Is this thing on?

I can’t believe that I’ve not logged a single post at this blog since last year, and it’s already the middle of March.  With that said, I’d just like any folks who still have this site in their RSS feeds know that Shrimp and Grits has gotten a new domain name.  And because of the new domain name, I’ve given the site something of a facelift as well.  Come on over to …

[drumroll]

When Chemists ATTACK!

I’ve moved over all of the old blog content to the new site, and … hopefully … everything works!

Thanks for reading!

Dr. Suess books. I wonder if I can find Geern Egsg nad Hma?

Further over on the shelf, you can find the cheap stuff.

What a barge-in!

(The really sad thing is that copies of this sign were all over the store.)

Headlines

• Illegal SC gambling house raided, shut down
• Megamillions jackpot game coming to the Palmetto State

The message?  It’s not, apparently, that gambling is wrong.  It’s that the powers that control gambling in the state do not want competition.

Cate swings to avoid the Big Bad Wolf

As we celebrate Cate’s birthday, let’s not forget that today is also Mole Day.  So can chemists take the day off?

Barack Obama, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize

… but no, it was the sound of thousands of wingnut heads exploding at once.

Ayyyyyyyyyyy! (800x600 JPEG, click to enlarge)

Broadway at the Beach has added a bunch of old rides from the Pavilion and called it the Pavilion Nostalgia Park. While i never went to the Myrtle Beach Pavilion while it was open, the rides do remind me a lot of what you could ride at the county fair when I was a little kid.

The teacher had stepped away from her desk for a few moments around 3:30 p.m. Sept. 2. After returning, she drank her tea and noticed it had a “peculiar taste,” according to a York County Sheriff’s Office report.

The taste of … hand sanitizer.

At the time of the incident, five students were in her classroom waiting on a school bus, the report stated. The students told the assistant principal and school resource officer they didn’t see anyone put anything in the teacher’s drink.

Of course they didn’t see anything.  And whichever one put the sanitizer in this teacher’s drink just wanted to make sure the drink had been disinfected.

So I pulled out some sodium peroxide, Na₂O₂. The MSDS sheet looks interesting:

DANGER! CORROSIVE. STRONG OXIDIZER. CONTACT WITH OTHER MATERIAL MAY CAUSE FIRE. CAUSES SEVERE BURNS TO EVERY AREA OF CONTACT. HARMFUL IF SWALLOWED OR INHALED.

Also:

Contact with combustible, organic, or oxidizable substances may cause extremely violent combustion. May react explosively in contact with large amounts of water.

it’s a strong oxidizer, plus it reacts with water?  If there were ever a substance tailor-made for a cool reaction demonstration, sodium peroxide would have to be it.  So let’s see … what would happen if you took some sodium peroxide, sprinkled it on top of a few combustible cotton balls, and then added water?

No, really.  I’ve found this demonstration mentioned in several of my chemistry books. (Ever notice how the more impressive chemical demonstrations involve doing things the MSDS specifically warns against?)

The idea behind this particular demonstration is that the reaction of sodium peroxide with water will release hydrogen peroxide and quite a bit of heat.

Na₂O₂ + 2H₂O –> 2NaOH + H₂O₂ … and lots of heat.

Under these conditions hydrogen peroxide also decomposes, releasing oxygen – which will speed up any combustion that happens to be occurring.

2H₂O₂ -> 2H₂O+O₂

In short, we get oxygen and a lot of heat.  This usually makes for a fun demonstration.  Take a look.

Looking a little more closely, you can see that after only a few seconds, the cotton catches fire.

The flame is bright orange, probably due to the presence of sodium ion in the flame.

And after several seconds more, the evaporating dish just can’t handle any more.

Bang! You can't see it in the video, but there's a sand bath just below the evaporating dish - in case something like this were to happen.

… and this is why we always wear safety glasses when doing chemical demonstrations.  But perhaps I should have given the camera some safety glasses, too?

The college has received word of the first confirmed case of the H1N1 virus in one of our students.  The student sought treatment and is now recuperating at home. The faculty members of that student have been informed today and students who were attending those classes will be notified by faculty.

One of the drawbacks of teaching is exposure to every illness that comes around – from common colds, to stomach viruses, to the hottest new flu pandemics.  Sigh.