as Einstein Bose Condensation is where matter is cooled so much it looses "self awareness" or shape. You cans slow down a beam of light using this property. There are still some questions I have regarding this documentary. Is there an absolute hot? If not, then what is the hottest temperature recorded? Do atoms have special properties when they are heated to high temperatures? Do all refrigerators use ammonia? If so, why?

Phases of Matter

There are three common states of matter. They are solids, liquids, and gases. You see them everyday in the form of air, water, trees, ect. All matter fits into one of the these categories. One of the lesser known phases is plasmas. What are these types of matter like? Solids have their molecules most pact together. They cannot move around. Solids can be rocks, trees, metal, ect. Liquids have molecules that are less pact than a solid. They spread to fill a container that they are poured into; their is no definite shape. When poured onto a surface liquids spread across it. Gases have the least compact atoms. There is no definite shape to a gas. Some examples are oxygen in the air and water vapor. Plasmas have free floating ions and electrons. Plasmas conduct electrical currents. They are found in stars such as our Sun.
How is one phase of matter different from another one?
Phases of matter differentiate by their compactness. Solids are the most compact and gases (including plasmas) are the least. Liquids are in between. Because of the space between the atoms this allows more movement. Gas atoms are more active than solid ones. Gases are also hotter than solids. Atoms are more active when they are heated. Solids must be naturally cooler than liquids or gases.

My Tests:
Emiak and I are going to design three tests to determine if the matter is solid, gas, or liquid. (Plasma is too hard.)First of all we will determine if the matter is solid. To do this we will smash the matter.
Materials
ice cube
water
air from our lungs
bowl