week 4 - Science without Social Responsibility

One hundred years ago people did not understand the effects our actions would have on the planet. They could not fathom that their seemingly insignificant actions would be catastrophic for the future generations. I do not think this was arrogance, near-sightedness yes. Humans had never before changed the weather, erased entire species from the planet, this power was only considered to be in God's hands. It is easy to sit on a high horse now and criticize the actions of the past. WE need not look to who is at fault but more what went wrong and how do we fix it it and avoid it in the future. I hope that we become better and better at learning from our mistakes. Not to point the finger and say " I told you so", because if you are a child of this earth, this is your responsibility too.

Week 4 - Cadmium

Cadmium - Cd has an atomic mass of 48 and is in the transition metal group in the periodic table of elements. In searching form information on cadmium as a catalyst, everything I found included silver and copper. I think cadmium is a catalyst but maybe only when in the presence of other transitional metals?

I decided to write about cadmium anyway due to the overwhelming relevance to our topics in yesterdays class. 

Cadmium is a toxic element known to cause cancer and death. It is most often found in batteries, paint, and plastics. Cadmium poisoning is considered an "occupational hazard" for workers in industrial plants. The government has placed regulations on cadmium leeks from chemical plants. Regardless, soil, plants and animals living near these plants have extremely high levels of cadmium. The fumes when inhaled cause cancer, pulminary edema and death. Cadmium is also found in cigarettes, causing smokers to have "4-5 times higher blood cadmium concentration". (wikipedia) 

Cadmium in plastics:

This has become an increasingly alarming issue for mother's and their babies. Cadmium is used to stabilize PVC, vinyl and other plastic products. It is also used in coatings and paint. This includes toys, games, packaging for foods and medicines, plastic bags, reusable containers and many other household use plastic products. Only nineteen states limit the use of cadmium in some plastics. "Currently there are no restrictions on the amount of cadmium used in children's products in the US. "*  Cadmium can be absorbed through the skin, ingested or inhaled. It is often found in trace amounts in public water supply, along with many other toxic heavy metals. In small amounts cadmium causes delayed sensory-motor development, hormonal effects and other symptoms often seen in Autism and Asperger's syndrome. There is increasing discussion that many developmental disorders, such as Autism and Asperger's are caused from heavy metal poisoning. 

What are we doing to prevent heavy metal poisoning? The Toxic Substances Control Act, enacted in 1976, grandfathered in all "existing chemicals". The act "prohibits the manufacture or importation of chemicals not on the TSCA inventory" (wiki) The inventory list does not separate the chemicals into toxic and non-toxic. All "new chemicals" must submit a review request to be put on the inventory list. The act also states "there is no legal requirement to test most chemicals for health effects at any stage of production, marketing or after market distribution."

*www.watoxics.org

Week 4 - Atom Economy

Looking on Google, I found informational sights and university and school sights teaching about atom economy. I could not find one news link mentioning atom economy. Is this correct, is no one, other than scientists, paying attention to atom economy? Please tell me if you have found otherwise. I appreciate companies trying to better control their waste percentage during production. I understand that once a plant is in place it is far more difficult to change the process, but it is important to give companies incentives to increase their atom economy to as close to 100% as possible. I also wonder why there is no blanket regulation on all new chemical plants and factories to be 90-100% efficient. This seems like a necessary next step, considering the colossal amount of waste we already have to clean up, why would anyone keep making more?

Week 3 - Roentgenium

Roentgenium was first discovered during a cold fusion experiement using Ni (nickel) ion and Bi (bismuth) ion, in 1994. The experiment was carried out in Germany by Peter Armbruster, Gottfiren Munzberg and their team. There was insufficient evidence to classify the existing three atoms as a new element. The team repeated their experiment in 2000 and in 2003 the atoms were officially recognized as a new element with atomic mass 111. The element was named after a well-known scientist from the beginning of the 20th centruy, Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen. There is little know about the reactivity and properties of element 111, as it is sometimes called. It is believed to be more noble than gold.

