Kaur,+Sahib

__*3/888874/33/*33fe`AN INVISIBLE FIRE.f3/__

Before this article, I had already known that a burn caused by a hot object kills skin cells through high temperatures, while chemical burns kill skin cells by means of chemical reactions with the skin that cause skin cells to die. I had also already known that sulphuric acid, which is found in car batteries, is a common chemical that may leave behind severe burns. Finally I had also already known that acids are formed when charged atoms of hydrogen combine with non-metal atoms. The strength of the acid depends on the the strength of this bond. I found it very interesting to learn that hydrofluoric acid acts less upon the surface of the skin and more underneath it. It does so because it has the ability to slip in through the many layers of dead skin because of its neutral charge. When reading this, I recalled that I had learned about the cell membrane, i.e. the phospholipid bilayer, in AP Biology last year. I had learned in that class that it was waterproof and allowed only a select few molecules passage through it. So I was surprised when I read that hydrofluoric acid can sneak through the skin to cause damage on the inside. I also remembered learning in AP Bio that calcium plays a vital role in many reactions in the body, so I was not surprised to learn that hydrofluoric acid can seriously damage the body when it grabs onto calcium. When the injured man had walked into the doctor's office, the doctor had to consult a toxicologist, which surprised me because I had assumed that since hydrofluoric acid could be found in simple household cleaners, it should have been a common case the doctor should have been able to deal with. I also did not know that injecting calcium into the radial artery or into a vein was so risky. I found this slightly unsettling because not only had the man suffered damage because of the acid, he also risked further damage because of any wrong move the doctor could have unintentionally taken.

Sahib,

I agree! That radial artery stuff gave me the heebie jeebies! Good post! Great references to AP Bio!! 5 stars. MW

__INFLUENCES of ANCIENT GREEK on CHEMICAL TERMINOLOGY__

The Greek Civilization was indeed a major contributor to scientific belief and nomenclature today. Throughout this article, I found various points which were quite significant, in other words, were the main ideas of the article. Of the many facts stated in this article, I felt that the fact that numerical prefixes that are used extensively in naming in compounds and complexes are derived from Greek numbers is quite important to know. This little tidbit of information may be quite useful as it would help understand the structure of compounds such as dinitrogen tetraoxide or carbon monoxide. Another piece of information that I found to be important was that some elements were named after greek gods and myths, not just common Greek words. This is important because while it is difficult to memorize element symbols, it is much easier to remember myths and the names of people in them. For example, tantalum was named after Tantalos. Tantalos was a greek god who was banished to hell, and his punishment was that he was to stand in water up to his head. Whenever he bent down to drink the water, the water level sank as well, so he could never drink it. Similarly, the compound Ta2O4 (apologies for the lack of subscripts) cannot take water. The last idea, and the most important idea in this article is that "in order to understand the meaning of Greek-derived words, it is first necessary to look at word prefixes and suffixes from the Greek language." This fact is important because A LOT words in chemistry are contain Greek prefixes and/or suffixes. Some examples of common prefixes include "homo" which means same, "hetero" which means other, "photo" which means light, and "chroma" which means color. These certainly aren't the only prefixes and hundreds, maybe even thousands of prefixes in the language of chemistry have roots in the language of the Greek.

