Imagine how fast you can make pasta!

By using terahertz radiation in free-electron lasers, scientists from the Hamburg Center for Free-Electron Laser Science are able to make water molecules instantly vibrate significantly. This heavy vibration causes the boiling of water. Not only does this cause water to boil, but it causes water to boil in less than a trillionth of a second (trillionth meaning 1,000,000,000,000). Why do I feel like people wouldn't respond well to using radiation to boil water? Radiation and water. Not the best first impression!

Though this method has been created, it has not been physically implemented yet. When it is conducted, scientists expect it to raise the temperature of water by 600 degrees Celsius in a trillionth of a second.

When I read of the capabilities of this new method of heating water, I thought of applications which could help society. Like what if this technology could be used to revolutionize geothermal energy, which is energy that relies on steam to produce an environmental friendly source of electricity? Or what if this technology could be used on large amounts of water in desalination plants to purify water in communities across the world?

Then I read this method can only be used on a nanoliter at a time. Only one nanoliter. Are you kidding? Is there some way we could disregard the "nano-" prefix? Can't even warm enough water for a bath tub... or a cup of hot chocolate....or even a spoon of hot chocolate....

Still there is promise for the use of this water in chemical reactions since water is a reagent which plays a dynamic role in chemical and biological reactions in starting the reactions and forming compounds. Scientists hope this technology will prove to be vital in further observing thermal reactions and how other substances dissolve in water. Read more in the article: http://www.chemistrytimes.com/research/Ultrafast_heating_of_water_--_This_pot_boils_faster_than_you_can_watch_it.asp

It's interesting to think of how a basic knowledge of the states of matter leads to discoveries such as this! For simply if you add energy or heat in the form of wavelengths, particles of a substance, in this case water, will move faster. This translates to an increase in temperature and thus the boiling water.  Though this discovery can only heat a nanoliter of water (yes I know, the amount of disappointment is overwhelming) maybe one day this method of heating water can be used on a much larger scale. Please, anything bigger than a measly nanoliter! Thus let's all eagerly wait for the day when we can finally make pasta in a trillionth of a second! If only a nanoliter worth of pasta was big enough for a meal...

Limited supply? Pft who cares?

     Can you name any elements that play significant roles in the success of this current time period known as the silicon age? If you guessed iron, tin, copper, steel, potassium, and any other common element, you're wrong. An article recently published highlights all of the uncommon elements such as yttrium, neodymium, europium, terbium, dysprosium, gallium, indium and tellurium which have become essential in making environmental friendly technology in the modern age. No, I didn't just hit random keys on the keyboard; these are actual elements! Though these elements once were the metaphorical neglected children of the periodic table, these elements are know referred to by U.S. Department of Energy as "critical materials." As their original names drew no interest, hopefully this new classification can!

Now you may be thinking "Yes! Where are these heroic elements that can save our environment!?"

Ready for your hopes and dreams to be crushed? The answer is: China. And Bolivia. Great. Awesome. Not really...

This explains much of the recent controversy and focus on sources of these "critical materials" around the world. For after all, the threat of polluting the Earth and destroying it through our own actions is not motivating enough to encourage establishing mineral supply facilities. But of course when other nations hear China is in control, then people start turning their heads. While all nations could come together and help each other in these endeavors to save the environment, no, they decide to behave like toddlers who can't share their toys. Mankind at its finest!

Though critical materials are fairly common compared to other commonly sought after elements, the many supplies were occupied by China. Yes, rare earths are common! But now China controls all of the sources, so now they're not so common... With valuable land in the Andes Mountains, Bolivia is trying to rise as a global trade partner with its copious stores of lithium. Lithium qualities as an alkali make it ideal for storing electricity. With many sources occupied by these two nations, other nations such as Japan and the United States are looking to locating and reopening other sources of these valuable elements. Though they may market it as an attempt to save the environment, don't be fooled! It's only attempt to earn international bragging rights. Read more in the article: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=green-technology-depends-on-metals-with-weird-names

For once, it was nice to read about elements which are mostly unheard of playing a prominent role in our modern society. To most of us, these elements were all nothing more than extra boxes on the decoration known as the periodic table in the chemistry classroom. Many of these elements are in the Lanthanide series. Yes, this is when you truly know these elements are the neglected children of the periodic table, for they're even separated from the majority of elements. Well maybe they're not outcasts, but instead separated due to their greatness! I wonder if they elements in the Lanthanide series have certain qualities which make them valuable materials in environmental friendly technology. How do these electrons in the 4f orbitals contribute properties to the elements that make them valued materials? "The world may never know." Or at least I won't.

