Chemical Reaction

A chemical reaction preserves the number of atoms and the total mass involved but redistributes the materials into new arrangements. For example, a yellow solid precipitate, lead iodide (PbI2), forms from the mixture of two clear liquids, potassium iodide (KI) and lead nitrate (Pb(NO3)2).

Fire fighting

Fire gobbles its way through trees and buildings like a hungry animal—and in a sense that's exactly what it is: a living, breathing animal. Fire is a chemical reaction that feeds on fuel and oxygen. Give it plenty of both and it'll keep on burning indefinitely. Thank goodness, then, for firefighters, those brave men and women who set themselves the job of stopping fire in its tracks. Fire fighting is one of the toughest jobs there is and it calls for some equally tough equipment. Let's take a closer look at how to tackle those flames!

Chemical reaction - an energy-intensive industry finds the solution in CHP

Rising living standards in many parts of the world mean rising energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Having long-term secure supplies of energy and raw materials is essential for the success of manufacturers and industries. However, fossil fuel reserves are limited. A leading chemicals company in an energy-intensive industry, BASF recognizes and is addressing the challenges this presents in ensuring a sustainable future.

Power plants are the key to securing competitiveness in energy-intensive production. In the chemicals industry, energy costs account for on average 10%-15% of manufacturing costs, and sometimes as much as 50%, as in the case of electrolysis. Combined heat and power (CHP) is a highly efficient technology for the chemicals industry due to its economic and emissions savings. BASF’s CHP plants produce both electricity and steam, raising net fuel utilization to around 90%. They make a major contribution to achieving the company’s goal of reducing specific CO2 emissions per tonne of product sold by 10% by the year 2012 from 2002 levels

Chemical Processing

A catalyst is a substance or material that accelerates the rate of a chemical reaction without itself being consumed by the reaction. Catalysts are an essential component of many different industrial processes used to produce chemicals, foodstuffs and other materials. Gold had been overlooked by most researchers as a possible industrial catalyst until very recently. However, there is now a growing excitement about the potential gold may hold for catalysing industrial reactions, stimulated by the early work of Graham Hutchings at Cardiff University and researcher Masatake Haruta from AIST in Japan.
Examples of applications where a gold based catalyst is being used, developed or considered for use include the following :

titration [(teye-tray-shuhn)

The process, operation, or method of determining the concentration of a substance in solution by adding to it a standard reagent of known concentration in carefully measured amounts until a reaction of definite and known proportion is completed, as shown by a color change or by electrical measurement, and then calculating the unknown concentrationIn chemstry, the determination of what materials are present in a sample by adding precise amounts of known chemicals and observing the chemical reaction.

It's a Chemicals reaction

The Beck's Fusions project, which took over Trafalgar Square last night, promised to unite music with visual art. They picked the perfect headliners in dance duo the Chemical Brothers, musicians in severe need of something large and sparkly to distract spectators from the lack of goings-on onstage

Dressed in jeans and black T-shirts for their biggest London show ever in front of 9,000 competition winners, Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons huddled behind banks of esoteric equipment and let the huge screen behind them do the work.
Victims of the age-old problem for dance producers who want to perform live - how to look busy once you've pressed play - the non-stop synchronised videos provided more than enough diversion. Material was specially created by Adam Smith, who has directed episodes of Channel 4's Skins and videos for the Streets and Jamie T as Flat Nose George. United Visual Artists, creators of tour lightshows for Massive Attack and U2, took over for the hit-packed encore.

Types of Chemical Reactions

During any chemical reaction, there is a conversion of the reactants into a single or many products. A reactant means a substance or substances that are involved in a chemical reaction. The chemical reactions occur under the appropriate conditions of pressure and temperature in the presence of a catalyst. The catalyst plays a significant role in increasing the rate of a chemical reaction without actually getting involved in that reaction.

Types of chemical reactions are characterized by the type of chemical changes. Any chemical reaction yields a single or more products, which are quite different from the reactants. The chemical reactions include some changes that involve the motion of electrons during the formation and breakage of chemical bonds. The chemical reactions could be written in a symbolic form. Chemical equations are used to describe a chemical transformation of elementary particles, which takes place during the reaction. The chemical reactions involve a change in energy; either released or absorbed. Chemical reactions are described as exothermic reactions (in which energy is released) or endothermic reactions (in which energy is absorbed).

the term ‘macrofauna’ doesn’t get your attention, nothing will.

It sure got my attention. Examples of macrofauna would include giant squid, sharks, and whales. The latter would be impossible to find swimming the Europan ocean (whales evolved from land animals) but animals the size of these creatures would have no lack of oxygen or energy to live on this moon. And depending on the mineral content, possibly without environmental suits.
Another interesting point: there might be far more extra-terrestrial environments hospitable for dolphins and whales than for humans.

