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increase in the cost of recycling

3/15/2019

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The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout. 
 
A 5-Star Customer Review of Chemistry on a Budget at amazon.com states:

“[S]traight forward, to the point, using household chemicals… this is the lab book for you. 
I teach high school chemistry and this is exactly what I was looking for. Labs included simple household chemicals that could be easily found. Nice format, easy to follow along procedures, and touches on every topic of our chemistry curriculum.”
 
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you -- Order Now.  It’s a great resource!
 
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
“Many US cities, towns, and counties are now incinerating up to half of their recycled plastic and paper because China, which used to buy 40 percent of US recyclable no longer accepts most of them.  As a result, the cost of disposing of recyclables is soaring.”
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/feb/21/philadelphia-covanta-incinerator-recyclables-china-ban-imports
 
“For more than 25 years, many developed countries, including the U.S., have been sending massive amounts of plastic waste to China instead of recycling it on their own.

Some 106 million metric tons — about 45 percent — of the world's plastics set for recycling have been exported to China since reporting to the United Nations Comtrade Database began in 1992.

But in 2017, China passed the National Sword policy banning plastic waste from being imported — for the protection of the environment and people's health — beginning in January 2018.

Now that China won't take it, what's happening to the leftover waste?

According to the authors of a new study, it's piling up.”
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/06/28/623972937/china-has-refused-to-recycle-the-wests-plastics-what-now
“By 2030, an estimated 111 million metric tons of plastic waste will be displaced because of China's new law, the study estimates. This is equal to nearly half of all plastic waste that has been imported globally since 1988.”
 
“China’s 40 years of economic growth has pushed the country’s carbon dioxide emissions to the highest in the world, and left China dealing with terrible smog and water and other pollution. Its economy now is the second largest of all nations, about two-thirds of the U.S. output last year. China has less need for imported scrap material, though some economists question whether fewer recyclables could result in a slowdown. At the same time China banned imported trash, it announced plans to step up enforcement of recycling within the country.”
 
This article contains an interesting 7-minute video segment outlining the problems the recycling business.
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/business/US-Struggles-With-What-to-Do-With-Tons-of-Recycled-Material-489971551.html?_osource=taboola-recirc
“The shift doesn't bode well for the future of recycling. After years of conditioning Americans to throw all their reusable containers and paper in bins, cities across the U.S. are now imposing higher collection fees, eliminating items they are willing to pick up, or in a few cases, weighing whether to curtail recycling altogether.
 
It isn't good news for the environment. Roughly 35 percent of the U.S.' total waste is diverted to recycling from the overall solid waste stream. That's millions of tons of materials that can be reused rather than having to use virgin materials. It also saves on the energy and effort required to make new items from scratch. ” 
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/11/23/recycling-crisis-has-come-holidays/2054199002/
 
“For sure, the 900 tons of trash dumped at all hours of the day and night, five days a week, on the conveyor belts at the plant in Elkridge, Maryland—an hour's drive from the US capital—are not clean.

Amid the nerve-shattering din and clouds of brown dust, dozens of workers in gloves and masks—most of them women—nimbly pluck a diverse array of objects from the piles that could count as ‘contaminants.’

That could be anything from clothes to cables to tree branches to the bane of all recyclers: plastic bags, which are not supposed to go in recycling bins because they snarl up the machinery.

‘We've had to slow our machinery, and hire more people’ to clean up the waste, says Michael Taylor, the head of recycling operations for Waste Management, the company that runs the plant.

At the end of the sorting line is the end product—huge bales of compacted waste containing paper, cardboard or plastics.
These have been bought up for decades by businesses, most of them based in China, which clean them up, crush them and transform them into raw materials for industrial plants.”
https://phys.org/news/2018-07-trash-piles-china-door-recycling.html
 
“ ‘Recycling is not free and I think for many, people think that,’ said Kevin Kelly, general manager at Recology CleanScapes, a recycling company that sorts materials in Seattle.

That couldn’t be further from the truth. Kelly said it costs money to run the trucks, the machines and to pay the people to turn our recycling into a commodity.

Until recently, the cost to collect and sort recycling was less than the revenue gained from selling the materials.

Recycling was profitable, especially the sale of mixed paper. In the summer of 2017, according to Brad Lovaas, executive director of the Washington Refuse & Recycling Association recyclers could sell a ton of mixed paper for about $100.

Now with China banning the import or several types of recyclables-the price plummeted to zero and, in some cases, recyclers have to pay for materials to be processed.

‘After all that effort and expense you’re left with a product that has no value,’ said Keller. ‘Some of it is less than zero, you have to pay to get rid of it.’ “
https://q13fox.com/2018/07/20/new-chinese-recycling-restrictions-increase-garbage-bills/
 
Your students may be interested because recycling has been encouraged from their early days in school.
 
This might be a topic of classroom homework assignment, discussion or even debate.
 
*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
 
Also, Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 
Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.

Have a great weekend!
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voyager-2

3/8/2019

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The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout. 
 
A 5-Star Customer Review of Chemistry on a Budget at amazon.com states:

“[S]traight forward, to the point, using household chemicals… this is the lab book for you. 
I teach high school chemistry and this is exactly what I was looking for. Labs included simple household chemicals that could be easily found. Nice format, easy to follow along procedures, and touches on every topic of our chemistry curriculum.”
 
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you -- Order Now.  It’s a great resource!
 
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
“NASA's Voyager 2 probe, launched in 1977, is now more than 11 billion miles from Earth and has reached interstellar space, the agency said Monday [12/10/18]. This is the second time a human-made object has reached this part of space. And it's an incredible feat for a spacecraft designed to last five years.”
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/10/us/nasa-voyager-2-update/index.html
 
“Launched just 16 days apart, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were designed to take advantage of a rare alignment of the outer planets that only occurs once every 176 years. Their trajectory took them by the outer planets, where they captured never-before-seen images. They were also able to steal a little momentum from Jupiter and Saturn that helped send them on a path toward interstellar space. This 'gravity assist' gave the spacecraft a velocity boost without expending any fuel. Though both spacecraft were destined for interstellar space, they followed slightly different trajectories.

