tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27110548297589136322024-02-07T04:50:37.578-08:00Just curious...What does <i>this</i> button do?Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.comBlogger110125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-43474288238451852882020-12-21T07:00:00.001-08:002020-12-22T20:34:11.584-08:00Finding meaning in stable/routine operation The course I mentioned last post talked a lot about communicating meaning in terms of concrete objectives, with very clear examples like NASA "we are going to put a man on the moon and bring him back again safely." Now as an engineer I've been more often involved in the design, build, and commissioning side of things, or a distinct process improvement for an existing facility. There's a Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-45857391770498646982019-12-23T07:00:00.000-08:002019-12-23T07:00:05.447-08:00Meaningful blatherI'm currently going through an online course in the business leadership vein, of which there are multitudes, but this one specifically is on a subject that produces immense quantities of corporate blather: communicating the meaningfulness of the work, from the corner office to the peons doing the actual labour.
Oh wait, is my bias showing there?
The thing is, I do recognize that a person Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-23842330081343086142019-11-08T22:11:00.000-08:002019-11-08T22:15:50.273-08:00Not dead!...just reading more about business type stuff than interesting technical type stuff.
I think I may start posting about the stuff I'm reading there too. The whole thing with explaining something you're learning to help yourself make sense of it applies just as much to fuzzy things like how to human or how to business as they do for more repeatable things like how to chemistry.
I'm Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-55979936974514030082014-09-08T07:00:00.000-07:002014-09-08T07:00:07.281-07:00Update: Greenwashing 7 - Simple GreenWay back when I followed a CBC Marketplace show and assessed their assessment of the products, I mentioned that I should buy and try one of them: Simple Green.
Well, I did, and I forgot to post an update. So, here it is.
I tried it out on a stubborn dirty spot that both "Scrub Free" and "Fantastik" barely touched, even with a lot of scrubbing. I followed the directions on the bottle: for tough Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-39274929643912591172014-06-30T07:00:00.000-07:002014-06-30T07:35:02.585-07:00Carbon surveyTomorrow, NASA launches the OCO-2 satellite, which will make a detailed map of how much CO2 is in the atmosphere at various points on the globe. They plan to combine that data with data from other existing satellites, atmospheric sampling, and ground sampling, with the goal of finding out where CO2 is being produced and where it's being absorbed—in very high resolution, about 3 km2 per Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-3917911699681428262014-05-12T07:00:00.000-07:002014-05-12T07:00:02.500-07:00Solar-powered jet fuel (and diesel, and...)Sounds kind of backwards, I suppose, but there is in fact research happening on creating jet fuel, and other liquid fuels, using solar energy. One of the big advantages of liquid fuels like gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel is the large amount of energy contained in a small mass—much more energy per gram than batteries. Just recently, in fact, one such research group announced that they had Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-45159310592662309602014-03-10T07:00:00.000-07:002014-03-10T13:35:14.086-07:00Edible educationOne subject I've had in my list to write about (once I spent the time to find some good sources) was why some leaves are edible while others aren't—completely aside from the question of toxicity, there are lots of plants that we simply can't digest. I hadn't yet got around to digging into the subject when I ran across the answer recently, along with loads of other interesting information Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-35489481610855428572014-02-24T07:00:00.000-08:002014-02-24T07:00:06.055-08:00Unnatural or NaturalSomething I've been thinking about for a while, even since before I did the greenwashing article series, is: what makes a thing "natural" or "unnatural"?
Many people would say that "natural" things are things which come from nature with minimal processing. It sounds like a reasonable definition at first glance, but when I try to get specific, I start running into trouble with the definitions of Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-18436448674782325212014-01-27T07:00:00.000-08:002014-01-27T07:00:02.591-08:00Oily algaeAlgae, as well as other biologically sourced feed stocks, has been the subject of a lot of research in oil production, for what should be obvious reasons. There are several things about using some bio-sources that concern me, however. Using food cropland to grow corn or soy intended for conversion to fuel, for one, resulting in less food production (and contributing to higher food prices).
The Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-45274376740862476912014-01-13T07:00:00.000-08:002014-01-13T07:00:03.537-08:00Chlorinated hairWhen I signed up for triathlon training, I had to buy a pair of swim goggles so I didn't crash into things like the lane markers, the other people swimming around me, and the wall at the end of the pool. (Ouch.) While buying that little necessity, the sales staff talked me into buying some special chlorine-removing shampoo. Naturally I was curious about whether it was actually significantly Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-36525383815032379172013-12-30T07:00:00.000-08:002013-12-30T07:23:59.860-08:00Chilly chemical propertiesBecause it's the middle of winter here in Canada, I think today is a good day to talk about refrigeration.
Just kidding. Actually it's because the ISS had to replace a piece of its refrigeration system last week, and I thought that was a good excuse to talk about refrigeration.
Most modern refrigeration involves the chemical property \(\Delta H_{vap}\), or enthalpy (heat) of vaporization. EveryCurious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-79856346632404912182013-12-16T07:00:00.000-08:002013-12-16T07:00:01.269-08:00Studying longLooks like November wasn't a great month for posting, for me. Well, I'm back, and this time with another medical term. As with the others, if a medical doctor reads this and I'm wrong about something, I would love to hear about it so I can fix it. I am writing from a non-medical person's perspective for other non-medically trained people, but I hope I'm not making any doctors cringe.
So this Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-75850687187187100892013-10-28T07:00:00.000-07:002013-10-28T23:29:11.232-07:00Chemical telephonesThe folks at UCLA have come up with a way to use cell phones to test for allergens in food. And we're not talking looking it up in a database somewhere, we're talking an actual lab test, which tests the actual piece of food in front of you.
