Most popular post

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It’s very interesting. The post with the most hits on this blog is for one I wrote May 15, 2008, titled Neutron Lethargy: This Weeks Obscure Dimensionless Quantity. It receives hits nearly every day. Is it revealing atomic secrets? No, it does not. Here is part of it-

“Neutron lethargy, or logarithmic energy decrement, u, is a dimensionless logarithm of the ratio of the energy of source neutrons to the energy of neutrons after a collision:  u = ln(Eo/E), or, u2-u1 = ln(E1/E2).  So, if you plot a curve of E vs u (E = Eo*exp(-u)), you see an exponential decay of energy per unit collision showing that the greatest delta E’s of energy result from the early collisions.

Basically, it shows that in order to obtain thermal neutrons from fission decay neutrons, you have to contain them so that they can rattle around and dump energy before they fly out of the area of interest. As to the number of collisions that are needed? Well, that is a different issue.

Source- Glasstone & Edlund, The Elements of Nuclear Reactor Theory, Van Nostrand, 1952, p 146.”

Now mind you, this does not necessarily mean it was a glistening contribution to the nuclear zeitgeist of 2008. It’s more like the title attracted clicks. Excellence and clicks don’t overlap much. It shows that my intuition on what a popular post looks like is completely off.

What Does “Greatness” Really Mean?

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I am going to bring up some observations that may be uncomfortable to many of my fellow citizens of the US. It has to do with the idea of “Greatness” that is frequently bandied about.

Definition: Bandied about

Phrasal verb; to mention something often, without considering it carefully. Source: Cambridge Dictionary.

Commonly, the word “greatness” is carefully chosen to swell the patriotic pride of American citizens. Swinging around the idea of greatness in public is often used as a rhetorical device to align people to a particular point of view. We are raised to see ourselves as the good guys. The use of “greatness” is a favorite buzzword of far-right conservatives to rub people’s noses into.

The conglomeration of US ultranationalist groups- a different name for homegrown fascism- along with Christian dominion ideology has produced a vocal a far-right political group who, on one hand demand libertarian-type free market dominance in lieu of government, while on the other sees protestant Christian reconstructionism providing guidance for a leading role in national and world affairs. The motivation is two-fold: first is to bring humanity under close Biblical law and the second is to prepare for the prophesied apocalypse and second coming of Christ. Many believed that Trump was to have a role in this. Imagine, the guy who invented DNA and set the galaxies spinning picking a bloviating wealthy-narcissistic-real estate developer-shyster-philanderer from Manhattan. Seriously? Something is wrong with this picture. For a preview of Biblical law, have a look at the bronze-age Book of Deuteronomy. Interesting as ancient history but, as a foundation for modern legal procedure, we can do a lot better going forward.

At the present time it is in vogue for the far right to parade around signaling their disapproval of US support of Ukraine in their battle against Russian invaders. Their grasp of history and judgement is sadly lacking.

  • Some Republicans have stated that the funds and war materiel sent to Ukraine could be better used at home.
  • Who believes that the Republican leadership would actually direct these savings to issues at home? Directing these funds internally for aid would be dismissed as “socialism” and ignored. Some insist that money that can be spent on Ukraine’s defense can also be cut altogether.

The US has seen much cultural achievement since our inception but sadly we have not been a universal force for good. Like everyone else, we have strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes we’ve been on the wrong side of history. Our treatment of native Americans from the very beginning was simply criminal. As if that wasn’t enough, an estimated 620,000 people died in a bloody civil war to shut down slavery, then we failed miserably at promised reconstruction. Women have long been denied equality and have received it only grudgingly. African Americans had long labored under the Jim Crow laws until only recently. Our government has meddled in the affairs of many nations in the Americas and elsewhere, with some of it blowing up in our faces (e.g., Cuba and Iran). We invaded Iraq in Gulf War II resulting in the violent death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens based on deception from the Bush administration.

