The biggest reason why I haven't been updating my blog lately (other than laziness) is apparently due to having too much free time. Strange as it may seem, I am finding I require a certain minimum level of structure in my life in order to post anything on this blog. Back when I lived in the land of employment, there was structure. Searching the net for interesting science articles at work (during lunch, of course) was a regular routine and this process generated most of the ideas about which I posted. When I'm home all day, I never get around to performing this ritual until late at night, and then I feel obliged to work on my resume, or rearranging my office, or any of the other tasks I managed to avoid during the day.
Well it looks like that practice is about to stop.
Unless something unforeseen occurs, I should be entering the land of the employed in about a week. Now before you all start cheering too loudly, I should point out this job is not a permanent position. It's a contract position, with a length of one year, and the salary is significantly less than my prior job. And it's not going to involve a lot of interesting research on my part either, at least not for a while. I'll be developing computer automated test reactors for the evaluation of fuel cells. Not what I'd call an ideal position, but it will help keep us financially secure until I do locate a more favorable, permanent position. To say the national job market for inorganic chemists has fallen off a cliff is an understatement. The trick will be to ride it out for a couple of years until the job market opens up.
The funny thing is -- I am going to be working for the same company I was laid off from two months ago. I was only able to pull this off because:
1. it's a contract position, which means they can cut me loose at any time, and considering the precarious state of the company, that time could be measured in months or weeks.
2. it's at a different facility, which unfortunately means a 50-60 minute commute each way.
3. it involves a product area in which they are very excited. And the fact that this project is partially funded by the government actually allowed them to hire someone.
Anyway, I hope to be spending lunch breaks posting in a more regular fashion soon.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
More Bad News
I just learned that there are going to be more layoffs at my former company. Unfortunately, one of the guys I worked closely with was tapped this time. All the competent researchers from that particular division are now basically gone. This does not bode well for the future of that division or the company overall.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Hydrate Chemistry
As I've previously indicated on this blog, I am primarily an AQUEOUS inorganic chemist. As such, I've prepared a wide variety of aquated metal complexes over the years, but I've never paid much attention to solid hydrate chemistry. And that's a shame, since there is a lot of good chemistry in that area, some of which I'm dealing with right now.
A few months ago, we decorated our ceilings with crown molding. Unfortunately, the original builders of our house placed the water pipes too close to the ceiling, which meant that two months after the crown molding was added, the FOUR nails which had punctured the pipes rusted and caused the pipes to leak. The resulting repair left a hole in the ceiling which was my job to fix. The material of choice for this type of repair is drywall (sometimes called sheetrock). Drywall is prepared by mixing CaSO4 · 1/2H2O with water to form CaSO4 · 2H2O, a hydrate with enough strength to be used to construct walls. Considering the fact that the added water forms no bonds other than hydrogen bonds, it's a little surprising that the resulting hydrate is so stable.
Of course, the strength of CaSO4 · 2H2O is nothing compared to that of another well-known hydrate. Cement begins as a mixture of CaO and SiO2 in various proportions, which is then reacted with water to form a calcium silicate hydrate.
2 Ca3SiO5 + 7 H2O —> 3 CaO · 2 SiO2 · 4 H2O +3 Ca(OH)2
Actually there is an entire series of hydration reactions which occur during the hardening of cement, with reaction times ranging from hours to weeks. Again, the strength generated by the formation of a hydrate is simply amazing.
Another hydrate with interesting chemistry is methane hydrate. Containing 5-6 molecules of water for every molecule of methane, this material can be found in huge quantities along the ocean floor. Wiki link here. It has been described as both a huge, untapped energy reserve and a major source of greenhouse gas. The latter description has become more significant as the temperature of the oceans continues to rise, since methane hydrate is only stable at low temperatures. It's also been used to explain the disappearance of ships in the Bermuda Triangle. What more could you ask from a simple compound?
Anyway, the ceiling is fixed.
A few months ago, we decorated our ceilings with crown molding. Unfortunately, the original builders of our house placed the water pipes too close to the ceiling, which meant that two months after the crown molding was added, the FOUR nails which had punctured the pipes rusted and caused the pipes to leak. The resulting repair left a hole in the ceiling which was my job to fix. The material of choice for this type of repair is drywall (sometimes called sheetrock). Drywall is prepared by mixing CaSO4 · 1/2H2O with water to form CaSO4 · 2H2O, a hydrate with enough strength to be used to construct walls. Considering the fact that the added water forms no bonds other than hydrogen bonds, it's a little surprising that the resulting hydrate is so stable.
