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nanosize technology

2/22/2019

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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 !
 
“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!
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No blog post this week

2/15/2019

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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 !
 
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!

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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

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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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