Found a great website for recipes. A prep for Nutella, a chocolate hazelnut spread, can be found there. In the restaurant section, you can find recipes from a large number of restaurants, including Legal Seafoods, Antoines, PF Chang’s, seasonings from Taco Bell, and Crab Rangoon from Trader Vic’s. They even post School Cafeteria recipes. Crimony.
A chemical plant performing synthesis is a place where the materials in use are purposely selected for certain attributes of instability. Chemical stability refers to the tendancy of a substance to remain unchanged when exposed to some kind of stimulus. That stimulus may be exposure to heat energy, mechanical shock, or a more precise chemical attack on particular functional groups. Unstable substances have a low threshold to change. Stable substances require more stimulus to cause a change in composition.
Substances that are extremely stable are often not very useful in near-ambient temperature chemical synthesis, i.e., saturated hydrocarbons, metal sulfates, silica, etc. The lack of lower temperature reactivity (say, up to 200 C) can be compensated for by application of high temperatures. Petroleum refineries take full advantage of high temperature reaction chemistry to alter the composition of otherwise stable hydrocarbons.
We choose stable substances for duty as solvents, diluents, carriers, etc., precisely because of their non-changeability or stability. “Inert” solvents allow chemists to bring molecules into solution for selective transformations. Of course, we all know that most solvents have some influence on the course of a transformation, the point is that we can transform solute materials without the fuss of altering the solvent too.
Chemical synthesis requires the manipulation of reactivity (and therefore stability) to perform useful transformations. Without well placed instability on a molecule, there cannot be efficient, directed synthesis. It is the job of the synthesis chemist to apply the knowledge of reactivity.
Because of the inherent instability of reactive and flammable materials, chemical plants must require that certain behaviors, procedures, and knowledge be set into a formal structure. Actions and conditions must give predictable consequences. This structure is comprised of a set of standard- operating procedures, equipment, test methods, and safety requirements.
It seems silly to go to the trouble of detailing the merits of running a safe plant, but it is worth pointing out the layers of requirements on an operating plant.
A company in the business of manufacture is exposed to many kinds of liability. A chemical manufacturing plant is subject to modes of failure and liability that set it apart somewhat.
One result of chemical manufacture that sets it apart from other forms of industry is the combination of unknown risk and dread fear. For communities in the vicinity of chemical operations, fear comes from the combination of the unknown as new risks, unknown effects, or delayed effects with the dreaded possibility of catastrophic or fatal consequences, inequitable consequences, involuntary effects, and high risk to future generations (see: Perilous Progress: Managing the Hazards of Technology, Edited by Kates, Hohenemser, and Kasperson, 1985, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, p 108. ISBN 0-8133-7025-6).
While the neighbors of a furniture factory may be annoyed by the presence of a nearby woodworking shop, it is unlikely that the neighbors will be stirred into existential dread by its presence. The hazards of a woodworking plant are easy to imagine and therefore, easier to rank into the grand list of life’s dangers.
Chemical and nuclear risk perception score at the extreme ranges of risk perception. Both domains involve an agent of potential harm that is poorly understood by most people. Ionizing radiation is inherently destructive to tissues, but the exact relationship between quality and dose to risk is fuzzy at low level exposure. And because it cannot be sensed directly, fear of it’s presence can induce disturbing excursions of imagination and dread.
Fear of chemicals is widespread in the industrialized world. The downside to chemical operations has been immortalized by numerous well known industrial calamities like Love Canal (Hooker Chemical), Bhopal, numerous dioxin fiascos, PCB’s, or occupational exposure to asbestos or chromium (VI). There are a great many chemical items of commerce that are unavoidably hazardous to health.
Because of the risks associated with toxicity or exposure to hazardous energy from machines, chemicals, radiation, heat, noise, gravity, sharp implements, etc., the many layers of government have established agencies and a regulatory structure to diminish risk exposure to workers specifically and citizens generally.
The purpose of the chemical industry is to produce goods and services for people who want or need the value of it’s output. Like the ad says- “We don’t make the surfboard, we make it better”. Well, making the surfboard better inevitably requires that certain kinds of hazards be unleashed and managed. The expectation that hazardous materials can be eliminated in manufacturing is a fantasy. The manipulation of instability is inherent to chemical transformation. Zeroing out hazards has to come from the demand side of the market.
The GOP fear machine is running full blast on Fox, beaming hystrionics onto the airwaves at an astounding clip. Jon Stewart has an amusing take on it (I had trouble imbedding the video frame, you’ll just have to click on the link).
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=216561&title=fox-news-fear-imbalance
We’re all doooommmed!
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced recently, while on board the carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, that they will begin an aggressive campaign for the production of aircraft carriers in the next two years. In 2007, Admiral of the Fleet Vladimir Masorin, announced that within 20 to 30 years, Russia would have two carrier strike groups consisting of three carriers each. Russian style carriers are smaller than US carriers and have more defensive capability, reportedly giving them more maneuverability.
