quacktan(x) blog

Posts about science and mathematics/ Student who likes chemistry, molecular biology, biochemistry, mathematics, particle physics, quantum physics, and anything science / NoTe: As Th I S Ti Tl e- & Pr O F ile , This is a blog about Chemistry, mathematics and other Science (U Nd Er S Ta Nd?)

[quacktangent]

About the International system of units(SI)

Science and mathematics has things like principles, theories, theorems, etc. But when we try to calculate something - usually physical quantities, we need the units to measure. The well known measuring system is the International system of units, short for SI. The international system of units - known as the extension of the metric system, are first made in France.(that’s why it’s shortened to SI, because it’s called ‘système international d'unités’ in French.) the SI has seven base units. They are the metre(m), kilogram(kg), second(s), ampere(A), kelvin(K), mole(mol), and candela(cd). The other 22 derived units with special symbols such as the volt, watt, joule are made by multiplying and dividing this base units. (speed or acceleration is a derived unit which has no special symbols.) the useful part in the SI is the prefixes. You can make the quantity bigger or smaller by simply adding those prefixes at front of the unit. Example, prefix ‘kilo’ means one thousandth of the unit. Now this beautiful system of units are used international. But the problem is, many people don’t obey the general rules in writing the SI units. Few examples are that the unit symbol must come after the number followed by a space. (example: 10 m, 453.65 K.) And the unit symbol must be written in lowercase, unless its etymology is a proper noun such as a name of a scientist. if its etymology is a proper noun, the first letter of the symbol have to written in uppercase. (Correct symbol of the metre is m, not M. And the kilogram’s correct symbol is not Kg or KG, it’s kg.) I think people near us should have to write unit symbols rightly, following the general rules. However, in 2018, all of the base units of the SI had been defined by the fundamental constants in science. Now the units are perfect - maybe. The units are evolving as science does. The measurement units are the yardstick and the window looking and measuring the world.

[quacktangent]

5/20 is also World Metrology day! So I self-reblogged my old post which contain descriptions about the International system of units. Hope someone notices more about this. 

Happy World Metrology day! 

Note: Official site of World Metrology day of 2021 is linked here: 

 https://www.worldmetrologyday.org/index.html

[quacktangent]

This is a Tumblr hug! Pass it on ten of your favourite follower and don’t break the chain! ❤️

I currently don’t have ten followers in my blog, but thank you very much!!

[quacktangent]

10/23 : Mole day

Today is October 23rd, which is also Mole day! Since I don’t have many time to write, I’ll write a short ref about this day. I’m talking about the unit mole, not the animal. It’s name is from the word ‘molecule’.

The Mole is the SI base unit of amount of substance. And also mole is the last SI base unit to be chosen to a base unit of the International System of units. 

Then why October 23rd is Mole day? It is because of the Avogadro constant, which is strongly related with the unit. The Avogadro constant is about 6.02214076 * 10^(23). So this date represents the 10^(23) of this constant. 

 One mole of something means 6.02214076 * 10^(23) of that ‘something’. So this unit is very useful when we count atoms, molecules, and other particles, etc.

 We can see the atomic weight of the elements in the periodic table. Hydrogen is 1.008, Aluminium is 26.98. The unit of that number is g/mol. This means that the mass of  6.02214076 * 10^(23) Hydrogen atoms are 1.008 grams. 

You can celebrate Mole day October 23rd, 6:02 A.m to 6:02 P.m. 

Happy Mole day for Y’all!!!

Note: Mole day was celebrated by chemists since 1991. for farther information, see this wikipedia articles about Mole day and the Unit mole.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_(unit)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_Day

[quacktangent]

Periodic table of elements

(made by quacktangent)

This is a periodic table that I made! The same element colors means they're in the same classification.

The elements in this periodic table is sorted/categorized as...

1. Other non-metals

2. Alkali metals

3. Alkaline earth metals

4. Metalloids

5. Post-transition metals

6. Transition metals

7. Noble gases

8. Halogens

9. Lanthanides

10. Actinides

The chemical elements makes up almost everything in this universe. I think some element’s properties may be similar(like the elements in the same group), but they also have properties of their own. Lifeforms are maintained by their some properties, and we are now researching and investigating the periodic table and chemistry of elements. 

For additional, Hydrogen is a Other non-metal element because it’s not a metal like group 1 elements(Alkali metals) and also not suits to Halogen elements because it doesn’t match correctly with periodic trends of electronegativity in Halogens. (Fluorine is more reactive than Hydrogen.) 

Helium has two valence electrons but it’s a noble gas because Helium is a non-metal and behaves like a noble gas element.

Some can think that the group 12 elements is not actually a transitional metal because their d-electron shell is full. so if I wanted to put the group 12 elements with other ‘transition metals’, I have to classify them as ‘D-block elements’. but in many periodic table related books and articles, the term ‘transition metal’ mans the d-block elements. 

You will ask that why did I put a blank between Barium and Hafnium, and between Radium and Rutherfordium. That is because there’s a issue in position of the elements which goes there. Some think Lanthanum and Actinium, which doesn’t has a electron in the f-orbital, should have go there as group 3 elements. And some think Lutetium and Lawrencium, which has a electron in the d-orbital should go to that position. But because it’s certain that Lanthanum and Lutetium is a Lanthanide element and Actinium and Lawrencium is a Actinide element. So I put them together in the f-block, with their Lanthanide/Actinide classmates.