Satanic sulfur hexafluoride and other fun stuff

One of the most basic topics (no, that was not a pH pun) introduced to someone learning chemistry is the states of matter. As we know, or I hope you know, the three states of matter are solid, liquid and gas. Solids have a distinct shape, and the particles of each solid are packed uniformly together. For liquids, the particles are spaced out and may flow past each other allowing liquids to take the shape of any container they are in. Gases are spread out much farther than liquids therefore allowing them to occupy an entire container in which they are placed in. One of the things that heavily depends on the states of matter is sound! A common example of this is five-year old children who breathe in helium from balloons to have very high voices. Watch this video by the show, Mythbusters, to explain this trick. As stated in the video, don't try this at home.

     Like Adam states, helium causes your voice to sound high because sound waves are capable of traveling through it much faster due to its lesser density. This effect is reversed when used with sulfur hexafluoride, a very dense gas. Based on this information, most of my childhood makes sense now! You first breathe in the gas, like helium, which is then exhaled as you talk. Sound waves from your vocal cords travel in this exhaled gas which gives the change in the sound. This is also why over time, the effect of the gas wears of as your lungs exhale all of the gas. Imagine if our atmosphere consisted mainly of sulfur hexafluoride! That'd be a scary world. 

       The basics of sound travel are explained on the first page of this article. Ignore the rest of the article, for I do not care whether I can hear sound in space or not. http://science.howstuffworks.com/humans-hear-in-space1.htm   As stated in the article, sound is a form of energy transmitted through a medium. Thus the movement of the disturbance (the thing making the noise) will generate the sound waves which collide with particles of a form of matter, such as gas. These particles of matter such as gas would then collide with each other repeatedly which would transmit the sound across a distance. We hear sound when air particles transmit these sound waves to one another until they finally reach our ear drum. The brain then decodes these vibrations. 

       By studying chemistry, the seemingly simple subject of sound can be explained. From a small age, we know our bodies can generate sound and hear it as well. Though we knew this, we never knew on our own this sound was made possible by the repeated collision of particles transmitting sound to our eardrums. If you did know this on your own, well then you should go find Stephen Hawking because you are a genius. The article uses the example of hearing vibrations by tapping on a table with your head against it. How many times have we done this while having no clue why this was possible. This is why we study chemistry, to have a logical, coherent explanation to the phenomenons of life. I wonder how the speed of sound in hydrogen, the lightest element, compares to the speed of light. So the next time you hear a good song, if you really wanted to be cool, you could say "This collision of air particles is quite enjoyable!"  

Wish upon the supernova. Before it blinds you.