Of course, the strength of CaSO4 · 2H2O is nothing compared to that of another well-known hydrate. Cement begins as a mixture of CaO and SiO2 in various proportions, which is then reacted with water to form a calcium silicate hydrate.
2 Ca3SiO5 + 7 H2O —> 3 CaO · 2 SiO2 · 4 H2O +3 Ca(OH)2
Actually there is an entire series of hydration reactions which occur during the hardening of cement, with reaction times ranging from hours to weeks. Again, the strength generated by the formation of a hydrate is simply amazing.
Another hydrate with interesting chemistry is methane hydrate. Containing 5-6 molecules of water for every molecule of methane, this material can be found in huge quantities along the ocean floor. Wiki link here. It has been described as both a huge, untapped energy reserve and a major source of greenhouse gas. The latter description has become more significant as the temperature of the oceans continues to rise, since methane hydrate is only stable at low temperatures. It's also been used to explain the disappearance of ships in the Bermuda Triangle. What more could you ask from a simple compound?
Anyway, the ceiling is fixed.
Monday, January 12, 2009
The Power of TV
One of the advantages of a “career transition” is that it allows one to watch alarmingly high amounts of TV during the day (while doing Internet job searches, of course). And while I appreciate having been granted this boon, it’s probably not worth the I.Q. points I’ve had to give up for the privilege. Lately, my wife has developed the habit of watching HGTV (Home & Garden TV) whenever she finds nothing else worth watching. Unfortunately, this means we have HGTV on at least 6 hours a day.
(Yes, we are one of those families where the TV is on almost continously all day, even if no one is watching. Frankly, the silence generated by turning it off scares the hell out of me.)
Long time readers know that I’m into gardening (garden link here), so I used to enjoy HGTV, but lately they’ve been ignoring the garden aspect and concentrating solely on houses. Remodeling houses, appraising houses, selling houses, buying houses, swapping houses -- it doesn’t take a genius to realize that all these shows are going to look the same. I realize the housing crisis has led to a renewed interest in how to sell your house -- or how to remodel it if you can’t -- but you can only remodel a kitchen so many ways. You can only gasp at poorly decorated homes so many times. You can only laugh at a homeowner’s first experience with a hammer so many times. And that, basically, is a summation of about 80% of the shows. The other 20% involves laughing at the tacky artistic remodeling touches added by the show’s designers, which would never see the light of day if the owners were actually paying for them.
However, what really drive me crazy are the “What is my house worth?” shows. First of all, either these shows were taped 2 years ago or else the realtors who supposedly “appraise” the houses are incompetent fools, or liars, or incompetently foolish liars. In almost every case, the “supposed” appreciations of these houses are outrageously high. It’s not uncommon for an owner to have purchased a house 3 years ago for $300k, added $100k in upgrades, and then being told it’s now worth $800k. Even in the housing boom, that would have been remarkable. But these days? Who are they kidding? Obviously there are certain locations within in the United States where housing prices are climbing (at least, so far), but unless these shows are only filming in those specific areas, there is no way these prices are real.
What really appalls me though, is the reason for these appraisals. When the owners are asked the reason behind the appraisal, the most common answer is that they are considering a major renovation and want to know if the house has appreciated enough to pay for that upgrade. Morons! Either you have the money or you don’t! Using a “supposed” increase in the price of your house to pay for a renovation is like pulling money out of your savings account and thinking you just made a profit. Don’t these people realize that it was this kind of “logic” that got us into the housing crisis in the first place. Basing financial decisions on artificially inflated values of real estate is stupid.
Seriously, some of these people need to be kept out of the gene pool!
I feel better now.
Tomorrow -- Real Science: Nostradamus on the History Channel!
(Yes, we are one of those families where the TV is on almost continously all day, even if no one is watching. Frankly, the silence generated by turning it off scares the hell out of me.)