Voyager 1 followed a path that enabled it to fly by Jupiter in 1979, discovering the gas giant’s rings. It continued on for a 1980 close encounter with Saturn’s moon Titan before a gravity assist from Saturn hurled it above the plane of the solar system and out toward interstellar space. After Voyager 2 visited Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1981, it continued on to encounter Uranus in 1986, where it obtained another assist. Its last planetary visit before heading out of the solar system was Neptune in 1989, where the gas giant’s gravity sent the probe in a southward direction toward interstellar space. Since the end of its prime mission at Neptune, Voyager 2 has been using its onboard instruments to continue sensing the environment around it, communicating data back to scientists on Earth. It was this data that scientists used to determine Voyager 2 had entered interstellar space.”
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/2018/12/18/then-there-were-two-voyager-2-reaches-interstellar-space/
 
“After Voyager 2's flyby of Neptune, NASA formally renamed the entire project (including both Voyager spacecraft) the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM). Some year before 2030, Voyager 2 is expected to cross the heliopause-the outer boundary of the vast region of space dominated by the solar wind and the Sun's magnetic field-and reach interstellar space. In that sense, it can be said that the spacecraft will be able to sample what space is like beyond our solar system. (If we define the solar system as the Sun and everything that primarily orbits the Sun, however, Voyager 2 will remain will emerge from the Oort cloud in another 14,000 to 28,000 years.

As the spacecraft's power supply dwindles, it will need to begin shutting down its instruments. Sometime in 2025 or after, there will be insufficient electricity to power even one instrument, and Voyager 2 will continue its eternal journey among the stars in silence.

Key Dates
Aug. 20 1977: Launch
July 9, 1979: Jupiter Flyby (Closest Approach)
Aug. 26, 1981: Saturn Flyby (Closest Approach)
Jan. 24, 1986: Uranus Flyby (Closest Approach)
Aug. 25, 1989: Neptune Flyby (Closest Approach)”
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/voyager-2/in-depth/
 
“Scientists have been watching for Voyager 2's grand departure since late August, when data beamed back by the probe suggested it was nearing what scientists call the heliopause, a bubble created by the solar wind of charged particles flowing out from our sun and influencing the environment within our solar system. Scientists use the heliopause to mark where interstellar space begins, although depending on how you define our solar system it can stretch all the way to the Oort Cloud, which begins 1,000 times farther away from the sun than Earth's orbit.

Beyond that bubble, spacecraft fly through many more cosmic rays — much higher-energy particles — than the lower-energy particles of our own neighborhood. Two instruments onboard the Voyager 2 probe track these particles as they collide with the spacecraft. The transition from mostly lower-energy particles to nearly none of these and a sudden surge of cosmic rays tells scientists the probe has crossed the heliopause.”
https://www.space.com/42680-voyager-2-reaches-interstellar-space.html
 
Here is a 3 minute youtube clip that summarizes this event:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGPM58S5Njg
 
“The most compelling evidence of Voyager 2’s exit from the heliosphere came from its onboard Plasma Science Experiment (PLS).

Until recently, the space surrounding Voyager 2 was filled predominantly with plasma flowing out from our Sun — the so-called solar wind.

The PLS uses the electrical current of the plasma to detect the speed, density, temperature, pressure and flux of the solar wind.

The instrument observed a steep decline in the speed of the solar wind particles on November 5 [,2018].

Since that date, it has observed no solar wind flow in the environment around Voyager 2, which makes mission scientists confident the probe has left the heliosphere.

In addition to the plasma data, members of the Voyager science team have seen evidence from three other onboard instruments — the cosmic ray subsystem, the low energy charged particle instrument and the magnetometer — that is consistent with the conclusion that the spacecraft has crossed the heliopause.

‘There is still a lot to learn about the region of interstellar space immediately beyond the heliopause,’ said Voyager project scientist Dr. Ed Stone, a researcher at Caltech.
Voyager 2 now is slightly more than 11 billion miles (18 billion km) from Earth.

The mission operators still can communicate with Voyager 2 as it enters the new phase of its journey, but information — moving at the speed of light — takes about 16.5 hours to travel from the spacecraft to Earth.”
http://www.sci-news.com/space/voyager-2-interstellar-space-06705.html
 
“Voyager 2 now is slightly more than 11 billion miles (18 billion km) from Earth. Mission operators still can communicate with Voyager 2 as it enters this new phase of its journey, but information – moving at the speed of light – takes about 16.5 hours to travel from the spacecraft to Earth. By comparison, light traveling from the sun takes about eight minutes to reach Earth.Together, the two Voyagers provide a detailed glimpse of how our heliosphere interacts with the constant interstellar wind flowing from beyond.

While the probes have left the heliosphere, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have not yet left the solar system, and won’t be leaving anytime soon. The boundary of the solar system is considered to be beyond the outer edge of the Oort Cloud, a collection of small objects that are still under the influence of the sun’s gravity. The width of the Oort Cloud is not known precisely, but it is estimated to begin at about 1,000 astronomical units (AU) from the sun and to extend to about 100,000 AU (1 AU is the distance from the sun to Earth). It will take about 300 years for Voyager 2 to reach the inner edge of the Oort Cloud and possibly 30,000 years to fly beyond it.

Voyager 2 launched in 1977, 16 days before Voyager 1, and both have traveled well beyond their original destinations. The spacecraft were built to last five years and conduct close-up studies of Jupiter and Saturn. However, as the mission continued, additional flybys of the two outermost giant planets, Uranus and Neptune, proved possible. As the spacecraft flew across the solar system, remote-control reprogramming was used to give the Voyagers greater capabilities than they possessed when they left Earth. Their two-planet mission became a four-planet mission. Their five-year lifespans have stretched to 41 years, making Voyager 2 NASA’s longest running mission.
https://earthsky.org/space/voyager-2-probe-enters-interstellar-space
 
 “Voyager 2 launched in 1977, 16 days before Voyager 1, and both have traveled well beyond their original destinations. The spacecraft were built to last five years and conduct close-up studies of Jupiter and Saturn. However, as the mission continued, additional flybys of the two outermost giant planets, Uranus and Neptune, proved possible. As the spacecraft flew across the solar system, remote-control reprogramming was used to endow the Voyagers with greater capabilities than they possessed when they left Earth. Their two-planet mission became a four-planet mission. Their five-year lifespans have stretched to 41 years, making Voyager 2 NASA's longest running mission.

