The Foaming Pumpkin
"Evil" spirits erupt from a jack-o #39;-lantern! This video is part of the Flinn Scientific Best Practices for Teaching Chemistry Video Series, a collection of over 125 hours of free professional development training for chemistry teachers - elearning.flinnsci.com ATTENTION This demonstration is intended for and should only be performed by certified science instructors in a safe laboratory/classroom setting.From:FlinnScientificViews:2 0ratingsTime:03:19More inEducation

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A New Approach for the Balloon in the Flask
Balloon is forced into flask filled with ammonia gas when water is added. This video is part of the Flinn Scientific Best Practices for Teaching Chemistry Video Series, a collection of over 125 hours of free professional development training for chemistry teachers - elearning.flinnsci.com ATTENTION This demonstration is intended for and should only be performed by certified science instructors in a safe laboratory/classroom setting.From:FlinnScientificViews:2 0ratingsTime:02:56More inEducation

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MOM and pH
A different view of the versatile MOM demo with a pH probe to track pH versus time as the antacid is neutralized and more dissolves. Rhythmic pH changes! This video is part of the Flinn Scientific Best Practices for Teaching Chemistry Video Series, a collection of over 125 hours of free professional development training for chemistry teachers - elearning.flinnsci.com ATTENTION This demonstration is intended for and should only be performed by certified science instructors in a safe laboratory/classroom setting.From:FlinnScientificViews:2 0ratingsTime:12:37More inEducation

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MOM and pH - Video

Molarity versus Molality
Simple visual models using rubber stoppers and water in a beaker help to distinguish between molar and molal concentrations of a solute. This video is part of the Flinn Scientific Best Practices for Teaching Chemistry Video Series, a collection of over 125 hours of free professional development training for chemistry teachers - elearning.flinnsci.com ATTENTION This demonstration is intended for and should only be performed by certified science instructors in a safe laboratory/classroom setting.From:FlinnScientificViews:2 0ratingsTime:04:29More inEducation

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The leaping lads clearly have a surfeit of Christmas spirits!

And on the tenth day of Christmas we pushed on with the topical news quiz. Today’s questions to stretch your synapses to breaking point are:

Which research group made history in April by using a 3D printer to create their own personalised reaction vessels that actually influenced the course of the chemical reaction? 

This year chemist Pete Wothers is giving the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture, but who gave the first RI Christmas Lecture? For those who listen to the podcast.

The answers to yesterday’s quiz are as follows:

Phillip’s annoyance with Mary Berry and the Great British Bake-off was down to the programme’s erroneous explanation of how caramel forms. You can read the problems with their explanation here. The seven minutes of terror Nasa scientist, John Grunsfeld, was referring to was the loss of radio contact while the Mars probe Curiosity was passing through the Martian atmosphere to successfully touch down on the Red Planet.

                  

Source:
http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/2012/12/14/chemistry-world-christmas-quiz-day-10/

You know that smell after a rainstorm? It’s actually a compound called geosmin. Find out more in this week’s Chemistry in its element

                  

Source:
http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/2012/12/14/chemistry-in-its-element-geosmin/

Instant, Instant Coffee
This coffee will be really hot! This video is part of the Flinn Scientific Best Practices for Teaching Chemistry Video Series, a collection of over 125 hours of free professional development training for chemistry teachers - elearning.flinnsci.com ATTENTION This demonstration is intended for and should only be performed by certified science instructors in a safe laboratory/classroom setting.From:FlinnScientificViews:2 0ratingsTime:05:20More inEducation

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Instant, Instant Coffee - Video

Today’s topical Christmas chemistry quiz is brought to you by the number eight – in this case the number of women employing an outmoded and romanticised vision of the collection of a dairy product.

On with the show.

What was discovered to have grown slightly this year to 8.2 million square miles in size?

If you’re celebrating Christmas or New Year with champagne, how much carbon dioxide is released from a standard 750ml bottle? 

