Polymerize or Polymerise?

A polymer is produced when lots of monomers bond together. Monomer has Greek roots, mono meaning one and mer meaning parts. Polymer also has Greek roots, poly meaning many and mer meaning parts.

So  we can form a verb that means to produce a molecule of many parts. Because the words monomer and polymer have Greek roots, we should use the "ize" suffix, that is, polymerize. Yet, particularly in Australia,  the Latin "ise" suffix is used to produce the verb polymerise.

The word, polymerise, would have a Greek root (poly, many), a French root (mer, sea), and a latin suffix (ise). This would appear to suggest that to polymerise would be to make many seas. On the other hand, a monomer would be just one sea.

Merde!

Ionize or Ionise?

 In chemistry we have a verb to describe the process of producing ions, but how do you spell it?

Is it ionize? (rhymes with prize)

Or is it ionise? (rhymes with surprise)

The root of the word is Greek, so according to my school grammar teacher, the suffix should be "ize". The preferred IUPAC spelling appears to be ionize, and hence ionizing and ionization.

Similarly, we also have a verb to describe the process of producing atoms, also from a Greek root, so the preferred spelling should be atomize, not atomise. Hence we form the words atomizing and atomization.

I'm sure we'll continue to see the alternative spellings with an "s" rather than a "z" but they won't get you a Nobel Prise. Surprize!

Underwater Bubbles

 A backyard experiment you can do that will help you see Boyle's law in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHvGtWXTdso

 You will find more information in the feature article about SCUBA diving in the June 2022 issue of AUS-e-NEWS.

Let's Go SCUBA Diving

In 2021, Mitchell Goodwin, an experienced SCUBA diver, was diving off the coast of Mandurah in Western Australia. According to the report in the "West Australian", he descended to a depth of 42 m and stayed at this depth for 27 minutes. On his ascent, he made one decompression stop. When he got back to the boat he felt nauseous, lost his hearing, his sight, and blacked out.

What had gone wrong?

Read more in the June 2022 edition of AUS-e-NEWS.

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