But to construct and service a major fleet, Russia needs a major port facility like Sevastopol, in the Ukraine, with its craggy coastline. Unfortunately for Russia (or more ominously, for the Ukrainians), a lease agreement with the Ukraine will expire in 2017. Reports suggest that the Ukraine is not interested in renewing this lease.
On the technical side, building a metal warship brings many kinds of problems that makers of fiberglass yachts and canoes don’t have to contend with. Testing for magnetic silencing and degaussing is one of them.
Like it or not, the world is fitted with a web of nuclear power infrastructure. And, like it or not, we have inherited the chore of managing nuclear materials and industries from preceding generations. The question that begs to be answered is, how should we go forward with this legacy of nuclear power technology? Do we plod along maintaining the status quo? Do we replace aging nuclear plants with non-nuclear facilities? Or, do we ramp up with more nuclear plants?
On the pro-nuclear side, alternative reactor schemes are surfacing. Reactor designs that have been proposed for years are showing up on the internet and into the daylight.
One intriguing design utilizes a fissile molten salt that is circulated through a moderator assembly and cycled through a heat exchanger. In this scheme, the fuel is also a working heat transfer fluid. It is called a liquid fluoride reactor. Many kinds of molten salt compositions are possible, but one is composed of (72 LiF, 16 BeF2, 12 ThF4, 0.3 UF4). The designs I’ve seen use continuous fuel processing to keep an optimal fuel composition in use. The reactor described in the previous reference has a negative temperature coefficient, meaning that the fuel becomes less reactive as the temperature rises. This is an important safety attribute.
There is no point in a recital of the technical details here. The reader can follow the links if interested.
The Hudson River touchdown of US Airways flight 1549 has been called a miracle by some folks. How these folks would describe the ingestion of a flock of birds in terms of miraculous phenomena has not been disclosed. Whatever it was, the aircrew certainly performed admirably.
If you look at a map of the flight path and note the timing, one minute after the birdstrike the A320 had descended from 4000′ to 2000′. At this phase of flight 1549, the airplane is heavy with fuel, baggage, and people. They are configured for climbout and are navigating in congested airspace at low altitude. At least one of the pilots has his head on a swivel watching for traffic while the other is monitoring flight control systems.
After the birdstrike, there would be some seconds of confusion where the pilot and first officer would have to analyze the warning annunciators as well as what story the flight instruments are telling them. Loss of power on climbout means a prompt loss of airspeed. Here the pilot and first officer would coordinate their cockpit duties. One pilot will concentrate on flying the airplane while the other would, for instance, focus on an engine restart, declaring an emergency with the tower or TRACON, notify the cabin crew for emergency procedures, etc.
While the pilots are determining what kinds of flight controls they have to work with and what other failures may be unfolding, they have to establish a standard airspeed that will minimize their decent rate. This gives them more time in the air and correspondingly, more landing options.
An airplane does a coordinated turn by banking the wing and tilting the lift vector in the direction of the turn. As you tilt the wing, the force vector acting against gravity becomes smaller and without coordinated input from other controls and a bit of power, the airplane will begin to sink.
The point is that when you bank an aircraft during a deadstick glide, you will increase the sink rate. Looking at the map, the pilot could not afford to lose anymore altitude by attempting to make a gliding turn to Teterboro to get lined up with the runways. They had no choice but to continue straight forward along the direction of the river and hope they could land in the water without dipping a wing and cartwheeling the airplane.
I’d say the aircrew made a series of good decisions.
According to recent reports, space scientists using infrared spectrometers at observatories in Hawaii and Chile have detected low levels of methane in the Martian atmosphere. This finding is consistent with results from as far back as 2003 when several studies reported methane at approximately 45 ppb. Observers performing the latest work conclude that the observed methane must be of recent origin, given the short half-life of atmospheric methane due to photodegradation.
The connection of these findings with the possibility of past or present life on Mars has proven irresistable. I’m sure there are group leaders beavering away at mission proposals this very moment based upon these findings.
An explanation that is much less exciting and much more challenging in regard to grant proposals is the abiotic explanation. Here on earth there we have a lesser known and widely overlooked abiotic theory of hydrocarbon origin. Abiotic hydrocarbons are often referred to as primordial and are known to exist in planetary atmospheres elsewhere.
According to John S. Lewis, Physics and Chemistry of the Solar System, 2nd edition, 2004, Elsevier, Inc., p. 159, the mole fraction of methane in the atmosphere of Jupiter is 0.001 and for Saturn it is 0.002. The mole fractions of water are 0.001 and 0.002 respectively. Among heavy atom species, only ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, neon, and argon approach these levels within a factor of 0.5 to 0.1.
Oxygen and carbon are two of the most highly abundant heavy atoms and to see them richly represented as their respective hydrogen compounds isn’t so surprising.
At some point in the formation of the solar system, atomic carbon and atomic hydrogen were cool enough to collide and form molecular methane. Hydrogen with its larger mole fraction would be expected to dominate bond forming interactions with carbon atoms, forming H-saturated methane.