The Voyager story has impacted not only generations of current and future scientists and engineers, but also Earth's culture, including film, art and music. Each spacecraft carries a Golden Record of Earth sounds, pictures and messages. Since the spacecraft could last billions of years, these circular time capsules could one day be the only traces of human civilization.”
https://phys.org/news/2018-12-nasa-voyager-probe-interstellar-space.html
 
“To boldly go where only one other human-made object has gone before.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/tech/nasa-s-voyager-2-becomes-second-man-made-object-enter-ncna945941
 
Makes me wonder what Voyager 2 will find!
 
*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
 
Also, Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 
Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.

Have a great weekend!
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radiation in grand canyon museum

3/1/2019

0 Comments

 
The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout. 
 
A 5-Star Customer Review of Chemistry on a Budget at amazon.com states:

“[S]traight forward, to the point, using household chemicals… this is the lab book for you. 
I teach high school chemistry and this is exactly what I was looking for. Labs included simple household chemicals that could be easily found. Nice format, easy to follow along procedures, and touches on every topic of our chemistry curriculum.”
 
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you -- Order Now.  It’s a great resource!
 
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
“For nearly 20 years, a trio of 5-gallon (19 liters) paint buckets sat near the taxidermy exhibit at Grand Canyon National Park's museum collections building. Those buckets, it turns out, weren't holding paint — they were actually loaded up with uranium ore, a naturally occurring rock rich in uranium that gives off potentially dangerous radiation.”
https://www.livescience.com/64824-grand-canyon-uranium-probably-fine.html#done
 
“Uranium ore stored at the Grand Canyon National Park museum may have exposed visitors and workers to elevated levels of radiation, according to the park's safety, health and wellness manager.

Elston Stephenson told CNN that he began asking officials from the National Park Service and Department of the Interior last summer to warn workers and tourists they had possibly been exposed to unsafe levels of radiation. …
 
‘If you were in the Museum Collections Building (bldg 2C) between the year 2000 and June 18, 2018, you were 'exposed' to uranium by OSHA's definition… 

Please understand, this doesn't mean that you're somehow contaminated, or that you are going to have health issues. It merely means essentially that there was uranium on the site and you were in its presence. ... And by law we are supposed to tell you.’
 
The National Park Service is investigating what happened and working with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Arizona Department of Health Services, according to the Department of the Interior, which oversees the park service.”
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/20/health/grand-canyon-radiation-museum-trnd/index.html#done
 
“Uranium is naturally occurring in northern Arizona and was mined for decades, including at the Orphan Mine on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon that ceased operations in 1969. A temporary ban prohibits the filing of new mining claims within 1 million acres outside the boundaries of Grand Canyon National Park. The Navajo Nation no longer allows uranium mining after it left a legacy of death and disease on the reservation.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/grand-canyon-radiation-officials-investigating-possible-exposure-to-uranium-ore/#done
 
“How was the uranium discovered after all that time? In March 2018, the teenage son of a park service employee had a Geiger counter that detected radiation in the collection room, Stephenson said. The buckets had apparently been in a basement for decades before being moved to the museum.”
https://www.npr.org/2019/02/19/696001017/grand-canyon-museum-reportedly-had-buckets-of-uranium-sitting-around-for-18-year#done

“Technicians wearing dishwashing gloves used a mop handle to move them into a truck and drive them offsite, he told AZ Central.

According to Stephenson, the ore was dumped into Orphan Mine, a disused uranium mine two miles from Grand Canyon Village, a cluster of hotels and shops where many visitors to the park pass through. But for unknown reasons, the empty buckets were brought back to the museum. They were then rediscovered inside the museum in November 2018, according to AZ Central, when they set off geiger counters brought by US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspectors who arrived to follow up on a report filed by Stephenson.”
https://qz.com/1553777/a-teenager-found-radioactive-material-in-the-grand-canyon-museum/#done
 
According to Kathryn Higley, head of the School of Nuclear Science and Engineering at Oregon State University reported,
 
‘What about the risk from radon gas? How long does the radon stick around?’
Radon has roughly a three-day half life. It’ll diffuse out of the buckets into the room, but if the room is ventilated, then the concentration drops and it’s not really a large issue. If you have it in a room that has really crummy ventilation and then potentially you could have an elevated radon level that exists. And so again, that would be something that people would take a look at and say, ‘Okay, is this in a closed space where folks would be sitting for prolonged periods of time? What is their potential risk over the long-term from inhaling any radon that’s coming off of that?’ It’d be an elevated risk of lung cancer, and again, it takes a pretty large dose to get to a level where we can actually see evidence of cancer causation in populations.”
 
The article above contains an interview that your students may wish to read thoroughly, perhaps as a homework assignment.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/19/18232027/uranium-ore-grand-canyon-museum-radiation-safety-health-risks#done
 
Past blog posts about Radiation include:
02/11/2015       Introduction to Nuclear Chemistry
02/18/2015       Nuclear Chemistry -- Part II
                            (Fission, Fusion & Half-Life)
10/30/2015       Current Event -- Radioactive Waste
                                                        from WWII
02/20/2016       Nuclear Waste and Lake Huron
03/26/2016       Nuclear Waste Storage
05/01/2016       30th Anniversary of Chernobyl  
05/29/2016       New Uses for Waste Glass
09/05/2016       US to Get Rid of Chemical Weapons
                           Stockpile
10/28/2016       Nuclear Power Plant Closure 
02/10/2017      High Fukushima Radiation Levels  
06/02/2017      Swiss Nuclear Power Ban
​09/01/2017      Radon in Houses
12/22/2017      The Radium Girls
 
*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
 
Also, Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 
Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.

Have a great weekend!
0 Comments

nanosize technology

2/22/2019

0 Comments

 
The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout. 
 