Chlorophyll, the Sheppard of Light in BAC

Energy from light is received somewhat directly as sunlight, but it is received in much greater amounts from our food. The chemical energy stored by photosynthesis in carbohydrates drives biochemical reactions in nearly all living organisms. Releasing the forces of light from food requires a balance disassembly of starches, sugars, and fats that are the bearers of light. Chlorophyll is the shepherd of light energy – in the central atom of the chlorophyll molecule is magnesium where the sun’s light is gathered for releasing the sugars, starches, and fats from which we will eventually get our energy. Magnesium is omnipresent in the catabolic steps in which we disassemble sugars and fats in our metabolic fire : the Krebs (citric acid) cycle. In this photosynthetic reaction (Krebs cycle), carbon dioxide is reduced by water; in other words, electrons are transferred from water to carbon dioxide. Chlorophyll assists this transfer. When chlorophyll absorbs light energy, an electron in chlorophyll is excited from a lower energy state to a higher energy state. In this higher energy state, this electron is more readily transferred to another molecule. This starts a chain of electron-transfer steps, which ends with an electron transferred to carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, the chlorophyll which gave up an electron can accept an electron from another molecule. This is the end of a process which starts with the removal of an electron from water. Thus, chlorophyll is at the center of the photosynthetic oxidation-reduction reaction between carbon dioxide and water.

Navy Wants to Militarize Bioluminescence

Down in the ocean’s depths, nearly every creature turns into a living glowstick, by converting chemical energy into light. So many things — even the energy of passing ships and subs — can cause single-celled organisms to light up. The Navy would like to turn that bioluminescence into a military tool. The service is looking to"develop a navigation aid for underwater vehicles that will sense [any] bioluminescence triggered" and report whether an adversary might be able to see the light — and detect the vehicle, as a result.
According to a Navy request for research proposals, "covert, underwater navigation in coastal and estuarine waters is often compromised by bioluminescence from marine phyto- and zooplankton, triggered by turbulence generated by the underwater vehicle. If the vehicle it close enough to the surface and if the bioluminescence is bright enough, the stimulated light can be observed above water."

Metalloporphyrins

Metalloporphyrins catalyze a variety of biological reactions, including electron and energy transfer, O2 transport and storage, oxidation reactions, and the conversion of light energy to chemical energy. Technological applications also increasingly exploit the useful properties of porphyrins. These molecules are becoming prevalent as active materials in fuel cells, alkane oxidation processes, chiral synthesis and separation methods, and as the binary switch elements in sensors and molecular memory devices. The structural variability inherent in porphyrin systems allows catalyst specificity, efficiency, and stability to be tuned. These properties give porphyrins the potential to play pivotal roles as future catalysts designed to perform selected tasks.
Vibrational energy dynamics in metalloporphyrins are not well understood. However, nonthermal vibrational energy distributions have been observed in these molecules. Some modes couple quite poorly to the other modes and to the solvent. The energy flow through these degrees of freedom is retarded. Such bottleneck modes can be used to funnel energy into desired reaction coordinates and away from those leading to unwanted products. An understanding of the vibrational behavior in metalloporphyrins will lend insight into the detailed mechanisms that determine catalytic efficiency and specificity in natural systems, and will allow the rational design of porphyrin-based catalysts to carry out particular functions. Selected Publications

"Heme-CO Religation in Photolyzed Hemoglobin: A Time-Resolved Raman
Study of the Fe-CO Stretching Mode," 1993, Biochem., 32, 1318.

"Mode Specific Heme Photodynamics in Deoxyhemoglobin," J. Raman
Spec., 23, 1993, 569.
"Mode Selective Energy Localization in Photoexcited Deoxyhemoglobin
and Heme Model Complexes," Chem. Phys. Lett., 215, 1993, 251.

"Time-Resolved Resonance Raman Spectroscopy," 1994, in Raman
Spectroscopy (J. Laserna, ed.), John Wiley & Sons.
"Transient Resonance Raman Evidence for Structural Reorganizational
Dynamics during Electron Transfer in Ruthenated Yeast Cytochrome c"
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 117, 1995, 3296.
"Ruffling in a Series of Nickel(II) Meso-Tetrasubstituted Porphyrins
as a Model for the Conserved Ruffling of the Heme of Cytochromes c",
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 117, 1995, 11085.
"Transient Raman Observations of Heme Electronic and Vibrational
Photodynamics in DeoxyHemoglobin" J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1996,
(submitted).

NASA Scientists Find Clues to a Secret of Life

Proteins are the workhorse molecules of life, used in everything from structures like hair to enzymes, the catalysts that speed up or regulate chemical reactions. Just as the 26 letters of the alphabet are arranged in limitless combinations to make words, life uses 20 different amino acids in a huge variety of arrangements to build millions of different proteins. Amino acid molecules can be built in two ways that are mirror images of each other, like your hands. Although life based on right-handed amino acids would presumably work fine, "you can't mix them," says Dr. Jason Dworkin of NASA Goddard, co-author of the study. "If you do, life turns to something resembling scrambled eggs -- it's a mess. Since life doesn't work with a mixture of left-handed and right-handed amino acids, the mystery is: how did life decide -- what made life choose left-handed amino acids over right-handed ones?" Over the last four years, the team carefully analyzed samples of meteorites with an abundance of carbon, called carbonaceous chondrites. The researchers looked for the amino acid isovaline and discovered that three types of carbonaceous meteorites had more of the left-handed version than the right-handed variety – as much as a record 18 percent more in the often-studied Murchison meteorite. "Finding more left-handed isovaline in a variety of meteorites supports the theory that amino acids brought to the early Earth by asteroids and comets contributed to the origin of only left-handed based protein life on Earth," said Glavin. All amino acids can switch from left-handed to right, or the reverse, by chemical reactions energized with radiation or temperature, according to the team. The scientists looked for isovaline because it has the ability to preserve its handedness for billions of years, and it is extremely rarely used by life, so its presence in meteorites is unlikely to be from contamination by terrestrial life. "The meteorites we studied are from before Earth formed, over 4.5 billion years ago," said Glavin. "We believe the same process that created extra left-handed isovaline would have created more left-handed versions of the other amino acids found in these meteorites, but the bias toward left-handed versions has been mostly erased after all this time." The team's discovery validates and extends the research first reported a decade ago by Drs. John Cronin and Sandra Pizzarello of Arizona State University, who were first to discover excess isovaline in the Murchison meteorite, believed to be a piece of an asteroid. "We used a different technique to find the excess, and discovered it for the first time in the Orgueil meteorite, which belongs to another meteorite group believed to be from an extinct comet," said Glavin