On the other side, we’ve pushed medical advances like drug development and vaccination, brought food to the starving and saved millions of lives around the world. America has been generous with its growing base of scientific knowledge by publishing results obtainable from open sources. The American University-Industrial-Governmental research complex has produced wonders especially from WWII to this very day in everything from aerospace, electronics, pharmaceuticals and agriculture. The explosive growth of knowledge and technology in the 20th century is unparalleled in human history and the US has had a big part in that.

However, as comfortable as it may be, the theory of American exceptionalism has a few holes in it. Our practical capitalistic economics has some blind spots. Innovation usually moves forward only if a development has the possibility of creating profit and only if a small group of money people can be convinced of it. So, you say, this is just good sense. Why is that a blind spot?

Basic research is a hard sell to businesses. Stockholders must be convinced of a rapid payoff from the investment in discovery. It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention. This proverb traces back to Plato. If a business is plugging along making a satisfactory profit at maximum output, what is the motivation to rock the boat for a possible improvement? The answer is the prospect of even more profit via some improvement. But, what if that improvement would require something entirely new outside the capability of current technology and in-house resources? There is necessity but invention is out of reach.

While American industry has produced a tremendous range of innovations with in-house resources, it has done so greatly aided by the contributions of our university and government institutions. Universities provide industry with an educated R&D workforce, largely as a result of the application of government funding. Indeed, my graduate and postdoctoral work was supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. I have been applying my business, chemistry and synthetic skills to the operation of private business for decades. And so does everyone else in industrial chemical R&D.

Here is the thing. The government funds the research universities which produces R&D results and an educated workforce. Most of the published academic R&D is of a fundamental nature and in the public domain. Chemical companies make good use of this information as a basis for their own R&D for product development. Sometimes the process Development part is begun quicker because the Research groundwork is mostly done by academia. With this, business gets invention quicker and cheaper with less risk because someone else initiated the necessity (the investigator/professor) and government funding paid for it. This represents industry getting a refund on some of their taxes.

In the military aerospace business, the US military provides the necessity by offering contracts for equipment under stringent specifications. Meeting the specs usually requires that materials and processes be developed to meet them. This is an example of the government providing necessity so industry will provide the invention.

  • A favorite notion in the US that persists is the “Greatness” of what has been a long period of leading financial and military power since WWII. Obviously, we in the US have a potent military and economy. The federal government plays a big role in these areas by supporting industrial and military readiness.
  • The US was not the first to put a satellite or man in orbit or land a craft on the moon. It was Russia. The US entered into the “space race” to primarily to match the threat of USSR’s space program. The USSR and communism were perceived as an existential threat to the US. Advances in rocketry could carry people, satellites or nuclear payloads. Did we win the race to the moon just because the USSR failed midway?
  • The US reacted vigorously to Albert Einstein’s warning of the possibility of a Nazi nuclear weapon. The Nazi secret program was under the guidance of Professor Werner Heisenberg. Rattled, the US put together a massive effort to beat the Nazis to the nuclear punch. Later, it was found that they were unable to produce a working nuclear reactor or weapon.
  • After the fall of Nazi Germany, the US scooped up a few of their best scientific minds, certainly more than the Russians did. The US benefitted greatly in rocketry and aerospace as well as engineering and physics.
  • The 1930’s was a decade of much advancement in the area of turbojet engines everywhere in the world but the US. We were late comers into turbojet engines. But post WWII we seized on the idea and did well.

US politics has been soured by a few extraordinarily awful people. I’m thinking of #45 in particular but many like-minded citizens have glommed on to his flying circus of bad ideas. Many people conflated business success with aptitude for governance. What they failed to consider was that a business is a type of dictatorship. It is not a democracy. It is run strictly from the top down. There is no bill of rights in business or first amendment. Trying to directly apply business experience to being chief executive of a democratic nuclear state is a fool’s errand. But, people still hold out hope for him.

  • Trump sailed into office in 2016 partly on his credentials as a “successful” businessman and television personality. For many voters, he was “famous for being famous.” Voters made the extrapolation that if he is a billionaire property developer in New York City then he was “obviously” qualified to be a president.

What nobody considered was that #45 was the CEO and major shareholder of his many private businesses. Not having experience leading a publicly owned corporation, he enjoyed zero transparency in his business activities. As CEO of his private companies, he never had fiduciary responsibilities to public stockholders. A private company is a dictatorship where he thrived.