A 5-Star Customer Review of Chemistry on a Budget at amazon.com states:

“[S]traight forward, to the point, using household chemicals… this is the lab book for you. 
I teach high school chemistry and this is exactly what I was looking for. Labs included simple household chemicals that could be easily found. Nice format, easy to follow along procedures, and touches on every topic of our chemistry curriculum.”
 
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you -- Order Now.  It’s a great resource!
 
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
“This month [December,2018], MIT researchers announced they invented a way to shrink objects to nanoscale -- smaller than what you can see with a microscope -- using a laser. That means they can take any simple structure and reduce it to one 1,000th of its original size.
 
The miniaturizing technology, called ‘implosion fabrication’, could be applied to anything from developing smaller microscope and cell phone lenses to creating tiny robots that improve everyday life.”
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/17/us/mit-nanosize-technology-trnd/index.html
 
“Nanotechnology is science, engineering, and technology conducted at the nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers.

Nanoscience and nanotechnology are the study and application of extremely small things and can be used across all the other science fields, such as chemistry, biology, physics, materials science, and engineering.

The ideas and concepts behind nanoscience and nanotechnology started with a talk entitled ‘There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom’ by physicist Richard Feynman at an American Physical Society meeting at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) on December 29, 1959, long before the term nanotechnology was used. In his talk, Feynman described a process in which scientists would be able to manipulate and control individual atoms and molecules. Over a decade later, in his explorations of ultraprecision machining, Professor Norio Taniguchi coined the term nanotechnology. It wasn't until 1981, with the development of the scanning tunneling microscope that could ‘see’ individual atoms, that modern nanotechnology began.”
https://www.nano.gov/nanotech-101/what/definition
 
“Many benefits of nanotechnology depend on the fact that it is possible to tailor the structures of materials at extremely small scales to achieve specific properties, thus greatly extending the materials science toolkit. Using nanotechnology, materials can effectively be made stronger, lighter, more durable, more reactive, more sieve-like, or better electrical conductors, among many other traits. Many everyday commercial products are currently on the market and in daily use that rely on nanoscale materials and processes:
  • Nanoscale additives to or surface treatments of fabrics can provide lightweight ballistic energy deflection in personal body armor, or can help them resist wrinkling, staining, and bacterial growth.

  • Clear nanoscale films on eyeglasses, computer and camera displays, windows, and other surfaces can make them water- and residue-repellent, antireflective, self-cleaning, resistant to ultraviolet or infrared light, antifog, antimicrobial, scratch-resistant, or electrically conductive.

  • Nanoscale materials are beginning to enable washable, durable ‘smart fabrics’ equipped with flexible nanoscale sensors and electronics with capabilities for health monitoring, solar energy capture, and energy harvesting through movement.

  • Lightweighting of cars, trucks, airplanes, boats, and space craft could lead to significant fuel savings. Nanoscale additives in polymer composite materials are being used in baseball bats, tennis rackets, bicycles, motorcycle helmets, automobile parts, luggage, and power tool housings, making them lightweight, stiff, durable, and resilient.

  • Carbon nanotube sheets are now being produced for use in next-generation air vehicles. For example, the combination of light weight and conductivity makes them ideal for applications such as electromagnetic shielding and thermal management. 
 
  • Nano-bioengineering of enzymes is aiming to enable conversion of cellulose from wood chips, corn stalks, unfertilized perennial grasses, etc., into ethanol for fuel. Cellulosic nanomaterials have demonstrated potential applications in a wide array of industrial sectors, including electronics, construction, packaging, food, energy, health care, automotive, and defense. Cellulosic nanomaterials are projected to be less expensive than many other nanomaterials and, among other characteristics, tout an impressive strength-to-weight ratio.

  • Nano-engineered materials in automotive products include high-power rechargeable battery systems; thermoelectric materials for temperature control; tires with lower rolling resistance; high-efficiency/low-cost sensors and electronics; thin-film smart solar panels; and fuel additives for cleaner exhaust and extended range.

  • Nanostructured ceramic coatings exhibit much greater toughness than conventional wear-resistant coatings for machine parts. Nanotechnology-enabled lubricants and engine oils also significantly reduce wear and tear, which can significantly extend the lifetimes of moving parts in everything from power tools to industrial machinery.

  • Nanoparticles are used increasingly in catalysis to boost chemical reactions. This reduces the quantity of catalytic materials necessary to produce desired results, saving money and reducing pollutants. Two big applications are in petroleum refining and in automotive catalytic converters.
  • Nano-engineered materials make superior household products such as degreasers and stain removers; environmental sensors, air purifiers, and filters; antibacterial cleansers; and specialized paints and sealing products, such a self-cleaning house paints that resist dirt and marks.

  • Nanoscale materials are also being incorporated into a variety of personal care products to improve performance. Nanoscale titanium dioxide and zinc oxide have been used for years in sunscreen to provide protection from the sun while appearing invisible on the skin. “
https://www.nano.gov/you/nanotechnology-benefits
 
“It’s a far cry from ‘Honey I Shrunk the Kids,’ but the new method has plenty of cool real-world uses. For example, scientists are exploring ways to add tiny robotic particles to cancer drugs that can seek out only the cancerous cells. And forget microchips — MIT says this technology could be used to develop even smaller ‘nanochip’ electronics.


The best part? MIT’s cutting-edge technique simply requires a laser and an absorbent gel (commonly used in baby diapers) — materials that most biology and engineering labs already have.

Here’s how it works: Using a laser, researchers make a structure with absorbent gel — akin to writing with a pen in 3D. Then, they can attach any material — metal, DNA, or tiny ‘quantum dot’ particles — to the structure. Finally, they shrink the structure to a miniscule size.

MIT has come up with a way to shrink objects to nanoscale using a laser. (Photo credit: Edward Boyden/MIT Researchers)
‘It’s a bit like film photography,’ explained graduate student researcher Daniel Oran. ‘A latent image is formed by exposing a sensitive material in a gel to light. Then, you can develop that latent image into a real image by attaching another material, silver, afterwards.’

