mississippichem

I don't think the guy belongs in a torture chamber. However, I think he is a security risk for the US and other nations he is exposing. It's good to have transparent government, but war, defense, and diplomacy are dirty games by nature. They're objectives are, respectively: kill the other team, protect our team, and get the upper hand of a deal. This guy has no idea of the possible diplomatic ramifications of releasing these things. Countries spy on each other all the time, it keeps the balance of power. It is embarrassing though that all the world's military super powers can't or just won't stop the release of information. Funny how its not like the movies where people who squeal on dirty government business end up in "unfortunate accidents".

The topic is a debate about whether or not evolution has been verified through observation. Assuming it has not been verified when the scientific consensus is that it has; that is a fallacy. Cypress, will you address the articles the articles I cited above? They are all examples of new structural information arising spontaneously with simple inputs under simple and natural conditions. I realize the conversation has strayed toward an argument over "informational entropy" however I believe my examples are relevant.

I think it is important, however we deal with the @$#&s, that we don't make public martyrs. We must remember that their motivation is deeply religious, and if we are not careful, we will turn them into heroic martyrs that end up only feeding the terrorists' recruitment propaganda. I don't think there is a legitimate reason all this regular trial/military tribunal should be in the public eye. I don't care how they are tried but I think it should all be done in secret and out of the media. Ultimately this is a national security issue, and our Al Queda prisoners are not members of a foreign sovereign army. They are international criminals that are wanted in multiple countries, some are even wanted in their country of origin.

Google the chemogenesis web book. It sort of takes a different approach but is good for being exposed to basic concepts. There are other places to find more rigorous explanations though if you are interested.

Nitrogen has a formal charge of +1 with an unpaired electron but one of the oxygens has a -1 so the molecule is net neutral for nitrogen dioxide. This goes for both of the main resonance forms. You could have seen a nitronium ion: [ce] NO_{2}^+[/ce]

Got any math to back that? You're stepping on some conservation laws and you'll need some serious derivations get that by this audience. This is a tuff crowd, we like to see the numbers. Good luck! Judging from his post record, I have a feeling ajb can do laplace transforms in his sleep .

I have friend who studies abroad in China. He said Chinese parents push their children very hard in school because they all eventually have to take a standardized test that's name basically translates to the "tall test". The "tall test" determines if a child will be eligible for college, a trade program, or nothing at all. A child gets to take the test once and only once, so there is a lot of pressure. All this to say that Chinese culture is a culture of achievement and there is not much room for error or second chances. So Chinese children are highly motivated to be "smart". I don't know about that data though; seems a bit fishy to me.

Carbonyl Sulphide mediated prebiotic peptide formation The above link is to a paper concerning spontaneous synthesis of peptides in aqueous solution via en vitro non-enzymatic catalysis. If you're not a member of the magazine, the abstract should be enough. It shows that spontaneous, natural polymerization of amino acids is not outside the realm of possibility. Carbonyl sulphide is abundant in waters surrounding volcanic thermal vents. spontaneous polymerization and microstructure... This link is to an article in which highly branched polymers of n-butyl acrylate are synthesized without initiators at 180 C. One of the possible mechanisms could likely involve radical self-initiation. This would be highly disfavored by entropy, yet it still happens. Nothing could be further from the truth. Spontaneous synthesis of biomolecules from pre-biotics is one of the leading hot topics in physical chemistry today. There is a large movement in p-chem to find the reason for all amino acids having the L-configuration, as well as a large interest in non-enzymatic, pre-biotic catalysis. Here is an article from the American Chemical Society, Journal of Physical Chemistry B: emergence of phospholipid superstructures The article concerns the apparent organization of a homogeneous phospholipid micelle into a myelin like superstructure in about 240 minutes. Just give that another hundred million or two and what could happen? Cypress, you have been asking for specific examples of the spontaneous generation of complex biomolecules. Here I have cited three examples from the peer reviewed literature. If you still need more conformation, I have barely scratched the surface of the host of similar articles and would be glad to cite more.

