Alchemy- science, magic, art- or all three?

Alchemy seems to have many dimensions to it, so I think it could be understood as a science, as magic, art and more. Alchemy explores the nature of substance and its various transformations, but it also was a study of the cosmos and mankind's relationship to the universe. In this sense it took the more scientific aspect of alchemy and applied the ideas to a spiritual context, uncovering an alchemy of one's inner world. Both aspects can be seen as scientific in their experimentation of natural phenomena, but have a creative or artistic element in their act of transformation. I discovered that alchemists would treat the matter they worked with as though it has a consciousness, and would ask it what it was, what kind of life it was, what it was doing, how it felt when melted following the belief that because these materials are within you, you can contact them directly. In this way they had found a method of directly tapping into what we now call the collective unconscious which sounds like a magical process to me.

Halogen of the Week IODINE (I)

Iodine is a bluish-black, lustrous solid. At ambient temperatures it transforms into a blue-violet gas with an irritating odor. It forms compounds with most elements, but is less reactive than the other halogens. Iodine is primarily used in medicine, photography, and dyes. Iodine is rare in the solar system and Earth's crust. Trace amounts of iodine are required by the human body. Iodine is part of thyroxin, a hormone produced by the thyroid gland that controls the body's rate of physical and mental development. A lack of iodine can also cause a goiter, a swelling of the thyroid gland. Iodine is added to salt (iodized salt) to prevent these diseases.

Discovery from the Color of Minerals link

I'd never heard of the mineral Wulfenite (PbMoO4) before. It's colors are red, orange, yellow silver and white and it is found in Morocco, Nambia, Mexico and Arizona and New Mexico. Wulfenite almost always forms in thin tabular crystals. On the large thin plates the prism faces are often irregularly developed so that the crystals are not sharply bounded. What caught my attention is that they mentioned Wulfenite as being a symmetrical enigma. Apparently there are conflicting results in various symmetry tests which is extremely rare. It is either a symmetry of 4 or 4/m.

Colors of foods in my kitchen

Green- Kale, dandelion greens, parsley, celery, apples, pears, avocado, mung beans, seaweed

Orange- Kabocha squash, yams, carrots, apricot jam, lentils

White- Basmati rice, quinoa

Yellow- Split peas, ginger

Black- Black beans

Red- Chili Peppers

Brown- Dates, maple syrup, multi seeded mochi

Inert Gas of the Week HELIUM (He)

-Helium is colorless, odorless and non toxic

-It's boiling points are the lowest among the elements and it exists only as a gas except in extreme conditions

--Next to hydrogen, it is the second most abundant element in universe, and accounts for 24% of the elemental mass of our galaxy.
-Helium is the second lightest element and is the second most abundant in the observable universe, being present in the universe in masses more than 12 times those of all the heavier elements combined. Helium's abundance is also similar to this in our own Sun and Jupiter.
-Helium is commercially recovered from natural gas deposits, mostly from Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

-Helium gas is used to inflate blimps, scientific balloons and party balloons. It is used as an inert shield for arc welding, to pressurize the fuel tanks of liquid fueled rockets and in supersonic wind tunnels. Helium is combined with oxygen to create a nitrogen free atmosphere for deep sea divers so that they will not suffer from a condition known as nitrogen narcosis. Liquid helium is an important cryogenic material and is used to study superconductivity and to create superconductive magnets.

Atom Economy

From what I can gather, atom economy is a way to reduce the amount of pollution created in chemical processes by balancing out the amount of reactant atoms with the amount of product generated. The reason this has become part of the 12 principles of green chemistry is the increase in cost of petrochemicals and increased awareness of waste pollution. Industries must have gotten overly excited by the huge profit from consumer demands in the past to only just be considering such a crucial aspect of production now

Just how close are we to a Green Economy?

Well luckily we now have a president who actually considers the environment a priority and is interested in creating a more green economy, so in this sense I think we are getting closer. Obama has put forward various plans with regards to developing wind and solar power, creating more efficiency in homes and government buildings, and more fuel efficient cars and public transport. Although these changes would ultimately be beneficial to the economy, they do require a huge amount of financial input. With all of the damage control that needs to be done, I suspect that even with the President’s best intentions, that this restructuring may not happen as quickly as we might wish. I do see a major cultural change in awareness of the Green movement but I can't decide whether or not the trend of it all is helping or making matters worse. There are so many contradictions behind the green facade. I've read that MacDonalds in Europe is changing its famous golden arches to green to symbolize the efforts they have made to go green but is this just going to make people think, ok I can now eat at Macdonalds and being doing my bit to make a change? And then there are all of these organic supermarket chains that market themselves as being so green but all of the fuel and energy that is wasted to bring the organic food that is not local or seasonal into our supermarkets seems so inconsistent with the image they create. As Michael Pollan points out, there is nothing environmentally friendly or health conscious about Whole Food’s practice of flying asparagus from Argentina in January. I just hope that the trend of it all actually does lead to some real change eventually.

Because Kim Kardashian says so...

Zirconium

Zirconium (Zr) is a greyish-white lustrous metal. Zirconium is used as an alloying agent for material such as surgical appliances, explosive primers, vacuum tube getters and filaments due to its high resistance to corrosion . It is never found as a native metal; it is obtained mainly from the mineral zircon, which can be purified by chlorine. The finely divided metal can ignite spontaneously in air, especially at elevated temperatures. It is industrially processed by the Kroll process developed in 1945, in which zirconium tetrachloride is broken down by magnesium. Zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) is used in laboratory crucibles, metallurgical furnaces, and as a refractory material. Zircon (ZrSiO4) is cut into gemstones for use in jewelry.

Review of Vision Learning

This was the site I gravitated towards the most. The format is simple and easy and the highlighted key points were really helpful for someone like me who needs reminding of certain definitions! The pictures and diagrams clearly lay out the various functions and I liked how they had a variety of different styles as well. You need major visual stimulation to wrap your head around science if you have more right brained tendencies.

Covalent Bond Types are like Eating in a Restaurant

I need all the help I can get in understanding chemistry and the analogies were very helpful in figuring out how covalent bonds work. If you are not used thinking in terms of chemical bonds, molecules, atoms and all the rest then it makes it almost impossible to visualize and it seems so abstract. Using examples that we can relate to from our own experience where we can actually comprehend these actions is useful in understanding the nature and behavior of it all.

Tantalum

Tantalum Ta Atomic number 73

-Discovered by Anders Ekeberg in Sweden in 1802

-Tantalum is a shiny, silvery metal which is strong and ducticle. It is almost immune to chemical attack at temperatures below 150 C. It is virtually resistant to corrosion due to an oxide film on its surface

-The main mining areas are Thailand, Australia, Congo, Brazil, Portugal and Canada.

-The demand of tantalum is about 2300 tonnes a year.

-It has a high melting point and is frequently used as a substitute for platinum, which is more expensive.

-Tantalum is used to make components for chemical plants, nuclear power plants, airplanes and missiles.

-Tantalum does not react with bodily fluids or irritate the body and is used to make surgical equipment and surgical sutures as well as implants, such as artificial joints and cranial plates.

-Tantalum is alloyed with steel to increase steel's ductility, strength and melting point.