Periodic Table Challenge

 2019 is the International Year of the Periodic Table and IUPAC has a game you can play online!
Here is the link https://iupac.org/100/pt-challenge/

Before you can play, you need to choose an avatar (an element ofcourse!).
Now I don't want to influence your decision in anyway, but ..... the ONLY element named after a woman is Meitnerium, Mt, after Lise Meitner (Curium is named after the wife and husband team of Marie and Pierre Curie).

There are 15 multiple choice questions to answer.
Complete the quiz and generate your certificate.
Get 9 or more correct answers and you get the chance to enter the Nobelium Contest with a chance to win a limited edition Periodic Table autographed by a Nobel Laureate in Chemistry.

The questions are really interesting. Here is a sample..

•  In the 1920s, many companies promoted their products by adding radium. One of the top-selling radium-containing products was 'Radithor'. What was it?

• In the 1880s, Lord Rayleigh found that the density of nitrogen from air was 0.5% greater than the density of nitrogen obtained from other sources. What discovery resulted from this small discrepancy? 

• The 1944 American film ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’, starring Cary Grant, features what use of this chemical element? 

• Despite having few uses, erbium has one very important use that makes it beneficial to the modern world. Which one? 

• Whereas in humans oxygen is bound to iron-containing haemoglobin, spiders and other animals transport oxygen via a different protein in their blood, hemocyanin, which contains copper. What is the color of their blood?

• What happens when a teaspoon made of gallium is used to stir a cup of warm tea?

• The atomic weight of argon varies depending on its source. What is the reason for this phenomenon?

•  Vincent van Gogh’s painting Sunflowers is getting darker due to the presence of chromium in the paint. What is the chemistry behind this change in appearance?

•  When tellurium is absorbed through the skin, it is excreted through sweat as hydrogen telluride making you unfit for social interactions. Why?

• Indium is mostly used to make indium tin oxide which is an important part of touchscreens. How did indium get its name?

•  What name was proposed for bromine by its discoverer, the French scientist Antoine Balard?

 

Polypropene

Polypropene is one of the most widely used plastics in the world.
What is it? How do you make it? What properties does it have? What is it used for?

AUS-e-TUTE has just added a new tutorial, game, test, and exam for our members to help them understand polypropene, and apply that knowledge to answering test and exam questions.
AUS-e-TUTE Members should log-in to use these new resources.

If you are not an AUS-e-TUTE Member you can access a free-to-view tutorial for evaluation purposes at https://www.ausetute.com.au/polypropene.html

Micellar Water

Once upon a time you would buy a bar of soap and use it to wash your hands, face, body, and possibly even your hair.
Not today! Now you have hand-wash for your hands, body-wash for your body, shampoo for your hair, and a huge range of different products to clean your face including "micellar water" or "micellar cleansing water".
Unlike other face-cleaning products which need to be washed off with water, the makers of "micellar water" claim that it will cleanse your skin without vigorous rubbing or rinsing.
Intriguing! This "micellar water" sounds like some kind of magic doesn't it?
What's in "micellar water" and how does it work?

Read all about it in the September 2019 edition of AUS-e-NEWS, AUS-e-TUTE's free quarterly newsletter for chemistry students and teachers.

Want to subscribe to AUS-e-NEWS?

Go to https://www.ausetute.com.au/ausenews.html

polytetrafluoroethene

Polytetrafluoroethene is a very useful polymer. You can can find it encasing electrical wires, being sprayed out of a can of lubricant, and as the non-stick covering on your baking tray. So what is this remarkable polymer? How is it made? What are its properties and uses?
Find out the answers to these and other questions at AUS-e-TUTE.
AUS-e-TUTE members should log-in to view the polytetrafluoroethene tutorial, play the game and take the test and exam.
If you are not a member, you can access a "free-to-view" tutorial at https://www.ausetute.com.au/ptfe.html

Science Week 2019

Did you know it's Science Week in Australia (10^th to 18^th August 2019)
This year's theme is "Destination Moon: more missions, more science"
You can find events near you at https://www.scienceweek.net.au/
There is a downloadable pdf of classroom ideas available (https://www.scienceweek.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2019ASTA-DestinationMoon_ResourceBook.pdf)

How to Maximise Marks in Your Chemistry Exam

Are you ready for your chemistry exam?
The Sydney Morning Herald provided 8 dot points to help you answer Chemistry exam questions, which we have expanded out below:

• Write correctly balanced equations.(Include state, or phase, of matter)
• Structure your answers to ensure they are logical. Written calculations should be neatly organised and sequential.
  • If you dilute an acid with water at 25°C, the pH of the solution will not rise above 7
  • If you dilute a base with water at 25°C, the pH of the solution will not fall below 7
• Clearly label your graphs (plots, scale, axis, line of best fit).
• Use relevant scientific terminology.
  • Check your spelling! Ethane is NOT the same as ethene! Molarity is NOT the same as morality! Calorimetry is NOT the same as colorimetry!
  • If the question is about physical properties, think about intermolecular forces.
  • If the question is about chemical properties, think about intramolecular forces, and think about types of chemical reactions for inorganic chemicals and for organic chemicals (combustion, addition, substitution, elimination, condensation, polymerisation)
• Explain the underlying chemistry and provide relevant chemical equations.
  • Is it a gas question? Ideal Gas Law? Molar Volume? 
  • Precipitation question? Solubility Rules? Solubility Product? Gravimetric Analysis? Conductometric Analysis?  Argentimetric Analysis?
  • Equilibrium question? Equilibrium concepts? Le Chatelier's Principle? Equilibrium law?
  • Acid/base question? Definitions? Properties? Acid strength? Acid-dissociation constant? Neutralisation reaction? Titration techniques? Titration calculations?
  • Chemical kinetics question? Reaction rate? Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution?
  • Determination of organic structure? C-13 NMR, Mass Spectroscopy? IR Sopectroscopy?
• Use subscripts and superscripts where appropriate.
  • Formula of ions, superscript to right of symbol (number first followed by sign)
  • Formula of isotopes, mass number superscript to left of symbol, atomic number subscript to left of symbol 
  • Molecular formula or empirical formula, number of atoms of each element shown as a subscript to the right of the element's symbol
  • "States" or "phases" of matter are sometimes written as a subscript to the right of a molecular formula, eg, CO_2(g), but are usually written in line with with formula, eg, CO₂(g)
• Use stimulus materials to answer the question.
• Use clear labels when continuing responses in a different booklet.

ALWAYS check that you have answered the question that was asked, and not provided an answer to a question that you wish had been on the paper!

Gold Nuggets in 2019

Between 1850 and 1900, the city of Bendigo in Victoria, Australia, was the centre of a Gold Rush. Central Deborah Gold Mine, the last commercial gold mine to operate in Bendigo, re-opened as a tourist attraction in 1986.
Gold can still be found in the Bendigo area.
On Mothers' Day 2019, a family out walking Lucky their dog on the outskirts of Bendigo walked onto a gold nugget. They took it along to the local IGA supermarket to weigh it. The gold nugget weighed 624 grams (about 20 ounces).
Today, the price of gold in Australia is listed as $65.76 per gram. So, if pure, the gold in this nugget would be worth 624 × $65.76 ≈ $41,000.
How big would this gold nugget be?
We know the mass of the nugget is 624 grams.
We can look up the density of gold in tables, ρ = 19.3 g cm^-3
Since density = mass (g) ÷ volume (cm³)
19.3 = 624 ÷ volume (cm³)
volume (cm³) = 624 g ÷ 19.3 g cm^-3 = 32.3 cm³
Which could be represented by a cube approximately 3.2 cm × 3.2 cm × 3.2 cm
Not very big at all is it!

Ballarat, another Victorian Gold Rush town and site of the historic "Eureka Stockade", was also the place where another spectacular gold nugget was found in June 2019 (and reported nationally in July 2019). This gold nugget weighed about 2 kilograms, or 2,000 grams.
At today's prices, it would have a value of about 2,000 × $65.76 ≈ $130,000
And how big would this nugget be?
density = mass (g) ÷ volume (cm³) volume (cm³)
density = mass (g) ÷ density (g cm^-3) = 2,000 g ÷ 19.3 g cm^-3 = 103.6 cm³
The dimensions of a cube with this volume would be about 4.7 cm × 4.7 cm × 4.7 cm
Which would fit nicely into the palm of your hand as shown in the photograph below

Further Reading:
Density Calculations

Suggested Study Questions:

1.  The density of gold is 19.3 g cm^-3. Calculate the mass of
   • 1 cm³ of gold 
   • 10 cm³ of gold 
   • 1 m³ of gold
2.  The density of gold is 19.3 g cm^-3. Calculate the volume of
   • 1 g of gold
   • 10 g of gold
   • 1 kg of gold 
3.  The density of gold is 19.3 g cm^-3. Calculate the dimensions of a cube of gold which has a mass of
   • 5 g
   • 500 g
   • 5 kg
4. The density of gold is 19.3 g cm^-3. Calculate the diameter of a sphere of gold which has a mass of
   • 2 g
   • 200 g
   • 2 kg
5. A credit card has the approximate dimensions 65 mm × 55 mm × 1 mm. Calculate:
   • volume of the credit card in cm³
   • mass of a gold credit card
   • value of a gold credit card if the cost of gold is $65 per gram
   • Why aren't "gold" credit cards really made out of gold?
6. Gold is one of the few metals that is found in nature as the "native" element (that is, it is found as the element and not in compounds). Explain why gold can be found in nuggets.
7. Name some other metals that can also be found in their native state (that is, found as the element and not as compounds). Explain why these metals can be found in their native state. 
8. Name a metal that is not found on Earth in its native state, and explain why it is not found in nature as the uncombined element.