Origin of Life

The three ingredients needed for life: Scientist all agree that liquid water is essential for life to evolve and survive. This is because water allows simple molecules to mix together and react to form more complex stuff. The chemical building blocks that are needed are: carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen. And in order to drive the chemical reactions an energy source is needed
Figure: Amino acids, the 'building blocks' of life, may form in dust grains in the space between the stars. (c) ESA 2002.
The simple molecules mixed to form more complex molecules (amino acids) in the seas of the early Earth, often called the 'primordial soup'. The energy that was needed, might have come from lightning storms or from hot springs underwater. Amino acids came together end-to-end and formed proteins, larger chain-like carbon based molecules. DNA consists of purine or pyrimidine. DNA has the unique capability that it can reproduce itself. It carries code to make a living creature.
Not all scientists agree that life evolved from the primordial soup. Some think that life might have been delivered to Earth by a comet from space. This of course needs to be researched in the following way....

UNEXPLAINED ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY DETECTED

Unidentified chemical reactions taking place in some polluted air may be a source of hydroxyl radicals, data from a new field study suggest.
Hydroxyl (OH) radicals result from a series of sunlight-stimulated reactions in the atmosphere involving ozone, nitrous acid and hydrogen peroxide. The highly reactive hydroxyl radicals, which typically persist in the air no more than one second before they combine with volatile organic chemicals and other gases, help the atmosphere cleanse itself, says Franz Rohrer, an atmospheric chemist at the Jülich Research Center’s Institute for Tropospheric Chemistry in Germany.

Field data gathered in China’s Pearl River delta during the summer of 2006 hint that unknown reactions taking place in some polluted air can generate substantial — and unexpectedly large — amounts of hydroxyl radicals, Rohrer and his colleagues report online June 4 in Science.
The team took round-the-clock measurements of various atmospheric constituents in a rural yet heavily populated area about 60 kilometers northwest of Guangzhou. In that area, pollutants wafting from nearby cities mix with volatile organic chemicals produced by local trees and other vegetation, says Rohrer. Atmospheric concentrations of unburned hydrocarbons are high, but levels of various nitrogen oxides (NOx) are low.

Chemical Reactions Spark Interest in Halloween Show

Eberhard Zwergel presents his popular Halloween chemistry show
[related: $node.contribution("Headline")]
[audio: $node.contribution('Title')]
-->EVANSTON, Ill. --- Luminescent liquid -- much like that of a witch’s cauldron -- will flow down a glass hill while changing from red to blue when Northwestern University’s Eberhard Zwergel presents his popular Halloween chemistry show.Full of bangs, pops, flames, hisses and color changes, “Phantom of Northwestern” will be held at 9, 10 and 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 31, in LR3 (lecture room 3, first floor) of the Technological Institute, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston campus. The show is free and open to the public.

Full of bangs, pops, flames, hisses and color changes, “Phantom of Northwestern” will be held at 9, 10 and 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 31, in LR3 (lecture room 3, first floor) of the Technological Institute, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston campus. The show is free and open to the public.Hundreds of captivated students, faculty, staff and community members crowd into Zwergel’s chemistry demonstrations every Halloween. Zwergel is known for his annual Halloween show, consisting of more than 20 experiments in a 50-minute time frame. He will lead a team of student chemists in a fast-moving show demonstrating the wonders of chemistry, as well as some physics and biology. A section of the Northwestern University Marching Band, a rock band and dance groups will perform during the show to complement the chemical reactions

Organic Biomolecular Chemistry

Building on the success achieved in its first five years of publication, 2008 was another superb year for Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry (OBC). Find out more about our successes and plans for the future in this issue's Editorial
This issue features a Perspective by OBC Lecture Award 2008 winner Akimitsu Okamoto (RIKEN, Wako, Japan), also featured on the outside front cover. Dr Okamoto introduces and discusses several newly designed chemical assays for detecting the presence or absence of methyl groups in long DNA strands

Body Matters - Chemical Reactions

We are often led to think that body and soul are seperate. Spare me the cosmetics and fashion companies. They claim soul = body and nothing more, they need the money. But they do have a point. Trained to advance our left side of the brain (logic, reasoning and details) we often shot off our right side of the brain (spatial perception, and holistic thinking). Thus we fail to feel our body, which creates a large black hole in our soul.