The allies won the Second World War for many reasons. What made the US stand out in that effort was the fact that North America was geographically isolated and was harder to bomb or invade at that time. The wealth of natural resources and industrial capacity in the US certainly enabled our ability to carry the war to the enemies. The notion of some kind of intrinsic moral superiority held by some is just a fantasy. The US had talented leadership and a workforce willing and able to stand up and be counted. This was not a uniquely American quality. Most nations can and will do this if resources and their leadership will allow it. Being rich in lumber, petroleum, steel and uranium gave the US a distinct advantage.

The US is an amazing country among other amazing countries, but there is much yet to do. My goal is to help sustain basic liberal democratic ideals and one of the pillars is simple kindness. Let’s back off on the self-congratulation and cultish adulation of a despicable billionaire and focus on the basics of operating a democratic republic under the rule of law and with equal protection for all of its citizens.

Standard Taper Joints- A New Beginning

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Poltroon University, Guapo, Arizona, 7 September, 2023. The Starkrakken Institute and the Poltroon University Semi-Analytical Chemistry department will partner with the National Institute of Standards headquartered in Gaither Brothers, MD, to develop new and improved specifications for the standard taper joint used in chemical laboratories. After months of meetings on the need for a disruptive change in the field, a special committee has been formed from sales managers from across the international glassware industry as well as two emeritus adjunct professors from Poltroon. MBAs from across the industry applaud this disruptive change.

This change comes at a time when the geometry of chemical glassware is evolving. The once standard circular cross-section of glassware is gradually being replaced by those with an elliptical cross section. This disruptive change started in pharmaceuticals and is gradually descending into academia.

The new Elliptical Ground Glass Joint (patent pending).

Joint clips will need updating as well. Representatives from the Joint-Clip Injection Molders Alliance Group will convene a special subcommittee on this matter. Joint clip injection molders from across the globe will be invited to provide input. The prestigious Joint-Clip Injection Moulder’s Guild of the Faroe Islands will preside over this effort.

“University chemistry departments will complain vigorously,” said committee chairperson Deborah Ann Harry, Sales Director at Kimble-Brontes, “but they’re always bitchin’. They’ll get over it, they always do.”

There is one issue to contend with, Harry said, and “that is the inability to rotate joints with an elliptical cross-section joint.” Harry noted that this was an opportunity to offer rotating adapters as an up-sell. “We’re selling steak, not sizzle,” Harry added.

On the Cusp of a Fateful Choice

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Forward: This essay is directed to my fellow US citizens. The US and its allies are what stand between liberal democracy and rising global authoritarianism. Authoritarian states have proven to be quite resistant to rising democracy. We cannot let it get started without pushback. Just so we are on the same page, here is a description from Wikipedia-

“Liberal democracy or western democracy is the combination of a liberal political philosophy that operates under a representative democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into different branches of government, the rule of law in everyday life as part of an open society, a market economy with private property, universal suffrage, and the equal protection of human rights, civil rights, civil liberties and political freedoms for all people. To define the system in practice, liberal democracies often draw upon a constitution, either codified or uncodified, to delineate the powers of government and enshrine the social contract. “

Wikipedia “Liberal Democracy”

The United States is on the cusp of making a fateful choice based on the results of the 2024 national election. While there are numerous issues simmering, I refer to the growing movement among conservatives to back off on military support for Ukraine. This group believes that we’ve spent far too much money on military aid for Ukraine’s defense and that these resources should be directed towards the homeland. The fact is that the US and other NATO countries have indeed sent a very large quantity of armaments and cash to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.

