Carlsberg.com title is 'probably Best Website in the World' and as TV commercial say Carlsberg is the best beer in the world. I love it. But I'm not sure if it is best indeed since I've never tried 99% world beer and probably never will. However, I have seen so many websites on the net, that I can tell you Carlsberg.com is not the best ;) but NanoHUB.org, which is much more important for me (at least until evening), is the best website about nanotechnology I've ever seen.
To use NanoHUB you need to register. Page is extremely useful because of an impressive collection of educational resources.
There's a lot of scientific scripts there and (imagine that!) web applications to simulate some physical features of matter in the nanoscale. On the other hand you'll find lectures to learn what the hell natotechnology is? These are made by professionals from universities and are not static, I mean exclusively based on text and picture but there's an audio (voice of a scientist) and slide show. Hence, you can feel as you would be on the class. Tribute for NanoHUB authors for this idea and educational vision. There is so many places in the world where nanotechnology basics are not yet taught and we need right now to educate future specialists in the field, 'cause as you know – 21st century fit tight nanothings and nanothings are just going to emerge (I believe it won't split the 21st century ;) This is how people from NanoHUB describe their work:
The nanoHUB is a rich, web-based resource for research, education and collaboration in nanotechnology. The nanoHUB hosts over 790 resources which will help you learn about nanotechnology, including Online Presentations, Courses, Learning Modules, Podcasts, Animations, Teaching Materials, and more. Most importantly, the nanoHUB offers simulation tools which you can access from your web browser, so you can not only learn about but also simulate nanotechnology devices. (…) Resources come from 453 contributors in the nanoscience community, and are used by thousands of users from over 180 countries around the world.
However, let's go back to my conception. Yes, I believe that nanothings are just going to emerge. We do not live now in the time of nanotechnologies blossom. Many amazing things are still in our future waiting to be uncovered by someone who will later get 1,7 million dollars transfer from Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden). I think so because I believe there is much to do with organic molecules – all in our (chemists) hands! Molecular nanotechnology (MNT), molecular electronics etc. are still very young and its importance is still relatively low (medium?).
Molecular nanotechnology is the concept of engineering functional mechanical systems at the molecular scale. (…) This is distinct from nanoscale materials. Based on Richard Feynman's vision of miniature factories using nanomachines to build complex products (including additional nanomachines), this advanced form of nanotechnology (or molecular manufacturing) would make use of positionally-controlled mechanosynthesis guided by molecular machine systems.
Molecular electronics (sometimes called moletronics) is an interdisciplinary theme that spans physics, chemistry, and materials science. The unifying feature of this area is the use of molecular building blocks for the fabrication of electronic components, both passive (e.g. resistive wires) and active (e.g. transistors)
NanoHUB.org do not provide purely chemical things, unfortunately. There's mainly physics because nanotechnology is mainly physics nowadays. But I believe – not for always. It's time to build MNT. Dear young chemists! Start your future research career by learning nanoscience/nanotechnology with NanoHUB :)
Take an advantage of NanoHUB.org until it's free. I warn you 'cause I have a feeling that soon we all will have to pay somehow for using this resource. And I'm convinced that I'm right. All looks like portal's going to be commercial. Maybe they're preparing some subscription to special content? I'd rather like ads watching:)
There is a well-known 5-year-old book by Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson, titled 'Napoleon's buttons. How 17 molecules changed history'. It's generally focused on molecules that have changed our world and civilization in a positive way. Despite of fact it was quite boring in some places and is so simple – nor chemical nor technical (of course it was assumed to be like that), 'Napoleon's…' was worth of reading because of some historical curiosities.
Now another interesting lecture's coming soon from RSC and considers molecules of murder (you will find chapters about: ricin, hyoscine, atropine, diamorphine, adrenaline, chloroform, carbon monoxide, cyanide, paraquat and an element polonium). 'Molecules of Murder' is written by John Emsley. As we read in synopsis of this brand new book:
Molecules of Murder is about infamous murderers and famous victims; about people like Harold Shipman, Alexander Litvinenko, Adelaide Bartlett, and Georgi Markov. Few books on poisons analyse these crimes from the viewpoint of the poison itself, but doing so throws a new light on how the murders or attempted murders were carried out and ultimately how the perpetrators were uncovered and brought to justice. (…) The first half of each chapter starts by looking at the target molecule itself, its discovery, its history, its chemistry, its use in medicine, its toxicology, and its effects on the human body. The second half then investigates a famous murder case and reveals the modus operandi of the poisoner and how some were caught, some are still at large, and some literally got away with murder.
Searching for chemistry on YouTube is instructive. I’m sure that most of people watching video with metallic, shiny liquid asked for guess will say ‘mercury’. I remember a story about mercury one woman working in analytical laboratory told me (I do not enjoy working with analytical chemistry at all. There was however one, small analytical research episode in my life, when I was burning cats fur in special stove (process called mineralization of the probe) for further zinc amount determination). But let’s go back to the story, which is real as she has assured me. So, there was a man who was going to commit suicide. He had used syringe to inject mercury to vein and to his surprise nothing happened. Probably he lives till now with a great health (of course unless other, much more effective way to end life earlier than fate decided was introduced). The woman told me that the explanation of this curiosity is that mercury is especially toxic when its vapors are inhaled, but when injected it travels through veins right to the heart, falls down in ventricle and stays there to the end of life without doing any harm.
But let's go back to the liquid. Try to guess what is this:
Let’s watch the second movie (notice a behavior of liquid a while after its pouring into bucket):
And here comes the video of mercury hold on hand by someone who was brave enough to play with it without glove and respirator :p But seriously this video shows what you should never do with most of chemical substances (those which do not exists in nature):
As you see mercury is not a hero of first two films since: (1) mercury seems to have smaller viscosity that the liquid from first movie, you see that it shakes more vividly, (2) mercury do not crystallize in room temperature and liquid from second movie seems to change its phase while pouring into bucket.
Well. This liquid is a metal called gallium which melts in 29,8 oC, what means it would melt in hand. The viscosities of both metals confirm observation – about 1.5 x 10-3 Pas for Hg and about 1.9 x 10-3 Pas for Ga. Boilling point is 2004 oC, hence we have a wide liquid state range – it provides a possibility to use gallium in high temperature thermometers. As we read on Wikipedia:
A soft silvery metallic poor metal, gallium is a brittle solid at low temperatures but liquefies slightly above room temperature and will melt in the hand. (…) An important application is in the compounds gallium nitride and gallium arsenide, used as a semiconductor, most notably in light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
I’d like to add that gallium(III) nitride (GaN) is a main, neuralgic component of blue laser used in Blu-ray Disc technology you can find for example in PlayStation 3 console.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... Well, why am I here? Since two weeks I have totally no inspiration to write my master thesis. Without impulse I cannot write. With no writing I have a remorse. Remorse causes me nervous. And when I'm nervous I cannot concentrate and find an inspiration. That's why I'm here, trying to find something else to consume the time I have. And for justification :)
It'll be a little bit infantile but I have to introduce myself. At first I'd like to say that I'm not English native speaker and even do not have enough experience in speaking and writing (rather in reading). So please, don't be angry at mistakes I'm going to make. Second - I'm still a chemistry student, now writing master thesis and making mess with my research results. Hope to be a PhD student in few months.
From time to time I have something interesting to say about chemistry, my scientific interests and other things. This blog will be a great place to share my thoughts since there are only few people around me who know what the molecule is. However, I know myself enough to be sure that science is not the only on theme I'll point out here. I hope my idea won't die. Keep in touch :)