However, this is the periodic table, which is full with characterful Chemical elements.

[quacktangent]

The elements - Magnesium: the main element in industry, life, chlorophyll and chemistry.

As seen at the title, this article is about the element magnesium. Magnesium is one of the alkaline earth metal elements.

You might want to say things to me like this when you saw the title. 'Hey, magnesium isn't one of the HCNOPS(life essential elements.) and technically carbon is the main element in life BeCaUSe it makes most of the organic compounds!!" yes Magnesium looks nothing very important in life than the HCNOPS.(Hydrogen, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus, Sulfur are all included in other non metals) but surprisingly, magnesium is very important to life. How can this to be true? Well, magnesium is in chlorophyll, the substance that makes able to plants make glucose by photosynthesis. if there’s no plants, it will be no animals. so without magnesium, living organisms like us can’t survive at the planet. and magnesium helps lots of enzymes to function. when we explore other planets and search for alien life, finding traces of magnesium ions are also important, I think. 

anyway, magnesium is the forth abundant element on earth by mass. (13.9 % of the mass. the most abundant element on earth is Iron. second place: oxygen, third place: silicon. I told about oxygen’s abundance on earth’s crust is depending on minerals in earth like silicate minerals. but where are earth’s magnesium ends up? magnesium makes only 2.4 % of the earth’s crust. the answer is the mantle, under the crust. mantle is the big part of earth. It’s making up 84 % of earth’s volume. and It’s made of 23 % magnesium. also magnesium ion Mg2+ is in the seawater, making up 0.1292 % of the sea.

as i said at the first, magnesium is one of the alkaline earth metals. It can slightly react with water, and react more violently in hot water. most of the alkaline earth metals react with water to make hydrogen gas and metal hydroxides. alkaline earth metal hydroxides makes a base solution, but it’s basicity is not as strong as alkali metal hydroxides made by the same period element. another interesting properties is that magnesium burns well, generating magnesium oxide MgO. magnesium doesn’t has a clear flame test color, but it can make a intense white light when it burned. burning small piece of magnesium(like a magnesium ribbon) is a piece of cake(it’s easy) but big pieces of magnesium doesn’t burn well because is a metal, it conducts heat well, so it can’t reach the ignition point easily. magnesium fires can’t be extinguished by water. so you can extinguish it by sand or fire extinguisher. burning magnesium is used as a trigger for the ‘thermite reaction’ that uses metal and metal oxide as a reactant, and making redox reactions between them.

Magnesium is a important, essential, and also the core element of chlorophyll.(chlorophyll has a magnesium ion on the center)

note: you have to know about chemistry well if you study biology. a living organism are maintained by lots of chemical reactions - including photosynthesis, converting glucose to energy(which is stored in ATP), etc. and magnesium alloys, especially alloy with Aluminium(called magnalium) are light and strong, so it is used in various things, like aircraft and car parts.

[quacktangent]

chemical elements and thermal conductivity

chemical elements and thermal conductivity

this is the data graph of the elements. thermal conductivity shows the element how much conducts heat. note that some of the elements in the last has no data so I set the value on zero. for carbon, the point C with the lower case letter d is the maximum and minimum value of diamond, and the point C with the lower case g is the maximum and minimum value of graphite. And the point labeled just C is the value of the amorphorus carbon. since thermal conductivity is included in the physical property, allotropes(substances made of same element, different physical properties) of elements can have the different value of thermal conductivity.

[quacktangent]

The elements - Hydrogen: the source of the universe and life

(Hydrogen gas glowing)

this is my first post about the elements. in this post I will talk about hydrogen. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe,(75 % or more in mass, 90 % if you counted all the atoms) and it is one of the first few elements that formed during the Big Bang. 

Hydrogen has infinite possibilities. when it inside the star’s core, hydrogen’s nucleus cause a nuclear fusion, and makes the other elements in the periodic table. most of the Earth’s hydrogen is in the sea - water. H2O is the chemical formula of water. and we are mostly made of water. we are made with atoms. the elements. and the elements are came from the brightest stars. the elements are our source and also the universe’s source. and we can realize, study, and understand the periodic table / the elements. I think that’s why chemistry is interesting and fascinating. 

(picture of deuterium glowng)

by the way, the hydrogen ion H+ decides the solution is a acid or base. that’s why the solution has a PH. H stand for hydrogen ion. the PH can be a negative number when the acid is very strong. for example, in special conditions, PH of HSbF6 is -31!(not in special conditions, HCB11Cl11- Carborane acid has PH -18) 

this article is also about the periodic table. because each element’s story is also the story of the periodic table. in the periodic table, Hydrogen’s position is one of the issue. most periodic table has hydrogen in group 1 - the alkali metals because it has one valence electrons. but hydrogen can be H- anion like the halogens. 

so it became the one of the issue of the periodic table: which group hydrogen is more appropriate? I told about the charge of the ion, so first I will talk about it’s state. Hydrogen is a gas not a metal. 

so hydrogen is more fits in halogens? well, in periodic trends, the reactivity, electronegativity of the halogens becomes bigger when the number of period decreases. but hydrogen is not reactive than Fluorine.(fluorine’s electronegativity is 3.98 but hydrogen is only 2.2.) and the reactivity of the alkali metals decreases as the period number decreases. Hydrogen is not reactive than Lithium, so it fits to periodic trends. 