What might the consequences be if the US and others simply backed away and let the two countries duke it out? In other words, we practice some old fashion isolationism. Here are some thoughts-

  • Putin is a murderous dictator with designs on (re)establishing a more widespread Russian empire. He wants to extinguish what is now Ukraine and meld it into a greater Russia. He believes that Russia is destined become a “great” power again. Suh a dream is not unexpected by a leader, but he began his expansion in 2014 with his quiet annexation of southern Ukraine.
  • Unfortunately, Ukraine is not where it stops. The eastern European and Baltic states are well aware of this threat and the history behind it.
  • The question of Putin’s mental state is of great interest to intelligence communities and to heads of state. Barbara S. Held, clinical psychologist and emeritus psychology professor at Bowdoin College, suggests that on the “sad/mad/bad” scale, Putin shows no signs of being sad or mad. What remains is the matter of bad. Coming away from the Held article, one is left with the sense that Putin’s “problem” isn’t legal insanity or a clinical disorder, but rather he is just a really bad person who makes what he thinks are rational choices and occasionally makes misjudgments.

“By all accounts, he [Putin] misjudged the ease of his mission, and shows no remorse about his massive killing in Ukraine. But poor judgment and moral callousness alone don’t constitute legal insanity or madness in the psychological sense.”

Barbara S. Held, New York Daily News, March 16, 2022.
  • Crucially for Putin’s Kremlin, the state has such pervasive control that citizens are existentially afraid to defy the government. Putin is surrounded by many, many layers of loyalists. Putin’s Kremlin is a black box. Who knows what could happen in a power contest? It’s been said that in Russia, the rule of thumb is that if the people stay out of politics, the government will stay out of their lives.
  • Putin’s Kremlin believes that the mere existence of a successful liberal democracy like the US is an continuous threat to authoritarianism in general and to Putin’s Russia in particular. The Kremlin propaganda organs strenuously broadcast the weak and clumsy machinations in the US on a daily basis. This is very similar to the standard operating procedures of the former Soviet Union.
  • The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) believes very much the same thing. Liberal democracy in the world, with the US in particular, is an existential threat to Chinese leadership. The CCP can’t very well allow the public to seek greater freedom of speech lest citizens begin to question CCP authority.
  • An isolationist US is a country that has ceded its global influence to those who mean us harm. As US influence in the world diminishes, China and Russia will gradually move in to take up any slack.

A decision by the US to back-off its aid to Ukraine will create a power vacuum that will be instantly filled by the Putin regime. It will validate the assertions by the Russian and Chinese propaganda organs that the US is morally corrupt and weak and that its hegemony is finally over.

Why is Russia so aggressive? Look the long and complex history of the region and decide for yourself. A place to start might be with the Holodomor.

A Ride in a Vintage Ford Tri-Motor

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Recently I had the occasion to take a ride in a vintage Fort Tri-Motor aircraft operated by the Experimental Aircraft Association, EAA. Among many other things they take it upon themselves to maintain and circulate certain aircraft around the country for display and to offer rides. The whole enterprise is about promoting civilian aviation and encouraging youth to pursue a career in aviation. The best way to generate enthusiasm is to give rides. This visit was sponsored by the local chapter of the EAA.

This transport aircraft is a 3-engine, high wing tail dragger. The skin is made of a corrugated aluminum alloy covering an all-metal frame. The Tri-Motor has all metal control surfaces which was unusual for the time. The corrugation serves as a stiffener but does increase the drag a bit. From 1925 to mid-1933, the Ford Company produced 199 copies. Ford stopped production in favor of more profitable opportunities. The EAA Tri-Motor is a 1929 Ford 4-AT-E with serial number 69. According to Wikipedia, there are currently 8 Tri-Motors with Airworthiness Certificates. and another 5 under restoration.

The Tri-Motor view of northern Colorado from 1000 feet.
The Trimotor’s starboard radial engine with instrument cluster.

The two outboard radial engines each had engine instruments located just above the cowling for “easy” viewing. Evidently this was a concession to practicality and avoided the problem of routing cables and tubes to the cockpit. In those days, avionics were just a twinkle in the designer’s eyes and were largely mechanical in nature with cables and tubes with fluid.

View of the cabin from the last row of seats.