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The aforementioned ladies

And on the ninth day of Christmas… my lawyers advised me against making sexist jokes pertaining to the dancing ladies in question. Today’s questions to stretch your memory and your chemical knowledge are:

Why was Chemistry World‘s mild-mannered Phillip Broadwith shouting at queen-of-jam-tarts-and-kindly-old-lady Mary Berry, who presents the programme The Great British Bake-off?

What was Nasa associate administrator John Grunsfeld referring to in August when he said: ‘The seven minutes of terror has turned into the seven minutes of triumph’?

And finally, the answers to yesterday’s quiz. It was the ozone layer that had grown slightly in size. Warmer temperatures have been blamed for the slight increase and the hole is not predicted to return to its 1980s state until 2065. An amazing 5 (five!) litres of carbon dioxide escape from every bottle of champagne. Have a look at our Christmassy feature, Raising a glass to champagne, to learn more. We’ll see you tomorrow at the same chem-time, at the same chem-place.

                  

Source:
http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/2012/12/13/chemistry-world-christmas-quiz-day-9/

Brian Kobilka is probably having a pretty good day today.

Not only is he in Stockholm delivering his Nobel lecture and settling down for a banquet with the  Swedish royal family as he picks up his medal for this year’s Nobel prize in chemistry, but he has a paper in Nature today as well.

Is this timing purely a coincidence, or a subtle tribute on the part of the Nature editors? The more cynical among you may call it good marketing, but I’d like to think of it as a metaphorical doff of the cap.

Kobilka, a relatively press-shy academic from Stanford University in California, US, was thrust into the limelight in October when he shared this year’s chemistry Nobel with his former mentor, Bob Lefkowitz. You can read more about the pair and their work on G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) in my feature article.

The latest paper is yet another in a long line of GPCR structures that Kobilka and his team have solved, showing  protease activated receptor 1 (PAR1) bound to cancer drug vorapaxar. The drug binds very strongly to the receptor, and the structure throws a little light on why that is.

I hope all this year’s Nobel laureates enjoy today’s festivities, it is certainly a well-earned party!

Phillip Broadwith

                  

Source:
http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/2012/12/10/nature-and-nobel-double-whammy-for-kobilka/

And we’re off again. Day 7 sees your daily delivery of chemistry trivia.

Why do chemists have reason to fear Bartosz Grzybowski’s ‘Chematica’?

RSC president Lesley Yellowlees said in May that the UK would take almost 50 years to catch up with the US in terms of what? The statistic two out of 44 was also central to this discussion.

On to the answers from yesterday’s quiz questions.

Chemists were unimpressed with the BBC over its inability to get simple chemical formulae correct in its programme Things you need to know, which was looking at chemistry.

Curiosity’s ChemCam has a laser-induced breakdown spectrometer and a remote imaging telescope. You can read all about the rover, its mission on Mars and its suite of instruments in our feature, Curiosity to take off.

We’ll be back tomorrow with more chemistry-themed quiz questions.

                  

Source:
http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/2012/12/11/chemistry-world-christmas-quiz-day-7/

— Are you what you eat Mr Gorilla?

It reminds me a little of a certain TV ‘Dr’ obsessed with poo, but US scientists have been busy analysing the faeces of mountain gorillas. So have the gorilla’s been following a healthy diet, are they what they eat and why oh why would you be rummaging around in gorilla poo for your day job?

Well it turns out that tracking and understanding the diets of wild animals can be tricky. You can observe them eating, or rummage around in their poo for what remains, but that will only give you a snap shot: larger trends can be difficult to spot. Scott Blumenthal at the University of New York and his colleagues used isotope ratios to track how the diet of mountain gorilla’s shifts with the seasons. Using the change in ¹³C values the group showed that while gorilla’s usually eat foliage, when fruit is available gorilla’s prefer it and so change their diet. By increasing the amount of fruit they eat the gorillas also increase the amount of ¹³C they ingest because of the fruit’s position in the canopy of the forest. Plants down towards the ground tend to rely on carbon that has been taken up from the soil and has already been metabolised and so lost much of its ¹³C.

So, it turns out that Ugandan mountain gorillas are seasonal eaters, very trendy. And, perhaps, not that surprising. However, methods of analysing diet that don’t require around the clock observation are sure to be useful, even if it does require a strong stomach for sample collection.

