deus X machina

A place to resolve.

[compoundchem]

Today marks the birthday of Alfred Nier (1911-1994), a pioneer in the field of mass spectrometry. Here’s a brief mass spectrometry introduction! PDF here: http://wp.me/p4aPLT-1bw

[compoundchem]

Exam season is here – if you’re revising organic chemistry, here’s a helpful reminder of the different functional groups! Free PDF here: http://wp.me/p4aPLT-3c

[compoundchem]

Today marks the birthday of Alfred Nier (1911-1994), a pioneer in the field of mass spectrometry. Here’s a brief mass spectrometry introduction! PDF here: http://wp.me/p4aPLT-1bw

[deuxmachina]

This should be helpful for me. :)

[compoundchem]

Now we know the (proposed) names of the four new elements, here’s an updated graphic with more information on each! High-res image/PDF: http://wp.me/p4aPLT-1Eg

[deuxmachina]

Philadelphia was a true eye-opener. It's a beautiful and historical city but it is also a few of many cities that I've gone to and learned about the realities of life. Everything is taken up a notch. Poverty. Housing. Inflation. Economy. Everything is so different. My hometown is a bubbled city. It makes me think that everyone who is from my hometown is just self-centred and a complainer. Travelling has helped me realise that I am very fortunate that I live in a city that is able address - to some degree - these important issues. Camera: Nokia 830 on 'Manual Mode' to focus and create the bokeh effect.

[compoundchem]

Ever wondered about the causes of colour in gemstones? Here’s a brief guide! http://wp.me/p4aPLT-lj

[deuxmachina]

I travelled to Seattle quite some time ago and stumbled up on a few clips. I decided to make a travel video about it with what I had and I personally enjoyed it. I hope you enjoy it too! Seattle is such a great city and making this video makes me want to go back there very soon.

[deuxmachina]

真係唔錯。我會再睇！

This show is not bad. I will definitely watch it again.

[deuxmachina]

Accommodation: Who's really right?

One person: Think about how everyone around you feels.

TURN THE TABLE

Everyone: Think about how he feels.

[deuxmachina]

The True Human Nature

Mom and Dad always told me to always count on yourself because nothing is free in this world. This was something that I always put in my mind because this world can be a very dark and fake place. Even literature shows the true human nature: The Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies etc. However, even though I took this life lesson into heart, I have never actually encounterred it in person. Seeing the true human nature is something very frightening, heartbreakening and many words I cannot even think of. I guess, in retrospect, this is like when kids act like an angel in front of their parents but their true colours are shown when they are not here. There is a Chinese saying: "Karma occurs in this world."

[labphoto]

Organic chemistry how I would like to see it. 

It was not my reaction, but the person who did it was quite happy, because the side product of his reaction was dissolved in the upper water phase and had a purple color, while his product dissolved in the bottom organic layer and was quite pure.

And what everyone will complain about: who is on the pics is not wearing gloves, since the lab where he works just ran out of nitrile gloves and luckily the product of the reaction and everything what was inside the flask is not more toxic than a chocolate bar. 

[deuxmachina]

[deuxmachina]

Hypocrisy

Showing support for a cause by changing colours isn't the same as taking action.

[deuxmachina]

I am a big fan of science and I love how it continues to improve our everday lives.

If you are a Science or Engineering student AND you have done research, get your work published to SFU SURJ! Research from institutions other than SFU are more than welcome to submit. Like any other research journal, your work will be peer-reviewed by a panel of professionals who work in the industry.

If you are interested, feel free to message me and I will provide you with more details.

www.sfusurj.com

[narzallete-deactivated20191030]

[deuxmachina]

Cool.

[labphoto]

Something simple for a presentation: flame test of salts: copper(II) and lithium. 

A flame test is an analytic procedure used in chemistry to detect the presence of certain elements, primarily metal ions, based on each element’s characteristic emission spectrum. Approximately more than half of the periodic table colors the flame to a characteristic color. 

The interesting here is that copper(II) ions colors the flame to an intense green color, while copper(I) ions give a bright blue color. When I started to burn the methanolic solution of copper(II)-chloride it had an intense green color (bottom picture) but when the copper(II) was reduced to copper(I), the color of the flame changed to a slightly a blueish color as seen on the upper gif. The other, red flame was colored with lithium-chloride. 

For more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flame_test

[labphoto]

Some random crystals at the bottom of a flask. From time to time, adorable things could be found in the lab, since reactions what we made 1-2-3-4-5-100 days, what looked completely useless previously, sometimes give great looking crystals and perfectly pure products.