Long time readers know that I’m into gardening (garden link here), so I used to enjoy HGTV, but lately they’ve been ignoring the garden aspect and concentrating solely on houses. Remodeling houses, appraising houses, selling houses, buying houses, swapping houses -- it doesn’t take a genius to realize that all these shows are going to look the same. I realize the housing crisis has led to a renewed interest in how to sell your house -- or how to remodel it if you can’t -- but you can only remodel a kitchen so many ways. You can only gasp at poorly decorated homes so many times. You can only laugh at a homeowner’s first experience with a hammer so many times. And that, basically, is a summation of about 80% of the shows. The other 20% involves laughing at the tacky artistic remodeling touches added by the show’s designers, which would never see the light of day if the owners were actually paying for them.
However, what really drive me crazy are the “What is my house worth?” shows. First of all, either these shows were taped 2 years ago or else the realtors who supposedly “appraise” the houses are incompetent fools, or liars, or incompetently foolish liars. In almost every case, the “supposed” appreciations of these houses are outrageously high. It’s not uncommon for an owner to have purchased a house 3 years ago for $300k, added $100k in upgrades, and then being told it’s now worth $800k. Even in the housing boom, that would have been remarkable. But these days? Who are they kidding? Obviously there are certain locations within in the United States where housing prices are climbing (at least, so far), but unless these shows are only filming in those specific areas, there is no way these prices are real.
What really appalls me though, is the reason for these appraisals. When the owners are asked the reason behind the appraisal, the most common answer is that they are considering a major renovation and want to know if the house has appreciated enough to pay for that upgrade. Morons! Either you have the money or you don’t! Using a “supposed” increase in the price of your house to pay for a renovation is like pulling money out of your savings account and thinking you just made a profit. Don’t these people realize that it was this kind of “logic” that got us into the housing crisis in the first place. Basing financial decisions on artificially inflated values of real estate is stupid.
Seriously, some of these people need to be kept out of the gene pool!
I feel better now.
Tomorrow -- Real Science: Nostradamus on the History Channel!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Home Grown Titanium
Although my current lack of posting might not indicate it, I've actually come across quite a few interesting articles lately. Unfortunately, they all involve nanochemistry, and since I've already talked too much about nanochemistry recently, I'm imposing a moratorium on that subject for awhile. Fortunately, I do have something else to talk about.
The Goldschmidt reaction.
Not familiar with the Goldschmidt reaction? Perhaps you have heard of it referred to as "the thermite reaction."
Surely everyone who has ever taken a freshman chemistry course has read or heard about the thermite reaction. Most of you have probably seen it in action. The pyrotechnics are impressive and most freshman chemistry lecturers simply cannot resist demonstrating it in front of a class. In its most common incarnation, aluminum and Fe2O3 (or Fe3O4) powders are mixed and ignited. The aluminum is converted to Al2O3 while the iron oxide is reduced to the metallic state. Significant quantities of heat are released, and if the experiment is set up correctly, molten iron will drip out of the bottom of the reaction vessel. Although iron oxide is the material most associated with the thermite reaction, copper and manganese oxides can also be used.
In a continuation of "the type of experiments I'd like to try at home when my wife is away" category, I recently came across a method for generating titanium metal in your garage using TiO2 and the thermite reaction. A full description of the technique as well as a video of the pyrotechnics are included. Metallic titanium was actually recovered, which is amazing since titanium tends to oxidize in air at temperatures near its melting point. In order to generate the temperatures necessary to melt the titanium, CaSO4 was added to generate additional heat. CaSO4 reacts with aluminum in its own version of the thermite reaction to form CaS. A more detailed description of the process involved can be found here.
This would have been an awesome experiment for alchemists to have performed back in the day. Simple, yet impressive. Perhaps the substitution of iron oxide with some form of gold oxide (or other suitable gold compound) might have resulted in the appearance of molten gold, always a good way to impress the wealthy patrons upon whom the alchemists depended. Unfortunately, although aluminum salts were known to the alchemists as far back as ancient Greece, aluminum metal was not produced until the 1800's. And it's the chemical energy stored in the metal which drives the whole reaction.
The Goldschmidt reaction.
Not familiar with the Goldschmidt reaction? Perhaps you have heard of it referred to as "the thermite reaction."