When trying to understand human mind dynamics, I have often encountered life regulation sessions such as sports, religious practices and therapies. They all contain an earthly part where we "actively feel" our body from head to toe. A part where we become a whole organism capable of comprehending itself.
Small practice: lay down and try to relax every single tiny muscle you have. (after a slow and deep breath) start with facial muscles, ease them, avoid any contraction. Then the neck, then the shoulders. Let gravity do its work. When was the last time you were aware that you had a toe? Go on and feel it. Your finger is a part of your being. It is much more important than your daily troubles that only help you get an identity which is only a representation of your being.
That helps, but is awareness of our form essential?
It is. Because our feelings (which we believe to have little common ground with the body) are mere chemical reactions. These chemical reactions can be felt & experienced in different organs. What kinds of experiences? Depends on the person. Your stomach may react when you are disgusted by one's actions. You might be left short of breath when you are excited. You might gulp out of tension when someone is trying to get your attention... The list is long.
I'm not claiming that everything is physical and that there is no sense of spritituality etc. My claim is that much more than what we perceive as spritiual is actually physical and/or can be tracked by physical signs.
Actions are followed by bodily reactions whether they are visible or not from the outside. The trick is recognizing your bodily reactions, which lets you recognize your feelings, most of them suprassed or unseen otherwise. It is no surprise that the right brain which is able to grasp the moment we are in "is able to sneak into our consciousness". So "Carpe Diem" is not a lie. Our memories may stem from the past, our hopes may be about the future, but all these memories and hopes are present and live only now, and are based on our current bodily reactions.

Types of Chemical Reactions.

It’d just be wrong to not have a couple labs when learning about chemical reactions. This section included two labs.
Exothermic and Endothermic Reactions. Students create two chemical reactions; one exothermic (adding yeast to hydrogen peroxide) and one endothermic (dissolving ammonium nitrate into water- it’s not really a chemical reaction but it does get very cold).
Types of Chemical Reactions. Five reactions that demonstrate the five basic types of chemical reactions. Clicking the following links takes to you photos taken of the reactions as students performed them:

Barium chloride + sodium sulfate (double replacement reaction, forms a precipitate)
Burning magnesium (combustion and synthesis reactions, exothermic)
Zinc in acid (single replacement reaction)
includes testing for hydrogen gas with a burning splint (combustion and synthesis reactions)
Decomposition of sodium bicarbonate (a.k.a baking soda)
includes testing for carbon dioxide with a burning splint
Copper (II) chloride + aluminum foil (single replacement reaction, exothermic)

Catalytic reactions: Single particle spectroscopy

Solid catalysts govern many industrial chemistry reactions, especially electron transfer processes such as the formation of hydrogen from water. However, there is still a lack of a deep understanding of catalytic reactions at the nanometer scale because solid catalysts consist of countless crystals of varying sizes and shapes, leading to heterogeneous reaction rates.
Now, Paul Mulvaney and colleagues1 from the University of Melbourne in Australia have developed a new method that enables the direct observation of chemical reactions on the surfaces of individual gold nanocrystals.
The researchers achieved this breakthrough by exploiting a ten-year old spectroscopy technique—used to correlate the shape and size of metal nanocrystals with their optical properties—for measuring the kinetics of reactions of nanoparticles. In their procedure, the researchers first precisely located and marked individual nanocrystals using a focussed ion beam, and then monitored minute transformations of crystals due to ongoing chemical reactions.

Learn All About Chemical Reactions Together!

The weird world of science offers plenty of exciting concepts for you to share with your child. This month, read our article about chemical reactions, and learn all about the science of creating new compounds with your child. We've even provided some chemical reactions that will amaze your child, right in your own kitchen!

The Bubble Logic

MIT researchers created a microfluidic device in which tiny bubbles, while undergoing chemical reactions inside, function essentially like electrons in a microprocessor:

The team, based at MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms, reports that the bubbles in their microfluidic device can carry on-chip process control information, just like the electronic circuits of a traditional microprocessor, while also performing chemical reactions. The work will appear in the Feb. 9 issue of Science.
Bubble logic merges chemistry with computation, allowing a digital bit to carry a chemical payload. Until now, there was a clear distinction between the materials in a reaction and the mechanisms to control them," said co-author Neil Gershenfeld, director of the Center for Bits and Atoms.
Microfluidics allow scientists to create tiny chips where nanoliters of fluids flow from one part of the chip to another, undergoing controlled chemical reactions in different parts of the chip and replacing the conventional test tubes and glassware used for chemistry for centuries.
The technology has the potential to revolutionize large-scale chemical analysis and synthesis, environmental and medical testing and industrial production processes, but applications outside of the laboratory have been limited so far by the external control systems--valves and plumbing--required for its operation

ALL Aboard

Hydrogen tops the list of promising carbon-free fuels for cars, but one of the biggest obstacles to its use is the difficulty of storing enough fuel on board to avoid frequent stops at a "hydrogen station."
How best to achieve the benchmark of 300 miles of travel without refueling? It may be to use the lightweight compound ammonia-borane to carry the hydrogen. With hydrogen accounting for almost 20 percent of its weight, this stable, non-flammable compound is one of the highest-capacity materials for storing hydrogen. In a car, the introduction of a chemical catalyst would release the hydrogen as needed, thus avoiding on-board storage of large quantities of flammable hydrogen gas. When the ammonia-borane fuel is depleted of hydrogen, it would be regenerated at a hydrogen station through a reverse reaction.
Known hydrogen-releasing catalysts are typically metals or their complexes, but they may complicate the reverse reaction. In a recent discovery, Frances Stephens and Tom Baker of Los Alamos National Lab, in collaboration with computational chemists at the University of Alabama, have shown that non-metal acids can catalyze the release of hydrogen. Their analysis has also shown that a similar mechanism of acid-initiated hydrogen release likely applies to ammonia-borane in the solid state and in ionic liquid solvents, forms that could be useful for transportation.