The Tri-Motor gives the visual first impression of being sort of a brick sh** house with fins- sturdy, stable and slow. But, looks hardly matter and we had a great ride from start to finish. It was a calm morning with no convection activity and stable air. Winds were calm and the temperature was ~70 oF. A searing, hot summer day at 5000 ft ground elevation is not the best thing for slow, lumbering aircraft. The density altitude can climb to the equivalent of 9000 feet affording a low rate of climb. There were a few dark scud clouds loitering below the 2000 ft ceiling.

We circled the nearby city and came back on a long final approach. The view from the airplane is quite nice, much like flying in a fish tank. The pilot greased a two-point landing. It’s not a high-performance bird by today’s standards with it’s 93 knot cruise but it could carry 11 paying passengers beginning in the mid 1920’s.

The Tri-Motor was designed to be a reliable transport for passengers and cargo but falls short in the “need for speed” department. One barrier to higher performance in the 20’s and 30’s was a reliance on low compression ratio engines. I say “reliance” because the fuels available then were prone to knocking or pre-detonation if the compression ratio got too high. Knocking or detonation before a piston finishes its compression travel up the cylinder (pre-detonation) could harm an engine and certainly robbed it of power. Aircraft engines are run at constant high rpm compared to automobiles because they have no transmission. As a car accelerates to cruising speed, the gearing is adjusted to maintain optimum rpms on the power band. This allows lower rpm as cruise speed is approached. Aircraft are notable for their lack of a gearshift handle.

The 1920’s were a period of transition in which higher octane fuels were being developed so high engine compression ratios and higher power could be achieved. Tetraethyllead was commercialized in 1924, but was found to be quite toxic to workers in its manufacture.

Early on the development timeline of gasoline engine, it was found that gasoline engines had limitations in power output. One path to higher power output was to increase the compression ratio in the cylinders. Greater piston travel meant more power produced per cycle. Unfortunately, this eventually led to undesired knocking. Incidentally, ignition by compression is how a diesel engine works.

>>> Here is how I wedge chemistry into a post about an airplane. <<<

An interesting article on the history of antiknock additives can be found here and a much better one here. The production of bulk 100 octane aviation fuel was a key factor in the British establishing air superiority over the Luftwaffe in WWII. Across the Atlantic it was none other than Jimmy Doolittle who convinced the US military to convert to higher octane avgas (Incidentally, Doolittle had a Masters and PhD in aeronautics from MIT). In the mid-1920’s Doolittle was pushing seaplanes for the Navy to their limit in speed. He achieved numerous speed records and won many prizes for this. Doolittle would later win acclaim for leading a successful April 18, 1942 bombing raid of Tokyo from an aircraft carrier. Doolittle had a remarkable career and his contributions to many aspects of American aerospace were invaluable.

There were two aspects to manufacturing higher octane fuel at a profit- blending and the manufacture of tetraethyllead. Blending was just a normal refinery operation. Production of tetraethyllead was chemical synthesis to produce an organometallic substance that had to be optimized and scaled up.

Tetraethyllead is synthesized by reacting a sodium-lead alloy with chloroethane- a mixture pretty close to Earth, Air, Fire and Water. The reaction produces tetraethyllead, sodium chloride and unreacted metallic lead. Isolation of product from the reaction mixture is achieved by steam distillation. That tetraethyllead (i.e., something with metal-carbon bonds) is stable in the presence of steam is, in my mind, remarkable. Tetraethyllead is a neutral, hydrophobic substance that is soluble in the hydrocarbon fuel.

Numerous organometallic antiknock additives were found such as the piano-stool complex Methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT), Ferrocene (the first metallocene), Tetraethyllead, and Iron Pentacarbonyl (Yikes!).

Side note: A serious MMT manufacturing explosion happened in Jacksonville, Florida in Dec. 2007. The blast killed 4 people and injured 14. It was estimated to have been equivalent to 640 kg TNT. Loss of cooling led to a runaway of the batch reaction.

>>> Back to regular programming <<<

Performance specifications straight from Wikipedia.