Surely everyone who has ever taken a freshman chemistry course has read or heard about the thermite reaction. Most of you have probably seen it in action. The pyrotechnics are impressive and most freshman chemistry lecturers simply cannot resist demonstrating it in front of a class. In its most common incarnation, aluminum and Fe2O3 (or Fe3O4) powders are mixed and ignited. The aluminum is converted to Al2O3 while the iron oxide is reduced to the metallic state. Significant quantities of heat are released, and if the experiment is set up correctly, molten iron will drip out of the bottom of the reaction vessel. Although iron oxide is the material most associated with the thermite reaction, copper and manganese oxides can also be used.
In a continuation of "the type of experiments I'd like to try at home when my wife is away" category, I recently came across a method for generating titanium metal in your garage using TiO2 and the thermite reaction. A full description of the technique as well as a video of the pyrotechnics are included. Metallic titanium was actually recovered, which is amazing since titanium tends to oxidize in air at temperatures near its melting point. In order to generate the temperatures necessary to melt the titanium, CaSO4 was added to generate additional heat. CaSO4 reacts with aluminum in its own version of the thermite reaction to form CaS. A more detailed description of the process involved can be found here.
This would have been an awesome experiment for alchemists to have performed back in the day. Simple, yet impressive. Perhaps the substitution of iron oxide with some form of gold oxide (or other suitable gold compound) might have resulted in the appearance of molten gold, always a good way to impress the wealthy patrons upon whom the alchemists depended. Unfortunately, although aluminum salts were known to the alchemists as far back as ancient Greece, aluminum metal was not produced until the 1800's. And it's the chemical energy stored in the metal which drives the whole reaction.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
More Nanoparticle Bondage
In a previous entry, I mentioned a technique whereby gold nanoparticles could be attached to the exterior of fungal cells to form unusual hybrid materials. Once the gold scaffolding was complete, the fungi could be removed (digested), leaving behind 3 dimensional gold structures. This started me thinking that there might be a rich field of exploration here, finding simple ways of attaching metal nanoparticles like gold to new substrates in the hopes of creating new 3-dimensional structures with unusual properties. Even better, many of these techniques would be based on aqueous chemistry, which make them especially appealing (to me at least).
Of course, within a week or two of that article, two more articles appeared which demonstrated that other research groups are already way ahead of me in this area.
In the first paper, J. P. Hinestroza and coauthors at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) and the University of California, Davis, described a method of applying silver nanoparticles to porous nylon fibers, resulting in fibers with strong antibacterial properties. By using AQUEOUS chemistry techniques (pH control, isoelectric points, citrate stabilization, etc.), they found they could control the resulting properties of the final material. When you consider the fact that the original gold and silver nanoparticles can be easily produced by reducing aqueous solutions of the metal salts, you begin to realize just how much fun this type of project could be for an aqueous inorganic chemist like myself.
In the second paper, Y. Yin and co-workers at the University of California, Riverside, described the synthesis of gold nanoparticle catalysts supported on silica-encapsulated Fe3O4 spheres and protected by a porous silica shell. The purpose of the silica shell was to fix the gold nanoparticles in place for catalysis. Apparently the resulting material were found to be a good catalyst for the liquid-phase reduction of 4-nitrophenol with NaBH4. Interestingly, the purpose of placing the catalyst onto Fe3O4 cores was to give the researchers a convenient way of separating the catalyst from the reaction mixture. Nice.
I'm predicting a whole slew of papers are going to start appearing which involve placing gold and silver nanoparticles on every material imaginable.
Of course, maybe that's already happened and I just haven't noticed yet.
Ah yes..., it feels good to be blogging again.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas
I naively thought all the extra time I would have available to me during my career transition would translate into my having more time to devote to this blog. I actually do have extra time, despite all the inevitable timesinks (job search, buying presents, rearranging my office at home, etc.). However, I've also discovered that it's a lot harder for me to update this blog if I am not following a regular schedule throughout the day. So I ask you to bear with me as I begin to develop a regular routine.
I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas today.
I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas today.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Another Use for Copper
I've just returned from a 5 day visit with my parents in Missouri (which partly explains my recent lack of postings). It was great to visit, but it's always good to come back home again. Unfortunately, "home" is 20 degrees colder, my wife's computer had stopped working, and everyone in the house has some sort of vicious stomach virus. I briefly considered going to a motel, but my wife would have killed me.
Really.
So I spent Monday passing out medicines, cleaning up various messes, mostly eating by myself, and fixing the computer. The computer's working now, which is more than I can say for the rest of the family. I've already resigned myself to the inevitability of becoming a patient myself within the next couple of days. Perhaps I should invest in some copper bedsheets.