General Chemistry II

is a deeper exploration of some of the topics discussed in General Chmeistry I. In this course, the most important thing you'll do is gain more experience with the mathematics associated with chemistry. You'll tackle calculations that allow you to predict whether chemical reactions will occur, and how changing the conditions of the reaction alters what happens. You'll also gain a better understanding of how we can use chemistry to produce energy -- definitely an important topic today.
You'll also learn about more of the most important concepts in chemistry: what makes some reactions happen so quickly (even explosively), while others are painfully slow? How can we get electricity out of a chemical reaction? How do nuclear reactions work?
In the General Chemistry lab, you'll gain more experience in some of the basic techniques used by chemists every day. You'll perform some labs on your own, gaining skill and building your confidence as an independent researcher - and you'll have a chance to conduct some experiments with your classmates, just as professionals collaborate with other scientists.
Just as in General Chemistry I , there's plenty of problem solving - and therefore plenty of math! The math is a bit more complex than it was in the first semester, but if you've had a course in Algebra, you won't find it too unfamiliar. If you're not too confident in math, General Chem II just might give you the experience you need to master it - if you're willing to work at it!

Energy changes and chemical kinetics

Chemical reactions are typically accompanied by energy changes. The equation for the synthesis of ammonia from its elements is N 2 + 3 H 2 → 2 NH 3 , but that reaction takes place only under very special conditions—namely at a high temperature and pressure and in the presence of a catalyst. Energy changes that occur during chemical reactions are the subject of a field of science known as thermodynamics.
In addition, chemical reactions are often a good deal more complex than a chemical equation might lead one to believe. For example, one can write the equation for the synthesis of hydrogen iodide from its elements, as follows: H 2 + I 2 → 2 HI. In fact, chemists know that this reaction does not take place in a single step. Instead, it occurs in a series of reactions in which hydrogen and iodine atoms react with each other one at a time. The final equation, H 2 + I 2 → 2 HI, is actually no more than a summary of the net result of all those reactions. The field of chemistry that deals with the details of chemical reactions is known as chemical kinetics. Read more:

Difference Between Chemical and Nuclear Reactions

Before I head on to discuss the types of Chemical reaction let me first distinguish between a Nuclear reaction and a Chemical reactions. Often I have seen that some younger fellows are unaware of the fact that these both are two different things. This unawareness may be due to the lack of conceptual understanding of the structure of atom.

An atom is composed of a nucleus at the center having protons and neutrons packed in it. While the third particle, electron, circles around the nucleus. All the Chemical reactions are associated with the transfer,sharing,loss and gain of electrons. They have nothing to do with the nucleus.

On the other hand, the nuclear reaction are entirely associated with the nucleus of the atom and have nothing to do with electrons. The nuclear reactions are actually associated with the decomposition of the nucleus which changes it to another atom due to the loss of protons and neutrons.
In general a chemical reaction has a very low energy change associated with it, where as a nuclear reaction has a very high energy change.

Redox Reactions

A “redox” reaction involves the reduction and oxidation of the reactants, thereby changing the oxidation numbers of atoms taking part in the chemical reaction, through an exchange of electrons.
Examples of well-known redox reactions include the rusting of metal, the chemical reaction inside a battery, and combustion of hydrocarbons.

The roaring fire shown to the left is an example of the rapid oxidization of the hydrocarbons making up the wood and the reduction of the Oxygen gas from the air. The, very rusty, Iron hammer to the bottom right is also being oxidized by the Oxygen in the air, but at a much slower rate than the burning wood.

The Activator

In the last section, we saw that a light stick is a housing for two chemical solutions, which give off light when they are combined. Before you activate the light stick, the two solutions are kept in separate chambers. The phenyl oxalate ester and dye solution fills most of the plastic stick itself. The hydrogen peroxide solution, called the activator, is contained in a small, fragile glass vial in the middle of the stick.

When you bend the plastic stick, the glass vial snaps open, and the two solutions flow together. The chemicals immediately react to one another, and the atoms begin emitting light. The particular dye used in the chemical solution gives the light a distinctive color.

Depending on which compounds are used, the chemical reaction may go on for a few minutes or for many hours. If you heat the solutions, the extra energy will accelerate the reaction, and the stick will glow brighter, but for a shorter amount of time. If you cool the light stick, the reaction will slow down, and the light will dim. If you want to preserve your light stick for the next day, put it in the freezer -- it won't stop the process, but it will drag out the reaction considerably.

Cover stories > Magical chemical reactions set audience ‘on fire’

M&Ms that spontaneously combust, metal that melts itself and elephant toothpaste—these are just some of the magical displays that faculty and students from the Carleton University department of chemistry performed to packed houses on February 23, 2008. Here, Professor Jeffrey Manthorpe demonstrates how surface area can affect the rate of a reaction. Blowing a powder such as lycopodium into a flame, as Manthorpe is doing, causes the substance to burn. However, when a match is held to a handful of the powder, nothing happens.