      Yes, another blog post about stars. Well they look cool, and it beats talking about things like fuel cells, so why not! Recently, two supernovae have been discovered by astronomers who are a part of the Supernova Legacy Survey. Though these stars won't blind you, the output of energy from these two supernovae is so immense that astronomers were initially unsure of their classification and location.
       I'm usually blinded by the faint bathroom light when I first wake up in the morning, but these supernovae are one-hundred times brighter than supernovas normally are! A new, recently discovered supernova, SNLS-06D4eu (yes, the amount of thought that must have gone into that name is incredible), is so bright that it falls into the category of superluminous supernovae which are separated from other supernovae due to their luminosity and the absence of hydrogen in their composition. These amazingly bright stars can account their bright lights to their rapid rotations caused by their magnetic field which classify them as magnetars. These magnetars spin hundreds of times per second. As stated in the article,  "Magnetars have the mass of the sun packed into a star the size of a city and have magnetic fields a hundred trillion times that of Earth." Imagine the mass of the sun packed into New York City! The UV rays of light produced by this supernova would not normally be seen by the human eye, but the expansion of the universe stretches these wavelengths allowing them to be seen with out eyes. Imagine the tan we would get from these UV rays if the ozone layer wasn't here to protect us. We'd probably look like burnt french fries! Anyway, this supernova exploded when the universe was only four billion years old. Those were the days. Read more in the article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131218133835.htm
        The amount of energy which we see as light produced by these supernovae is mind-boggling! In my chemistry class conducted a flame test of a magnesium coil, and this light alone was almost too bright for our eyes. Meanwhile there are supernovae such as these two which are one-hundred times brighter than a normal supernova. No big deal! It's really interesting to me how these supernovae generate this unbelievable amounts of energy by rapidly spinning. I know electrons spin continuously which may partly play a role in the charge of an electron. Therefore I think of these supernovae as giant electrons, and then the amount of energy they produce is really not surprising! I'm genuinely curious as to how the magnetic fields created by continuous revolutions plays a role in the energy created by masses such as these supernovae.

Make a wish. 

This Might Make the Middle East Mad. Oh Well!

      With sources of fossil fuels constantly depleting and transportation of the actual gas becoming complicated (yeah, the irony), it seems like gasoline rising. Of course you can imagine any person's reaction to rising gas prices. If you answered a storm of furious curse words, then yes you are most likely correct! But what if you could make your own gasoline? Researchers at the University of Illinois have taken the first step towards this process as written in this article: http://www.chemistrytimes.com/research/Process_holds_promise_for_production_of_synthetic_gasoline.asp.
      By using a process composed of two catalysts, these researchers were able to convert carbon dioxide into carbon dioxide, the starting substance of gasoline and other fuels. These catalysts are easily made using carbon-based nanofiber materials. A member of this Illinois research group said how most scientists use one catalyst, but he used two catalysts for this process: both an ionic liquid and silver. The problem with this was that silver was too expensive (clearly because gasoline already costs too much). To supplant the silver, this scientists tells of how his research group used carbon based materials doped with nitrogen atoms. So I guess nitrogen atoms are the steroids of elements? Now these scientists look to make more efficient catalysts using atomically-thin nanosheets.
      So try and build off of the progress made by this group of researchers? If you make your own gasoline, you could help save your parents a lot of money and cursing. Make even more and maybe you can rival the gasoline industry in the Middle East!  

Out of this World!

How many times have people looked into the night sky to observe the stars? How many times have you done this and thought of chemistry? Odds are: not many. First of all, it's important to understand the concept of light explained in electromagnetic radiation. Light comes in different wavelengths, and the light we see fall in the area of ROYGBIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet). Different wavelengths correspond to different colors. Many wavelengths can't be seen by the human eye.
       One factor that affects the color of a star is the star's composition in terms of elements. If you have ever conducted a flame test for a metal, you'd know different elements produce different colors when administered heat. Examples are copper producing an emerald green or strontium producing an intense red. Based on the type of a star's light, an astronomer can speculate what element(s) a star is composed of.
        The most important factor in determining the appearance of a star is the surface temperature. Different surface temperatures produce different colors ranging from red to blue with red being the coolest and blue the hottest. This can be seen with a simple Bunsen burner as when you turn on the burner, it is first read. As you add more gas it becomes first a yellow/orange and then a blue which is its hottest form. These heats can change wavelengths of light. Therefore surface temperature also plays a large role in the star's color.
         The last factor involves the Doppler Effect which states distance can extend or contract waves. Due to this, as you go farther away from a star, it begins to appear blue while if you go closer to a star, it begins to look more red. This makes sense considering most of the stars we see from Earth appear blue since we're really far away. Read more in this article: http://www.universetoday.com/75839/why-are-stars-different-colors/
        Finally there's an example of the movement of electrons that's not from a prehistoric chemistry textbook. In chemistry, we learn of the behavior of electrons, and how they're usually found in ground state (the lowest energy level). When heat or energy is introduced, these electrons enter an excited state causing them to move up to higher energy levels. These electrons will eventually return to ground state by losing or releasing energy in the form of light. Therefore these stars must have electrons that are constantly moving to higher and lower energy levels. As one electron goes up to a higher energy level, another must be going to a lower energy level producing light. These electrons will now switch roles. This cycles will continue producing the light which we see of these awesome stars! Now enjoy some supernovas and neutron stars.