so hydrogen more fits to the alkali metals? in my think, yes. hydrogen is more appropriate to group 1. because environments in low temperatures and high pressure - like center of planet Jupiter and Saturn, scientists predicted it has a metalic hydrogen ‘sea’. so hydrogen can behave like metals, so it fits well in group 1. 

but because it behaves like metals only in special conditions, It’s not considered as alkali metals. instead, it is considered as other non-metals at the right, including non-metals that is not a halogen and not a noble gas. well, I like this periodic table. but maybe if we research more about superatoms( a cluster of atoms that behavior is like a one atom of other element) and quantum dots, we might have to change the structure of our periodic table. the story of elements and the periodic table is to be continued. well, hydrogen is the source, the origin of the elements, the matter of universe, and life.

note: hydrogen is the most loved element to physicists. because it helped to research quantum physics. because it has one proton and one electron. hydrogen is also called as the future energy, because it can generate lots of heat when it burns. the spectrum that you can see in hydrogen - visible light - is called the Balmer series. the elements not just has visible light spectrum, it also has spectrum in ultraviolet, inflared rays. the ultraviolet spectrum in hydrogen is called the Lyman series. and the inflared spectrum is called the Paschen series. 

[quacktangent]

pictures added.

[quacktangent]

Chemical Elements and their Speed of sounds

This is the data graph of the elements and their speed of sounds. it shows the speed of the sound conducts through the element. well, I think speed of sounds are not shows periodicity. anyway, solid elements has the higher value of speed of sounds than elements in a gaseous state or a liquid state. Carbon has the maximum value of this. (next is Boron and Beryllium) you can see the interactive version down here:

https://www.geogebra.org/m/pssx9nq8

[quacktangent]

The elements - Sodium: a alkali metal which has a confusing names, highly reactive as a pure form, and important to life.

Sodium is a fascinating element. But before I write about this, I want to tell about the element's etymology. The name 'sodium' is came from 'soda'. But the chemical symbol is Na because the other name of sodium is natrium. 'Natrium' is came from the ancient Egyptian 'natron'. Sodium was first isolated from Sodium hydroxide. (NaOH - it's a alkali.)The one of the well-known compounds of sodium is normal salt - NaCl - sodium chloride. In the reaction, the Sodium atom give it's one valence electron to the Chlorine atom and becomes a ion has a electric charge of +1(chlorine becomes -1). Because of the electrostatic force, they makes a ionic bond. Ionic bonds are 'strong' so many ionic compounds has relatively high melting points. NaCl is salty - We all know that. The salty taste is caused by Na+ sodium ions. the interesting fact is that some ions like Li+, K+ even NH4+ can taste salty because they has the same charge of +1. you will wonder why we detect those ions as taste. that is because sodium (and potassium) ions helps our nerve cells to send signals and keep us alive. as I said at the post in Lithium, our life might be just a chemical reaction and electric signals. 

about some chemical properties of Sodium, sodium is in the alkali metals, in group 1. it produces hydrogen gas when during the reaction of water. 2 Na(s)+ 2 H2O(l) → 2 NaOH(aq) + H2(g)↑ sodium’s flame test color is yellow,so sodium is used in sodium lamps. It also catches fire while it reacting with water. It's very reactive. The products - sodium hydroxide - is a strong base. NaOH makes a base solution because when it gets in the water, the released hydroxide ion OH- combines with hydrogen ion H+ and reduce the acidity of the solution.

more facts about sodium, sodium is included in minerals like rock salt(NaCl !) and sodalite, so it is the six most abundant element in the earth's crust. And also sodium ion is the second abundant ion in the sea.(chloride ion Cl- is the most abundant ion in the sea.) about 1.08 × 10^4 milligrams per litre(or liter) of sodium ions(Na+) are in the sea, so the oceans must be salty!

I always say like this at the end of the story of elements: Sodium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal which has a NiCe flame test color and also a element has a confusing name with it's symbol.

NoTe(not nobelium and tellurium): alkali metals in group one has all have corrosive and flammable hazards. Because about the corrosive hazard thing, they reacts with the moisture(water) in people's skin and generates a alkali metal hydroxide - a strong base that can dissolves proteins. And about the flammable thing, they make flammable hydrogen gas when they react with water. But it's no reason to set fire on them - they can catch fire very easily. Some of the alkali metals - Rubidium and Caesium(or cesium) - will react before someone set fire on them. But despite the corrosive and flammable hazards of sodium, some nuclear reactors uses liquid sodium to transfer heat.

[quacktangent]

The elements - Neon: the noble gas are really used in neon signs.

