Greene,+Alex

I was surprised at the fact that hydrofluoric acid can cause major burns beneath the skin while leaving very minimal burns on the surface. I was also surprised to learn that it is the fact that hydrofluoric acid is a weak acid that makes it dangerous. While, I didn’t know that hydrofluoric acid was a weak, I did know that fluoride was the most electro-negative of elements. I had a bio-flash when they mentioned the phospholipids bilayer because we learned about that in pretty great detail. Lastly, I remembered from biology that calcium and magnesium are very important for muscle regulation and cell membrane structure.

Alex, Good connection to bio and prior learning. 5 stars. MW

I found the article very interesting and potentially useful in class because we use the chemical names everyday. It helps us have a deeper understanding of the chemicals if we know where the names of the chemical. My first V.I.P is that a lot of chemical and other chemistry jargon are a combination of Greek pre and suffixes such as hydrogen, which is hydro-water, gen-producer. My next V.I.P. that I found is that chemicals can be named using the IUPAC system, which uses essentially Greek numerical prefixes, knowing these prefixes allows the chemist to know how many of certain atoms of an element are present in molecules. My last V.I.P is that the terms used to describe phases are derived from Greek. For example, eutectic which can be separated eu+tactic and that mean easy to melt. This is a reference to the fact that eutectic mixtures have a lower melting point then the pure compounds. My M.V.P or most important point is the root of the word Chemistry which either comes from Khem from Egypt or Cheo from the Ancient Greeks meaning, “I cast or pour” in reference to the metallurgical operations in Ancient Greece. I feel this is the most important point because we have to know where we came from to see where we are going.

Alex, A bit philosophical there at the end. Well done, wel l written and full of good examples. 5 big stars! MW

It seems like Mr. Einstein had a very busy year! While I was reading the article, a few points seemed to jump out at me with iProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 roxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 rtance. The first point that caught my eye was the point that Einstein thought about light as a stream of particles and each particle is a bundle of energy, and not as a wave. This is important because it explains the photoelectric effect that confounded scientists foProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 years before. My second astonishing point was that Einstein calculated the dimensions of an atom, using the idea of Brownian motion and dust particles in water. This was a critical discovery in proving the existence of atoms, which was still not completely accepted idea at the time. The last and most important point which stood out to me was Einstein’s realization that time, distance, matter, and energy are all relative to your reference point and that the speed of light is the universal speed limit. This is so important because it was revolutionary and led to the discovery of black holes, the big bang, and many more discoveries that are significant.

Alex, It's hard to get your mind around the fact that time is relative - not absolute! Good perspective! 5 stars. MW

Polymers in the Field

As an athlete and frequenter of turf fields it is nice to see what makes them up, and I have noticed over the last few years the growing trend of schools to opt for turf over natural grass. I found this entire article very interesting especially the fact that they use recycled tires to make those pesky black beads, which I did not know. I think that is a very resourceful way of keeping the cost low and using a readily available byproduct. Another thing I found that was interesting was how much hotter it is on the field, I knew there was a difference from the blistering hot August afternoons during band camp but I would have never guessed that there could be a difference of more then 22 degrees Celsius! One thing the article mentioned that caused a flashback was the high specific heat of water and how you can use that to cool off the overheated field, because water has a high specific heat it takes a lot of energy in the form of heat to increase the temperature of water. This property causes the water to absorb heat from the field thus cooling it off. I thoroughly enjoyed the real world aspect of this article

Alex, Good connections and well-written. 5 stars. MW

Salting the Roads

I found this article very appropriate for this time of year and it seems like the salt trucks have been very busy this winter! I found it very interesting to read about the chemistry behind this practice that has been around since the 1930's! My most important point was the fact that adding salt to water is lowers the freezing point below zero. I chose this as the MVP because this is the fact that the entire idea is based on. My first VIP was the point that the ions in the salt disrupt the crystalline structure of the frozen water and cause the structure to break down. I value this point because I like to be able to visualize what is happening on the microscopic level. My second VIP is the two ways that the ice works on the roads. I did not know there were two ways salt worked. I knew that putting salt on the already formed ice would cause some to melt, but I did not know that putting salt down before the snow and ice accumulate could prevent ice from forming. This explains why I always hear and see the snowplows out before a big storm. My last VIP is that there are more environmentally friendly salts that actually work better! I always assumed that the salt was just plain old NaCl. The use of salts such as MgCl2 or CaCl2 is more effective because they create three ions instead of two like NaCl. The extra Cl- ion causes the freezing temperature of the water to drop even further thus allowing less salt to be applied, saving time, money, and the environment.

Alex, Well those "other salts" are more expensive and could be more corrosive so they aren't necessarily the answer. Good post! 5 stars. MW

Pool Chemistry

Part 1
 * 1) 1 Why is it important to add the water to the deep end of the pool when adding acid? While Mr. Miller did not know the exact reason that acid must be added to the pool because he does not actually add the acid, I will hypothesize my own answer. I think the reason the acid must be added to the deep end is because this insures that there will be enough water to quickly dilute the acid to safer levels, another answer could be that the filter of pools are commonly in the deep end and if the acid is sucked into the filter it can then be quickly dispersed to the entire pool.

Both reasonable hypotheses!


 * 1) 2 Which types of Algae are most problematic for a pool? Mr. Miller said that because the pool is an indoor pool algae is not a problem. He said that really only outdoor pools have algae problems. In addition, I feel that if there ever were an algae problem the automatic chlorine dispenser would take care of any algae before it could bloom and create a large problem.


 * 1) 3 Have there ever been any deaths that you know of, from gaseous cholrine above the surface of the water and is this a problem that must be prevented? Mr. Miller said that he personally has never heard of any accidents or deaths related to chlorine gas. However, he has experienced a liquid hypochlorite ion solution leaking from a holding tank and if that situation was let unattended someone could have been injured by the fumes or ingesting some solution. Nonetheless, chlorine gas is nothing to be played with and should be respected.

Alex, Agreed! Good questions and posts! 10 stars. MW

Flaking Away The first thing I learned from the article was that there are paints being developed to release rust inhibitors when scratched. I think this is very cool and would be a great invention for society. The second thing I learned was that $276 billion dollars worth of goods and services are lost every year due to rust. This sum is much higher then anything I would have guessed. The last thing I learned was Galvanization is the process of coating a metal in with a thin layer of a another metal to protect it as a sacrifice. I did have some prior knowledge before reading the article and the first fact I already knew was that oxidation is the loss of electrons and reduction is the gain. The second bit of knowledge I knew was that there must be a flow of electrons for a redox reaction to occur. The last thing I knew was that rust is a favored reaction by nature. Nature does not favor solid iron and rather favors iron ions.

Good points and well written. Nicely done Mr. Verde. 5 stars. :) MW