This blog is not dead... really

Well, the inactivity does say that I haven't had the time to go around online to read up interesting sites of late. BUT viola, so I was looking around and I thought this really is quite interesting:

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/class/class.htm

Remember how we talked about the solid state of covalent compounds is ordered, and that the molecules are held together in "fixed positions" by intermolecular forces. Now, ice crystals is really one of the really unique substances on earth that demonstrates how when these interactions change, a change of the macro structure can be observed. And really, it's a nice beautiful world out there :)

CCT + Prac Test

Next Monday is the prac test for all my classes.

No need to panic, just make sure you've understood all the prac lessons, and know how to carry out investigations and take down observations.


Wednesday will be the CCT. More details will be given soon.

Nano Nano

I meant this as a continuation from last week's authetic conversation with Prof Sow, but somehow I didn't get around to publishing the draft.

So Prof Sow mentioned about all the possibilities with nano technology, and in all truth it is a very new field and much of the $$ is put into. There are loads to be studied about and with better understanding of substance behaviour we can manipulate them for our use.

Silver is a good example. Previously, the use of silver is limited because of its high cost, but now being able to tap on the potential silver by using making nano "particles" of silver which essentially is very much smaller (hence cheaper).

Nano silver fights infections from PhysOrg.com
Silver nanoparticles could help fight hospital-related infections that afflict 2 million patients and lead to 90,000 deaths in the United States each year, experts told UPI's Nano World.[...]

(Nano) Silver coated wound care products are already patented and marketed in several countries. (see it here) Things like that is no longer just science fiction. And of course if you pop down to the electrical stores, nano silver washing machines are readily available (perhaps like this one). Silver poisons bateria but is harmless to us. With silver nano particles embedded into the fabric after the wash, clothing can remain almost 100% bacteria free for quite a while. All this without even using the traditional "heated wash" function.

I would like to leave you with this advice: Don't be drinking silver solutions to boost your immunity just yet. I am serious about this, cos you'd get argyria and turning blue just ain't funny. I've got an article to prove my point: clickie Notice that it IS recent news? More research on the effectiveness on such treatment needs to be done.

The best medicine,

they say is laughter. So here's a few jokes to lighten your day:

What do you do with a dead chemist? - Barium

What weapon can you make from the elements potassium, nickel and iron? - A KNiFe.

What happens when electrons lose their energy? - They get Bohr'd.

And just as we get started on Chemical bonding, here's a simulation of what water molecules look like in liquid state. clickie here

We really can start asking ourselves what holds the atoms together in molecules and how the molecules come together to form the substance. Can we take them apart? If so, what are some examples that we know of?

Announcement 1

1) Authentic Conversation with Prof Sow from NUS on "Introduction to the Nanoworld. How do Atoms and Molecules look like?"
Classes 2F & 2G, Please go to LT2 on Monday, 28th Jan, Period 6.
Class 2L, Please go to LT2, Wednesday, 23rd Jan, Period 3.

2) Performance Task
Submission to be done in class on Monday during lesson. Do not be late :)

3) Lesson Swop
Class of 2G, this Friday's lesson will be taken by Mrs Ng for math in order to make up for lesson lost on monday. Please bring your books.

How many neutrons can an atom hold?

Now, I think that I've mentioned that there is a theory that the interaction between the protons and the neutrons keeps the nuclei of atoms stable. Which is why most atoms occuring in nature do not deviate from the 1:1 ratio too much without being radioactive. The research in this area is still ongoing with lots of interesting news which really can be so ground breaking that it can change what we know/understand sometimes. Case in point:

A group of scientist, from Michigan State University, who were working on heavy aluminium and magnesium, found that the protons and neutrons do not have to be evenly numbered. With neutrons twice the number of protons, some heavy aluminium and magnesium were found with stability long enough for detection. (of course they decay shortly afterwards)

"They fired a beam of high-energy calcium ions into a sheet of tungsten, producing new elements. Among them, neutron-rich versions of aluminium and magnesium could be spotted in the few milliseconds before they decayed.

The researchers found an isotope of magnesium with 28 neutrons (magnesium-40) — more than twice its normal complement. That's bigger than the previous heaviest magnesium isotope found, which had 26 neutrons."

Read more about it in an article with the same title @ Nature (Published online 24 October 2007 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2007.189). Log-in using the NLB Digital library.

Element Song

I know many of you can't get enough of it. So here's a near-karaoke version of it for the song-birds in all of you.