In fact, Oran is a trained photographer, and the project began in 2014 when he and graduate student Samuel Rodriques, who has a background in physics, decided to collaborate.
The team discovered the method by reversing a common technique, originally developed by Boyden to enlarge images of brain tissue. Called ‘expansion microscopy,’ that process involves injecting a material into a gel and then making it larger and therefore easier to see.

By doing the reverse, the researchers were able to make nanosized objects. Previously, similar laser techniques could only make two dimensional structures, and other methods for shrinking 3D objects were much slower and more difficult to perform in most labs.”
https://boston.cbslocal.com/2018/12/18/mit-shrink-objects-nanoscale-laser/
 
Many of you are enjoying a Winter Break vacation this week of 2019.  Use some time to view previous entries to this blog (listed in a Topic List).
 
*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
 
Also, Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 
Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.

Have a great weekend!
0 Comments

No blog post this week

2/15/2019

0 Comments

 
The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout. 
 
A 5-Star Customer Review of Chemistry on a Budget at amazon.com states:

“[S]traight forward, to the point, using household chemicals… this is the lab book for you. 
I teach high school chemistry and this is exactly what I was looking for. Labs included simple household chemicals that could be easily found. Nice format, easy to follow along procedures, and touches on every topic of our chemistry curriculum.”
 
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you -- Order Now.  It’s a great resource!
 
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
Due to a project taking more time than I expected, I am not going to post anything the week.   I will be post next week, Friday, February 22nd.

There are many past Blog posts in the Topic List if you are looking for a particular subject.

*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
 
Also, Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 
Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.

Have a great weekend!
0 Comments

flint, michigan after water crisis

2/8/2019

0 Comments

 
The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout. 
 
A 5-Star Customer Review of Chemistry on a Budget at amazon.com states:

“[S]traight forward, to the point, using household chemicals… this is the lab book for you. 
I teach high school chemistry and this is exactly what I was looking for. Labs included simple household chemicals that could be easily found. Nice format, easy to follow along procedures, and touches on every topic of our chemistry curriculum.”
 
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you -- Order Now.  It’s a great resource!
 
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
“Governor Gretchen Whitmer [of Michigan] plans to restructure the state environmental agency that drew criticism for its handling of the Flint water crisis under former Governor Rick Snyder, The Associated Press has learned.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality will become the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. The agency will house new public advocacy offices for clean water and ‘environmental justice’ to help ensure fair consideration of low-income and minority community interests, according to officials who briefed the AP ahead of an announcement scheduled for Monday. …

The environmental quality department came under fire after overseeing Flint’s ill-fated switch of drinking water sources in 2014. The city, under supervision of a financial manager appointed by Republican Snyder, stopped buying treated water from Detroit and began drawing from the Flint River, which was a move intended to save money while a new pipeline from Lake Huron was built.

Investigators later determined that DEQ officials misread federal guidelines and did not require use of corrosion-control additives. The river water gnawed away lead from pipes, joints and fixtures that contaminated drinking water in the majority-black city of 100,000, where in 2015 children were found to have elevated levels of the toxin in their blood.”
https://www.wsjm.com/2019/02/04/michigan-governor-revamping-deq-after-flint-water-crisis/
 
”The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality will become the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. The agency will house new public advocacy offices for clean water and ‘environmental justice’ to help ensure fair consideration of low-income and minority community interests…”
https://detroit.cbslocal.com/2019/02/04/whitmer-revamps-medq-after-flint-water-crisis/#done
 
“The environmental quality department came under fire after overseeing Flint's ill-fated switch of drinking water sources in 2014. The city was under supervision of a financial manager appointed by Snyder … when it stopped buying treated water from Detroit and began drawing from the Flint River. The move intended to save money while a new pipeline from Lake Huron was built.

Investigators later determined that Department of Environmental Quality officials misread federal guidelines and did not require use of corrosion-control additives. The river water gnawed away lead from pipes, joints and fixtures that contaminated drinking water in the majority-black city of 100,000 people. In 2015, local children were found to have elevated levels of the toxin in their blood.

The department's director and top spokesman resigned, while criminal charges were filed against several other officials. …
Guy O. Williams, president & CEO of Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, praised the moves as reflecting an understanding that ‘all Michigan citizens, regardless of race, income or zip code, should have clean air to breathe and safe water to drink.’ “
https://www.gazettextra.com/news/nation_world/michigan-governor-revamps-environmental-agency-after-flint/article_ad995e3e-87c1-5b88-9f5b-262d738ee9df.html#done
 
“The plan doesn’t change the environmental department’s core functions, such as issuing permits for air and water pollution and monitoring compliance. …Another emerging threat to Michigan’s water quality: the discovery of toxic chemicals known as per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, at dozens of locations around the state. Under Snyder, the DEQ [formerly the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality] and an interagency task force conducted statewide testing of drinking water sources and initiated cleanups at highly contaminated sites.”
https://apnews.com/e62fb840a14e4f8aa0bf7824666ff4b5
 
“Whitmer signed a separate order making the group a permanent fixture in the new department and assigning it to coordinate Michigan's PFAS actions, including continued searches for contaminated water supplies, informing the public and recommending new laws.

The department will consider a tougher standard for initiating cleanup action than the current threshold of 70 parts per trillion that is recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Clark said.

Additionally, the department will have a new office on climate policy that will seek ways to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and promote renewable energy while helping Michigan adjust to a warmer world.”
https://www.kansas.com/news/business/article225496085.html
 
Past blog posts about Flint, Michigan include:
10/08/2015     Current Event - Contaminated Drinking Water
                          [Flint, MI]
​12/17/2015     Current Event -- Lead Poisoning [Flint,MI]
12/23/2016​     Criminal Charges in Flint, Michigan
 
You may want to consult or collaborate with Social Studies teachers in your school about this series of events.
 
*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
 
Also, Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 
Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.

Have a great weekend!
0 Comments

warmer oceans reduce ocean kelp forests

2/1/2019

0 Comments

 
The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout. 
 
