Drosdick,+Raine

Intro To Chemistry Article (Cell Phone Radiation): Before reading this article, I had heard that too much talking on a phone could cause radiation poisoning. I had heard it was not excessive, and although, it could be potentially harmful, most likely it wouldn't be. I thought that the radiation came from the waves emitted by cell phones. Also, I knew before that sleeping near a charging cell phone could emit radiation, but I was not sure if it was true. After reading this article though, I have learned that the waves emitted by a cell phone are not harmful, and that a microwave emits more dangerous waves than a cell phone does. I also read that a cell phone might cause brain cancer though, as some studies show, but as a whole the studies are inconclusive. Even though cell phones and the waves they emit are not dangerous, scientists are still studying the effect of radiation on the brain because of the close proximity of the phone to a brain.

Raine, It's always good to be cautious but I agree that cell phones aren't a major worry. 5 stars. MW

Raw Materials and Distillation: I found it interesting how crude oil is separated to make oil available for use. Normal crude oil is a mixture and unusable, so in order to make it useable, it needs to be distilled. During distillation, hydrocarbons are sifted out level by level. In the industry, huge columns are used to separate carbons. Because of the different temperatures that hydrocarbons boil at, they can be separated. The different sized, and different boiling points help to separate the oils for various uses. It turns crude oil into things like gasoline, kerosene, diesel, and fuel. This is not only interesting to learn, but it is relevant because we are learning how distillation is used in everyday life.

Raine, Cool deal! I like how you referenced hydrocarbons! 5 stars. MW

Motion Detectors: Before reading the article on motion detectors, I knew a few things about the topic of motion detecters. I knew that stores utilized them in automatic doors, that my garage door had one to prevent closing on things, and that lights outside my house used them to illuminate when someone passed in it's range. I knew the motion detecters could be triggered by infared light, like body heat. By sensing particular body heats, lights can come on, like the ones outside of my house and in the school bathrooms. I also knew that garage door motion detectors were a beam of light that when "tripped" would shut the door off. However, I didn't know that Einstein was the one to prove the photoelectric effect and that was the reason he won the Nobel Prize. I also did not know that motion detectors also rely on radio waves to bounce off of items to open automatic doors. A third thing I learned from this article was that infared motion detectors could be blocked by using glass, even though glass is transparent. I had known that infared and light tripping were two forms of motion detectors, but I never knew that radio waves were utilized as well.

Raine,

Looks good! You obviously got quite a bit out of reading this article. 5 stars! MW