SOME BIG NEWS...and a couple changes.

Little stuff first.

This sporadic posting thing is just not good. It gets in the way of the creative process that is both writing and my research- which definitely needs to stay on track. So I'm putting myself on a schedule beginning next week. Tuesdays are dedicated to finishing the NYT editorial piece, and when that's finished I'll use that as the real creative outlet and general blogging day. Wednesdays will be dedicated to "Picturing Chemistry"- bringing art into the lab and onto your screens. And late Friday is dedicated to a "Tweet Round-up", as I realize that many followers of this blog don't have Twitter and I don't deluge this site during the week with my 140-character musings. I'll round up some of my favorite posts by myself and others for you to enjoy!
Of course, "Quotes from Chemistry" will be updated as I find them and more interesting but time-sensitive news posts (think WV chemical spill) will update as I can get them on the site. I missed a big break this week which I'm sad about but hey- I was dealing with "snowpocalypse!"
I hope the new schedule keeps me on my toes and keeps you all thoroughly entertained!

Alright, now the bigger stuff.

When I was in Pasadena for the NASA trip, I sat at my group table with a very nice lady. Her name was Karyn and I didn't happen to catch her occupation at the time but we all had a lot more on our minds. Fast forward to the end of the conference and I was speaking with Veronica McGreggor, one of the people in charge of the NASASocial conference. I mentioned to her that it was because of a group called Science Online [1] that I found out about the social in the first place. Veronica says to me "Well Joe, you do know you were sitting at the table with Karyn Traphagen, the Executive Director of Science online- right?"
My jaw dropped. I had no idea that I had been exchanging small talk all weekend with the person basically responsible for my participation at NASA JPL. I resolved to rectify that and sent a nice email to Karyn bascially gushing like a fanboy thanking her for what she does and offering my assistance if ever I could be of help.

Well I got an email from her last Sunday that absolutely blew. my. mind.
She was inviting me to be an attendee at the Science Online Together conference in Raleigh, NC from February 26th-March 1st. The Executive Director HERSELF reached out to invite little ol' me. So over the course of the next month I'll be working my butt off to get together the necessary materials for the conference and bring The Crimson Alkemist to a wider crew. Celebrities like Veritasium [2] and MinutePhysics [3] (who was quoted recently in Part 6 [4] of Quotes from Chemistry) will be there. This isn't entirely devoid of chemistry though- even Carmen Drahl [5] of Chemistry and Engineering News will be there. I'll get the chance to meet people who have helped inspire me in keeping this blog running beyond its original purpose.

I'm sure I'll have a story or two to tell when I make it back from that. I know I'll learn plenty from the people who have been-there-done-that before me.

Seriously. Visit these guys and get excited.

Because of this exciting opportunity, I'm taking advantage of some specific skill to come out with my own BRAND LABEL!!! I'm not going to release any teasers on this yet, but the Crimson Alkemist Twitter is going to have a new profile photo and I'm going to try to work on getting this site updated as well. It's like cleaning up your apartment in anticipation of having new company over! Stay Tuned!

[1] http://scienceonline.com/
[2] https://www.youtube.com/user/1veritasium
[3] https://www.youtube.com/user/minutephysics
[4] http://jsphmeany.blogspot.com/2014/01/quotes-from-chemistrypart-6.html
[5] http://cen.acs.org/static/about/staff_landing/biocd.html

Quotes from Chemistry...Part 6!

"A bond of any sort, whether between planets, molecules, atoms, nuclei or quarks, is just a happenstance when when two or more particles together have a lower total energy than when they were apart. Like if you're married, and your taxes go down."

-Henry Reich of Minutephysics

This West Virginia issue is getting out of control.

I am going to lead this post with a big disclaimer.
Much of what I am about to write is speculation. I will cite where I can back up an idea but beyond that none of what I say should be taken as gospel.
Chemophobia is a thing. People are scared of "chemicals" in their food, in their clothes, in the air. Chemists often times quietly chuckle to themselves in private company about the ignorance of the public and how everything is made up of chemicals and how you can't really have a chemical-free banana.
Most chemicals people encounter on a day-to-day basis are benign or helpful. The oxygen we breathe, the wood of my desk, the chocolate in my cake. It's when accidents happen that cause chemicals that aren't supposed to be in contact with us that "chemical" takes on it's malicious tone and people become acutely aware of dangerous substances.