A 5-Star Customer Review of Chemistry on a Budget at amazon.com states:

“[S]traight forward, to the point, using household chemicals… this is the lab book for you. 
I teach high school chemistry and this is exactly what I was looking for. Labs included simple household chemicals that could be easily found. Nice format, easy to follow along procedures, and touches on every topic of our chemistry curriculum.”
 
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you -- Order Now.  It’s a great resource!
 
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
“ ‘…[T]he CO2 that humans are pumping into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels gets absorbed by the ocean and favours weedy turfs, which replace kelp forests that support higher coastal productivity and biodiversity,‘ project leader professor Sean Connell said in a University of Adelaide press release.
In order to compare current ocean carbon dioxide levels with those projected for the end of the century, researchers looked at volcanic seeps of carbon dioxide in the ocean.

They found that more carbon dioxide caused the weeds' natural predator, the sea urchins, to eat fewer of the plants, enabling the weeds to take over coastal ecosystems.

A weedier ocean is yet another consequence of ocean acidification, the process by which the carbon dioxide absorbed by the oceans forms carbonic acid and lowers the water's PH level. …

Acidification also poses a problem for hard-shelled animals like mollusks or coral, since it raises the level of hydrogen relative to carbonate ions in the water. Marine life uses carbonate ions to build shells and skeletons out of calcium carbonate, the BBC explained. This could lead to a 60 percent reduction in warm water coral reef calcification, which could weaken reef structure and make reefs, already vulnerable to coral bleaching due to warmer ocean temperatures, also more vulnerable to erosion.

Now, kelp forests have been added to acidification's hit list.
While they get less media attention than coral reefs, kelp forests provide important habitats for many species. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), kelp forests are home to more biodiversity than almost any other ocean ecosystem."
http://www.planetexperts.com/climate-change-cutting-planets-kelp-forests/
 
“A steady increase in ocean temperatures — nearly 3 degrees Fahrenheit in recent decades — was all it took to doom the once-luxuriant giant kelp forests of eastern Australia and Tasmania: Thick canopies that once covered much of the region’s coastal sea surface have wilted in intolerably warm and nutrient-poor water. Then, a warm-water sea urchin species moved in. Voracious grazers, the invaders have mowed down much of the remaining vegetation and, over vast areas, have formed what scientists call urchin barrens, bleak marine environments largely devoid of life.

Today, more than 95 percent of eastern Tasmania’s kelp forests — luxuriant marine environments that provide food and shelter for species at all levels of the food web — are gone. With the water still warming rapidly and the long-spine urchin spreading southward in the favorable conditions, researchers see little hope of saving the vanishing   ecosystem.“
https://climateprotection.org/oceans-warm-worlds-kelp-forests-begin-disappear/
 
“The Tasmanian saga is just one of many examples of how climate change and other environmental shifts are driving worldwide losses of giant kelp, a brown algae whose strands can grow to 100 feet. In western Australia, increases in ocean temperatures, accentuated by an extreme spike in 2011, have killed vast beds of an important native kelp, Ecklonia radiata. In southern Norway, ocean temperatures have exceeded the threshold for sugar kelp — Saccharina latissima — which has died en masse since the late 1990s and largely been replaced by thick mats of turf algae, which stifles kelp recovery.” https://e360.yale.edu/features/as-oceans-warm-the-worlds-giant-kelp-forests-begin-to-disappear
 
“Kelp forests are an at risk temperate marine eco-system. These forests grow worldwide in clear, relatively shallow, and nutrient-rich water whose temperatures are between 42–72 degrees… Sea Urchins are not the only species that is a threat to marine temperate environments. Migrating tropical fish can also cause enormous destruction to seaweed beds and kelp forests.”
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/12/11/1718277/-As-Oceans-Warm-the-World-s-Kelp-Forests-Begin-to-Disappear
 
“Environmentalists in many places are trying to take action to reverse this trend.  In Tasmania, the best strategy is to boost populations of predatory rock lobsters, which prey on sea urchins.  But once the urchin barrens form, there is basically no way back.

In California, sea otters are voracious predators of urchins, so there is more hope for the kelp in that area.

The concern about kelp is not just about the giant underwater algae itself.  There are many marine animals that depend on kelp including abalone, commercially valuable urchin species and many kinds of fish.  The destruction of the kelp forests is a major disruption of marine ecosystems that will have far-ranging impacts.”
https://earthwiseradio.org/podcast/disappearing-kelp-forests/
 
“Kelp forests, where otters hang out, are some of the most efficient absorbers of carbon dioxide known. Like any land-based forest, kelp forests sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, transforming it into the energy they need to build their leafy structure.

But these kelp forests are at risk from sea urchins: small, spiky marine animals that love munching on kelp. With no predators around, sea urchin populations can multiply, forming herds that sweep across the ocean floor devouring entire stands of kelp.

Fortunately, sea otters have an appetite for urchins. The otters help keep urchin populations in check, allowing kelp to flourish and capture more CO2. According to a recent study, otter-supported kelp forests can absorb up to 12 times more CO2 from the atmosphere than if they were just left to the urchins.”
https://kcts9.org/programs/in-close/environment/sea-otters-v-climate-change#done
 
Past blog posts about similar subjects include:
01/27/2017      2016 Warmest Year on Record
​06/23/2017      Antarctica Melting
10/13/2017      Overview of Global Climate Change
 
*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
 
Also, Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 
Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.

Have a great weekend!
0 Comments

world's oldest periodic table

1/25/2019

0 Comments

 
The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout. 
 
A 5-Star Customer Review of Chemistry on a Budget at amazon.com states:

“[S]traight forward, to the point, using household chemicals… this is the lab book for you. 
I teach high school chemistry and this is exactly what I was looking for. Labs included simple household chemicals that could be easily found. Nice format, easy to follow along procedures, and touches on every topic of our chemistry curriculum.”
 
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you -- Order Now.  It’s a great resource!
 
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
“A classroom chart bearing an early version of the periodic table of elements has been discovered in a University of St. Andrews chemistry lab. Dating back to the 1880s, the chart is thought to be the world’s oldest.