Watch out Silicon Valley

For many years, scientists have struggled to create a material which conducted electricity 100%. To create many of these materials, scientists combine tin with fluorine. Tins conductive properties combine with flourine's greater heat resistant properties which create a 100% efficient conductor of electricity, stanene. With its heat resistance at at least 100 degrees Celsius, this new super material is able to operate the temperatures computer chips operate. By keeping the electric charge on the outside of the material or on the surface, the material is perfectly efficient in conducting electricity. Isn't that electrifying!? (buh dum tsss). These super qualities given to this material are made possible by the unorthodox interactions occurring between the electrons and nuclei of atoms. Member of the research team Shoucheng Zhang notes this new material will largely reduce energy consumption and as well as heat produced from computer processes. Zhang also notes possible problems in the meager amounts of tin deposited into the earth annually as well as the delicacy of the material during manufacturing. Still, Zhang believes this stanene could one day rival the role of silicon in the computer industry. Read more in the article: http://www.chemistrytimes.com/research/Will_2-D_tin_be_the_next_super_material.asp

First of all, people should marvel at the fact these scientists are capable of manufacturing a single layer of tin. Such precision must not be easily achieved. Upon reading this article, I really wondered how the electrons behaved in the stanene when administered electricity. I know when metals are heated, light is produced when electrons begin returning to ground state, but I really wonder how this electricity is transferred from one atom to another. Also people must realize how imperative computers are in some areas of life. For example, I instantly think of the stock market in which advanced computers operate at incredible speeds, and this new material could even improve this speed. Also I thought of computers such as IBM's super computer "Watson." If computers such as these or even more advanced computers to become more prevalent in our everyday lives, then materials such as stanene would not only save money and energy, but it would also improve performance. Thanks to our understanding of chemistry, atoms, and the properties of elements, so many possible advancements have risen to the surface of the science world!   

Remember to look at the big picture

        With many advancements over the years since its introduction, the electron microscope has advanced to a point where it uses lasers to record the movement of gaseous molecules. Recently, a group of scientists at Michigan State University have developed a new microscope which allow scientists to observe atoms on an even smaller scale. By creating this technology, scientists now have goals of advancement in nanotechnology and environmental friendly fuel sources. This new microscope observes atoms on a femtosecond (one millionth of a billionth of a second). Forget the nerdy term femtosecond, but just marvel how fast this unit of time must be! Alright back to the matter at hand, by observing on a femtosecond, scientists will be able to observe the stabilization of electrical charges among atoms and their roles in chemical reactions. Chong-Yu Ruan, leader of the team behind this microscope, hopes to be able to observe transformations such as chemical reactions with this microscope. In a smart move, Ruan decided to add components of the microscope in modules so they are inexpensive and can therefore be advanced by other scientists. With this technology, the team will soon be holding a conference to explain the future goals of this area of development.
Read more in the article: http://www.chemistrytimes.com/research/New_microscope_captures_movements_of_atoms_and_molecules.asp
       Since only a module of this microscope costs $500,000, I'm obviously not excited about this microscope because I hope to buy one. There should be excitement for this technology because for once scientists will be able to see first hand the movement of molecules during a chemical reaction. In my chemistry class, we recently conducted two exothermic reactions which yielded impressive results. Though these chemical reactions were interesting, we only saw the reactants and the products. Unfortunately we cannot see what happens in between to create this change from a crystalline mixture to a charred muffin looking substance. With this technology, hopefully scientists can make advancements in our understanding of atoms and how they behave.