On January 9, 2014, 7,500 gallons of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol[1] (MCHM) was spilled into the Elk River in West Virginia from a leak in a tank owned by a company called Freedom Industries. This spill was so tremendous that people in the area couldn't use the tap water in their homes for over a week[1]- it was unsuitable for anything other than flushing down the toilet. The company was brought in for questioning because safety data for the chemical in question was lacking. The company stood by its assertion that the chemical was only toxic in large quantities and that the problem could be dealt with easily. Too bad reality doesn't bend to the whims of businessmen the way they might like. This cleanup my fold the company.[2]

Today it has come to light, however, that MCHM wasn't the only chemical in those tanks. The Charleston Gazette[3] reports that a "source" gave them a tip about this second chemical known by its' trade name PPH glycol ether.The company "Freedom Industries has claimed the exact identify of the substance is "proprietary.""[3] and that, "data about the potential health effects of the chemical "PPH" are -- like the information on Crude MCHM -- "very limited."" [3] While the information is technically proprietary, I thought I would do a little digging to see what I could find about this new chemical. "PPH glycol ether" is all the article calls the chemical and they mention it's made by Dow.
Do a Google search for "Dow DiPPH Glycol Ether" and you come up with a patent [4] for some of its blends as well as a published Material Safety Data Sheet[5] for the propylene glycol ethers. In this MSDS (page 4) as well as a Sales Flyer [6] for the chemical, Dow asserts that these chemicals are biodegradable and do not persist in the environment. Document [6] asserts that 60% elimination occurs after about 7 days and [5] makes the assumption that it will be taken care of in the water treatment plants.

This is where things get dicey. It's not enough to just assume something like this when you're talking about people's drinking water. Granted, Dow makes sure to say that the glycols aren't supposed to be in contact with people, but the Gazette paints a big question mark over why the public wasn't notified about the "real" contents of the spill before and why the glycols didn't show up in the water tests (post treatment plant) prior to this. They say:
"State officials said late Tuesday that, after consulting with West Virginia American Water Co., they believe the water company's Elk River plant would likely have removed the chemical from drinking water during its normal treatment process. Additional testing of some of the original water samples from the first days after the incident is being conducted to confirm that, officials said."[3]

So let me get this straight. A company spills a bunch of toxic chemicals into the drinking water system of a major metro area. At first, the company owns up to one chemical but now after two weeks we know that it's no less than three. And we don't know where the last two went in the water quality tests that have already been performed. MCHM has little (and poor) data about itself available for the public and regulators to talk candidly about how to proceed. The company has potentially poisoned thousands of kids. And now these two additional chemicals are exposed and their data is still slightly better...but still not good. Especially the line from [5] that says, "When introduced to water, they will have a tendency to remain in water."

If I were a West Virginian, I would be looking for a way out. Now. Outrage all aside.

[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/parents-are-afraid-for-their-kids-in-west-virginia-2014-1
[2] http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201401210034
[3] http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201401220031
[4] http://www.google.com/patents/WO2012075320A1?cl=en
[5] http://msdssearch.dow.com/PublishedLiteratureDOWCOM/dh_02bd/0901b803802bdec3.pdf?filepath=productsafety/pdfs/noreg/233-00601.pdf&fromPage=GetDoc
[6] http://msdssearch.dow.com/PublishedLiteratureDOWCOM/dh_08ec/0901b803808ecba6.pdf?filepath=fsc/pdfs/noreg/805...&fromPage=GetDoc

Three Minute Thesis- now live!!!

The above video is my final competition entry into The University of Alabama's first-ever Three-Minute Thesis competition. The competition took place on November 11, 2013.

Molecular electronics is working on the further miniaturization of circuits for new devices and materials beyond what silicon can already do. Here's my little contribution!

Quotes from Chemistry...Part 5!

"I often think what interesting history we are making for the student of the twenty-first century."
-William Carey Jones, 1908 (via http://www.xkcd.com/1311/)

This isn't strictly chemistry, but the same could be said for the future students of the twenty-second century. What amazing marvels are we creating today that will be looked back upon as fundamental to students a hundred years from now?