Yes. some Neon signs are really made of neon! This element Neon is in a gas - discharge tube. If we send a electric discharge through it, it will produce light. The electric discharge makes the atom's electrons to a excited state and the electrons transitions to a higher energy level. When the electrons transitions to it's usual ground state it emits light. The discharge of the gas is like flame test to metals - it can tell what gas is it. If the gas discharge color is similar to other gases, you can see it's spectrum. Spectrums are different by all elements, so it was a great method to discover and identify new elements.

neon has a few uses. Neon signs and the Helium - Neon laser. The color of the Helium-Neon laser is like color of neon signs that includes neon. Not all the neon signs include neon. It can use other elements to make different colors. Elements like Helium, Argon, Krypton, Mercury in gaseous state, Xenon can make neon signs. Real "neon" signs are have a red color.

neon has the second highest ionization energy. The element has the highest ionization energy is Helium. But by the number of compounds are identified, Neon is the most unreactive element in the periodic table.

except for Helium and radon, the other noble gases were discovered by a British scientist : Sir William Ramsey (with his assistant, Morris W. Travers, discovered Neon, Krypton, and Xenon. Ramsay has discovered the element Argon with Lord Rayleigh.)he extracted them from liquid air and identified by discharging them. (Neon means 'new'. and for discovering most of noble gases, they won the Nobel Prize.)the red glow of the neon gas in a vaccum tube - applied with high voltage, It's electrons were in a excited state - made the discoverers excited too.

the noble gases including neon were not predicted. No one knew that the group of unreactive gas exists. I will focus on this when I post about Argon. Today, we know that atoms of the elements have a electron shell. So stable noble gases exist in a border between their unstable neighbors - the alkali metals and halogens.

liquid neon is used as a cryogenic refrigerant. neon has very few uses and so unreactive but It gives a marvelous red color to gas discharge lamps and neon signs, lasers. And it is one of the elements, that makes up the universe. So, lets see you again in period 3!

Note: about Sir William Ramsey, he discovered that The lightest noble gas Helium in radioactive minerals.(Because when a radioactive element does alpha decay, it makes alpha particles - helium-4 nucleus.) and also the one of the discoverers of Neon, Argon, Krypton, Xenon. Lastly, he also isolated Radon, the most heavy noble gas that are found naturally and determined it's density. So the unknown group elements are all has found. Neon makes 0.00182 % of our atmosphere. It's really rare. But it is the fifth abundant element in the universe!

[quacktangent]

The elements - Fluorine: The most reactive non-metal that can combines with most of the elements

Fluorine is the most reactive non-metal. Fluorine is a halogen - elements that have 7 valence electrons. So it needs one electron.

Fluorine is good at taking a electron from other elements. It has the highest electronegativity of all elements. So fluorine can react with almost everything - including some noble gases! Noble gases has 8 valence electrons and is chemically unreactive. But some heavy noble gases can make compounds with fluorine in normal conditions. The first identified noble gas compound is Xenon hexafluoroplatinate -Xe(PtF6) - including Fluorine. (Xenon and Radon has low ionization energy compared with other noble gases. Reactivity of noble gases increases with the period number. )

Fluorine has interesting chemical properties and also has interesting history too. Chemists had serious problem to extract it. and Hydrofluoric acid and fluorine itself is extremely dangerous, so corrosive. So scientists that studied fluorine were called 'fluorine martyrs'. Finally a French scientist Henri Moissan successfully extracted fluorine. Because of this achievement, he won the Nobel Prize - beating Mendeleev, who made the periodic table - by one vote! By the way, the name Fluorine is came from the mineral fluorite. (Also the word fluorescence has came from fluorite)

Fluorine in it's pure form is chemically unstable, but it's compounds are very stable. For example, polytetrafluoroethylene - known as Teflon is very chemically stable, so it's used to coat frypans or for storing reactive materials - yes. That kind of substances like fluorine! And it also used to make Gore-Tex fibers that can make air go through. Fluorine is also in toothpastes because it makes hard fluoraphite on the surface of the tooth and stops it decaying. (But too much fluorine can weaken people's teeth.) So I can say Fluorine is important because it can makes very stable compounds.

Fluorine is one of the most dangerous elements in the universe. It's poisonous, corrosive, and a very strong oxidizer. But as I said, it makes stable compounds, Also helped us to study the chemistry of noble gases, and made chemistry various and more interesting.

Note: Fluorine’s reactivity can show us unusual things - such as Noble gas compounds! Xenon and fluorine compounds are including Xenon difluoride, hexafluoride, and tetrafluoride. Krypton can make difluoride. In very low temperatures, Argon can make Argon fluorohydride(HArF). 

And I’ll write more about fluorine’s dangerous properties. Well-known 'fluorine martyrs' who had trouble while experimenting with fluorine compounds are Humphry Davy (who discovered 7 elements including Sodium, Strontium, Boron) and Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac. (who made Gay-Lussac's law in chemistry.) they got hurt because of the Hydrogen fluoride gas they used in their experiment. 

However, Fluorine was recognised first by the French physicist Andre-Marie Ampere. (he made the Right-handed screw rule in physics. And the SI base unit of electric current is named the ampere.) He suggested that a new element - that has similar chemical properties with chlorine in hydrofluoric acid. 

Additional note: Fluorescence are properties of matter that can glow when emit ultraviolet lights or other lights to it.

[quacktangent]

The elements - Oxygen:the third - abundant element in the universe, and probably the most important element in earth.

