Archive for category Chemistry

Weekly Science Video: Conan O’Brien on boron

Posted by Brad in Chemistry, Friday Science Video, Weekly Science Video on 13 February 2009

News came out at the beginning of February that researchers had found a new form of super-hard boron when the element is compressed by extremely high pressures. This is the fourth known stable form of boron.

If you read down to the bottom of that article you’ll find that the author originally got it wrong and reported that there were three stable forms of boron.

Conan O’Brien called him on it.

boron, conan o'brien

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Explosions at UH-Hilo

Posted by Brad in Chemistry, Hawaii on 18 December 2008

Received this in my email this morning:

Two more “small” explosions occurred early this morning (1 AM) on UH-Hilo’s Main Campus. One was in the dorm area, and another by Life Sciences/PB13-14 area. There were no injuries and no property damage.

A third un-exploded devise was found by Life Sciences/PB13-14. This has been closed off by Hawaii County Police, and NO ONE is allowed to enter this area. Explosive experts have been contacted and expect to be on campus around 8:30 this morning to remove this devise. Once the “All Clear” is given, this area will again be accessible, and the barriades will be taken down.

CAMPUS OPERATIONS ARE CONTINUING AS NORMAL.

These devises are dangerous when they explode, and make a loud “bang”. If you see any “suspicious” bottles, DO NOT DISTURB IT, AND CALL CAMPUS SECURITY IMMEDIATELY AT 974-7911. If you have any seen anything or anyone or have any information regarding these devises, please call Campus Security.

Thank you and stay safe.

My first thought: dry ice bomb. This has pretty much been confirmed by a co-worker.

Kids these days!

Edit: Just found this story on Hawaii247.com. “Bomb scare” indeed.

dry ice bomb, university of hawaii

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A Basic Sunday Job

Posted by Brad in Chemistry, Environment, Hawaii on 14 December 2008

Living up in Volcano, away from civilization, we rely on catchment for our water. In our back yard is what looks like a pool with a cover on it. That’s our catchment tank, which is hooked up to the gutters on our roof. Rain comes off our roof and ends up in our catchment tank, where it’s then pumped into our house. We have three sediment filters and a UV filter to make the water safe to use.

Since we live in Volcano, the rain is acidic. Sulfur dioxide from Kilauea mixes with water in the air to give the rainwater a slight tinge of sulfuric acid. This means that the water coming into our house is slightly acidic. When that reacts with the copper pipes, we get copper sulfate, and it turns our bathtub blue.

Which brings me to today’s basic job. To counteract the acidity in the water I periodically add some baking soda to the tank. Today was three boxes mixed with hot water, dumped right into the catchment tank. See what I mean by basic?

acid, acid rain, base, catchment, Hawaii, kilauea, sulfur dioxide, water

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