Sahib, Great examples! Well done. 5 stars. MW

__EINSTEIN'S MIRACULOUS CAREER__

Albert Einstein played a major role in scientific advancement, and his achievements are unparalleled even with today's scientific technology. Throughout the article the author made many significant points, however, the 3 VIPs and the MVIP all can be found in Einstein's three achievements, which "rocked the world of science for decades to come". Einstein's first paper, published in March 1905, explained the photoelectric effect. In his article, Einstein stated that, when light interacts with matter, it shouldn't be thought of as a wave, rather it should be thought of as a bundle of particles, or energy. Furthermore, Einstein also explained that light of different frequencies was made of different energies. This little fact that Einstein stated forms one of the fundamental basics needed to understand the photoelectric effect. In fact, this achievement by Einstein was so important that he won a Nobel Peace Prize for it. Go figure Later on, Einstein again put his geniousness to work and, "through careful calculations" he calculated the dimensions of an atom, and combined these calculations with other experimental evidence to force scientists to accept the atomic theory. Atoms are the building blocks of matter, and are at the root of EVERY single topic learned in Chemistry; therefore, knowing the dimensions of atoms is vital to the understanding elements, compounds, chemical reactions and virtually all biological process on Earth. The third point, and arguably the most important point made by Einstein was that time, including matter, energy, and distance, are all relative to your frame of reference. As one approaches the speed of light, time and space become distorted and compressed, depending on their frame of reference. When Einstein applied this theory of relativity to his work on gravitation, he deduced that time and space was a two dimensional field, where objects created dips and valleys in the field. He called this theory the "curved space-time continuum." This phenomenon explained the curvature of light around the sun, and predicted the existence of black holes! The special theory of relativity is so important to our lives today that many of the everyday functions we take for granted would not be possible without it. Communication systems, GPS and defense systems would not work if we did not know how to adjust for the relativistic effects as stated in Einstein's theory. If applied to the general cosmos, the theory also implies that the universe is not static. This was the idea that gave way to Edwin Hubble's theory that the universe is continually expanding, a huge discovery of its time.

Sahib, Very extensive! Good Job. BTW Einstein did not win the Nobel Peace prize - he won the Nobel prize in physics. 5 stars. MW

POLYMERS IN THE FIELD I found this article especially interesting because our own school's football field is composed of astro-turf, therefore this article was easy to relate to. In the article, I learned that the base of the turf was made of polypropylene, latex and styrene-butadiene rubber. I had learned in my science classes that the prefix poly- designates multiple molecules joined together to create one large molecule, therefore; polypropylene means multiple propylene molecules were bonded together to create one large molecule. Furthermore, I found it extremely interesting to learn that the SBR granules were composed of grounded up car tires. Being big on "saving the earth", I felt very happy to know that materials were being recycled and reused. Unfortunately, I was disappointed to learn that the artificial material used to make tracks does not contain post consumer tires. I also learned that the tracks were made up of vulcanized rubber. I did not fully understand the reason for vulcanizing the rubber used in the tracks. But luckily, the writer provided an analogy. A peice of gum is an elastic polymer, however the shape can be easily deformed. A rubber band on the other hand has been vulcanized, because of which, it will snap back to it's original, stable shaped even though it can be deformed.

Sahib, Good job! You extracted some great concepts from this article and made it relevant. 5 stars. MW

SALTING ROADS: The Solution for Winter Driving

This article did a great job of explaining the chemistry behind salting roads, one of the things that we often take for granted. While there were certainly quite a handful of interesting facts throughout the article, three stood out as most important and fascinating. One fact that was significant in this article was that when a solution freezes, the water molecules form solid crystals but salt ions are not incorporated into the framework because they would destabilize the structure. This was not only important but also very interesting in that it can be applied to practical use. If, for example, one is stranded at sea and has no fresh water, but has a handy refrigerator, they can simply take some sea water and freeze it. According to the article, freezing water purifies it because the salt ions would be separated from the ice. Therefore this article also provided as a very useful survival guide! Another important and interesting thing I learned from this article was that NaCl is not the only method to deicing roads. Magnesium chloride and calcium chloride would be much more effective because MgCl2 and CaCl2 produce three ions, while NaCl only produce two. This is due to the fact that the freezing point lowers more when there is a higher level of dissolved particles. Furthermore, being an environmentalist, I understand the dangerous effects rock salt has on the environment, and while I do appreciate the fact that it makes roads safe to drive on, I don't appreciate the fact that it kills Mother Nature. I was very pleased to know that other RENEWABLE resources are available, such as magnesium chloride mixed with sugarcane or sugar beet molasses. The last and most important fact I found in the article was that an increase in concentration of a solution results in an increase in the freezing point depression, which refers to the difference in temperature of the freezing point of a pure solvent and the temperature of the solution. As I discussed earlier, the solute, in this case salt ions, are not included in the structure of ice crystals. Therefore, as pure water freezes away from the salt solution, the remaining solution becomes more concentrated, and so the freezing point of the remaining solution lowers further. In conclusion, this article was not only informative, it was interesting, significant to our world, and a wonderful survival guide.