The storage room of the chemistry department at the Scottish university hadn’t been properly cleaned since the facility opened in 1968, prompting a months-long effort to tidy up back in 2014, according to a news release issued today by the University of St. Andrews. Among all the clutter that had collected over the years was a stash of rolled-up teaching charts.

When chemist Alan Aitken unfurled one of these charts, he saw an old-fashioned version of the periodic table of the elements. At top was a title written in German: “Periodische Gesetzmässigkeit der Elemente nach Mendeleieff,” which translates to “Periodic Regularity of the Elements according to Mendeleev.” The table was extremely brittle and fragile, and some pieces crumbled in Aitken’s hands during this initial handling. The poor condition of the chart, along with its archaic table of elements, led to suggestions that it was very old.”
https://gizmodo.com/world-s-oldest-known-periodic-table-found-during-cleanu-1831848121?sf206260056=1#done
“The periodic table was first developed by Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869, who revised the chart in 1871. The newly discovered chart is quite similar to the revised version”
 
From the video “The Periodic Table: Crash Course in Chemistry #4), 11 minutes, a very good, brief summary of Mendeleev’s development of the Periodic Table is provided:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RRVV4Diomg
 
From the  BBC 4 episode “Periodic Table of Elements - Chemistry: A Volatile History” (2010) here is a very interesting history of Mendeleev’s ideas (3:39min):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsbXp64YPRQ
 
You may want to have your students read this article online as a Homework Assignment or Extra Credit assignment.   Here’s another copy for your convenience:
https://gizmodo.com/world-s-oldest-known-periodic-table-found-during-cleanu-1831848121?sf206260056=1#done
 
Past Periodic Table blog posts include:
02/23/2014           The Periodic Table
12/03/2015           Periodic Table Trend Activities
01/07/2016           Four New Elements
​12/09/2016           Cool Periodic Table
​01/05/2018           Naming Elements
 
*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
 
Also, Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 
Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.

Have a great week!
0 Comments

The era of Easy recycling may be at an end

1/18/2019

0 Comments

 
The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout. 
 
A 5-Star Customer Review of Chemistry on a Budget at amazon.com states:

“[S]traight forward, to the point, using household chemicals… this is the lab book for you. 
I teach high school chemistry and this is exactly what I was looking for. Labs included simple household chemicals that could be easily found. Nice format, easy to follow along procedures, and touches on every topic of our chemistry curriculum.”
 
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you -- Order Now.  It’s a great resource!
 
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
“Americans love convenient recycling, but convenient recycling increasingly does not love us. Waste experts call the system of dumping all the recyclables into one bin ‘single-stream recycling.’ It’s popular. But the cost-benefit math of it has changed. The benefit — more participation and thus more material put forward for recycling — may have been overtaken by the cost — unrecyclable recyclables.”
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-era-of-easy-recycling-may-be-coming-to-an-end/#done
 
“When you throw stuff away, you might be very glad to get rid of it: into the trash it goes, never to be seen again! Unfortunately, that's not the end of the story. The things we throw away have to go somewhere—usually they go off to be bulldozed underground in a landfill or burnt in an incinerator. Landfills can be horribly polluting. They look awful, they stink, they take up space that could be used for better things, and they sometimes create toxic soil and water pollution that can kill fish in our rivers and seas.

One of the worst things about landfills is that they're wasting a huge amount of potentially useful material. It takes a lot of energy and a lot of resources to make things and when we throw those things in a landfill, at the end of their lives, we're also saying goodbye to all the energy and resources they contain. Some authorities like to burn their trash in giant incinerators instead of burying it in landfills. That certainly has advantages: it reduces the amount of waste that has to be buried and it can generate useful energy. But it can also produce toxic air pollution and burning almost anything (except plants that have grown very recently) adds to the problem of global warming and climate change.

The trouble is, we're all in the habit of throwing stuff away. In the early part of the 20th century, people used materials much more wisely—especially in World War II (1939–1945), when many raw materials were in short supply. But in recent decades we've become a very disposable society. We tend to buy new things instead of getting old ones repaired. A lot of men use disposable razors, for example, instead of buying reusable ones, while a lot of women wear disposable nylon stockings. Partly this is to do with the sheer convenience of throwaway items. It's also because they're cheap: artificial plastics, made from petroleum-based materials, became extremely inexpensive and widely available after the end of World War II. But that wasteful period in our history is coming to an end.

We're finally starting to realize that our live-now, pay-later lifestyle is storing up problems for future generations. Earth is soon going to be running on empty if we carry on as we are. Americans live in much greater affluence than virtually anyone else on Earth. What happens when people in developing countries such as India and China decide they want to live the same way as us? According to the environmentalists Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and Hunter Lovins, we'd need two Earths to satisfy all their needs. If everyone on Earth doubles their standard of living in the next 40 years, we'll need 12 Earths to satisfy them! ”
https://www.explainthatstuff.com/recycling.html
 
“The world recycles just 14% of the plastic packaging it uses. Even worse: 8m tons of plastic, much of it packaging, ends up in the oceans each year, where sea life and birds die from eating it or getting entangled in it. Some of the plastics will also bind with industrial chemicals that have polluted oceans for decades, raising concerns that toxins can make their way into our food chain.

Recycling the remaining 86% of used plastics could create $80bn-$120bn in revenues, says a recent report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. But those revenues will never be fully achieved without designing new ways to breakdown and reuse 30% (by weight) of the plastic packaging that isn’t recycled because the material is contaminated or too small for easy collection, has very low economic value or contains multiple materials that cannot be easily separated. Think of candy wrappers, take-out containers, single-serving coffee capsules and foil-lined boxes for soup and soymilk.

Large companies have developed plant-based alternatives to conventional, petroleum-based plastic so that they can break down without contaminating the soil and water. The market opportunity has attracted small, young companies that focus on developing recycling technology to tackle that troublesome 30% of plastic packaging that is headed to landfills at best, and, at worst, to our rivers, lakes and oceans.”
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/feb/22/plastics-recycling-trash-chemicals-styrofoam-packaging#done
 
You may want to your students to read the entire article “The Era of Easy Recycling may be Coming to an End” https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-era-of-easy-recycling-may-be-coming-to-an-end/#done

Students may read it as a Homework assignment or for Extra Credit.  One assignment may be to list 10 facts from the article, with Extra Credit for a Unique Fact that no other student has listed
 
One article listed in this Blog about Recycling was:
09/10/2015      Recycling
 
You may have Midterm Examinations coming up, so for your reference:
01/04/2015     Midterm Examinations
 
*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
 
Also, Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 
Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.