Original Specifications

  • Crew: 3 (pilot, co-pilot, flight attendant)
  • Capacity: 11 passengers
  • Length: 49 ft 10 in (15.19 m)
  • Wingspan: 74 ft 0 in (22.56 m)
  • Height: 11 ft 9 in (3.58 m)
  • Cabin length: 16 ft 3 in (5 m)
  • Cabin width (average): 4 ft 6 in (1 m)
  • Cabin height (average): 6 ft 0 in (2 m)
  • Cabin volume: 461 cu ft (13 m3)
  • Empty weight: 6,500 lb (2,948 kg)
  • Gross weight: 10,130 lb (4,595 kg)
  • Fuel capacity: 231 US gal (192 imp gal; 874 L)
  • Oil capacity: 24 US gal (20 imp gal; 91 L)
  • Powerplant: 3 × Wright J-6-9 Whirlwind 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, 300 hp (220 kW) each for take-off
  • Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch propellers

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 132 mph (212 km/h, 115 kn)
  • Cruise speed: 107 mph (172 km/h, 93 kn) at 1,700 rpm
  • Stall speed: 57 mph (92 km/h, 50 kn)
  • Range: 570 mi (920 km, 500 nmi)
  • Service ceiling: 16,500 ft (5,000 m)
  • Absolute ceiling: 18,600 ft (5,669 m)
  • Absolute ceiling on 1 engine: 7,100 ft (2,164 m)
  • Rate of climb: 920 ft/min (4.7 m/s)
  • Time to altitude: 7,200 ft (2,195 m) in 10 minutes

Congratulations to India on Successful Moon Landing. Condolences to Russia on the Loss of Luna-25.

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Congratulations are in order to India’s space agency, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), on their successful moon landing with Chandrayaan-3. This is a great achievement for any organization and India well deserves their feeling of pride in the accomplishment.

A soft touchdown on the moon is a challenging task every time it is done and requires that a great many systems in a lengthy sequence of events perform perfectly. Presently, the rover has deployed properly and is in motion.

Source: ISRO.

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is comprised of a propulsion module, a lander and a rover. Each is equipped with scientific instrumentation.

Lander

  • Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) will measure the thermal conductivity and temperature of the lunar surface.
  • Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) will measure the seismicity around the landing site.
  • Langmuir Probe (LP) will estimate the near-surface plasma density over time.

Rover

  • Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) will derive the chemical composition and infer the mineralogical composition of the lunar surface.
  • Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) will determine the elemental composition (Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, Fe) of lunar soil and rocks around the lunar landing site.

Propulsion module

  • Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) will study spectral and polarimetric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit in the near-infrared (NIR) wavelength range (1–1.7 μm [3.9×10−5–6.7×10−5 in]).

Russia’s Roscosmos Space Agency suffered a setback in its moon landing ambitions with the loss of its Luna-25 lander. Launched August 10 from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in southeastern Russia, contact with the craft was lost after a command was sent for it to lower its orbit around the moon. By August 20 Roscosmos had to conclude that the vehicle had impacted the moon. This was the first Russian attempt to land a probe on the moon since Luna-24 in 1976. The goal was to land at the 100-kilometre-wide Boguslawsky crater.

Source: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.

The science payload aboard Luna-25 was substantial-

  • ADRON-LR, active neutron and gamma-ray analysis of regolith
  • ARIES-L, measurement of plasma in the exosphere
  • LASMA-LR, laser mass-spectrometer
  • LIS-TV-RPM, infrared spectrometry of minerals and imaging
  • PmL, measurement of dust and micro-meteorites
  • THERMO-L, measurement of the thermal properties of regolith
  • STS-L, panoramic and local imaging
  • Laser retroreflector, Moon libration and ranging experiments
Source: Luna-25 Lander.

Government Regulations: USC vs CFR

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I’m in the middle of sorting through government regulations and I thought I’d pass along some definitions to help grasp just What. The. Hell. Is. The. Difference between the United States Code, U.S.C., and the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The EPA has a website that describes the regulatory process.

  • First in the sequence, bills are written, debated, and voted upon. The legislative branches write a law and the President signs it or does not. If signed the law is sent for inclusion into the U.S.C.
  • Next the new law needs to be “codified” into the United States Code. This is the official compilation of US Federal law and is published every 6 years. In between publications, annual cumulative supplements are published.
  • Once codified in the U.S.C., the government agency tasked with putting the law into effect (promulgation) may (or may not) rewrite the code into a comprehensible form that can be understood by the public. The relevant agency is also responsible for enforcement.