Why copper, you ask?
I have previously discussed the anti-bacterial properties of silver and gold. The list of purchasable items containing silver grows daily, and includes bandages, socks, towels, bedsheets, ointments, plastic food containers, soaps, and washing machines. Gold is not at that level of marketability yet, with gold-laced soap being the main use of its anti-bacterial properties. So it only makes sense that copper, the third element in the 1B group, also exhibits some of these same properties. In fact, in Chili, the biggest suppler of copper, copper fibers are being added to socks, towels, pillow cases and underwear. Copper sponge filters are being tested for their ability to purify water. I suspect it won't be long before this becomes a new marketing opportunity.
Despite their anti-fungal properties, these elements may also be used in conjunction with fungi. In a novel approach, fungi are being used as templates for stabilizing gold nanoparticles. Under the right conditions, fungi can absorb microscopic metal particles onto their surfaces, creating unusual clusters of nanoparticles, and resulting in metal-fungus hybrids which are able to catalyze certain reactions. It's certainly a novel way of doing bioinorganic chemistry.
Gotta go. I hear some rather vile noises emanating from my son's bedroom.
Really.
So I spent Monday passing out medicines, cleaning up various messes, mostly eating by myself, and fixing the computer. The computer's working now, which is more than I can say for the rest of the family. I've already resigned myself to the inevitability of becoming a patient myself within the next couple of days. Perhaps I should invest in some copper bedsheets.
Why copper, you ask?
I have previously discussed the anti-bacterial properties of silver and gold. The list of purchasable items containing silver grows daily, and includes bandages, socks, towels, bedsheets, ointments, plastic food containers, soaps, and washing machines. Gold is not at that level of marketability yet, with gold-laced soap being the main use of its anti-bacterial properties. So it only makes sense that copper, the third element in the 1B group, also exhibits some of these same properties. In fact, in Chili, the biggest suppler of copper, copper fibers are being added to socks, towels, pillow cases and underwear. Copper sponge filters are being tested for their ability to purify water. I suspect it won't be long before this becomes a new marketing opportunity.
Despite their anti-fungal properties, these elements may also be used in conjunction with fungi. In a novel approach, fungi are being used as templates for stabilizing gold nanoparticles. Under the right conditions, fungi can absorb microscopic metal particles onto their surfaces, creating unusual clusters of nanoparticles, and resulting in metal-fungus hybrids which are able to catalyze certain reactions. It's certainly a novel way of doing bioinorganic chemistry.
Gotta go. I hear some rather vile noises emanating from my son's bedroom.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Full Circle
Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving (assuming you live in the US). It was a good time to get together with friends and family.
My last day at work wasn’t as bad as I had expected. Pretty much everyone I knew had taken Wednesday off, so I had done all of my goodbyes the previous day. And since I’ve only been in the new building for about a month, it wasn’t like walking out was all that big a deal. Still, I’ll always remember my last day at work, just as I’ll always remember my first day of work, although for very different reasons. The story I’m about to tell is a lesson on what not to do when leaving school to start a new career….
It was Monday and my PhD still wasn’t finished, despite the fact that it was due in the graduate office on Friday. My thesis advisor had already left town on sabbatical, the movers were showing up in a couple of days, my timetable was inflexible (you’ll see why in a bit), and my fiancée had already made it abundantly clear that I would NOT be missing any of the agreed upon dates. (In the interest of truth, and the fact that my wife might actually read this post, I will point out that this fiancée is not my current wife). The thesis was pretty much done, but I was still fiddling around with the figures, since the thesis examiner was known to be a stickler for thesis formatting rules and if he declined to accept it on Friday, there would be hell to pay.
On Wednesday I discovered my thesis advisor was required to sign my cover page in two different locations. I had had him sign about 10 copies of the cover sheet before he left town (in case I needed backups), but hadn’t noticed the need for the second signature and now he was out of the country. I sweated bullets for a while before I remembered that, as the head of the chemical education program, he had a stamp with his signature on it stored away in his office. After talking with my advisor by phone, and after much practice, I managed to stamp his signature onto the appropriate spot without it obviously appearing to be a stamp. I was hoping the examiner wouldn’t notice.