As an aside, WC Jones was a politician from Washington State, and a sharp dresser. Just look at that tie!

Image courtesy of wikipedia

NY Times "Debate", and my reaction to it. (Part 4)

Continuing the series that I started before Christmas is part 4 of the round-up of posts from the NYT [1] "Debate" [2], this post actually comes off as a little different because it's the first post [3] where I take a little bit of an issue. Luckily I don't disagree with the message, merely with the language in it.

The author, Tara Chklovski, reminds readers that teachers are busy enough trying to teach the basics and that "ongoing individual feedback to 20-plus students with 20-plus unique projects" is an unsustainable goal. To help remedy that situation and inspire kids to be excited exploratory thinkers, she shifts focus back to the home front...albeit softly. She says that "Parents can pick up the baton and lead their children on a journey of true exploration and discovery." Her entire post is sprinkled with cans and shoulds as if what seems (to me) like attentive parenting has become optional. Maybe I'm lucky. Maybe what I take for granted as my upbringing where the walks with dad, the kitchen time with mom, and the family outings to libraries and museums are special, not the norm.
Mrs. Chklovski links to her own blog over at Iridescent [4] outlining in more detail ways for parents to be active and engaging in their childrens' lives. Her language is stronger in that post, with less of a suggestive tone and offering real solutions. I don't understand why this kind of engagement should "surprisingly" (as she says in her closing sentence) lead to more enthusiastic learners and prepare them to ask deeper, more meaningful questions as they grow up. I would absolutely like to think that when I have kids I would naturally want to actively engage them at a matter of just being a parent. Of course, I say this now without kids or any experience of being a parent- I know how positively tiring it is, in theory. I guess we'll see how it goes when I actually settle down.

"'Children spend much more time at home than at school. Their parents know them intimately, interact with them one-to-one, and do not expect to be paid to help their children succeed. The home environment offers 'teachable moments' that teachers can only dream about.' -David Peterson" [4]

But because of this, Mrs. Chklovski, it's not something parents simply can do. It's something they must!


[1] http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/12/10/math-and-science-for-more-than-just-geeks
[2] http://jsphmeany.blogspot.com/2013/12/ny-times-debate-and-my-reaction-to-it.html
[3] http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/12/10/math-and-science-for-more-than-just-geeks/parents-can-help-their-kids-scientific-educations-simply
[4] http://iridescentlearning.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-case-for-parents-as-best-science.html#more

Watching paint dry

A common technique used in my lab....and by just about everyone else in an organic chemistry lab (sophomore undergraduates included)...is "elevated temperature, reduced atmosphere rotary evaporation." Nobody calls it that. It's just "rotovap." Much easier to say and since all models work under the heat and vacuum mode to distill off solvents those are really just assumed.
Basically, "rotovaping" or removing sovents by rotary evaporation is a fancy way of watching paint dry- literally if you happen to be in the paint business. Once a solution is put on the rotovap (the term is both a noun and a verb for those that are paying attention to my grammar) then it's a matter of having a dry sample afterwards. Naturally, this leads to a bit of down time. So I decided to take a picture to show off the pretty colors that can be chemistry. Enjoy!

A little tardy but...Quotes from Chemistry Part 4!

Christmas Spirit is a neutral chemical that builds new compounds and rejuvenates old. It is a reversible compound, for Christmas Spirit returns to its original state, ready to begin anew.

It has an affinity for good, and attacks the bad. Large or small quantities of it can be handled, depending on the capacity of the mind that dispenses it. Let us analyze the chemical and physical properties of Christmas Spirit as we do any chemical, element, or compound. It has, at times, an odor of frankincense and myrrh, the odor of evergreens or of burning tapers. This depends on the place and the heat of reaction. On mixing, it has a tinkling, joyful sound, full taste of all good things.

Its energy is unbounding, dividing itself a million times, it becomes more powerful, creating in most all it meets a feeling of light-heartedness; in some, a wistful sadness. More often it is like new wine—it refreshes, stimulates, makes happiness and smiles, increasing generosity and good nature.

-Howard A. Marple, “The Chemistry of Christmas”

Chemical & Engineering News, December 10, 1929 [1]

[1] The Watch Glass, C&ENews http://cen.watchglass.org/day/2013/12/25