Oxygen is the most abundant element in earth's crust. (46 %) and is also the third - abundant element in the universe. Someone might ask 'hey, Nitrogen is more many in the air, but why Oxygen is more abundant than nitrogen?' because Nitrogen molecule has triple bond, It is hard to go into the earth's crusts.(rocks)only rocks like Nitratine/Sodanitre (NaNO3) and Nitre(KNO3) includes nitrogen. But oxygen is one of the most reactive elements. so Oxygen is in all of the silicate mineral in earth with the element Silicon.(also Silicon is the second abundant element in the earth's crust. It makes 27 % of it.) silicate minerals are made of silicon dioxide/silica. It has a tetrahedron crystal structure. and Oxygen is included in carbonate minerals and sulfate minerals.

oxygen is a diatomic gas like nitrogen. And also a good oxidizing agent/oxidizer. Combustion/burning means that a substance combines with oxygen and produce flames and light. (By the way, Oxidation means a element loses it's electrons. So oxidizing agents are good at taking electrons from other elements.) Oxygen plays a important role in the life on earth. It helps them to get energy by oxidizing nutrients like glucose. So if there is no oxygen, everything on earth won't be able to survive. The interesting thing is our earth has a perfect amount - 21 % of oxygen in it's atmosphere. If the oxygen level was 17 % it won't be able to breathe. If it was 25 %, all organic compounds will burn. Well, Oxygen is one of the life - essential elements. and also is the only gas chalcogen. 

Oxygen has the second - highest electronegativity in all elements(Fluorine has the highest electronegativity.) as I talked about oxygen when I posted about Lithium, It has a particularly stable nucleus. oxygen is made in most stars by nuclear fusion. and it combines with Hydrogen and makes water. water is important to all living organisms in earth. But did you know that Oxygen has a wrong name?(compared with it’s periodic table neighbor nitrogen, it isn’t a stigma of the name, it’s name is chemically ‘wrong’ Oxygen’s name means ‘making acids’. today we know acidity is represented by concentration of the Hydrogen ion H+. but at that time, chemists thought all acids were including oxygen until they found out the hydrochloric acid(HCl) was not including oxygen. on the periodic table and the element’s name, we can find things in the common human world like art, politics, tricks, history, war, success, and also our delusions and mistakes too.  

Oxygen can be liquefied like nitrogen. liquid oxygen has a beautiful blue color. it is used as a oxidation agent to burn rocket fuels because the fuel - Hydrogen -  burns well in oxygen. and also liquid oxygen can show fascinating properties about oxygen. oxygen is paramagnetic - that means it can attracted to magnets! (and can’t be magnetized. ferromagnetic elements like Iron and Cobalt can do that)you can see this properties of oxygen with putting powerful magnets near liquid oxygen. 

Because oxygen can combine with most chemicals, it is used in metal refinery and producing flames in welding machines. to refine Iron from iron oxides (Fe2O3, Fe3O4), first add carbon and heat it for the carbon reacts with the oxygen in the iron oxides so it makes iron and carbon dioxide. this extracted iron has many amount of carbon, so it is very brittle.(this is called ‘crude iron’ or ‘pig iron’) to remove the leftover elements like carbon and sulfur, it needs oxygen. then the carbon content lowers, and it finally becomes steel. 

except for metals like gold, platinum, Iridium, oxygen can makes oxides with metals. and metals all have different ionization tendency. if you put a metal oxide with a more reactive metal(all reactants are at a form of powder) and heat it, the two metals tries to combine with the oxygen (or you can say they tries to sacrifice if you focus on galvanic anodes that stops oxidizing for another metal.). and the metal has the higher ionization tendency oxidizes(combines with oxygen), reducing the other metal. this reaction is called the Thermite reaction or Goldschmidt reaction. in the chemical reaction, oxidation and reduction always happens at the same time. 

The conclusion is that Oxygen is a reactive, colorless, and makes 1 % of the universe and the most important element on earth.            

Note: when glucose is oxidized with oxygen, it really makes energy. C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6 H2O + 6 CO2 + (energy!) the produced energy are stored in ATP. the fun thing is, this same reaction happens when you set glucose on fire! so we are chemically like furnaces that burns glucose. :) In other ways oxygen protects life. because one kind of the Oxygen allotrope, ozone(O3) high in the sky blocks the high-energy rays from the sun and space. really the periodic table has all of these things. example, Rubidium, Cesium, Indium is named by It’s new spectral line’s color. for politics and war, there has political names on the elements were discovered in the World War 1,2 and the Cold war. (guess! there is many of them.) 

[quacktangent]

The elements - Nitrogen: the cool life - essential element that can make air and amino acids.

Nitrogen is one of the life - essential elements because it makes 78 % of air - the atmosphere of the Earth. and also it’s the important element in amino acids that makes proteins. 

Amino acids have a structure of NH2CHRCOOH. R is the lateral chain and decides the type of the amino acid. the other structures excluding the lateral chain is equal. proteins are made when the amino acids make a long chain. proteins builds our body. so nitrogen is the important element that makes our body. nitrogen is also needed to plants. it is one of the three base elements that included in fertilizers - with Potassium and Phosphorus. but Nitrogen in the air is in the form of diatomic gas has triple bonds. so plants have to absorb nitrogen from the soil as forms like nitrites,nitrates,ammonium. that’s why lightning is good for plants(well, not for the trees which gets hit by lightning.) because it has enough energy to separate nitrogen molecules into atoms and gets them ‘fixed’(It’s called nitrogen fixation)in the soil. so animal or plant, Nitrogen is essential to them.

you may have heard about liquid nitrogen. nitrogen becomes liquid in temperatures under -196 degree Celsius! so It’s used as a good cooler in superconductors, to freeze or preservation materials, and to make ice creams. it can almost freeze everything. (and it’s cheap!) but don’t dip everything in liquid nitrogen because after dipping that, it will break very easily because it loses It’s flexibility. by the way, Nitrogen’s melting point and boiling point is -209.86 and -195.8 degree Celsius. so that makes Nitrogen a very cool element.(?)