Chips for brain chemistry

29 August 2006
US scientists have designed a chip that can analyse chemical changes in the brain.
Nicholas Cellar and Robert Kennedy at the University of Michigan have made a sensor that can be used to monitor levels of neurotransmitters in vivo. Kennedy says the device could be used by neuroscientists to study chemical changes associated with behaviour and disease.

Kennedy described how the chip has been adapted to allow users to analyse brain chemicals remotely. Nanolitre samples of fluid are taken from the brain and flow into channels in the device. Here the neurotransmitters react to form fluorescent products which are separated and then detected externally.
"The chip combines sampling, on-line analysis, high efficiency separation and low detection limits"'The chip combines sampling, on-line analysis, high efficiency separation and low detection limits,' Kennedy explained. It makes it 'possible to monitor chemicals in the complex environment of the central nervous system, with high selectivity and sensitivity over extended periods.'
James Landers, an expert in bioanalytical chemistry at the University of Virginia, US, welcomed the findings. 'This work shows that what has been done in the past in capillary-based systems can be achieved on-chip without loss of resolution or sensitivity. Such integrated systems represent an important element in the future of analytical techniques that will be used to interrogate biological systems,' said Landers. Kennedy explained that at present, the chip can detect five neurotransmitters but, since there are over 200 neurotransmitters, there are many more assays to develop.
In the future, it may be possible to use the device to assess brain damage in people with trauma injuries"'In the future, it may be possible to use the device to assess brain damage in people with trauma injuries as the sensor could look at small regions of the brain or probe multiple regions at once,' said Kennedy. It may also be a way of delivering drugs to particular brain regions.
Alison Stoddart

The Task

You need to understand the difference between a physical and chemical changes and acids and bases in order to design your presentation. Your group will research and perform experiments to discover how they differ.

It is your responsibility to learn the difference between physical and chemical changes. You will record these findings in your science journal.
You will also complete assigned experiments in order to determine chemical and physical changes.

For your final product, your group will be designing a PowerPoint presentation for to present to the Board explaining your results from your experiments as well as any findings through your research.

This PowerPoint presentation will be presented to the Board of Cate Chemical Corporation in one week.

Demonstrating a Chemical vs. Physical Change

This is a standard demo, one I did with my 8th grade Physical Science class and it stuck with them. It uses sugar to show the difference between a physical change and a chemical change. The first step is to dissolve sugar in water and then evaporating the water over a low flame. I usually use a beaker over a burner. The sugar will crystallize out and can be dried and returned to its original form.

The second step involves heating sugar in a test tube until it carmelizes and turns to carbon. The kids smell the change and associate the smell with a property change. We try but can’t get the mess to turn back into sugar.

If you haven’t done this before, don’t go by the picture, it’s just a photo I found on the web. You want to gently heat the test tube with the sugar. You only need a small amount of sugar (1/2 at the bottom of the test tube) and if you do it slowly and carefully, you will first see the sugar melt and then start to change. Gently waft the odors to the students as it starts to change. If you go fast, you will stink up the place. I often hold the test tube in my hands as I heat the bottom. It doesn’t get hot if you go slowly.
I usually throw the test tube out, it’s just not worth cleaning it once the change takes place. If someone knows how to clean it easily, please comment. Thanks.

Welcome to GC3 Specialty Chemicals, Inc.

GC3 SPECIALTY CHEMICALS, INC. is a manufacturer of specialty chemicals for the electric utility, petroleum processing and chemical industries.

Water treatment products

Flue gas desulferization chemistries Petroleum process additives

Fugitive dust suppression technologies

COMMITTED to relationship building as the platform to technology transfer and continuous improvement. We are EXPERIENCED professionals who know your business and provide turnkey solutions. Complete chemical programs, analytical services and technical support – working with partners SOLVING problems world wide. Integrating our professional and technical personnel into your plant operations team leads to customized solutions. Better outcomes. BETTER BOTTOM LINES.
GC3 is the leader in specialty chemical technology. Simply the best water treatment company in the world.

Chemistry

Students in the graduate Chemistry programs have an exciting opportunity to do cutting edge research. Chernoff Hall, the new chemistry building, offers a place to conduct intense research, to collaborate with supportive, award-winning faculty, and to take advantage of outstanding support facilities including Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Mass Spectrometry, and materials characterization. The Chemistry Innovation Council, a council of industry and government leaders that meets frequently with the chemistry department and with graduate students, provides a chance for students to get advice about career opportunities and make contacts with potential

Chemical Engineering

Students in Chemical Engineering graduate programs experience high-quality, challenging, and exciting interdisciplinary research in a dynamic and cohesive environment.
Graduate students have access to leading facilities within the department and the university, as well as to research groups with strong links to international researchers and industry (e.g. DuPont, Xerox, SAS, BP Chemicals France, Praxair). Finally, the program has a dynamic group of award-winning researchers that are strongly committed to research, graduate supervision and teaching at a nationally and internationally recognized research university.

Atlantic Coast Crushers - Crushers and Lumpbreakers

Atlantic Coast Crushers manufactures and sells crushers, lumpbreakers, pulverizers, granulators, comminutors and other size reduction machinery for the chemical process industries. We specialize in designing crushers and lumpbreakers, machinery that uses impact to shatter chunks, lumps, and agglomerations formed from friable materials. Reducing large, oversize chunks of material to a consistent, free flowing size allows product transport equipment to run at peak efficiency by removing potential line blockages before they occur, and also by increasing the available product surface area, which allows reactive processes (mixing, melting, dissolving, etc.) to occur more quickly and completely.
One of the standard machine designs described below is suitable for most applications. However please note that because of the diverse nature of our customer base Atlantic Coast Crushers is constantly creating new custom designs and/or variations of existing units for specific applications or processes and we can accommodate many special requirements.