Regulations Can Expand or Evolve

If the agency becomes aware of issues in need of regulation, it may generate new regulation and place a “Notice of Proposed Rule Making” in the Federal Register for public study and comment.

After the comment period, the agency may or may not update the proposed regulation(s) and issue a Final Rule. The Final Rule is then published in the Federal Register.

Regulations are codified in the official Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The CFR is split into 50 subject matter categories called “Titles.” An electronic copy of the CFR called eCFR and is kept online at this link.

Scientific Fraud Allegations at Poltroon University

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(This is a 2012 post that I’ve dredged up to run through the mill again.)

Poltroon University, Guapo, Arizona.  A scandal has rocked the Institute of Quantum Cogitation at Poltroon University. A graduate student and supervising faculty member stand accused of academic fraud. The office of University Chancellor Clodagh A. Gatwick released a statement indicating the matter was under internal investigation.

Associate professor Corey Irwin was placed on administrative leave while the graduate student, Ragnar Ostrom, faces possible suspension.

Irwin and Ostrom were initially accused of falsifying results from a series of thought experiments published in Physics Expecta Acta, 2007, Section B, 256-278.  However, it was later determined that the falsified thought experiment results were in fact plagiarized from a future thought experiment to be published by Faroe Island physicists Spotsandottir and Dotsson. The two physicists were surprised to learn that their work was being usurped by other workers.

The Society of Thought Experimentation was contacted for comment but issued a press release stating the Society was still imagining what it’s position would be.

A Second Edition Organic Chemistry Textbook

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On occasion I step off the industrial hamster wheel for a few minutes to have a look around. In Linkedin this morning I saw a post for the 2nd edition of Organic Chemistry by Jonathan Clayden (Author), Nick Greeves (Author), Stuart Warren (Author), Oxford University Press, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199270293. From inside the hole along the creek where I spend my free time, I was never aware that Warren had an O-chem textbook.

Amazon allows you to examine a bit of content on-line. If you teach O-chem, this text is worth a look in my estimation.

Many of us are familiar with Warren from his book Organic Synthesis: The Disconnection Approach, 1st edition 1982. A second edition was released in 2008. Retrosynthesis was spreading around to the far-flung corners of the chemistry polygon then. Warren’s book was quite useful in demonstrating that technique for devising an organic synthesis.

An interesting interview of Warren can be found at The Skeptical Chymist from 2009. Warren died in 2021 at age 81.

How much CO2 reduction do we actually need?

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I am asking this question because the transition away from fossil fuels will have a serious knock-on effect on a very large sector of the global economy. Of the total liquid hydrocarbon production, 14 % goes to the petrochemical markets. Of natural gas production, 8 % goes to petrochemicals.

There is a serious complication connected with the idea of shutting down the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels. The elimination of oil and gas combustion activity means that crude oil production drops precipitously and therefore so would refining. Oil refineries are designed to maximize the volume of their most profitable products while minimizing their cost to manufacture. I refer to gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel. Petrochemicals come from oil and gas. Their economics ride on the coattails of fuel production to some extent in terms of scale. Refineries are physically large operations so as to operate with the maximum economy of scale. Maximum economy of manufacturing scale drives consumer prices downward.

Refineries produce much more than fuels. They produce asphalt, lubricating oil, polymer raw materials, petrochemicals for pharmaceuticals and other raw materials for thousands of products we take for granted. There are countless uses for petrochemicals beyond throw-away plastic bottles and bags. Just look around where you are sitting this very moment. Unless you are in Tierra del Fuego or Antarctica, you can’t help but see examples of hydrocarbon applications.

“Our economies are heavily dependent on petrochemicals, but the sector receives far less attention than it deserves. Petrochemicals are one of the key blind spots in the global energy debate, especially given the influence they will exert on future energy trends.” Dr Fatih Birol, Executive Director, IEA

The Future of Petrochemicals, IEA
Flow of oil and gas streams to chemical product production. Source: The Future of Petrochemicals, IEA.