Sahib, Very thorough and expressive post! I wonder if mixing molasses in with salts would attract animals - creating a road hazard? 5 huge stars! MW

Pool Questions:

Sahib, Halfway home. Any answers? 5 . MW. Sahib, A little late and short with your answers. 50 words each. 7 stars. MW
 * 1) What type of chlorine is added in our school pools? And how are harmful effects of that form of chlorine addressed in our school?
 * 2) Liquid Chlorine is added into our school pools. As far as harmful effects go, because the concentration of chlorine is so low, it doesn't pose a health concern for the swimmers.
 * 3) I understand that algae problems are more common in outdoor pools, however; I beg to raise the question, has our school pool ever had an algae problem? If so, was it Mustard algae, Black algae, or the more common Green algae?
 * 4) Because we have an indoor pool, algae is not really a problem.
 * 5) Maintaining the pool must be a very expensive process: Approximately what are the expenses for pool maintenance? Does filling the pool with water require more money or keeping it clean?
 * 6) Overall $5 million is invested in the pool. It costs about 45000 dollars to maintain it.
 * 7) Does our pool have high rate sand filters? How much dirt do these filters collect in one week?
 * 8) Once again, because we have an indoor pool, we don't really need high rate sand filters. Those are generally for outdoor pools.

__**FLAKING AWAY**__

This article was a great way to not only review that lesson that we just had less than five minutes ago, it also showed great real world applications of galvanization as well as the importance of addressing the issue of rusting in our society. Because Mr. Williams had conveniently reviewed corrosion with us before handing out this article, some of the information that he taught us was fresh in our minds. For example, the article mentioned to me that zinc is used very commonly for galvanization, because, when used as a coating over iron or steel, it acts as a sacrificial anode, and cathodically protects the metal underneath. In other words, by acting as the anode, zinc will oxidize itself, and prevent the underneath metal from oxidizing, thereby preventing rusting. While the article's intentions about teaching me this bit of info were very noble, it was a waste, because I had already learned this five minutes ago! Furthermore, I already was aware of the fact that rust is high in abundance near costal areas because of high levels of NaCl, which helps sped up rust's redox reaction, and makes water a better conductor. However I didn't know that chloride ions, another component of NaCl, make very stable complex ions with iron, thereby helping it dissolve and speeding up the corrosion process. Being a typical human being, I am very attracted to the idea of having a little bit of gold, a.k.a "bling bling" in my life. Therefore, whenever I imagined a luxury car, I imagined a car made of solid, pure gold. However, my reasons were solely based in the beauty and shine of the luxurious metal, I also already knew that gold has a very negative E(subscript ox). Therefore, it doesn't oxidize easily. I wouldn't have to lose sleep over worrying about painting my car and protecting it from the evil that is rust. However, at times, a small voice in the back of my head speaks up and tells me, "Sahib, you don't want a gold car, and there are two reasons for that: One, you don't have enough "wads of green*" in your wallet. And two, you already know that gold is very soft. In a car crash, you would be pancaked into your vehicle." While I already had formed quite an extensive list of information before reading the article (thanks to Mr. Williams last lesson), I still managed to procure quite a bit of new information from the article. For example, did you know that high tech painst have evolved to the point where they can release "rust inhibitors" if the paints seal is broken? I didn't. These paints will ooze together and close any breaches in case of an attack. I also found it quote astonishing that over $200 billion in goods is lost to corrosion each year. Yikes! That money could be used to pay for my college education, or buy me a gold car.

Sahib, This was an awesome post! I really enjoyed reading it. You have a nice writing style. 5 huge shiny stars! MW