Karkhanis,+Parag

Invisible Fire

The invisible fire story was very eye opening. William was not very bright because he took a dusty old container out and poured it on himself without reading anything about it. He could have lost is arm if he did not get good medical attention. I am surprised to learn that the HF went through the skin without harming it down to the deeper tissues. Hydrofluoric acid is not charged so it can pass quickly through the skin. Since fluorine has seven valence electrons, it tries to gain an electron from all other compounds and elements near by. I am also surprised that William suffered minimal damage in his hand because the acid was in there for almost 2 hours, and I thought he would have lost it by then. It is interesting to see chemistry and biology applied together.

The article on Greek language in chemical terminology was interesting. I did not know there were so many terms based on the Greek prefixes such as epi- (for above) and stereo- (solid, three dimensional). There are also suffixes that I did not know were Greek such as -scope (to look at) and -hedron (side). I did not know that so many elements were based on Greek words as well, however Greeks did advance science greatly, therefore their credit is due.

I read the article on offshore wind turbines. It was interesting because wind turbines are and increasingly attractive option to use for alternate energy since they are relatively cheap compared to fossil fuels. Wind power could also be harnessed locally, such as backyard wind turbines. My father even tried to buy a wind turbine for our home, however many neighborhoods are more concerned with vanity than the Earth. Wind is always present; unlike sunlight. With further development of the technology for wind turbines, they could be a good crutch between fossil fuels and an ultimate alternate renewable resource. However, I do wonder if the (possibly) thousands of wind turbines would have an effect on the Earth’s wind currents and jet streams?

Parag, You pose some good points. Interesting that your father tried to have his own wind turbine. Wind does not blow all the time but this technology is improving to the point where light winds can be harnessed. Good question on the wind currents. I'm thinking "no" since windmills are harnessing surface winds. MW

I read the article on the football field artificial turf. I think that it is a very good method of recycling tires. The vulcan method of binding the rubber is an effective way to bond all the pieces together and it makes the rubber strong and durable. I would like to see the highly viscous liquid because I'm sure it would be quite entertaining. I learned that chemistry appears in almost every aspect of our lives and that even sports involve chemistry! However, I do think that since the vulcanized rubber track returns some energy to the runner, it might make running easier on the track. Is there a significant energy return difference between the rubber track and a traditional track? Are rubber tracks the new standard?

Parag, Way short and no scientific content. 1 star. :(

Good questions. I'm not sure of the answers. 5 stars. MW

One of the things I learned from the Oil and Water article was that oil is actually attracted to water. I had always learned that oil "hated" water and would not mix with it. I learned that there are dipole-induced dipole forces between the oil and water, but those forces cannot overcome the hydrogen bonds of the water. I also learned that the reason that oil makes a rainbow on the wet pavement is because the oil molecules are spread extremely thin. Some things I had already known are that water is polar and oil is non polar. I also knew that water has hydrogen bonds and oil has only dispersion forces. I knew how polar bonds and dispersion forces worked before I read the article.

Parag, OK. Late. 4 stars

After reading the Salty Roads article, I have a better understanding of how icing is prevented on roads. The solution of ice and water freezes at a lower temperature than pure water, making it harder for ice to form. Road workers also lay down salt as a preventative measure before a storm because the initial snow falling melts from the warmth of the road (caused from underground heat) and forms a solution with the salt. The snow falling on top can only pile on as snow or slush, since the solution of salt water will prevent solid ice from forming. Trucks return and plow the piled snow and reapply salt to the road. I had also wondered why salt caused ice to melt after it had already melted, but the article explained this phenomenon. The outer molecules of the ice lattice are more free and interact easily with the salt, forming a solution that continues to melt down through the ice making more salt solution. Passing cars force the salt-ice interactions further as well. I found it interesting that they switched to other salts that produced more ions per molecule so they can use less salt, save money, and help the environment.

Parag, Good stuff. Yes there is a lot to learn from this article! 5 stars. MW

Before I read the article, I knew that a hand warmer's heat was produced from an exothermic reaction. I also knew that if hand warmer packets are exposed to air too much, they get too hot and "run out." I was always told to keep them in my gloves so that they stayed at a warm temperature for a long time. Since I lived in Minnesota, I used hand and toe warmers a lot. I knew that toe warmers were more sensitive to air than hand warmers because they oxygen got in faster. We had to put them into our boots quickly, or else they would overheat and run out. I did not know that the reaction in a hand warmer was the production of Iron oxide, or rust. I did not consider the amount of science involved in the storage material of the packets. The material needs to seal out all oxygen otherwise the hand warmers would start their reactions. I also did not know that there were reusable hand warmers. That is interesting that they use supersaturated sodium acetate that crystallizes because I would think it would be hard to keep that liquid reaction from occurring too quickly.

Parag, Good stuff. I think the sodium acetate that they use for reusable hand warmers just so happens to give off the right amount of heat. 5 stars. MW

Before I read the article on maple syrup production, I already knew that sap had to be boiled off quite a bit before it became syrup. However, I did not know that it took about 40-50 gallons of sap per 1 gallon of syrup! I am allergic to natural pure maple syrup, so I always use the "fake" stuff. I also found it very interesting that the syrup production used reverse osmosis to pull water out of the sap. I think they would have to line two vats of sap and hyper concentrated solution with a lower water potential than the sap to draw water out of the sap. I didn't know there was a separate unit of temperature measurement for sugar solutions. This seems oddly specific but maybe I am just ignorant to the necessity of the Brix scale in mass production of food products. I also knew that the primary movement of sugars in trees was in the form of sucrose because it is broken down once it reaches its destination so it does not dissolve before it is needed. However, I did not take into account how the various compounds that are in trace amounts in sap are amplified when the concentration increases from the decreased volume of water.

Parag, Solid work. I think you'll find that reverse osmosis does not require a superconcentrated solution. Pressure is used. 5 stars. MW

I read the article Flaking Away. I knew that rusting was a redox reaction, however I did not know that without paint or salt, the iron rusts anyways because steel is a mixture of metals. I always assumed that the water in the air caused rusting because the steel rods in my garden rusted quite quickly. However it is the salt that aids rusting, which makes sense because it acts as a salt bridge. I did not know that rust could cause $276 billion in damage a year but I can understand that because of the sensitivity of weapons, a small amount of rust can render them useless. I knew that dry air can preserve metal from rusting because there are airplane "graveyards" in Arizona, in which they store airplane fuselages out in the open without them rusting or wearing. It would be interesting seeing a solid gold car because it would be extremely extravagant. I think that the military could afford silver plating their extremely expensive jets because it would keep them functioning for a long time, but there would be the issue with weight and flight. Overall, I did not realize that rust was such a massive factor in today's world.

Parag, Good job! I'd like to see a gold car but it would be very heavy! MW