On Thursday, the movers showed up and after explaining to them which items should be packed and which items should be left alone (I lived in a house with four other people), I went back to working on my thesis. At one point, I left to bring back some fast food, since everything seemed to be going smoothly with the movers. Of course, the instant I left, the movers started packing up my housemates stuff. I spent several hours on Thursday unpacking boxes and returning items which weren’t mine.
After pulling an all-nighter, the thesis was finished by Friday morning and I made all the necessary copies at Kinko’s. I showed up at the thesis examiner’s office with the copies at the designated time, 11:00 am, knowing that the office closed at noon, which meant there would be no time to fix any problems in the thesis should the examiner reject it. I had heard rumors about this guy, who was apparently fond of using rulers to ensure that all formatting rules were followed to the letter.
He accepted the thesis.
Relieved, I drove back to my house, packed up a few things, picked up one of my housemates (who was one of the bridesmaids), and immediately drove 4 hours to southern Illinois for my 5 o’clock wedding rehearsal. Yes, I was trying to squeeze a wedding into the middle of all this. I warned you this was not the way to do things.
Saturday was the wedding, and other than some discomfort in the morning due, I suspect, to a few drinks on Friday night, everything turned out well.
Sunday, picked up a U-Haul trailer and loaded my wife’s things into it.
Monday, left for Detroit, stopping at my house in Urbana to pick up more of my stuff. This made it a 3 day trip, which meant arriving in Detroit on Thursday. Unfortunately, I hadn’t had the time to make hotel reservations, assuming I could just find something on the fly. Not knowing Detroit very well, I ended up stopping at a motel whose reputation turned out to be rather suspect. This suspicion began when, during my check in at the office, some guy appeared, asking if the motel rented rooms by the hour. My suspicion was confirmed when the manager specifically had me park the car so that the doors of the U-Haul would be backed up against a tree, so that no one would be tempted to break open the lock. Needless to say, I must have checked the trailer 10 times over the course of the night.
Friday, I showed up for work on the absolute last day I could have arrived and still been granted vacation days the following year. Thus the rather strict timetable.
Saturday, left for the honeymoon.
That was one hell of a week!
My advice: Make sure to give yourself plenty of time for relaxation before reporting to your new job.
My last day at work wasn’t as bad as I had expected. Pretty much everyone I knew had taken Wednesday off, so I had done all of my goodbyes the previous day. And since I’ve only been in the new building for about a month, it wasn’t like walking out was all that big a deal. Still, I’ll always remember my last day at work, just as I’ll always remember my first day of work, although for very different reasons. The story I’m about to tell is a lesson on what not to do when leaving school to start a new career….
It was Monday and my PhD still wasn’t finished, despite the fact that it was due in the graduate office on Friday. My thesis advisor had already left town on sabbatical, the movers were showing up in a couple of days, my timetable was inflexible (you’ll see why in a bit), and my fiancée had already made it abundantly clear that I would NOT be missing any of the agreed upon dates. (In the interest of truth, and the fact that my wife might actually read this post, I will point out that this fiancée is not my current wife). The thesis was pretty much done, but I was still fiddling around with the figures, since the thesis examiner was known to be a stickler for thesis formatting rules and if he declined to accept it on Friday, there would be hell to pay.
On Wednesday I discovered my thesis advisor was required to sign my cover page in two different locations. I had had him sign about 10 copies of the cover sheet before he left town (in case I needed backups), but hadn’t noticed the need for the second signature and now he was out of the country. I sweated bullets for a while before I remembered that, as the head of the chemical education program, he had a stamp with his signature on it stored away in his office. After talking with my advisor by phone, and after much practice, I managed to stamp his signature onto the appropriate spot without it obviously appearing to be a stamp. I was hoping the examiner wouldn’t notice.
On Thursday, the movers showed up and after explaining to them which items should be packed and which items should be left alone (I lived in a house with four other people), I went back to working on my thesis. At one point, I left to bring back some fast food, since everything seemed to be going smoothly with the movers. Of course, the instant I left, the movers started packing up my housemates stuff. I spent several hours on Thursday unpacking boxes and returning items which weren’t mine.
After pulling an all-nighter, the thesis was finished by Friday morning and I made all the necessary copies at Kinko’s. I showed up at the thesis examiner’s office with the copies at the designated time, 11:00 am, knowing that the office closed at noon, which meant there would be no time to fix any problems in the thesis should the examiner reject it. I had heard rumors about this guy, who was apparently fond of using rulers to ensure that all formatting rules were followed to the letter.