Nitrogen can make oxides with oxygen. nitrous oxide(N2O) is known as ‘laughing gas’. it is used as anesthetic drugs and analgesic drugs. and nitrogen oxide(NO2) is used as a oxidiser in rocket fuels(and it’s poisonous). materials that including the nitro group(-NO2) has high energy. for example, explosives like Nitroglycerine and trinitrotoluene(TNT) has three nitro groups. compounds have nitro groups can explode. you may have not known that nail polishes contains nitrocellulose - it’s other name is gun cotton. nitrocellulose is a explosive material like gunpowder! the nitrocellulose monomer has two nitro groups. so be careful when you get your nail polished.(it’s like holding a explosive gunpowder in your hand!)

you can agree nitrogen has amazing properties. but at first nitrogen has a stigma of toxic gas. when scientists discovered nitrogen, the candle stopped burning, and the mouse died in jar that contained only nitrogen gas. we now know these phenomenon are shown because there was no oxygen. but they didn’t known that at that time, so people called nitrogen ‘Azote’ that means ‘no life’. the word Azote are still remaining in some ions and compound’s name. (example, N3 - polyatomic ion is called a azide ion. and H2N4 is called hydrazine ) and called nitrogen’s group in the periodic table as pnictogens, including ‘choking’in Greek. that was a serious stigma to Nitrogen. but the truth always rises to the surface. scientists figured it out that the 78 % of the air is nitrogen and it has no toxicity. so nitrogen vindicated it’s honor. now the name Nitrogen has named because it makes nitre(KNO3) that can make gunpowder. 

and for records of nitrogen has the strongest bond between it’s diatomic molecules. it requires energy of 942 kJ/mol to separate them. (to break one nitrogen - nitrogen bond, it requires 314 kJ/mol of energy.) and nitrogen has the third - lowest boiling point in the periodic table. 

I think Nitrogen is a element important to life, insert but very active(in explosives), also had a stigma of toxic gas, and so cool.

Note: Actually lightnings really fixes about 9 million tons of nitrogen in soil in one year. and nitroglycerine is used to cure angina because it makes nitric oxide(chemical formula NO) in the body, and the nitric oxide makes the blood vessel expands. One of the Nitrogen compound -Sodium azide(NaN3)is used in airbags because it can produce nitrogen gas (and fill the airbag) by it's thermal decomposition. 2 NaN3 → 2 Na + 3 N2↑ Most of people may not know how explosives work, so I brought the chemical reaction formula.

For Nitroglycerin, 4 C3H5O3(NO2)3 → 6 N2 + 12 CO2 + 10 H2O +O2 + (explosion!)

For trinitrotoluene(TNT), 2 C7H5(NO2)3 → 3N2 + 6 CO2 + 5 H2 + 8 C + (explosion!)

lastly, for gunpowder, 4 KNO3 + 7 C + S→3 CO2 + 3 CO + K2CO3 + K2S + 2 C +(explosion!)

Nitrogen maintains the right air pressure because it makes up 78 % of the air. But the mystery is, where does all of the nitrogen came from? Well, It will need more research to figure it out.

[quacktangent]

The elements - Carbon: the life essential element that likes covalent bonds and also the basis of organic chemistry

Carbon is one of the well-known elements. Well, we can't do organic chemistry without Carbon. Carbon is everywhere. It's in the air in the form of Carbon dioxide, also in the ground, plants and animals - life. Yes carbon is one of the life essential elements.

Carbon really likes covalent bonds. It can form four bonds with other atoms. In the periodic table, you can find carbon in top of group 4(14) in the p-block. It has 4 valence electrons. So if carbon wants to become a ion, it will have lose or gain four electrons. That requires a lot of energy. So instead of these hard work, carbon makes stable 8 valence electrons by sharing it's electrons with other elements. So carbon can make polymers and proteins and DNA for lifes on earth, ring structures, of course - many organic molecules. Only carbon can do this. The other group 4 elements can't do that. Because carbon has small atomic radius and can bend the bond structure freely(it can freely make hybrid orbitals) so it can make one bond, double bonds and maximally, triple bonds and even ring structure.(like in benzene)

the one of the interesting facts about carbon is that Carbon has various kind of allotropes because it can make lots of structure. A allotrope is a substance that are made with the same one element but have different physical properties. Carbon allotropes are including diamond, graphite, graphene, Buckminsterfullerene and carbon nanotubes. For example, diamond is the hardest material that is made up one element. But graphite is very soft so it is used in pencil 'lead'(not atomic number 82 Lead.) you will have known that the carbon allotropes have many different properties.

carbon is essential to life. But it is essential to our industry, too. Most of our machines moves with electricity or fuel(extracted from fossil fuel) and also we makes electricity by burning fossil fuels. Fossil fuels including coal, natural gases, oil are made of various types of hydrocarbon. When it burned(combustion), it makes water(H2O) and carbon dioxide(CO2). Right amount of Carbon dioxide helps the earth maintains the right temperature. But since humans started to burn lots of fossil fuels, the balance of the concentration of CO2 has been broken. So this is causing global warming and climate change. This is a serious problem, so we need to find alternative energy.