Green Chemistry Grows From Grass Roots

Green chemistry, or sustainable chemistry as it is sometimes known, is defining the way in which the chemical and allied industries develop new products and processes. In general, it means the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances.
In addition, it includes the 'cradle to cradle' concept whereby the life-cycle of a product can be tracked from the production of the basic materials to the manufacture, use and subsequent disposal, all of which should not have a negative impact on the environment. But as well as the positive environmental impact, green chemistry can also lead to significantly reduced plant operating costs, benefiting business.
Established chemical production processes have seen changes which have led to reduced energy and water consumption, minimised by-products and even noise reduction. A well-documented example is Shell Chemical's styrene production process.
Changes since 1980, when the company first commercially produced styrene monomer, mean that Shell's newest plants use 35% less energy for every tonne of material produced, while emissions to air have been cut by 90%.

RO Plant Chemicals

We are catering superior range of RO Plant chemicals, which is the latest technology to remove all excess total dissolved solids, chemicals in water up to 95%. It removes bacteria and virus to a level of 99% ++ and restores the original taste and quality of water. Other purification methods have no effect on TDS level of water. Apart from this, we are also offering customized solutions to our clients as per the specifications of the clients in given time limit.

Spheres of Influence

Chemical Reaction: The U.S. Response to REACH
Harvey Black
Abstract

The European Union's (EU) new chemical regulation scheme, known as REACH (Registration, Evaluation, and Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) , entered into force on 1 June 2007, and chemical companies around the world are working to determine how the legislation affects them and their businesses. The influence of REACH is also being felt in the United States, both in new state legislation and in a North American agreement on chemical assessment and risk management. Some insiders believe the regulations will unfairly burden smaller companies and stifle innovation, but others see REACH as an opportunity for chemical manufacturers and downstream users to coordinate their efforts to protect the environment while bolstering a more sustainable chemical industry.

Reactive Chemicals

To safely handle and use chemicals (or products that incorporate chemicals), users must understand the hazards associated with these materials. In particular, certain chemicals can spontaneously decompose or explode, especially at elevated temperature or pressure. Other chemicals may react violently when mixed with incompatible materials. These reactions may result in death and injury to people, damage to physical property, and severe effects to the environment. All chemical reactions involve energy changes. The activation energy is the energy necessary to start the reaction, and the heat of reaction is the energy released (or absorbed) during the reaction. An exothermic chemical reaction releases energy, while an endothermic reaction absorbs energy. If a chemical reaction releases energy, either very rapidly or in very large quantities, and the process cannot absorb the excess energy, it has the potential to damage the containment structure or surroundings. Accordingly, mitigation strategies for reactive hazards are typically focused on controlling the rate and extent of energy release. Because most reactions speed up at higher temperature and pressure, a typical strategy to prevent a chemical runaway reaction requires active cooling or venting. While classic thermodynamics allows a top-level view of whether a specific reaction can or cannot occur under given conditions of temperature or pressure, the rate at which the reaction will actually occur has to be determined by incorporating experimental or numerical tools from a chemical kinetics repertoire. By balancing the rate of energy release against the rate that the energy is absorbed (or otherwise used up), it is possible to predict whether a specific chemical combination will cause a runaway chemical reaction.

Exponent engineers and scientists have significant experience in evaluating reactive chemical hazards for a wide variety of industrial, commercial, and residential applications. For more than 40 years, we have investigated thousands of incidents, ranging from large explosions or detonations caused by a runaway chemical reaction, to small fires caused by the self heating of oil-soaked rags stored in a manner that allowed trapped heat to accumulate. Results of our research and investigations are frequently published or presented in peer-reviewed journals and technical symposia, including the Loss Prevention Symposium sponsored by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and the Mary Kay O’Conner Process Safety Center at the Texas A&M University. Exponent also conducts audits of chemical and industrial processes, and offers design review and chemical analysis of consumer products and equipment to determine compliance with applicable United Nations (UN), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and other federal and state regulations. We also assist our clients in developing appropriate risk management, mitigation, and hazard communication strategies.

Our skill set integrates the latest analytical, numerical, and experimental techniques and includes expertise in the following areas:

Reactive chemical hazard analysis
Chemical compatibility studies
Chemical kinetics evaluation
Chemical instability studies
Risk assessment
Process Hazards Analysis (PHA)
Ignition modeling
Calorimetric studies
Self heating evaluation and analysis
State and federal code compliance and evaluation
Analysis of transportation and storage regulations
Hazardous waste disposal
Review and interpretation of chemical purity analysis
Review and development of EPA-mandated Risk Management Programs (RMPs)

Diet Coke and Mentos

Simply drop a Mentos candy into Diet Coke will cause a huge gush of fizz from the top as seen in the picture above.
Diet Coke and Mentos is probably one of the most popular, renown chemical reactions all around. This “Internet Phenomenon” was started in 1999 by a school teacher Lee Marek.
The reaction is caused by the caffeine, potassium benzoate, aspartame, and CO2 gas contained inside of the Diet Coke and the gelatin and gum Arabic ingredients of the Mentos. These together cause an explosive release of CO2 quickly expanding and causing the “Jet” effect.
This can be a safe and fun Chemical reaction experiment. Simply get Diet Coke (As it works the best) and Mentos (Without the Waxy shells).

