Careers in Chemistry

Are you interested in space? Do you love learning things about the universe? Well then this job might just tickle your fancy. If you can’t be an astronaut, this is (almost) the second best thing! (Chemistry wise of course) This career focuses on the study of chemical elements found in space which is also referred to as cosmochemistry. Of course for this career, you would need to excel in the sciences like chemistry (shocker) and the maths. This career deals with a lot in astrophysics and physics in general so if you’re a math and science enthusiast, this job would be great for you. This career would require patience and also being flexible because sometimes you have to deal with unusual chemistry since space is kind of unpredictable and symmetry-forbidden reactions cannot occur except on the longest timescales. "Astrophysics & Astrochemistry." Astrochemistry. N.p., n.d. Some notable astrochemists are Scott Sandford who used his personal inventions to identify new molecular species in space and assisted in many return missions. He is also the Principle Investigator on several concept missions that are designed to determine the nature, distribution and abundance of organic materials found in space and this spectrum will be used into understanding the origin and evolution of organic compounds in space!  What other jobs unexpectedly use chemistry as part of their careers? Which ones would you consider?

Article: http://www.astrochemistry.eu/ac/astrochem_astrochem.html

Gases and Atmospheric Chemistry

I find that this is probably one of the most interesting articles I have found. This article is discussing some new bacteria called microbes that are potentially found to be affecting the earth’s atmosphere by promoting the formation of ice droplets or of freezing. These bacteria are found to be living in earth’s upper troposphere and are feasting on the carbon compounds that are helping warm the planet. This could mean that the airborne microbes could play a bigger role for cloud formation. They in fact have recently found over 17 different bacterial taxa and on average, 20% of small particle found in the upper atmosphere are living bacterial cells! I found this article absolutely amazing. This is such a new and innovative idea that we found these little creatures in our troposphere that are potentially messing around with our clouds? This is amazing! After some research, if we could find a way to manipulate them, we could literally have somewhat of a control on our weather! Or, maybe we could even use then as a predictability device? Who knows! To me this is absolutely ground-breaking and I’m so excited to see where this research goes. What do you think? Could this be a positive or negative finding? What could be some concerns we could have?

Article: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-01/bacteria-chilling-out-earths-upper-atmosphere-might-affect-cloud-formation-and-climate

Solutions and Solubility

The topic of water fluoridation is very controversial as a lot of the facts are misinterpreted or misunderstood throughout the years. Some arguments are whether fluoride is a medicine and the ethical implications around the use of fluoride. Around 9-10% of water in England contains fluoride either naturally or even as an additive. Fluoride is a chemical ion of the compound fluorine and is basically found in soil, water, food and several minerals and most commonly found in things like toothpaste for its anti-tooth decay properties. However, in its natural state, fluoride is safest when it is only used in between 0.01-1.3 ppm and having too high levels of fluoride is dangerous and can cause serious health problems. The reasoning of putting fluoride in our drinking water is to decrease tooth-decay. Scientists found that the people who grew in up areas with naturally fluoridated water had up to two-thirds less of cavities than someone who was drinking water that was not fluoridated. However, as good as the benefits are, when fluoride is not used safely or properly it can lead to complications as minor as tiny white streaks occurring on your teeth, to a lower IQ, to devastating skeletal fluorosis. I was surprised to read this article as fluoride is something we use every day! My toothpaste in which I use twice a day contains fluoride to help prevent tooth decay but I did develop the small white streaks on my teeth.   Do you think that water fluoridation is necessary or is there a better solution? Do you think we should change anything?