when I think about carbon and organic compounds, I always thought, "How can we classify a compound is organic or inorganic?" about this question, first, we can say a organic compound is a substance that only found in life. But some of these substances can synthesized. Generally, a organic compound is a substance that including carbon. I don't like this definition because Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) found in rocks and Lithium carbonate Li2(CO3) is not a organic compound. these compounds has carbon in polyatomic ions. so I think the most rightly definition of a organic compound is ‘a compound that has a covalent bond including carbon atoms, excluding carbon in a cyanide(-CN), carbonate(CO3 2+), etc special situations.

then where did carbon in our body came from? the answer is the stars. carbon forms in the star’s core by a nuclear fusion of three helium-4(alpha particle) nucleus. actually, it is almost impossible to three alpha particles crash in one time and combine. but when two alpha particles comes close, they becomes in a resonance state caused by a strange interaction of electromagnetic force and strong interaction force(or strong nuclear force), and during the resonance state, the third alpha particle collides and cause a fusion. that’s why the carbon atom can be formed. If we see this in a new angle, this means if the electromagnetic force and the strong interaction force are was a bit stronger or a bit weaker, that would be no carbon, no life. so it is interesting that our universe has a perfect strength of four basic forces - Gravity, Electromagnetic force, Weak interaction force and the Strong interaction force.

if the strong interaction force was weaker than now, it would be no nuclear fusion(if it was too farther weaker, it would be no elements except hydrogen because this force makes protons and neutrons stick together in the nucleus) and if it was too stronger, the stars would fuse hydrogen into helium too fast and the lifetime will be short so life will won’t have a chance to evolve. and for the gravity, if the gravity was too weak, the hydrogen gas won’t condensate enough to cause a nuclear fusion so stars won’t exist. if it was too strong, the stars would have been burned out earlier. and the interstellar space would be shorter so stars can collide to each other. so what’s the conclusion? that our universe is  extraordinary, of course. 

Before I finish this, I’d like to say that Carbon is a element that is so essential, so friendly, so special.  the balance of the Carbon cycle is spoiled by humans use lots of fossil fuel, But let’s don’t forget that since when the universe started, the element carbon helps and maintains every life in the universe..   

[quacktangent]

The elements - Boron: the second - hardest element(?)

This article is about the 5th element in the periodic table - Boron.

Boron is not just a boring element. Actually, the periodic table is not boring. It's full of fascinating and interesting stories in it. We just need some chemistry facts to more UNdErSTaNd it. If you read the story of the periodic table - by knowing the chemical or mathematical or physical concepts, it will be well worth enough. BeCaUSe we can realize the source of every matter in our universe.

Okay. The story starts with a question: What is the hardest element? Well, it is one of the allotropes of Carbon. Yes- a diamond. A diamond has a valve of 10 in Mohs hardness scale. And Boron is 9.3 . so boron is the second - hardest element. But if Boron collaborate with Nitrogen it becomes boron nitride(BN) - that is harder than diamond. Also Boron carbide(B4C) is one of the hardest chemicals. They're cheaper than diamonds. So it used as bullet-proof vests. Boron compounds are hard, so it is used in neodymium magnets and many alloys.

Boron fibers are light and strong, so it is used in fishing rods, golf clubs, other sports equipments, aerospace engineering. boron's name has came from buraq - means 'borax' in Arabic. It was extracted from borax by electrolysis. Another well-known compound of boron is boric acid. It has medical uses.because it is poisonous to insects that can’t let out boron from their bodies but harmless to mammals, so it is used as insecticides.

boron is used in Borosilicate glass which has low coefficient of thermal expansion - It won't easily break when the temperature suddenly changes. it is used in laboratory glassware that can hold very cold or hot substances.

the most important part of something about boron is... Boron can be a one of the exception of the octet rule. Most elements wants to have 8 valence electrons to be stable. But generous boron makes covalent bonds like Boric acid - chemical formula B(OH)3 - Boron makes bonds even it doesn't have 8 valence electrons! It makes three covalent bonds and get 6 valence electrons. (Instead, Boron loves to do coordinate covalent bond with other molecules that have unshared electron pairs. Then it can have 8 valence electrons.) a coordinate covalent bond is a covalent bond that produced when one atom provides it's unshared electron pair to another atom. Transition metal elements in the d-block makes coordination complexes(it’s a metal complex) by these methods. I will talk about them when I make a article by the transition metals.

Boron is a generous, interesting metalloid and also has the biggest tensile strength.(it needs a lot of energy to pull axially)

Note: boron is also used to make semiconductors. And Boron's electrons are strongly restrained by the nucleus, so it can't make metallic bonds and be broken easily in it's pure form. boron has a black color and it’s flame test color is  green.

[quacktangent]

The elements - Beryllium: Beautiful, sweet and useful, but poisonous metal

Beryllium is the second metal element. Also the first alkaline earth metal in the periodic table. I think Beryllium is interesting because the metal tastes sweet like cane sugar(C12H22O11) to humans.

sugars are made by monosaccharides like glucose, fructose, galactose. They all have a ring structure. But Beryllium has no ring-shaped structures. It's just one atom. It's just a metal element.(and it's even sweet than sugar) So that is fascinating that elements like Beryllium can trick our mouths.(sweeteners like cyclamate, saccharine, sucralose all has a ring - structure.)

but don't use Beryllium as a sweetener because Beryllium has high toxicity. And if someone breath in beryllium powder, it can cause a lung disease called berylliosis. Despite all of these toxicity, beryllium is stronger than steel and also very light because it's one of the elements are on the top of our periodic table. So it can make good alloys.