Agreed. The fact that citizens can call foul on a corporation, individuals, or the government is what allows a "free" society to operate. I see how one is not allowed to "yell fire in crowded theater" because that can cause immediate physical harm. However, people having the ability to say "buy Citibank stock but not Bank of America" is what ultimately drives markets, keeps the economy rolling, and keeps big corporations in check. Very interesting question though, one of those "where do you draw the line?" questions that frequent political discussion.

There are a whole plethora of chemical sciences however they all pretty much fall into these categories as far as carrers and school go career wise: Chemistry Biochemistry Chemical Engineering Materials Science Pharmacy Chemical Education Of course the term chemistry encompasses, analytical, organic, inorganic, metallurgy, physical-chem and many others. However, most of the time one would just major in chemistry and get more specific in grad-school. Some schools do distinguish though, my school offers a seperate degree for polymer/materials science, as well as biochemistry, and chemical education; same department different major.

That's because they are the synonymous. Alkene is the more modern term. Olefins are simply put, hydrocarbons that aren't already bonded to the maximum number of hydrogens, or more specifically hydrocarbons that contain double bonds. Carbon commonly has a valency of four, so if some of the carbons in the chain have double bonds, then that hydrocarbon is said to be "unsaturated", that is, not saturated with hydrogen. A common saturated hydrocarbon would be propane: [ce]CH_{3}-CH_{2}-CH_{3}[/ce] each carbon here has four bonds, and there are no double bonds. The analogous alkene is 1-propene (1 means the double bond is at the first carbon): [ce]CH_{2}=CH-CH_{3}[/ce] If 1-propene was reacted with one molecule of [ce]H_2[/ce] it would be propane and would be saturated. So 1-propene is said to have 1 degree of unsaturation making it an alkene (or olefin).

If the universe operated as you state, two atoms couldn't come together to make a diatomic. Yes, the net entropy of the universe (system+surroundings) is always increased but that doesn't stop the entropy of a theoretical pre-biotic system from being decreased, like a solution of amino acids polymerizing to make a protein. As long as [math] \Delta S_{universe} [/math] is positive for the whole cycle, no thermodynamic toes have been stepped on.

But Cypress, many known chemical processes are very disfavored by entropy. For example the renaturation of a protein. The charges line up in the correct fashion to form coulombic salt bridges, the hydrophobic alkyl chains point inward to minimize repulsive interaction with water. All these effects make the net enthalpy favorable enough to completely counter the entropy term. So a huge unordered "random" polypeptide coil can arrange itself in an extremely specific fashion almost completely on thermodynamic grounds alone. This is thermodynamically spontaneous as well. Sometimes it only requires a slightly oxidative environment which is reasonable in nature. Entropy derived straight from statistical mechanics doesn't account for the possibility of conditions being favorable for an entropically disfavored process to occur.

This is unlikely. Radio waves are typically too low a frequency to be energetic enough to cause homolytic bond cleavage, which is what has to happen to get the hydrogen gas. Some chemical reactions can be induced by irradiation but this radiation is usually in at least the microwave, visible, or UV region. Infrared and radio waves tend to heat things in polar liquids like water. Also, I can't find anywhere where the guy lists the exact conditions under which he observed the phenomena (frequency of radiation, salt concentration and so on) these are critical details and many will have trouble swallowing this without a technical explanation of how the experiment is conducted.

US homeland security policy seems to be so reactive and not very proactive. I'm sure there is some faction of Al Queda right now sitting on couches and watching CNN laughing at us having to look at each other naked on screens just because some spoiled Nigerian brat stuck a bomb in his underwear that didn't even work. I hope a terrorist never hides a bomb in a body cavity, I'm sure we'll just start telling passengers to "spread-em" before they get on the plane. I think we should put more effort into intelligence rather than security. Intelligence is the key to the fight against terror. The reason these extremist groups are able to operate is because they have been able to retain relative secrecy. These Israelis have been very effective at seeing these things coming with their massive intel networks. Every third person you see is probably an Israeli spy Seriously though, like that assassination in Dubai that was allegedly carried out by Israeli operatives. I guess they fixed that before it became a problem. I've just always been impressed at how such a small country with so many local enemies has been able to keep relatively secure...very proactive strategy, not the US's "knee-jerk" panic driven "I guess-this-will-work" strategy.

