Chemistry Society
Latest Updates
10:25 AM 10/5/08
At our meeting on 10/3/08, we did some chemistry with money and flames. We soaked a $1 bill in isopropyl alcohol and using tongs, so as to not burn our hands, we touched the bill with a lit match. There was a relatively large flame observed, but afterwards, the bill was unscathed …WARNING: It is illegal in the US to burn currency according to U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. But don’t worry; the dollar bill did not burn! Now, we wouldn’t have demonstrated this if it wasn’t an application of chemistry. Paper currency in the United States is made of nylon which absorbs water. This property protects it from the alcohol creating a boundary between the bill and the flame. Alcohol burns at a low temperature and so it burns before the dollar bill. The specific heat of water is large enough so that the bill doesn’t even heat up to a damaging temperature. And so the dollar bill did not burn!
Fun Fact: (but don’t try this at home) the same can be done with skin, using a mixture of water, a surfactant like dishwashing detergent, and methanol, although the hairs on the back of your hand will not be protected.
Alcohol: CH3CH2CH2OH.
3:41 PM 9/19/2008
We just had our first meeting. Here is a quick summary: we discussed potential ideas for the club, went off on tangents about some interesting topics about chemistry, and did a chemistry crossword puzzle … Here’s a list of topics we covered:
- blowing things up with the help of Mr. Kauffman
- field trip to a chemical industry factory
- liquid nitrogen experiments and making ice cream
- raising awareness about Mole Day
- recording some of the experiments we try to put on the website
- applying for a Cradle-to-Cradle grant and practicing green chemistry
We will plan for doing some of the above in our upcoming meetings. The next meeting will be next Friday on the 26th. P.S. – We’ve made a big structural change in the website so now it will be easier to make quick news updates and also to begin making the rest of the pages of this site.