chemhero

Try looking in journals for some novel compounds - do you have access to Web of knowledge? Matt

Ouch, not sure about that one (im a uni student too). The only thing i can think of is it goes via a tri-substituted intermediate or something. The ring is electron rich of the top of my head Matt

I did some more reading around, and also found that the polycarbonate is most likely to be based on bis-phenol. Given that, I'll test my visor against a sample and see how closley it matches to the known. The more i think about this project of mine, the more excited I get. Mmmmm chemistry Matt

Hi everyone, I hope you are all well. I have an idea for my final year chemistry project involving the surface modification of motorcycle helmet visor material; I understand that it is a polycarbonate of sorts, but how could I investigate what the repeat unit structure is? I need to find out before I start on the chemical modification I guess an infra-red spectrum could yeild some information, but are there any other methods? What about some way to break down the polymer to its monomers, and then investigate that? Matt

Why do you need a dedicated test? A good thing about science is if you do lots of tests and they all turn back negative results for what they are ment to test, then you only have one thing left! In your case, this could be the tertiary alcohol. Matt

Try looking for books on polymer chemistry; its a heavily researched area (obviously!) so there are lots of great dedicated texts out there! This is also safer than relying on internet information, which may or may not be correct as it is not as heavily regulated like a book is! Good luck! Matt P.S. have a look for electrically conducting polymers, this is a really interesting area - plastics that conduct electricity!!!! Madness!

Its for an assignment; how to prepare these compounds. I realise getting potassium hexacyanoferrate is easy, thats why I had to figure out its formation myself! I wont be making it, but its still intresting to know how to make one of the basic pigments from scratch Fun stuff! Matt

Does anyone have a good scematic of this peice of apparatus? It seems quite unusual (not as common as the faithfull rotary evaporator) and I can't find a good diagram or picture. The one on wikipedia isnt very clear, and other google search results show nothing really usefull. Matt

Ah, ok then - leave the acid! I was a little unsure as what little literature I've found has suggested the use of an acid to help along, but this idea didnt sit well with me because of the HCN formation (as you say) and also the possible formation of H4[Fe(CN)6], not the potassium salt. Thanks for your help, I just needed to bounce the idea off someone! Matt

Hi everyone I'm planning an experiment to make prussian blue, from scratch. The part going from K4Fe(CN)6 to prussian blue is easy peasy, I can find alot of literature on this. But going from iron (II) sulphate to K4Fe(CN)6 is a little harder for me to find information on. Anyway, using my mind (a dangerous thing!) i figured that FeSO4 in water, then add KCN and some acid, with some heat(90 deg.C ?) and then letting it cool, the cyanoferrate i want will fall out of solution. Would this actualy work? Or am I barking up not even a tree, let along the wrong tree? Matt

Good point, what is the opposite word for "inert"? I usually use "reactivity" as a measure, since nothing is truley inert - everything will do something! Except maybe helium... Matt

Uh oh Matt

Woof! Matt

I'll go with zinc reducing aswell - its used in the lab all the time in inorganic reactions as a reductant (itself oxidised! OilRig!). Matt

For part Two of your enquiry: I think the first is right; as we go down the group, the orbitals are more diffuse - there is less chance of finding an electron in an overlapping "bonding" region. This then coincides with atomic radius, so yea, option 2 is right like you say. Option three...well, it has something to do with bonding, but nothing that fits in here. Have fun, Matt

That was some good reading, thanks! Have you got a referance for it? Matt

The best way? Drink more water. Your urine should only be faintly yellow, not dark yellow. This'll dilute the offending chemicals (urea, and others) and won't smell as much. Try flushing the loo, too! If its really pungent, I guess using a good scented bleach would work? Matt

Hi everyone, I'm learning alot this year about biological chemistry, and I've become very interested in the cytochromes. Can anyone recommend any books with an in-depth discussion of the cytochromes? Especialy cyt a and cyt c ? (any papers about the functions and structures of these two would also be welcome!) Matt

A little bit of GC-MS, methinks damn cool technique, almost taking over NMR in my favorite analytical methods.. Matt

I agree. I think this other guy is just being pedantic; the negative implies the direction of energy flow with repesct to that object; i read the term negative energy being loss of energy i.e. energy given out And I'm skeptical of the idea that "energy dosnt exist" too... Matt

Ah, ok. Thanks It was something I've never come acorss before (and being a fan of motorsport - motorcycle racing in particular - I have come across alot of medical techniques!) so I was just interested. I guess, since the guy had facial fractures (one hell of a collision with the tyre wall I gather), he would have been in alot of pain and potentialy pressure on the brain and stuff? Anyway, this has answered my question! Matt

I was reading this article the other day: http://www.motogp.com/en/motogp/motogp_news.htm?menu=news&news_id=19275&championship_id=2&section=1 which is regarding the condition of a motorcycle racer who suffered some really serious injury's in a practice session on saturday. Anyway, the doctors put him into a coma - I was wondering why this was so, and what they would use to put someone in a coma? I've always thought that a coma would be best avoided? Thanks, Matt

MilesD - lay off it mate! Sometimes when theres lots of steps its a little confusing to do a calculation the first time. I remember I had all sorts of problems with moles calculations when I was studying A-level chemistry! Perhaps it would be good to establish how many moles of gas there are in the room at first? I think this is what GutZ said too Matt

No, its not the same thing! A quick google revealed that ammoniacl nitrogen is NH3-N, as opposed to ammonium nitrate (common fertiliser) which is NH4-NO3 Happy gardening, Matt

Well your right about the relation to hydrogen, when it comes to acids. Under a theory of acids called the bronstead lowry theory (the toher major theory is lewis acid theory, but dont worry about that here), an acid is defined as a hydrogen ion donor (hydrogen ion being a hydrogen, without the electron - some people refer to it as a proton, since thats all it is!) So an example is vinigar, which is a weak acid. When you take neat ethanoic acid (the chemical that makes vinegar...er...vinegar!), and then add it to water, it "dissociates" i.e. breaks up into two parts: the hydrogen ion and the ethanoate ion (which has a negative charge). (citric acid is also a weak acid!) Other common acids work on the same principle: e.g. HCl, H2SO4 (two hydrogen ions are capable of being relased here!!!!) The strength of an acid is defined by its pH (no doubt you already know!) and the pH is proportional to the hydrogen ion concentration: pH = -log (conc. H+ ions) where the logarithm is to the base 10 (dont worry about bases, but it is important you use the right base log when calculating). Most normal substances have a pH between 1-14 (7 being neutral, 1-6.9 being acid, abouve 7 being alkali). Some are below 0 (oh yes! Its true! those concentrated acids are nasty stuff!), and some alkalis go about 14. Anywho, Hydrogen ions can attack pretty easily and start of a chemical reaction (in some chemical reactions, I add acid to kick start the reaction - a catalyst, if you will!), and also acids can cause proteins to break up and stuff. They are pretty nasty! I hope this helps, I have to go into university now. I cant think what acid your freind gave you, but try searching for "superacids" If i can think of aything more, I'll reply. If this hasnt helped, sorry Matt