Could refineries adapt to the loss of a large fraction of their fuels production and still produce petrochemicals? Engineering-wise, I’d say yes. But as far as economics go, that is a harder question to answer. Company officers have a fiduciary responsibility to the stockholders. This is a baked-in feature of corporate business. The promise of ever-increasing margins and volumes is part of that. Switching gears towards sustaining the petrochemical sector in the face of declining fuel sales is natural in one sense, but if it involves declining EBITDA over time, it could be disastrous for the stock market. Petrochemical prices might have to climb drastically to sustain earnings. Players in the global oil & gas market are extremely twitchy. The mere suggestion of a potential problem is enough to send prices soaring or diving. Luckily, a wind-down of fuel production will take some time during which the players might be able to compensate.

Look around you. How many consumer goods come in plastic containers or plastic film-coated paper? All of our electronic devices are built into casings of some sort, most of which have plastic or fiberglass (resin impregnated glass fiber) components. The list is endless. For many or most of these things to stay on the market, a substitute material will be needed to replace the hydrocarbon-based materials. Wooden casings for computer monitors and iPhones? What about paint? Paint is loaded with hydrocarbon components.

A vast number of products we take for granted use hydrocarbon materials in some way. Perhaps renewable plastics will scale to meet certain demands. Recycling applies only to those plastics that can be melted- the thermoplastics. Thermoset plastics like melamine cannot be melted and so cannot be recycled. Recycling only works if consumers close the recycling loop. Plastics must be carefully sorted in the recycle process. When a mixture of plastics is melted, the blend can separate like oil and water producing inferior product. National Geographic has a good web page describing recycling.

Some plastics such as clear, colorless polyethylene films are usually pure polymer. Most synthetic polymers are colorless. In general, any synthetic polymer that is colored has pigments in it. Black plastic is loaded with soot for instance. Many polymer films for packaging are multilayered with different types of polymer layered together.

Waste thermoplastic with food residues is very problematic, especially those with oil residues. Waste plastic for recycle must be clean. Multilayer plastic films are not suitable for recycling either.

Source: Technical Bulletin, Saint Gobain. Multilayer film structure with 3 different films and two tie layers between them. The Nylon layer provides toughness and tear resistance. The polyethylenevinyl alcohol (ethylene-vinyl chloride copolymer) layer (EVOH) blocks the transmission of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) layer provides broad chemical compatibility along with biocompatibility for safe handling of biopharmaceuticals. Not all polymers are compatible with melt bonding. The tie-layer is a melt-bondable adhesive polymer film that hold the layers of polymer into a single film. The tie layer polymer is often a polyethylene film that has a surface layer of organic acid or anhydride groups that can bind to other polymers by melt bonding.

Other additives such as plasticizers are present in flexible plastics like polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or other compositions where suppleness is important. Pure PVC is rigid. Additives are an industry unto its own. The varieties and grades in the plastics business is mind boggling. The variety of plastic compositions is too diverse to allow recycling of all plastics.

The point of this plastics background is to suggest that there are so many types and blends of plastic on the market- which is made even more complex by labels and additives -that the scope of polymer recycling must be narrowed to a few of the larger volume plastics. This is what is done today. LDPE, PP and PETE are the major polymers that are recycled in the US. Apparently, Japan is good at recycling. We in the US do poorly.

Polymer manufacturing is likely to continue indefinitely. There is simply too much money at stake for the big oil & gas and petrochemical players to deconstruct themselves to a large extent. They will, however, follow the consumer, but how far?

So, the question is this- for the sake of keeping a viable petrochemical stream in place while hydrocarbon fuel consumption declines, how much hydrocarbon fuel can we burn per year without exceeding the capacity of the earth to absorb the CO2 produced? We want to lower the slope of the atmospheric CO2 curve enough to achieve a reasonable steady state. The global economy depends very much on the production and use of petrochemicals. People will generally avoid economic suicide.

Where is the balance point for a sustainable production of necessary petrochemicals and the decommissioning of hydrocarbon fuel production? I certainly don’t know.