Ah, a chance to talk about coordination chemistry...awesome! You should construct a CFT diagram for both complexes. These complexes are tetrahedral and "pseudo-tetrahedral" so the [math]e_g[/math] energy level (doubly degenerate) should be lower in energy that the [math] t_{2g}[/math] level (triply degenerate). Then determine the oxidation state of your metal centers and fill electrons accordingly. Remember, chloride ions are weak field ligands and the geometries are tetrahedral so the crystal field [math] \Delta[/math] splitting energy should be low or less than the pairing energy to bind an electron pair in the [math] e_g[/math] level. So you should notice you are dealing with two high spin complexes. Now you could do this the long and cumbersome way and determine which crystal field has the largest number of micro-states with a non-zero S total quantum number, or you could take the less rigorous way and just eyeball it. Which of the two crystal field diagrams shows an electron in the [math]t_{2g}[/math] level that could be moved around that energy level without changing the global spin multiplicity? Think about how this might cause distortion in the coordination geometry. Hope this helps

I think Confuciansim will be around forever, though not directly. Its principles permeate all the other eastern religions, and the morals it teaches are often in line with western ethics. I like confucianism myself, as an athiest, it just teaches good moral principle with a helathy dose of philosophy that seems to know its place (not answering questions of origin), no hocus-pocus required.

I've got a bench full of ruthenium complex samples waiting for you. When can you start? It would make you a true super hero to run all that NMR for me before finals week

This will never happen, but I think a uranium based currency would be interesting. Unlike gold, its got real power and use not to mention it is truly scarce (like gold). Not only is it useful for power plants, ships, and bombs, but it also holds a certain psychological significance much like gold. It does represent clean energy as well.

Whenever we build something, the raw materials usually come out of the ground. As far as new plant and animal growth, you should look up the nitrogen cycle as well as the carbon cycle. A good example might be our breathing in of oxygen and breathing out of carbon dioxide. Plants then take up our carbon dioxide waste, use it in their various cellular processes and "exhale" oxygen that we later breath in and start the cycle over.

I agree. Look at the Miller-Urey experiment. They made a "primordial-soup" of methane, ammonia, water, and other simple binary compounds, set it up to an electric discharge and let it sit for a few weeks. After a while they discovered lipid miscelles (organized spheres of lipids), as well as complex sugars and maybe even amino-acids, if I remember correctly, that had all formed randomly in the soup. This arrival of complex molecules facilitates more complicated chemistry occurring by sheer number of possible reactions. I think in the future we will come to the realization that chemical complexity [life] tends to arise out of complex chemical mixtures over time. Before life starts to compete for food and reproductive superiority, chemicals compete for free-energy and equilibrium position. The laws of physics, which translate to workings of chemistry, are so that, in my opinion, life is inevitable on any body in space with enough gravity, thermal energy, some liquid/gas interface (like the ocean and air), and a steady string of photons from the nearby star. Who knows what obscure conditions life can live under though? We would've been surprised to find archaea living at the bottom of the ocean with no light, mega-pressure, and eating hydogen sulfide seventy years ago.

I don't have any C-13 glucose, but you might want to specify which position you need the radio-label in if it matters, unless you're just trying to get a generally strong signal/noise ration for C13 NMR. What kind of NMR experiment are you conducting with C-13 glucose?

Have you ever heard of neodymium magnets? They're everywhere. Sigma Aldrich sells neodymium oxide for 39.60 USD (25 g) that's pretty cheap compared to even say ruthenium, rhodium, or osmium salts which aren't even among the rarest metals.

This would make an interesting cyclic voltammetry experiment. Observing to see if the Fe(II)/Fe(II) and Fe(0)/Fe(II) couples were reversible at varying pH values. Then see if the results line up with the pH dependent equilibrium derived from the balanced equation. It's interesting because [ce]Fe_{2}O_{3}[/ce] lattices are non-stoichiometric.

Good point Cap'n. I think its a mix of techniques that will be the answer. It seems that the techniques I mentioned would be more effective in a relatively ethnically homogeneous Israel, but not so much in the larger and more diverse US. I just couldn't resist posting the link because of the casual flippancy with which the Israeli officer states that they use racial profiling. This kind of language would cause riots in the United States and I think it says a lot about our social maturity (both good and bad, but even more so interesting).