Given the abundance of methane in the gas giants (and don’t forget the methane atmosphere of Titan) it is hard to discount that Mars has trapped methane in the vast interstitial spaces of the interior of the planet. Methane is known to form clathrate structures with water, so perhaps the proposed underground reservoir of Martian water is comingled with methane.
I believe we should be exploring Mars. But I am increasingly uncomfortable with this stream of “Entertainment Tonight” titillation coming from NASA in regard to the possibility of life on Mars. Perhaps our culture isn’t as advanced as we assume. Space exploration has always had a large political prestige component to it. Contractors need new contracts and politicians are always keen to bring funding to their districts. If it takes our lesser angels to make it work, then so be it.
An article in the Alantic Monthly by Garrett Epps entitled “The Founders Great Mistake” offers some observations on weaknesses in the US constitution regarding the Presidency. In particular –
The most dangerous presidential malfunction might be called the “runaway presidency.” The Framers were fearful of making the president too dependent on Congress; short of impeachment—the atomic bomb of domestic politics—there are no means by which a president can be reined in politically during his term. Taking advantage of this deficiency, runaway presidents have at times committed the country to courses of action that the voters never approved—or ones they even rejected.
Epps offers several examples of runaway presidency. The example of Andrew Johnson is particularly good-
Andrew Johnson was the next unelected runaway. Politically, he had been an afterthought. But after Lincoln’s assassination, Johnson adopted a pro-Southern Reconstruction policy. He treated the party that had nominated him with such scorn that many contemporaries came to believe he was preparing to use the Army to break up Congress by force. After Johnson rebuffed any attempt at compromise, the Republican House impeached him, but the Senate, by one vote, refused to remove him from office. His obduracy crippled Reconstruction; in fact, we still haven’t fully recovered from that crisis.
Epps, a law professor at the University of Baltimore, points out the origin of the mysterious electoral college-
The system that the Framers developed for electing the president was, unfortunately, as flawed as their design of the office itself. When Madison opened discussion on presidential election in Philadelphia, he opined that “the people at large” were the “fittest” electorate. But he immediately conceded that popular election would hurt the South, which had many slaves and few voters relative to the North. To get around this “difficulty,” he proposed using state electors. Electoral-vote strength was based on a state’s total population, not on its number of voters—and the South received representation for three-fifths of its slaves both in the House of Representatives and in the Electoral College.
The electoral college was merely a scheme to manipulate the weighting of ballots in states with a low fraction of voters among the population. In other words, it was a “duct tape and baling wire fix” to accomodate the slave states embarrassingly low fraction of voting adults. This antebellum artifact should be abandoned in favor of simple vote counting.
The citizens of the USA need to have a better mechanism with which to fire a President who is crooked or incompetent. The provision for impeachment carries a high threshold for activation. A president must engage in some kind of serious malfeasance to provoke the congress to vote for impeachment. But the application of this provision has been very nonlinear. Clinton was impeached for lying about consensual sex. Bush arguably lied or at least tolerated falsehoods leading to the invasion of Iraq and the resulting civil war with tens of thousands of deaths. Depending on the congress for an even application of its powers is a sketchy proposition.
The framers of the constitution did not anticipate the situation where an incompetent president might be elected by “low-information voters”. A government that has usurped the consensus of the electorate and is allowed to remain in play because of a fixed period of tenure is a government that serves only itself. This is wrong and we should not stand for it.
Here is an obscure topic- the Nuclear Lighthouse. Seems the Russians set up lighthouses in remote coastal locations in the north. These stations would beam light generated by a power source utilizing decay heat from a radioactive source. As you can see from the photographs, the facility has seen better days. There was no mention by the writer of any measures taken to monitor their exposure during the visit to this nuclear hellhole. Crimony.
Some folks get more than 15 minutes of fame. Case in point- Joe the Plumber. The career arc of Joe “The Plumber” Wurzelbacher continues to cover new terrain, this time landing him a gig with Fox News as a correspondent specializing in media bias. Joe’s impeccable credentials as just plain folks and his compelling profile has caught the attention of the News Department at Fox. His brush with the McCain-Palin juggernaut was possibly helpful as well.
Joe has been sent abroad to investigate disturbing reports of liberal American media bias. News organizations covering the freedom crusade being waged in the middle east by George II have been less than forthcoming about our inherent righteousness.
This regular Joe has been imbedded in the field to faithfully report the unvarnished truth in a manner recognizable to the sensibilities of the Everyman. And since Fox News has a special knack for speaking truth, Joe was anointed by these Sons of Murdoch to follow the star of freedom eastward and bring back the truth to quench the thirst of a nation parched for hopeful news.
Alright. I’ve finished my lampoon. Joe has become a cartoon character but doesn’t seem to be aware of it yet. There must be some kind of PT Barnum character in Joe’s life who is milking the media’s tongue-in-cheek fascination with him.
I sincerely hope that something good might come from Joe’s expedition to Israel. But there seems to be little original analysis possible for the sad and tragic situation between Israeli Jews and the nascent Muslim caliphate. Each party claims a special relationship with the Diety and, accordingly, each has no option but to prevail.
Lamentations on Chemistry 