Boiling Wax and Liquid

I do not advice trying this. If you do you will more than likely get burned.
In the screenshot I took above from a YouTube video on someone trying this shows the combustion that happens when you add Boiling Wax to a Liquid.
Okay the explanation for this happening. Combustion needs three things to occur: Fuel(The Wax), Heat and Oxygen. They are the basic things fire need. Without them fire cannot occur.
So you have Wax for heat and you have applied heat to that Wax. The only place the Wax gets oxygen is where the Wax and Air touch,so only the surface of the wax will be burning.
Then you add it to the water. The water turns to vapour expanding and pushing out itself and lots of wax in a cloud of small droplets. Now you have lots of heated wax, rapidly interacting with oxygen over a huge surface area. You have all three ingredients for combustion in supply. Then they combust.

Sodium and Water in Chlorine Gas

In the screenshot of a video on YouTube above it shows Sodium in Chlorine Gas (Yellow). When you add water to the Sodium when it is in the Chlorine it burst into flames. Whats left from the reaction is regular table salt.
Hope you liked the few I put on here.
I would have put more but other sites had a lot of the ones I could find here is a link to a site that has a lot;
There are also some on Youtube if you search Chemical Reactions

Renewable Energy Corporation Silicon III Plant, USA

Renewable Energy Corporation's (REC) silicon plant at Moses Lake, Washington was started in August 2002 by REC Solar Grade Silicon (REC Silicon), a joint venture between REC group and Advanced Silicon Materials LLC (ASiMl, a subsidiary of the Japanese industrial group Komatsu Ltd). The silicon production unit was a former plant of ASiMl, which REC Silicon converted into a dedicated plant for solar-grade silicon production.
Production at the existing plant was started in November 2002. The plant came under the ownership of REC when the group fully acquired ASiMl and REC Silicon in 2005. REC has another silicon production plant in the US at Butte, Montana.
In May 2006 the group announced its decision to invest in a third silicon manufacturing plant(Silicon III) in Moses Lake, adjacent to its existing plant at the location. The plant was announced as a part of REC's plan to more than double its polysilicon production from 5,300MT (2005 production) to approximately 13,000MT. It would also be able to produce 9,000MT of silane gas.

Changing the Petrochemical Playing Field

Across the Middle East some nine million metric tonnes of ethylene capacity came on stream between the first quarters of 2008 and 2009. With more material becoming available in the region through 2009 and into 2010, this is a large amount in the midst of difficult economic times by anyone's standards.
Being driven by demand growth from Asia and China, plans were put in place several years ago for new production in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran and Qatar. The rich stream of accessible feedstock and good access to the growing markets meant that petrochemical producers and investors were eager to make the billion-dollar investments needed to establish integrated chemical complexes and associated facilities.
In these tough times, however, are companies taking fright and scaling back or even pulling out of major construction projects? In the Middle East, at least, it seems not. In fact, many producers are looking at the situation as part of the ongoing cyclical nature of the petrochemical industry

Power supply

The power plants in the Haripur-Ashuganj belt region of Bangladesh require continuous gas supply to generate power. The Bangladesh Chemicals and Industries Corporation (BCIC) closed down Polash Urea Fertiliser Limited and Urea Fertiliser Limited at Ghorashal as per the government directive to divert gas to power plants in the Haripur-Ashuganj belt. The closure of the fertiliser factories provided no major benefit as they were consuming only around 30 million cubic feet of gas per day.
Petrobangla, the Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation initially wanted CUFL to be closed down as it consumes around 50mmcfd of gas. It was considered that the closure of CUFL would result in an increase in power generation from the Rauzan plant in Chittagong. Petrobangla faces constraints in the gas transmission network to supply additional gas to Chittagong.
By diverting gas supply from CUFL to Rauzan's power plant, the power production can be increased to around 360MW, and the power crisis in Chittagong would be lessened. Rauzan currently gets only 40mmcfd of gas against its demand of 90mmcfd.

Chemical Management

Risk Management Measures For Chemical usage
Risk management measures such as chemical assessment, selection and control procedures, hazardous gas management systems, segregated exhaust systems, safety interlocks, are commonplace in semiconductor facilities (fabs). New fabs use totally enclosed processes, automation, and chemical delivery systems to create a barrier between workers and the process and to protect against chemical and physical hazards in the work environment. In many cases, secondary and even tertiary redundancy to these controls ensures that the necessary protection will be provided if one control fails. Because of the considerable control measures within a state-of-the-art semiconductor fab, under normal operating conditions, workers are not exposed to chemical or physical hazards. Numerous voluntary guidelines developed through the industry suppliers (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International) promote manufacturing equipment designs that minimize risk to workers whether during normal operation or during maintenance procedures.

Life sciences and fine chemical industries

For the life sciences and fine chemical industries, Evonik Degussa offers a broad range of precious metal powder and activated base metal catalysts and services throughout the metal loop. The life sciences and fine chemicals industries use catalytic reactions in a wide variety of applications, typically conducted in batch processes. These industries have an extensive range of catalytic needs from the optimum catalyst and reaction conditions in the process, to health and safety, strict confidentiality, right through to final product recycle or disposal.