Lutz,+Cody

After reading the article i learned that hydroflouric acid is incredibly dangerous even though it is a weak acid. At first its burn leaves no marks or blisters but later it can leave nasty scars. Since hydroflouric acid is weak and does not hold a charge, it passes easily through skin and through fatty substances of membranes. Once it reaches the living cells in the dermis and epidermis it begins binding to calcium and magnesium ions. The damage done is caused by the falling levels of calcium. Therefore treatment of the burn is calcium therapy.

Many of the words and names we use in chemistry are from Greek origin. I found it interesting that chemistry, which is a science that leads to new discoveries everyday is still influenced by a civilization that ended over 2000 years ago. Also the names of elements were given by the Greek. I was also surprised by how much the names fit with each element in a way that makes sense. For an example, when the name Argon is broken into its roots and translated to English it means no work, which relates to its inertness. Bromine means stench due to its unpleasant odor. Therefore i find it interesting that chemistry today, is still influenced by ancient Greece.

I read the article on wind power. Dynamic architecture is a wind powered rotating skyscraper. Each floor may rotate on its own like the twisting of a rubics cube. Between each floor is a wind turbine that produces a large amount of energy to put in the energy grid. The power generated from the wind will produce more than enough energy to fuel the town and it will distribute it to its surroundings. Only 4 turbines of 48 are needed to keep the building running so therefore 44 turbines can be used to distribute energy to other buildings. Oh yeah. Cody, Cool futuristic stuff! MW

Pretty cool stuff. It is sort of like the solar power plants that I read about in my article. Some questions do come up after reading your posts. Did the article give the actual amount of energy created. Also are their limitations to the production of the energy. If their is not much wind is the any energy created and if not is their some type of backup energy source used by this plant. Finally does the speed of the wind have any effect on how much energy can be produced by this plant.

In the oil and water article I already knew that "like dissolves like", that oil and water don't mix because of differences in polarity, and that it wasn't just because of density. What i didn't know is that oil has a stronger attraction to water than other oil molecules itself because of induced dipole forces. But since the water has stronger dipole-dipole forces than the oils induced dipole forces the oil cannot fit between the water molecules so therefore doesn't dissolve. That explained why when water was dropped on a non-polar surface, like wax, it forms beads. And why when oil is dropped onto water it spreads out in a thin layer.

Cody, OK. MW

In the hand warmer article I already knew that hand warmers were oxygen activated and that was the reasoning behind vacuum sealing the packaging. I also knew that if you increase the amount of oxygen then the reaction would occur more rapidly and heat up faster and hotter. What i did not know was that the main chemicals used in the packets was iron powder and the heat is generated from reaction that forms iron oxide. Reusable hand warmers are made from supersaturated solutions of sodium acetate that release heat when the solution crystalize.

Cody, Looks like 2 knew/2learned( not three of each) 4 stars. MW

In the maple syrup article i already knew that syrup was made from the sap of the maple tree. I knew that in order to make the syrup the sap must be boiled. I also knew that the syrup that most people use is actually not real maple syrup. What i didn't know was about the amount of sap needed to make one gallon of syrup. I also didn't know that syrup was actually slightly acidic due to the many different acids that are present in sap. I did not know that syrup has a very low concentration of sodium but higher concentrations of potassium and calcium.

Cody, OK. 5 stars. MW