Week 3 - website review

I found the second site to be rather confusing. having little base knowledge to understand the molecular structures and the way the form, this was a little over my head. The movies were very short and also not very informative. Perhaps after next class the descriptions willmake more sense.

Week 2 - Review of links

I found all three links very helpful and informative. Obviously, the first two are very similar. I enjoyed the layout and header warning that each section was vital to understanding the one below, sort of a "proceed with caution". The visual aspects of the third link were also very helpful. It is fascinating to think that not only in the space around us but inside and making up everything we use, food, clothes, this desk and keyboard are all made of tiny atoms, molecules and mixtures bouncing around everywhere.

Week 2 - ozone

My father read an interesting article explaining that although the ozone allows more ultra-violet light down to earth, the particles in the atmosphere, created by pollution, filter a large amount of this light, helping to keep the earth cool. The concern was that if we eliminate green house gasses, which are heating up the earth, too quickly, then the light and heat absorption from the particles will start to cool the earth. This means that in order to keep things balanced, we must eliminate green house gases at the same rate that we remove the particles from the atmosphere. 

In discussing the effects of our disappearing ozone, two different concerns surfaced. First, will this kill off humans? Second, will this injure the earth irrevocably? Humans will not live into infinity, whether we die-off in the next 5 years or 5 million years, we will die off. The earth can certainly survive without us, but the earth can not survive with out the atmosphere. The damage therefore,  to our atmosphere is much more detrimental to the earth than the changes caused, superficially by our carelessness.

Week 2 Element of Choice - Helium

Helium - atomic number 2

Helium is odorless, colorless and non-toxic. It is part of the noble gas group of elements. A noble gas is a naturally occurring gas with very low chemical reactivity. This is due to Helium's complete outer layer of electrons, meaning it does not have any spaces or electrons looking to bond with other elements. Helium was first seen as a new yellow line in the solar spectrum, during a full solar eclipse. This was first observed in 1868 by a French observer Pierre Jannsen and understood to exist in the sun but was not discovered on earth until 1895. It was discovered by Sir william Ramsay during an experiment exposing clevite, a mineral containing uranium, to mineral acid. Helium was discovered among the gases released by the experiment. 

Next to Hydrogen, Helium is the second most abundant element in our universe. It is also the second lightest. Helium is found in natural gas. Most of the world's helium is found in the central United States underneath, Texas, Oklahom and Kansas. It is found regularly in the hottest stars. It has the lowest melting point of any element and, for this reason,  is often used in cryogenic research. 

Helium combined with oxygen is used in scuba diving tanks to create a nitrogen free environment. This keeps the scuba diver safe from nitrogen narcosis, also known as rapture of the deep. Helium is used to inflate balloons and blimps. It is also used to pressurize tanks of liquid such as rocket fuel. When hydrogen is fused into helium, it produces the energy for the hydrogen bomb.

Week 1 Quiz

1) chemical, physical, physical, chemical

2)mixture, pure substance ( didn't think of the caking agent), pure, mixture

3)non-homogenous, impure ( i thought that the coffee would have taken on some of the properties of the filter and plastic)

4)physical, physical (phew!)

Week 1

I was born in Natick, Massachusettes. I grew up on the coast of Rhode Island. As a kid, I was adamant about becoming a pastry chef. My father agreed to pay for culinary school as long as I got my bachelors' degree first. This turned out to be excellent advice. After working as a Pastry Chef for a few years I was diagnosed with celiac sprue disease. This discovery halted my present career goals and allowed my to re-think my future plans. I was so thankful to Acupuncture for finally showing me the path to whole health, but I knew I would really miss the personal/customer contact from baking & pastry. 

I worked in Marketing for Whole Foods Market for a few years until literally one day it occurred to me to go back to school for Acupuncture. Once this thought entered into my mind, all the other pieces of my life started to fall into place. In other words, it was the only thing that made sense. So...here I am.