Are Toxins Astir? Release the Hounds

In this short article of the New York Times, what is presented is very interesting; a breakthrough in technology. As known, robots are made in the toy industry as pets, for play purposes, and for small tedious tasks. These cheap toy robots are being upgraded and used in a recent study at Yale University for "sniffing" purposes. With the help of highschool students, Yale Univesity researchers have replaced the dogs front legs with two heavy-duty tires designed originally for remote-controlled cars. A smaller wheel took the place of the hind legs. Two round chemical sensors were installed on the dogs' lower jaws, so the sensors detect concentrations of toxic compounds. The new enhanced toy dog robots are being used as actual dogs in order to search for chemical toxins. Recently a team of researchers and students released these hounds into Cement Plant Park in the Bronx, NY to see how well it could sense toxins. Indeed it worked and the amont of the substance actually controlled how fast and what direction the dog would roam the park. Overall, people believe that these hounds are not worthy because they are just toys, but researchers argue they are used for a higher purpose. Toys are originally being used because it is more efficient and cheaper than starting from scratch. In summary, these toxin sniffing dogs prove that science is advancing daily and besides the occasional breakdowns from rain, the hounds can keep areas safer from harmful toxins.

Glassman, Mark. "Are Toxins Astir? Release the Hounds. The New York Times. 5 December 2007.

The sparkling diamond on a finger of the bride may look pretty, but the rock itself had to go under some pretty ugly transformations to get there. Diamonds are formed deep under the Earth’s mantle at about 200 kilometers. It is formed from carbon containing material that is placed in very high temperatures and pressures in molten metal. The carbon then crystallizes in the molten metal to form the diamond. Pure diamond is colorless, but there are also times where the diamond may take on a certain color. A canary diamond is when some iron oxide got into the diamond and turned the diamond a hint of yellow. Diamonds reflect a fair amount of light which gives it its luster. Diamonds are very good heat conductors. They will feel cold when you touch them since they conduct heat away from your hard.

No unknown terms

Every time that I would look at my mother’s wedding ring I never really thought about how it is made. I have always accepted the fact that it was made of carbon at high temperatures. Now that I know that carbon bonds have to be broken in order to form this type of carbon is definitely a surprise to me. Know I really know why diamonds are so tough. A diamond is truly forever.

Baird, Colin. Chemistry in Your Life: Second Edition. “The formation and color of diamonds.” W.H. Freeman and Company. New York. 2006. Page 195.

For U.S. consumers, allure of Chinese goods still price

For U.S. consumers, allure of Chinese goods still price

This article very briefly highlights the consumer response to Chinese product recalls, and the general attitude toward escalating product safety costs. Some consumers consider the “made in China” scare to have been blown completely out of proportion, and feel no need to worry about contaminants in their goods, and shrug off massive recalls China has made within the past year. In the mean time, others have taken product contamination to the heart making sure to avoid, at all costs, products made in China. Ultimately though, we can track how the consumer’s reactions will be further in the future by monitoring what people buy, and what people don’t buy. If consumers take the threat of safety seriously, discount chains and mass retailer companies will suffer unless they increase the safety standards. Burns’ article however, takes the attitude that we as a society are drawn to the cheap and the fast, and implies that safety precautions will not be made as good as they should be simply because it is too costly for what the majority of people will pay. But changes are being made; China has begun to put more emphasis on their quality control, and has created a somewhat effective recall system. One obstacle that customs inspectors must deal with is the fact that Chinese producers collect their parts and chemicals and such from countless long supply chains that are nearly impossible to trace back to thus making sure that the chemicals and parts are safe becomes difficult. It is not only the consumers though, who have a stake in the situation, the large companies have a lot at risk when they make decisions over their safety inspection standards, and quality control. [1]

I feel this situation is quite a big deal in that products contain hazardous chemicals and are not adequately inspected because it comes down to my own health and I would not want to jeopardize my health if I didn’t have to. I think that the ones who will really suffer in the coming years will be the large corporations because they have to make changes that will satisfy the public as well as to earn reasonable profits, and one bad choice could bring a massive company down. This does not, however, relieve the public from their responsibilities. It is important that we take more consideration to our health, eventually once enough recalls have been made, and enough people have died at the expense of fast and cheap goods, the public opinion will turn and better changes will occur.


[1] Burns, Greg; For US goods, allure of Chinese goods still price; Chicago Tribune Web Edition; august 15 2007. http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/shopping/chi-wed_lead0815aug15,1,68574...

Diamonds, posted for Stacey

150-200 kilometers deep into the core you can find where diamonds are formed by carbon containing material. Diamonds arise to the surface with volcanic rock from erupting volcanoes. It is possible to make synthetic diamonds by exposing carbon substances to very high pressures and temperatures. Graphite forms from carbon substances at lower pressure and temperature so diamonds are allowed to form when the temperature and pressure are increased because it becomes more stable than graphite. Pure diamond is colorless and any color that you may see in a diamond is an impurity that was trapped during formation. Diamonds reflect about one sixth of the light that hits it whereas glass reflects only about four percent. This gives diamonds the color that it appears to have when light hits it at certain angles. Diamonds do not conduct electricity but they are very good heat conductors. They feel cool when you hold them because they draw heat away from your fingers.