He accepted the thesis.
Relieved, I drove back to my house, packed up a few things, picked up one of my housemates (who was one of the bridesmaids), and immediately drove 4 hours to southern Illinois for my 5 o’clock wedding rehearsal. Yes, I was trying to squeeze a wedding into the middle of all this. I warned you this was not the way to do things.
Saturday was the wedding, and other than some discomfort in the morning due, I suspect, to a few drinks on Friday night, everything turned out well.
Sunday, picked up a U-Haul trailer and loaded my wife’s things into it.
Monday, left for Detroit, stopping at my house in Urbana to pick up more of my stuff. This made it a 3 day trip, which meant arriving in Detroit on Thursday. Unfortunately, I hadn’t had the time to make hotel reservations, assuming I could just find something on the fly. Not knowing Detroit very well, I ended up stopping at a motel whose reputation turned out to be rather suspect. This suspicion began when, during my check in at the office, some guy appeared, asking if the motel rented rooms by the hour. My suspicion was confirmed when the manager specifically had me park the car so that the doors of the U-Haul would be backed up against a tree, so that no one would be tempted to break open the lock. Needless to say, I must have checked the trailer 10 times over the course of the night.
Friday, I showed up for work on the absolute last day I could have arrived and still been granted vacation days the following year. Thus the rather strict timetable.
Saturday, left for the honeymoon.
That was one hell of a week!
My advice: Make sure to give yourself plenty of time for relaxation before reporting to your new job.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Scary Times, Indeed
Tomorrow -- the 27th day of the 11th month of the 8th year of the 3rd millennium -- is my last day at work.
It's been one hell of a ride. Layoffs, buyouts, spinoffs, promotions, bankruptcy, blue sky research, product development projects. I've seen good times and bad times. And soon, hopefully, I'll be starting it all over again somewhere else.
One of the things you have to deal with in these situations is understanding why YOU had to be (one of) the sacrificial goats. I know WHY the company had to make deep cuts to survive (at least for a while longer), but as I look around at the people who made it past this round of cuts, I'm not sure why I was one of the chosen. For example, one of my coworkers, who was part of my group before a reorganization in January, is now coordinating projects with the national labs. Those were MY projects before the reorganization. Now I'm not trying to take anything away from her, but these projects simply are not in her area of expertise -- they're in mine. They were given to her simply because they needed to find something for her to do. Had I still been working those projects, I might have survived this rounds of cuts. In fact, I can think of several projects I was working on last year which turned out to be safe harbors. Unfortunately, it was my new project assignment which got axed, and me along with it. Apparently it was a matter of being involved on the wrong project at the wrong time. Ironically, the assignment which got me axed involved more chemistry than I had seen in years.
It's also easy to look around and see people just going through the motions, waiting for retirement to come, and wonder why they weren't approached. Part of that is due to having been in their respective business units for a long time. I was originally a part of the R&D labs, which was broken up about 2 years ago and distributed to various parts of the company. Of the 100 of us originally in the R&D labs, only about 5 of us are now left in the company. I had been warned this summer (by someone with connections inside the company) that we R&Ders had targets painted on our backs, and I guess they were right. Needless to say, the company is going to have a difficult time developing new products in the future.
Low level managers also appeared to be particularly immune to the layoffs, even if the product lines in which they were in charge were being dropped, leaving them with no real purpose in the company. Some of these managers are now spending all their time desperately trying to come up with project areas to justify their continued existence. It's not going to be easy.
All this may sound as though I'm somewhat bitter about the whole mess, and a week or two ago, I probably was. But I've come to realize that I was missing the point. As the company has continued to shrink due to a decline in the automotive sector (and unfortunately that target is still continuing to move downwards), it has been forced to shed many of the product areas in which an inorganic chemist (or any kind of chemist for that matter) would be useful. I look over what's left of the company and realize the company didn't really dump me. It's just that the company I joined many years ago no longer exists.
It's been one hell of a ride. Layoffs, buyouts, spinoffs, promotions, bankruptcy, blue sky research, product development projects. I've seen good times and bad times. And soon, hopefully, I'll be starting it all over again somewhere else.
