Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Clouds!

Clouds are essentially water vapor in the sky. There are three types of clouds cirrus, stratus, and cumulus clouds. Cirrus clouds are the highest up in the air and they are made of ice crystals because they are in the highest position where the air is more cold. They look wispy up in the air. Cumulus clouds are in the middle of the sky. Not all the way at the top but relatively far from the ground. Their chemical make up consists of ice crystals and water vapor. They look more of a flatterer base and go upwards. The last cloud type of the Stratus clouds and they are close to the ground.  They form a layer above the ground. They are made up of water droplets.


Also chemists have found a way to make it rain voluntarily. They use a chemical called  silver iodide which is dry ice and they spray a certain amount into the air from an airplane and the dry ice freezes the water droplets making it to heavy in the clouds thus "raining on our parade" again! Any through the use of chemicals we an essentially do anything even make it rain as it seems to be so if we are ever in a drought we know what to do. I never knew that people could actually make it rain.



http://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/whatischemistry/scienceforkids/articles/whats-in-a-cloud.pdf

Scientists have made a water jet printer

Scientists from China have created a water jet printer. Instead of the old ink jet printer water jet could replace them soon in the future. They were able to make the paper reusable. They coated regular paper with PEG or polyethylene glycol numerous times to make the paper reusable if needed. They would spray the paper with the desired shape of the letter with water and it would stay completely readable for up to 22 hours and then when it is needed to be erased, it should be heated at 70 degrees Celsius and it would be made completely clear so it could be reused. 


this is what the color would consist of to make the color that is shown above. This picture shows the chemical make up of the color. This relates to chemistry because it shows the chemical make up of the dyes used to color the paper. I never knew that this was possible this could be very revolutionary if the time to read the dye stayed longer (which they are working on) When i need to hand in my papers i could possibly use this to write it and then would be able to erase it so that i can reuse the same piece of paper.



http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2014/01/waterjet-printer-rewriteable-paper-set-make-splash

Monday, January 20, 2014

Water and oil don't mix

Water and oil/grease do not mix. Water is used to clean, and for drinking and other necessities but it just cannot mix with oil/ grease because oil/grease is hydrophobic meaning that they are water fearing and they will never mix with water. Salt and sugar on the other are hydrophilic they dissolve in the water and if you put the water by the sun or somewhere hot the water will dissolve leaving a white powder which is essentially the salt or sugar depending on what you put in the water. Hydrophilic things dissolve in hydrophilic things and hydrophobic things dissolve in hydrophobic things. Things with similar properties will dissolve in each other but salt and oil will not mix because they have very different properties. Soap and detergents are exceptions because can either act like water or oil and they can mix with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic things. This relates to chemistry because it talks about hydrophobic and hydrophilic things. I never knew that hydrophobic things can mix with each other.




http://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/whatischemistry/scienceforkids/articles/a-matter-of-mixing.pdf

Salt is breaking the rules of chemistry

Salt is a very normal compound that when sodium and chloride combine they from little cubes and all is well in salt land. Or so they thought......Salt can have dramatic changes when put under tremendous heat and pressure. When salt was crushed between two diamonds and then was shot with a laser. The structure changed dramatically and one sodium linked with three or even seven chlorine. Or two sodium atoms could link with three chlorine atoms. These new linkages can form new and exotic structures for our well known table salt. A scientist said that these extreme pressures can be found in stars and planets and this means that this could also be taking place in the universe as well. The sodium chloride usually forms an ionic bond but when put under extreme pressure they can form a metallic bond which means that electrons move from one atom to the next instead of just staying with one atom. This relates to chemistry because it talks about the bond of atoms and the different types and how it can change based upon the amount of pressure and heat that a compound is under. I never knew that salt could form different structures when put under different pressures this could be a major break through i think.



https://student.societyforscience.org/article/salt-bends-rules-chemistry

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

The chemistry of Art

Art and chemistry are very closely intertwined. Sculptors, artists, and photographers all use chemicals to create their woks of art. The sculptor uses clay and other things to make sculptors. Depending on the material they use the chemical make up of that material allows them to chip or mold and things of that nature. Painters, and drawers use different drawing utensils which contain different chemicals to make the picture unique pencils use clay and graphite which is made from carbon. Paint is made with either water or oil, and then pigments which are chemicals. Crayons are made of wax which is made from the chemical petroleum. Chalk is made of calcium carbonate and limestone.  In photography certain chemicals are sensitive to light so the amount of light that hits that chemical allows the photograph to be either darker or lighter. This relates to chemistry because it talks about all the chemicals and different chemicals that are used to make paintings sculptors and  photographs. I never knew there was so much chemistry that went along with art!





http://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/whatischemistry/scienceforkids/articles/visual-arts-products-of-chemicals.pdf

Monday, January 13, 2014

Treeeeeeeess!!!

Trees are cool. They help the environment out a lot. The normal thing that most people know is that they help get rid of Co2 in the environment. But did you know that trees can also get rid of waste from the ground, and pollution from the sky? Well, they can. Phytoremediation is what it is called to use plants in that such way. Phyto means plant and remediation means to cure. Asparagus plants, and spider plants help to get rid of cigarette smoke and other pollutants in the air. Which is really helpful for the safety and health of the people and other animals that live. Trees can also make the ground water cleaner. It takes the water up through its roots from the ground and it cleans it and sweats it out in the leaves. So if anyone is ever stranded in a forest there will be water in some of the leaves of trees such as Pine trees, eastern cottonwood trees, hybrid poplar trees, and juniper trees. (if you know how to identify trees of the back of your hand this could also be useful. The trees can also team up with bacteria to help the soil become cleaner along with the water in the ground. This related to chemistry because it talks about how the trees cannot only help with the Co2, but can also help with the water and pollutants as well. I never knew that trees were so special. I <3 trees!!!




http://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/whatischemistry/scienceforkids/articles/plants-that-eat-trash.pdf

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Don't you (Acid ) Rain on my parade!

Acid rain is very dangerous to the environment. It prevents plants from growing properly. The most common things that cause acid rain are exhaust from cars and trucks and factories. The fumes contain sulfur and nitrogen oxides and they react with moisture from the air and they create sulfuric and nitrite acid in the air. Scientists are trying to reduce the amount of sulfur that is released into the air by burning  limestone in the factories and that reduces the sulfur oxide that is emitted into the air.This is related to chemistry becuase it taught me how acid rain is formed in the air and it deals with a lot elements that are in air.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Green Chemistry

Green chemistry is the way of making chemicals in a safer way so as not to hurt the environment. Normally when scientists make chemicals they make a lot of byproducts that are associated with that and it would hurt the environment. Now they are trying to be "Green " and trying to make less byproducts. This would help the environment in a tremendous way. For examples makers of Advil and Motrin used to make those medicines in a way that caused a lot of damage and many byproducts. But now they make it in a more green way. This is related to chemistry because it taught me the meaning of the word green because i never really knew the meaning of green in that way i just thought it was recycling, but it is not. so this taught me about it could be used in chemistry.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

when you sweat......

when you sweat you lose a lot of water plus a lot of electrolytes. Electrolytes are minerals that help with the contraction of muscles and the regulation of water in your cells. The most abundant  electrolytes are potassium, chloride , and sodium. when they are released from your body they form a salt which cause sweat to have such a salty taste (if you've ever tasted it ). Regulating the amount of water in your system is important because it can cause you to become dizzy and get cramps. This relates to chemistry because it talks about salts and elements such as potassium, chloride, and sodium





http://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/whatischemistry/scienceforkids/articles/dont-sweat-it.pdf