Laura Howes

                  

Source:
http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/2012/12/11/dietary-analysis-poo-faeces-gorilla/

Final Exam, Part 1 (Questions 1 - 5)
Harmony School of Nature and Athletics (HSNA), 10th Grade Chemistry, Practice Test for the 1st Semester Final Exam. Answers and Explanations Part 1, Questions 1-5. By Mr. GW FranzFrom:G. William FranzViews:1 0ratingsTime:08:52More inEducation

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Final Exam, Part 1 (Questions 1 - 5) - Video

And on the sixth day of Christmas my true love brought to me, six geese a-laying topical chemistry questions. 

Right, I hope you’ve rested your brain over the weekends and you’re ready for more. Off we go.

Chemists had some stern words for Auntie Beeb (the BBC) and James May of Top Gear fame in September. Why?

In August, Nasa’s rover Curiosity landed on the red planet and started making measurements with many different instruments. What type of instruments can be found in ChemCam?

On to the answers from yesterday’s quiz questions

The elements that a Southampton PhD student was poisoned with were arsenic and thallium. Investigations are still ongoing. You can read our story here. 

GFAJ-1 stood for Give Felisa A Job. Felisa Wolfe-Simon was the lead author on the original Science paper that made the claim that bacteria isolated from Mono Lake in California could metabolise arsenic. You can read more about the arsenic life story here, here, here and here.

                  

Source:
http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/2012/12/10/chemistry-world-christmas-quiz-day-6/

Final Exam, Part 3 (Questions 9-10)
Harmony School of Nature and Athletics (HSNA), 10th Grade Chemistry, Practice Test for the 1st Semester Final Exam. Answers and Explanations Part 3, Questions 11-20. By Mr. GW FranzFrom:G. William FranzViews:2 0ratingsTime:09:10More inEducation

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Final Exam, Part 3 (Questions 9-10) - Video

Organic Chemistry with Iha
Embarrassing attempt at something creative.From:John DoeViews:1 0ratingsTime:03:02More inPeople Blogs

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Final Exam, Part 8 (Questions 44 - 47)
Harmony School of Nature and Athletics (HSNA), 10th Grade Chemistry, Practice Test for the 1st Semester Final Exam. Answers and Explanations Part 8, Questions 44 - 47. By Mr. GW FranzFrom:G. William FranzViews:1 0ratingsTime:06:14More inEducation

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Final Exam, Part 8 (Questions 44 - 47) - Video

Final Exam, Part 6 (Questions 28 - 35)
Harmony School of Nature and Athletics (HSNA), 10th Grade Chemistry, Practice Test for the 1st Semester Final Exam. Answers and Explanations Part 6, Questions 28-35. By Mr. GW FranzFrom:G. William FranzViews:1 0ratingsTime:09:56More inEducation

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Final Exam, Part 6 (Questions 28 - 35) - Video

Olivia + Fitz || Wicked Game [Scandal]
HD makes it BETTER! First Olitz video! These two are crazy addictive and their chemistry is off the charts. I just can #39;t even with their stares and longing looks and gah - this song screams OLITZ!! Their relationship is so beautifully wrong and complicated but their love is undeniable. LOVE THEM!! --- Please rate and comment. It takes hours to make these vids but only a few seconds of your time to let us know if it is any good. We really appreciate it 🙂 Info at the end of the vid 🙂 No copyright infringement intended. Made purely for entertainment, not for profit. All clips and audio belong to their respective owners. The program used was Sony Vegas 12.From:fartarse83Views:12 2ratingsTime:03:13More inEntertainment

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Olivia + Fitz || Wicked Game [Scandal] - Video

Final Exam, Part 5 (Questions 21 - 27)
Harmony School of Nature and Athletics (HSNA), 10th Grade Chemistry, Practice Test for the 1st Semester Final Exam. Answers and Explanations Part 5, Questions 21-27. By Mr. GW FranzFrom:G. William FranzViews:0 0ratingsTime:09:33More inEducation

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Final Exam, Part 5 (Questions 21 - 27) - Video