Beryllium's name is came from the mineral beryl, including jewels like emeralds and aquamarine(and they are expensive). In the old days until 1900 people called the atomic number four alkaline earth metal element as glucinium(came from the word 'sweet' in greek) because beryllium's salt tasted sweet. So not long from it's discovery, some people even ate it.

Beryllium is a good conductor of X-rays(or you can say beryllium can't absorb X-rays well) so it is used in X-ray devices. And about the alloys, I will talk about beryllium copper. This alloy is strong and doesn't produce sparks when it scratched the surface of the metal. So this alloy is used in tools used in places that have explosion hazard such as oilfields. (Few fire sparks can be fatal because it can cause explosion!)

Also Beryllium has helped scientists to find out the atom's structure. When you shoot a alpha particle(Helium-4 nucleus)in high energy to a thin beryllium film and if the alpha particle strikes directly to the beryllium's nucleus(mostly beryllium-9 isotope), it will produce one carbon-12 nucleus and a particle with no charge - that was inside the nucleus. This was the discovery of the neutron.

Unlike other alkaline earth metals - Magnesium, Calcium, Strontium, Barium and Radium - Beryllium don't forms ionic bond. it has small atomic radius, so the electrons are strongly attracted to the nucleus. This makes beryllium's ionization potential high than other group 2 elements. So all the beryllium compounds are covalent.

Now I can talk about beryllium is sometimes looks BeAuTiful(or full of beryllium, gold and titanium :D). So useful in engineering, toxic, and the flame test color is white.

Note: glucose and galactose are have the same chemical formula(C6H12O6) and have the same structures in 2D. In 3D, we can realize that the direction of some bonds are different. so glucose is two times more sweeter than galactose. The taste of substances are related to the structure of the molecule.

[quacktangent]

The elements - Lithium: the most lightest metal in the universe

Lithium is the first metal in the periodic table. etymology of Lithium is Lithos, the Greek word for ‘stone’. lithium is one of the elements that was produced during the Big Bang. 

Despite it’s small atomic mass and simple nucleus, Lithium is not the third - abundant element in the universe. the third - abundant element is Oxygen. the reason is simple: Oxygen is more ‘stable’ than Lithium. I am not talking about numbers of the stable isotopes. they both have stable isotopes, aren’t they? 

well, space is a dangerous place for atoms. there are cosmic rays flying all over. if the atom’s nucleus crash with high - energy cosmic rays, it can be torn apart. but if the atom has a particularly stable nucleus, it can bear it. 

surprisingly, the nucleus has shells like electrons too, and the neutrons and protons glue together. when the number of the protons or neutrons are ‘magic numbers’ like 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, 126, they are more stable because the shell of nucleus is full and the nucleus becomes a stable sphere like shape. that’s the same reason as the noble gases, which has full electron shells, are chemically stable. (when the number of protons/neutrons are both magic numbers, the nucleus is more stable! it’s called ‘doubly magic’ example, Calcium 40 is the last stable isotope that has the same number of neutrons and protons. it is maintained by doubly magic.) if the shape of the nucleus is like a rugby ball, not a sphere, it becomes unstable and decays into other isotopes. let’s go back. oxygen has 8 protons. so it’s a magic number for protons. but Lithium is not! so that’s the reason. Some of the space's Lithium is the debris nucleus from bigger isotope that been torn apart by cosmic rays. The others are mostly produced when low mass stars die(because low mass stars dies 'quietly', no exploding. so the star's elements are just released to space. If not, it will be produced by the big bang. Let's go to the facts. The reason for why oxygen is the third - abundant element in the universe is that oxygen is the smallest element which has magic numbers after Helium.

but the Alkali metal lithium plays a important law in batteries. Lithium ion batteries is rechargeable and used in electronics like mobile phones. (also scientists has won the 2019 Nobel prize of chemistry by researching lithium batteries.) 35 % of lithium is used for batteries. I will talk about the electro chemistry of the lithium ion battery. when discharged, lithium atoms in the carbon(inside the cathode)releases it’s electrons to becomes a lithium ion and moves to the anode and stored in the Lithium doped cobalt oxide. when it charged, the progress happens the opposite way.

 Lithium carbonate is used as a cure of bipolar disorder. isn’t it fascinating that just a small alkali metal ion can control people’s emotions? this makes me think that maybe our life it’s just a chemical reaction. 

now I’ll talk about a few of Lithium’s chemical properties. Lithium is one of the few metal elements which can react with nitrogen in normal conditions. since nitrogen molecules has a triple bond, it’s hard to cause a chemical reaction with nitrogen.(unless you have a catalyst) 

if you put alkali metals in water, they produce hydrogen gas and make a alkaline solution. that’s why they are called the alkali metals. lithium’s reactions with water are quiet. but sodium and potassium doesn’t. they produce flames because the hydrogen gas ignites. rubidium and cesium will react immediately(it’s explosive) and don’t produce big flames like Na and K because the time of the reaction is so short(very fast reaction.). it’s flame test color is red. alkaline earth metal strontium has the red flame test color too, but a bit different. Lithium is one of the few metals that floats in water. Li, Na, K can only do this. (don’t think about the reaction)

Lithium is soft, the most lightest, and reactive metal. and another story of the periodic table is told.

note: Lithium is one of my favorite element. the elements are all important and elementary, I like them all.