Enjoy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and your 3-day weekend!
0 Comments

Graphene water filter for ocean water

1/11/2019

0 Comments

 
The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout. 
 
A 5-Star Customer Review of Chemistry on a Budget at amazon.com states:

“[S]traight forward, to the point, using household chemicals… this is the lab book for you. 
I teach high school chemistry and this is exactly what I was looking for. Labs included simple household chemicals that could be easily found. Nice format, easy to follow along procedures, and touches on every topic of our chemistry curriculum.”
 
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you -- Order Now.  It’s a great resource!
 
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
“Approximately 783 million people, or 11 percent of humans on the planet, live without access to clean water for drinking, irrigation, and hundreds of other uses. Researchers in the United Kingdom seek to solve that problem. They have created a graphene sleeve out of carbon that can filter and desalinate ocean water, making it drinkable and effectively solving our freshwater crisis.

Large-scale desalination plants have been around for years, sure. But they’re pricey, not real great for the environment, and can actually hurt marine life. These graphene sieves? Not so much.”
https://www.ft.com/content/d768030e-d8ec-11e7-9504-59efdb70e12f
 
“Graphene is an allotrope (form) of carbon consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. It is a semimetal with small overlap between the valence and the conduction bands (zero bandgap material). It is the basic structural element of many other allotropes of carbon, such as graphite, diamond, charcoal, carbon nanotubes and fullerenes. ...

It can be considered as an indefinitely large aromatic molecule, the ultimate case of the family of flat polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Graphene has many uncommon properties. It is the strongest material ever tested, conducts heat and electricity efficiently, and is nearly transparent.

Graphene shows a large and nonlinear diamagnetism, greater than that of graphite, and can be levitated by neodymium magnets.

Scientists theorized about graphene for years. It had been produced unintentionally in small quantities for centuries through the use of pencils and other similar graphite applications. It was observed originally in electron microscopes in 1962, but it was studied only while supported on metal surfaces. The material was later rediscovered, isolated, and characterized in 2004 by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov at the University of Manchester. Research was informed by existing theoretical descriptions of its composition, structure, and properties. This work resulted in the two winning the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010’ ‘for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene.’ “
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene
 
“A UK-based team of researchers [in April 2017] has created a graphene-based sieve capable of removing salt from seawater.

The sought-after development could aid the millions of people without ready access to clean drinking water.
The promising graphene oxide sieve could be highly efficient at filtering salts, and will now be tested against existing desalination membranes.

It has previously been difficult to manufacture graphene-based barriers on an industrial scale.

Reporting their results in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, scientists from the University of Manchester, led by Dr Rahul Nair, show how they solved some of the challenges by using a chemical derivative called graphene oxide.

Isolated and characterised by a University of Manchester-led team in 2004, graphene comprises a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. Its unusual properties, such as extraordinary tensile strength and electrical conductivity, have earmarked it as one of the most promising materials for future applications.

But it has been difficult to produce large quantities of single-layer graphene using existing methods, such as chemical vapour deposition (CVD). Current production routes are also quite costly. “
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39482342
 
“Graphene-oxide membranes have long been considered a promising candidate for filtration and desalination, but although many teams have developed membranes that could sieve large particles out of water, getting rid of salt requires even smaller sieves that scientists have struggled to create.

One big issue is that, when graphene-oxide membranes are immersed in water, they swell up, allowing salt particles to flow through the engorged pores. 

The Manchester team overcame this by building walls of epoxy resin on either side of the graphene oxide membrane, stopping it from swelling up in water.

This allowed them to precisely control the pore size in the membrane, creating holes tiny enough to filter out all common salts from seawater.

The key to this is the fact that when common salts are dissolved in water, they form a 'shell' of water molecules around themselves.”
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-create-a-graphene-based-sieve-that-turns-seawater-into-drinking-water
 
“When the common salts are dissolved in water, they always form a ‘shell’ of water molecules around the salts molecules. This allows the tiny capillaries of the graphene-oxide membranes to block the salt from flowing along with the water. Water molecules are able to pass through the membrane barrier and flow anomalously fast which is ideal for application of these membranes for desalination.

Professor Rahul Nair, at The University of Manchester said: ‘Realisation of scalable membranes with uniform pore size down to atomic scale is a significant step forward and will open new possibilities for improving the efficiency of desalination technology.’ “
https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/graphene-sieve-turns-seawater-into-drinking-water/
 
“The graphene-oxide breakthrough has been welcomed by scientists in the field as a promising development, but some are cautious of the next steps.
 
‘The selective separation of water molecules from ions by physical restriction of interlayer spacing opens the door to the synthesis of inexpensive membranes for desalination,’ wrote Ram Devanathan of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, in an accompanying news-and-views article in the journal.
 
More work still needs to be done to test the durability of the barriers and to confirm the membrane is resistant to ‘fouling by organics, salt and biological material,’ he said. 
 
Water treatment with membranes that separate water molecules from ions, pathogens and pollutants has been proposed as an energy-efficient solution to the freshwater crisis, Devanathan added.
 
‘The ultimate goal is to create a filtration device that will produce potable water from seawater or waste water with minimal energy input.’ “
https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/04/health/graphene-sieve-drinkable-seawater/index.html
 
Past Ocean Water blog posts include:
 
05/25/2018   Students Invent Filter for Water Purification
 
07/27/2018   Invention for Water Conservation
 
08/10/2018   Oil Spill Sponge
 
 
You may have Midterm Examinations coming up, so for your reference:

01/04/2015     Midterm Examinations
 
*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
 
Also, Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 
Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.

Have a great week!
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    Marjorie R. Heesemann is a chemistry teacher with 15 years of experience who is now working to develop resources for the Chemistry classroom.

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