Chu,+Michelle

In __An Invisible Fire__, William Turner’s hand was slowly eaten away by hydrofluoric acid. I learned that chemical burns aren’t the same as high temperature burns in a sense that chemical burns severely damage deep tissues but leave little trace on the surface. HF easily passes through the fatty surface of the skin and when the acid reaches the living cells it quickly attacks because the H+ is only a proton when separated from the flouride, often attacking the electron riddled magnesium or calcium. When magnesium or calcium levels drop, bodily nerves fail which causes unbearable pain and sometimes even death.

By learning prefixes one can gain a far better understanding of words comprised in the English language. In __Influences of Ancient Greek on Chemical Terminology,__ element and compound nomenclature is discussed. Greek and Latin prefixes and suffixes are intertwined in not only science but also art, math, and sports. It's amazing how all of the element names actually have meaning such as Argon meaning "No work" because of its inertness or even just -scope (like in telescope) meaning 'to look at'. It's incredibly interesting how Greek and Latin have such a powerful, yet underlying influence on our lives.

Michelle, You have a nice writing style! I was looking for three examples. MW

I read the article “Cylindrical Solar Cells Give a Whole New Meaning to Sunroof”. I learned that enough power can be harnessed from U.S. roofs to power 16 million American homes. Instead of the normal flat panels they hope to use an array of long, cylindrical, fluorescent tubes which was really interesting. The cylinders can pick up light from any angle, halving installation costs and cutting installation time immensely. This design can pick up 20% more sunlight energy than the traditional design. They’re also said to withstand hurricanes (tested in Florida). The advanced solar technology of today definitely looks like a promising area for an renewable source of energy.

Michelle, Solar panels are continuously improving and I think we will see them more and more. MW

__**Polymers in the Field**__ I think it was really interesting how they graded the field with a .5% slope so the water would run of the sides. Also, the turf doesn't need to be painted because the blades are actually yellow and white. I also learned that vulcanization is a process that cross-links long elastomer chains so that the end result is a solid, instead of a liquid. In addition, the field uses rubber from used tires while the track uses fresh rubber. The artificial turf is very heat-absorbent, due to it's dark color, and the material used. The best way they found to cool it down is to spray with water, which lowers the temperature, has a high heat capacity (thus, making the field more heat resistant), and evaporates (cooling the field even more so).

Well done Michelle! MW

**__Oil and Water__**
At first I thought that oil is separate and sits on top of water when mixed, just because it's less dense. In this article I learned that this is a big misconception. When reading the article __Question From the Classroom__, I learned that an oil molecule is actually very attracted to a water molecule, more so than another oil molecule. I learned a water molecule has a permanent dipole and is more likely to induce a temporary dipole in an oil molecule than is another nonpolar molecule. The partial positive end of the water creates a temporary partial negative in the oil molecule. The partial negative end of the water molecule creates a temporary partial positive in the oil. This is called a dipole induced-dipole interaction and they’re stronger than the dispersion forces that just neighboring oil molecules would create. So obviously, the oil molecule would much rather prefer encompassing itself with water molecules instead of oil. I already knew that hydrophobic meant water fearing. I also knew that hydrogen bonds are particularly strong dipole-dipole forces (hydrogen bonding with F, O, or N in particular). Lastly, I knew that all molecules have induced-dipole induced-dipole interactions (also known as dispersion/London forces) because random movement of electrons create partial charges within a molecule.

Michelle, WOW! Great post! Very well covered. 5 big stars.

I learned that when water freezes and forms crystal lattices the molecules move slightly, or vibrate (also known as vibrational motion). I thought it was so fascinating that you could purify water just by freezing it because only pure water crystals form initially. A solution has a depressed freezing point compared to pure water because getting the crystals to form requires more energy to be removed. I discovered that the more concentrated a solution is, the lower the boiling point. Because of this, you must continue to lower the temperature in order to completely freeze a solution. I also learned that they can use MgCl2 and CaCl2 to salt the pavements and these compounds creates 3 ions instead of just 2 which in turn, creates a further decrease in freezing point. They can also use magnesium and calcium acetates as other variants. I think the use of sticky molasses wouldn’t be very smart because putting sugar and sugar cane on roads seems like it would attract rodents and other unwanted creatures and create safety hazards.
 * __Salting Roads__**

Michelle, Wow. Once again good writing. I had the same thought about putting sugar on the roads! 5 huge stars! MW

__**Hand Warmers**__ Before delving into this article, I already knew that the reaction that occurred in hand warmers began with the exposure of the ingredients inside, to air. I didn’t know that the Japanese hot stones were a basis for our hand warmers today. It’s so intriguing that the reaction is just oxygen (flowing through the permeable pouch) reacting with iron powder with salt and water present to form this exothermic reaction. All the ingredients seem so simple, I always thought the chemistry behind them were more complex. But as I read on, several more complications surfaced. The producers want to create an ideal reaction that will create an instant, yet long-lasting heat. The pouches must be stored in certain packaging to ensure the least amount of oxygen exposure and water loss, the most popular wrappers being crafted from polyethylene. Lastly, when I read the last section about the woman just overturning the contents of the hand warmer pouch into a glass to expose as much surface area to oxygen as possible, it made me want to try it to see if it’d begin to smoke in the same fashion. It could perhaps be something interesting that could be demonstrated in class someday?

Michelle, I tried that but I think my handwarmers are too old!:( MW

__**The Chemical Composition of Maple Syrup**__

Before reading this article I had never thought of maple syrup having much or any relation to chemistry. I learned that there were multiple compounds that contributed to it’s distinct flavor including Phenolic compounds, Pyrazine compounds, and Carbonyl compounds. I was also enlightened in a sense that maple sap contains organic acids, amino acids, and minerals some including oxalic, glycine, and potassium with respect to each. I knew that sap had a much higher concentration of water than the desired syrup must have but I learned that in order to turn maple sap into maple syrup one must go about two ways: heat-induced evaporation or reverse osmosis followed by evaporation. I learned it takes 2600 kJ to evaporate 1 L of sap into syrup. I also never knew that there was such a thing as the Brix scale, to measure the concentrations of sugar solutions. I knew that maple syrup was mainly composed of sucrose, and not fructose or glucose. I learned that when hot sap is cooled to room temperature crystals precipitate, known as sugar sand. But, I already knew that when cooled, the solubility of certain compounds would drop below the saturation point causing precipitation. I thought it was so neat that I could relate chemistry to something so seemingly unrelated, maple syrup.

Michelle, Good post! Yes chemistry is related to many things. 5 stars.

__**Flaking Away**__ I had never thought of rusting as a redox reaction. The atoms gain electrons and others lose electrons. It’s also an electrochemical reaction, including an anode, cathode, and an electrolyte solution. Rusting happens in cars because they’re mostly made of steel (which contains iron) acting as a perfect anode. The water on the surface of a car becomes the solvent where the electrons react. Something I thought was really interesting, is that places by the coast and places with colder climates have a lot of rust. This is because of the abundance of salt, from the ocean and the rock salt. The salt speeds the rust’s redox reaction by making water a better conductor. To prevent corrosion, isn’t difficult. A coating of paint prevents water from contacting the steel. Rust is not only an issue with car owners, but it’s also a concern with machine based industries and military helicopters.

Michelle, OK. How much did you already know? MW