Peterson,+Courtney

Flaking Away I found this article very interesting. I knew that salt was not good for your car and that it could cause rusting, I didn’t know why this was though. This article did a good job in explaining how the chloride ions help dissolve iron and speed up the corrosion process. Another thing I learned was that steel is not completely homogeneous. I guess this makes sense because it is a mixture of different metals. I also learned that they could make ‘smart’ paints that can ooze together to close gaps whenever a car gets scratched. I think that this is a good idea. One of our cars had a scratch on the door and we had to get it painted over before the winter so that the door wouldn’t rust off. I already knew that it would take a lot of energy to ‘un-rust’ something but it was interesting to read about it and learn why from a more chemical point of view.

Courtney, I think those paints are becoming more and more common. The advances in nanotechnology are helping in this area. Good thoughts. MW

Maple Syrup I knew the basics chemistry of maple syrup before I read this article because my uncle used to have a maple syrup farm in Vermont. I knew that the sap was clear when it came out and had to be boiled in order to crystallize. I also knew that it took roughly 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. I also knew that the syrup was a sugar so it had to be a carbohydrate. I knew new that the sap was acidic. I guess I associate acidic foods with a vinegar taste which I now know is not always true. I had also never heard of birch sap before. And I thought it was interesting that it takes about twice the amount of birch sap to make a gallon than it does maple sap because the birch sap isn’t as concentrated. I wonder if you can make syrup out of any sap from any tree. I’m sure you probably can but I don’t think another other tree’s sap would be as concentrated as the maple and birch so it probably wouldn’t be worth it. Lastly I learned that if sap is tapped in the off season it wouldn’t taste right because the levels of sodium are higher. I knew that you had to tap in a certain season but I never knew why.

Courtney, Totally cool connection with your uncle! Great thoughts and questions! 5 stars! MW

I found this article to be quiet interesting. I have used hand and toe warmers before but I have never really given much thought on how they worked or the ingredient used to make them. I always wondered why there was a difference between the two but I now know that the toe- warmers have to have larger perforations because there is less oxygen in a hard plastic boot than there is in a woven glove. This article talks about the use of ground up iron in the pouches but I was wondering if any other metal could be used; or if you combine two or more highly conducible metals if the heat would last for longer.
 * Hand Warmers**

Courtney, OK. MW
 * Salt on Roads**

I thought this article was very interesting. I found it helpful in explaining the formula we use for freezing point depression. When the article was talking about how MgCl2 and CaCl2 lower the freezing point more than table salt, because they have three ions opposed to two, it made sense to me because in the equation we multiply by the van hoff factor and the larger the number, the greater the delta T. Also, I found the last paragraph to be very intriguing. I thought that mixing the magnesium chloride with molasses was a good idea to ‘stick’ the salt to the road.

I thought that this article was very interesting. I knew that water molecules were polar, and oil molecules were non-polar, and that non-polar and polar molecules don’t mix but this article was very helpful in explaining the science behind these facts. I found it interesting that the oil molecules are more attracted to water molecules because the water it has a fixed polarity, and it is more capable to induce a temporary dipole in an oil molecule than a other non-polar molecule is. Another thing I learned from this article was that polar molecules can force non-polar molecules into a dipole-induced dipole attraction. This makes since that they can do this but I guess I just never thought about it before. I also learned that because water has hydrogen bonds, and is so ‘sticky’ it is a liquid at room temp erature, whereas other molecules similar in size to water but not nearly as polar are gases at room temp. I knew that water was a liquid at room temp erature but I didn’t know that it was because of the hydrogen bonds. Courtney, Well done! MW
 * Oil and Water**

I found the section on turf temperature relevant to our unit on thermal chemistry. The turf was the system and when water was sprayed on it the system lost heat to the surroundings, causing it (the system/turf) to cool down. I also found the section on the vulcanization interesting. The comparison between the chewing gum which has no shape and can be easily deformed and the rubber band that had a stable shape but can also be deformed really helped me understand the role that the cross links, formed during vulcanization, have in stabilizing the polymers. I was wondering if the reason that they don’t use recycled rubber for the track has to do with the vulcanization process.
 * Polymers in the Field**

Courtney, Not sure about the use of new rubber for the field. I think vulcanization may make things too rigid or the rubber may become brittle if exposed to direct sunlight. MW

I read the article on the solar-hydrogen house. I found it interesting how he stored the hydrogen to use in the winter months when the solar panels aren’t as useful. He uses the solar energy to run his electrolyzer that splits the water molecules into hydrogen (stored) and oxygen (released to the atmosphere). I thought it was neat how he used one source of renewable energy to produce another. The article mentioned that Strizki, the owner of the house, was designing a house for someone in the Caribbean. I was curious whether or not he was planning on including an electrolyzer or if being in the Caribbean there would be enough sunlight to keep the house running all year long. Courtney, Interesting question. On the Equator there is 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of darkness everyday. That may be enough to keep things running. MW
 * Inside the Solar-Hydrogen House: No More Power Bills--Ever**

When hydrofluoric acid comes in contact with your skin it sinks through the layers of dead skin and reacts under the surface with calcium and magnesium. The fluoride ion is very hungry for electrons, as it only needs one electron to become isoelectronic with neon. Calcium and magnesium are more attractive to fluoride than hydrogen because they have more electrons. When the fluoride ion bonds with these other ions in your body, it throws off the chemical balance and depletes your body of the necessary nutrients it needs to function.
 * Hydrofluoric acid**


 * Influences of Ancient Greek on Chemical Terminology**

I found the charts that showed how the elements were named very interesting. The translation of hydrogen into “water former” was interesting. I thought it was funny how Bromine was named the Greek word for stench after its smell. I learned that many of the prefixes we use such as, endo coming from the Greek word en meaning in, were Greek. I thought it was neat that the actual word chemistry came from a Greek word meaning “I cast or pour”

Courtney, I liked that bromine one too! MW