-Diamonds are heat conductors
-Pure diamonds are colorless
-Graphite and diamonds are both formed from carbon

Diamonds turn out to be a very interesting topic it seems. I definitely did not know that they were considered a good heat conductor but it makes sense that when you hold them they feel cool because they are drawing all the heat from your fingers. Diamonds that are pure have absolutely no color, I did not know that diamonds where impure when they gained their color. Also, I did not know that diamonds reflected so much light most of the time making it seem like they had color in them. I did not know that carbon was such an important element. I know that things such as some hockey sticks contain graphite and that graphite is made from carbon substances. What I did not know was that carbon creates graphite and diamonds, all that needs to be changed is the amount of pressure and temperature and you can obtain diamonds. Overall I actually did not know that it was possible to synthetically create diamonds, I thought that that was why they were so expensive was because they were natural and rare.

Baird, Colin. Chemistry in Your Life. W.H. Freeman and Company: New York, 2006;
pg. 195-196

Diamonds.

Diamonds are essentially highly compressed carbon atoms. They Form around 200 kilometers below the earths surface at extremely high temperatures. Once they form they eventually get brought to the surface through mining or volcanoes. Yet diamonds can be made synthetically too. This is done by putting carbon-containing substances in a pressurized molten metal. Carbon normally comes in the form of graphite and its molecular structure is sturdy at around stp, however once higher temperatures and pressures are applied, the molecular structure of a diamond is more stable. The catch is that once the diamond is cooled the structure doesn’t break apart and stays together. Diamonds are notorious for being crystal clear. Yet some of the most prized diamonds are in colored. Color is not as many would thing a trait of perfection, but a flaw. The colors are part of impurities, these impurities give them tinges. Diamonds reflect a large part of the light that hits it and traps another large part, giving it the shiny yet multi colored appeal. Diamonds also have another interesting property. They are poor electric conductors, but amazing heat conductors. This explains why the diamond feels cool to the touch.

There where no real difficult terms in this article.

I have no personal opinion in this matter, due to the fact I am broke and have no way to possibly afford a diamond. However, I am well aware that diamonds cut glass, so that must mean they are extremely hard.

Chemistry in your life “5.13 The formation and color of diamonds” Pg’s 195-196. W.H. Freeman and Company: New York, NY, 2006.

Recycling

Many people recycle in general, but the recycling of plastic is a controversial issue. The landfills in Europe are reaching their capacity and some people are opposed to garbage incineration. So now, many plastics are collected from consumers and then recycled. There is some resistance to recycling plastics in the plastic industry. The industry’s argument is that virgin plastic, which is the material yet unused and synthesized from fossil fuels, is a low-cost material made from low-cost raw materials such as natural gas and crude oil. As a result the energy used to makes plastics is minimal compared to the amount used to produce metal form raw material. Some people in the plastic industry will argue that the natural way to dispose plastics is to burn them and utilize the energy from the heat. Environmentalists will counter the arguments and mention that if environmental impacts were included in the cost of virgin materials; recycled plastics would be much cheaper. Also mentioned is that the combustion of PVC produced toxic organic compounds that release hydrogen chloride gas, which can damage the lungs when inhaled.
I think recycling is a great idea. Recycling is eco-friendly and can help save money too. I think everyone should recycle. It doesn’t just have to be plastic; it can be aluminum cans, paper, cardboard, etc. The planet would be better off and landfills wouldn’t be overloaded. There are many places and stores that have recycling centers, which people should get into a habit of using. As they say, reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Baird, Colin. Chemistry in Your Life: Second Edition. “The recycling of plastic is a controversial issue” W.H. Freeman and Company. New York. 2006. Page 190.

New Source for Fuel in Termite Guts?

Termites are a serious pest problem in the United States, but could these costly little bugs be the key to the next major breakthrough in green science? Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute are exploring the possibility that this may be so [1]. Termites eat the wood in trees, furniture, even homes. Their bodies cannot actually digest the wood that they eat without aid, however; that’s because wood is made of cellulose and other indigestible sugars. Cellulose is familiar to humans; it is fiber, essential for a healthy diet. But we cannot digest cellulose and termites can, because termites have symbiotic microbes which can break the cellulose in their guts down into digestible sugars [1].
The microbes inside termites which break down cellulose are currently under serious study. They may be used to produce sugars from cellulose, which forms the bulk of nearly all green plants on the planet; the estimated annual production of cellulose in 2006 alone was 1.5 *109 tons [2], an enormous amount. If this green technology could be harvested to produce ethanol, it could have an astounding impact. Currently, only the kernels in corn are used to produce the biofuel, but the microbes from termites’ intestines could allow the stalk and cob to also produce ethanol [1].
A number of obstacles remain in the quest to harvest microbes from termites to produce ethanol. Microbes from termites and their relatives in the guts of animals like cows are being studied extensively, but it will be much more difficult to apply this technology to mass produce ethanol in a factory than it is for termites to do the same for a few milligrams of cellulose [1]. According to Eddy Rubin, the director of Joint Genome Institute, the genes in the microbes which code for the enzymes that breakdown cellulose have to be isolated first [1]. Once this is done, enough of the enzymes may be mass produced in order to economically produce enough ethanol.

Sources:
[1] “Path to Alternative Fuel Found in Termite Guts” Livescience 3 Dec. 2007
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[2] “Cellulose” Wikipedia 3 Dec. 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulose>.