Potentially useful if you have a life-threatening allergy, such as to peanuts, the example used in their paper.
While this does use the camera built into Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-40787830876810725112013-09-30T07:00:00.000-07:002013-09-30T07:00:02.202-07:00Food chemicalsI was tossing around the idea of doing some posts on the various food additives one sees (and which some people are frightened by, due to their long chemical names) when I ran across Science Fare's list of The Ingredients of Scientific Cooking. Some of these every cook has used (sodium bicarbonate aka baking soda; sodium chloride aka table salt; ethanol aka drinking alcohol, to name the three Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-70157073159205120212013-09-02T07:00:00.000-07:002013-09-02T15:47:02.103-07:00Chopping up pollutionNormally I just post whatever interesting bit of chemistry catches my interest on a given week, but today I'm posting about something of special interest to me. It's not about my work specifically, but it is about pollution remediation—and that, in a broad sense, is what I do.
This fascinating bit of cleanup chemistry targets some of the most difficult to remove pollutants. The unsightly Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-38408298786128972182013-08-12T07:00:00.000-07:002013-08-12T16:22:58.848-07:00Unfamiliar noisesI had just picked up a rental car to use during a work trip, of a make and model I'd never driven before. Just as I pulled out of the parkade onto the road leaving the airport and the speedometer moved above the 10, the car shook and a made a sound that had me frantically looking in the rearview mirrors to see what piece of itself the car had just dropped on the road behind me.
Nothing. The roadCurious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-41320983608975198832013-07-15T07:00:00.000-07:002013-07-15T07:00:01.375-07:00Biodegradation experimentQuite a few months ago, I mentioned a test I thought I might run. I didn't start it at the time because it was winter and my assistants for this particular test tend to be sluggish when it's cold out. Then I forgot about it for a while.
For those who followed the link above, yes, I'm talking about that test.
Meet my lovely assistants, who will be doing the actual work of the biodegradation testCurious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-11343971576339843152013-07-01T07:00:00.000-07:002013-07-01T07:00:07.571-07:00Gold, with or without cyanide
Some things are unavoidably toxic, and some things were unavoidably toxic until a new, less toxic process was discovered. Less toxic is always a good thing. Sometimes it's less expensive in terms of direct costs such as how much the reagents cost, sometimes less expensive in terms of indirect costs, such as safety precautions and environmental protection.
Sodium hydroxide is one such; the old Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-27837855248364288022013-06-17T07:00:00.000-07:002013-06-17T20:42:13.070-07:00Timely prizesHere's something fun that I feel like I should have heard about before now, what with following science news and all that.
The Center for Communicating Science has an annual challenge to (surprise!) communicate a scientific subject—in a way that an 11-year-old will understand. Which means no university level math. Obviously, my posts here are not even close to what they're looking for, Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-74488731641326015502013-05-20T07:00:00.000-07:002013-05-20T07:00:11.401-07:00Anti-fizzWhile in Europe on a work trip and grabbing a bite for lunch at a café, I grabbed a bottle of water on my way to pay without checking the label. Checking the label is important, because in Europe, "still" water and "sparkling" (carbonated) water are sold side by side—and I can't stand the taste of sparkling water. Halfway through eating lunch, I opened the water bottle to have a Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-67400902234888654182013-05-06T07:00:00.000-07:002013-05-06T07:00:14.483-07:00Seeing at the surfaceOne of the quirks of chemistry is that we measure the bulk solution, but the reaction often happens on a surface - whether it's precipitation, dissolution, or catalysis.
While we usually calculate reaction rates based on the concentrations found in the bulk solution, in a case of a surface reaction, that's out where no reaction is happening! The equations for reaction rates empirically account Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-68275761690007166972013-04-22T07:00:00.000-07:002013-04-22T07:00:06.285-07:00Epidemiology circles back to sewageEpidemiology, the statistical study of population health instead of a single person's health, has taken population-wide sampling to a new level—underground.
Instead of collecting data on individuals representing a subset of the population and then averaging it, the researchers let an existing piece of infrastructure do the averaging for them. This also made sure they were actually getting Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-87070261480992110762013-04-08T07:00:00.000-07:002013-04-11T21:29:35.089-07:00Opening my eyesI was on a work trip and sitting in the lunchroom at a client site, chatting with the operators there. It was a friendly group, and we got to know each other reasonably well in our lunchtime conversations. I and one of the locals were talking about running and race training, being both runners. Another of the operators mentioned that he occasionally ran a mile at the track, and was asking about Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-24611394440920695212013-03-25T07:00:00.000-07:002013-03-25T21:07:18.620-07:00Don't look under the hard hatOne morning, my co-worker picked up a hard hat off a chair in the site office trailer. This would normally have been a perfectly normal thing but on this day, there was a tarantula hiding in the cozy, dark, and air-conditioned cool place it had found overnight.
After a bit of surprised dancing, the tarantula was left alone. They're pretty mellow and not dangerous, and besides, we had to get to Curious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711054829758913632.post-13198452138210742532013-03-11T07:00:00.000-07:002013-03-11T07:00:00.168-07:00Thawing sweetsHere's a thing that I didn't even know was a thing to wonder about:
You know the sugar maple, which produces the raw material for maple syrup by dripping sap into a bucket in the spring. Well, it turns out that it's not only a case of the sugar maple's sap being particularly sweet and thus well suited for this use. The sugar maple, along with a couple of other trees, are the only ones which dripCurious Chemenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498895422561434787noreply@blogger.com0