Smith,+Amelia

There was a section in the Harry Potter article about repelling water from glasses, which I didn’t think was possible. But actually, if you put a thin coating of silicone polymer molecules on glass it will make the surface hydrophobic. This also works on fabrics and paper as well. This relates to chemistry since we are learning about elements and such, and I didn’t know that this element was capable of repelling water in this way. This creation could be used in many ways, like in a heavy rainstorm on a windshield for example, although I’m not sure how much perspiration the coating would withstand. This idea was also used in the creation of Magic Sand, which I never quite knew how it worked, but now I do. Amelia, Wow! Your connections and thoughts are great! They do make a product for glass called Rain-X that is a thin hydrophobic coating. 5 huge stars! MW

I didn’t realize that when you are using the distilling method, you use a certain temperature for each one, and that is how you separate the substances. The industrial way is to have different temperatures for each level, so each one leaves at a certain temperature, with the top of it being 85 degrees Celsius while the bottom is 350. So the separating works by using different temperatures. At the different temperatures you get different substances, so at the very top is gas, next is gasoline, then kerosene, then diesel oil, then fuel oil, then lubricating oil, paraffin wax, and asphalt. This relates to chemistry because this method is used for separating components in a solution, which we have been talking about.

Amelia, Cool beans. MW

In the Redefining the Kilogram article, it mentions that the kilogram is the only SI base unit that is still defined by a physical artifact, instead of an unvarying physical property of nature. This has created a problem though, because the official kilogram has actually lost weight compared to the other copies. To fix the problem it was suggested that the kilogram be redefined as an unvarying property of nature by using either Planck’s constant or Avogadro’s constant. I found the article to be a little confusing when describing what these two constants are, but Planck’s has to do with mass and Avogadro’s is related to the number of atoms. My reaction to it is that I don’t really see how this is that big of a deal, because the loss of weight is so small, and it’s not like they actually use the thing to compare very often because it is locked up in a vault.

Amelia, I can understand your skepticism but in certain circles the loss of mass is of great concern. Good post. 5 stars.

Where Do Elements Come From? What I found interesting from this article was that all of the elements that are present on earth were formed through supernova explosions. The stars start out being composed of hydrogen, which is the simplest chemical element, and from there it is able to create other elements. High pressure can force the protons together and if two protons and neutrons are banded together then it will create helium. When this process (nucleosynthesis), is repeated it creates the next element up until iron. Elements heavier than iron can be created using the "s" process, which makes isotopes of the element. One thing I don't really understand is what determines how long the life is of a certain isotope. Because it said that some of them don't last very long at all and then they will transform into other elements. A new nucleus can also be produced through the "r" process, which is when a star has exploded and many neutrons are released.

Amelia, Some isotopes are very radioactive due to an unstable ratio of protons to neutrons. 5 stars. MW

Mole Day One thing that I was curious about concerning the mole, was why the abbreviation is mol. It didn't really make sense because it is only one letter shorter. In the article it said that most scientific abbreviations are one, two, or three letters long, and when it is possible they try to use letters that are already in the word. Well since the letter "m" is already used for mass and molality, they couldn't use that. Also, "mo" and "ml" are already used, so the only reasonable abbreviation was mol. Avogadro himself did not come up with the word mole, but it was most likely first used by Wilhelm Ostwald. The word is possibly derived from the latin word "molus" which means little pile, but no one really knows.

Amelia, Yes some origins of the mol are a bit mysterious - but the concept works so we continue to use it. 5 stars. MW

Dust Explosions I find it really interesting that just the dust on the floor, or elsewhere in a plant can start such a violent reaction. And after the first explosion, dust is disturbed and thrown into the air, which creates more explosions. It's crazy to think that the dust created such a reaction that it would burn the entire plant and turn it into rubble and ashes. The reason for the explosion is because of the particles that are broken down and get collected on surfaces of the plant, even such items as sugar. But this also makes me wonder if this reaction could occur somewhere besides a plant, where more people might be subjected to it.

Amelia, The reason the explosion occurs is due to the stoichiometry of combustion. 4 stars. MW

Sulfur Hexaflouride I knew before reading this article that when you breathe in the helium from a balloon it makes your voice a higher pitch for a brief period of time. However I did not know that there is a gas that actually makes your voice lower. I also knew that when you hold your breath for 15-20 seconds that your body instintively wants to take a breath, but I thought it was because your body is in need of oxygen. It is actually because carbon dioxide is building up in your bloodstream and it needs to be released. One other thing I knew was that when a balloon is filled with helium it deflates quickly because the helium atoms leak out, but I did not know that if a balloon is filled with sulfur hexaflouride that it grows in size rather than decrease. This is because the air molecules outside leak into the balloon more quickly than the sulfur hexaflouride molecules inside leak out.

Amelia, Looks good!! 5 stars. MW

Motion Detectors 3 things I knew
 * That they have a detector that uses a light source and when the light beam is blocked it senses motion
 * I knew that they had a detector that sense warmth, but I thought it was just the heat that they sensed, but it is actually infrared radiation that all warm objects give off
 * That a red light has a low frequency and a blue light has a higher frequency

3 things I didn't know Amelia, Good points! I like how you broke it down. 5 stars! MW
 * That they have a type of detector that uses sensors to monitor reflection pattern, so they detect motion when the pattern changes
 * That light can behave like a wave and also like a particle
 * That even if the combined mass of something light, such as ping pong balls, is greater than the mass of a steel ball, the ball could create more damage because it is the individual particle that matters