Article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2001050/

Quantities in Chemical Reactions

Road salts are used a lot especially in Canada for safety purposes for our harsh winters. But as much good as they are doing, they are also causing harm to our environment. The chloride ions that are found in the road salts are doing much of the damage as they dehydrate plants, can kill small aquatic animals and can reduce the water circulation in lakes that is needed to help aerate the water. There have been discussions about different methods we can use to help the environment but that can also keep our roads and sidewalks safe in the wintertime. Substitutes like potassium acetate can be used but are several times more expensive compared to the salt so, in this article we discuss the method called anti-icing where the salt solutions are being sprayed out before the actual storm hits which prevents the roads form freezing in the first place and making sure that the salt is wet beforehand allowing it to stay where it is sprayed without it bouncing around into unwanted areas such as grass or nearby streams causing less damage to the environment but also keeping us safe. Road salts are mandatory for our safety and when used properly, could be much less harmful to the environment. I personally think that keeping our roads safe but keeping our environment safe is just as important. As a dog-owner, we are very careful with the salts we use on our driveway as it gets very slippery in the winter and road salts have been heard to harm dog’s paws. Of course, there is no perfect way but with being a little bit more picky with the type and quality of salt we buy and only using it when it is completely necessary, it does feel like we are doing something to help, although it really isn’t much.

Do you think there is a better way to protect the environment and ourselves? Do you think there’s one that’s more important than the other?

Article: http://news.discovery.com/autos/salt-roads-environment-technology.htm

Chemical Reactions

In this article, we learn that a new process is being tested to reduce the toxicity of tailings ponds from oil sands production. The proposed method involves the chemical reaction of the toxins, chlorine, and sunlight and with the use of our knowledge about chemical reactions we can understand this real world application. In this case, single-displacement and decomposition reactions are being used to try to clean tailings ponds. It explains that the process used is the addition of energy that would trigger a chemical reaction in this new  "solar process", the sunlight and the UV rays provide that triggering energy that causes a beneficial reaction to take place.  In summary, a new process is being used to reduce the toxicity of harmful tailings ponds by 75-84% when usually, it takes around 20 years for a tailings pond to be able to be reclaimed, while it continually releases toxins into the surrounding ground. This is only possible by adding chlorine or bleach to the water in a tailings pond. When the sunlight then hits these chlorine particles, it causes them to form "hydroxyl radicals", which are much more efficient at getting rid of the toxins in the water. Then, the sunlight causes any remaining chlorine to decompose, minimizing any extra toxicity. However, the only issue is that sunlight cannot fully penetrate through the pond therefore it only reacts with the chlorine near the top. What do you think? Are there any possible faults with this project? Is there any way to reach the chlorine deeper in?

Article

http://gas2.org/2014/09/25/new-solar-process-speed-tar-sands-cleanup/ 

Matter and Bonding

In this article, Dr. Mercola speaks about aspartame and the dangerous effects is has on the human body regardless of its 0 calories. Commonly seen in diet sodas and sugar-free chewing gums, aspartame is an artificial sweetener commonly misconnected with the idea of losing weight when in reality, studies show that aspartame is actually causing weight gain. The goal of sugar-free gum was to prevent the formation of cavities, but that is a small price to pay for the amount of negative effects it has. Recent studies show that aspartame has in fact been traced with some cancers.  As aspartame is primarily made up of aspartic acid and phenylalanine which produces the sweetness, the controversy is that some beliefs are that the methanol that it produces is harmless as it is also found in fruits and vegetable where in reality, the methanol in fruits and vegetables, is firmly bonded to pectin, allowing it to be safely passed through your digestive tract. So, with the methanol found with aspartame, it is not bonded to anything that can help eliminate it from your body such as type 2 diabetes. Some serious health issues occur when you have too much aspartame in your body. But some of the viewed benefits about aspartame is that it is about 200 times sweeter than sucrose (sugar) and is considered “low calorie”.  One of the few reasons that people prefer aspartame over sugar is that aspartame is considered is that it does not promote tooth decay, but as a normal hygienic person should, brushing your teeth is a much better cavity preventer than aspartame. At least your toothbrush won’t give you diabetes! My mother is very health-concious so as a very young girl, I was taught to always look for gum that doesn't say sugar-free on it. Of course it’s a very minor concept but I really do believe that we need to be more aware of what we are putting into our bodies and being more aware of some of the tricks that companies play on us to buy their supposedly healthy product when really, it’s hurting us. What do you think? Would you still consider aspartame over sugar? Why or why not?

Article: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/04/16/aspartame-diet-soda.aspx
Source: http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/athome/aspartame