One of the things you have to deal with in these situations is understanding why YOU had to be (one of) the sacrificial goats. I know WHY the company had to make deep cuts to survive (at least for a while longer), but as I look around at the people who made it past this round of cuts, I'm not sure why I was one of the chosen. For example, one of my coworkers, who was part of my group before a reorganization in January, is now coordinating projects with the national labs. Those were MY projects before the reorganization. Now I'm not trying to take anything away from her, but these projects simply are not in her area of expertise -- they're in mine. They were given to her simply because they needed to find something for her to do. Had I still been working those projects, I might have survived this rounds of cuts. In fact, I can think of several projects I was working on last year which turned out to be safe harbors. Unfortunately, it was my new project assignment which got axed, and me along with it. Apparently it was a matter of being involved on the wrong project at the wrong time. Ironically, the assignment which got me axed involved more chemistry than I had seen in years.
It's also easy to look around and see people just going through the motions, waiting for retirement to come, and wonder why they weren't approached. Part of that is due to having been in their respective business units for a long time. I was originally a part of the R&D labs, which was broken up about 2 years ago and distributed to various parts of the company. Of the 100 of us originally in the R&D labs, only about 5 of us are now left in the company. I had been warned this summer (by someone with connections inside the company) that we R&Ders had targets painted on our backs, and I guess they were right. Needless to say, the company is going to have a difficult time developing new products in the future.
Low level managers also appeared to be particularly immune to the layoffs, even if the product lines in which they were in charge were being dropped, leaving them with no real purpose in the company. Some of these managers are now spending all their time desperately trying to come up with project areas to justify their continued existence. It's not going to be easy.
All this may sound as though I'm somewhat bitter about the whole mess, and a week or two ago, I probably was. But I've come to realize that I was missing the point. As the company has continued to shrink due to a decline in the automotive sector (and unfortunately that target is still continuing to move downwards), it has been forced to shed many of the product areas in which an inorganic chemist (or any kind of chemist for that matter) would be useful. I look over what's left of the company and realize the company didn't really dump me. It's just that the company I joined many years ago no longer exists.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Miscellaneous Monday
A few miscellaneous items today.
A week or so ago, our secretary set up a departmental luncheon for the 5 of us in our group who are being "asked" to leave at the end of the month. This morning she came by to tell me that the going away luncheon has been cancelled for now. There were a variety of reasons, including other commitments by at least 2 of the "honorees", but the first reason she mentioned was "a lack of response/participation" from the rest of the department. Nice way to start a day. We'll probably just all get together informally at a bar somewhere instead.
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Ever wonder what might happen if The Matrix was running on Windows XP? Check out this video.
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I guess it's a sign of the financial crisis this country (and the rest of the world) is going through, but I've received 2 of those "help us give you millions of dollars" scam emails in the last week. Is it too much to ask these guys to do spellchecking? It's pretty hard to get really worked up over the prospect of getting free money when you keep hitting misspelled words. Here's an example....
Of course, I take this all back if these guys turn out to be legit.
A week or so ago, our secretary set up a departmental luncheon for the 5 of us in our group who are being "asked" to leave at the end of the month. This morning she came by to tell me that the going away luncheon has been cancelled for now. There were a variety of reasons, including other commitments by at least 2 of the "honorees", but the first reason she mentioned was "a lack of response/participation" from the rest of the department. Nice way to start a day. We'll probably just all get together informally at a bar somewhere instead.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ever wonder what might happen if The Matrix was running on Windows XP? Check out this video.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I guess it's a sign of the financial crisis this country (and the rest of the world) is going through, but I've received 2 of those "help us give you millions of dollars" scam emails in the last week. Is it too much to ask these guys to do spellchecking? It's pretty hard to get really worked up over the prospect of getting free money when you keep hitting misspelled words. Here's an example....
Mr. ABDUL SAAZ a well known Philanthropist, before he died, he made a Will in our law firm stating that Five Million, Two Hundred Thousand British Pond-Stealing should be donated to Ten Philanthropist each.Of course, some of the misspellings might actually be Freudian Slips. Too funny.
Of course, I take this all back if these guys turn out to be legit.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Glass -- Not Just For Inorganic Chemists!
Back in the day, we used glass in the lab. Our glassware was glass, our cuvettes were glass, and our eyedroppers were glass. Even our Bunsen burners were glass. And we liked it! Times were good. Having nice, shiny glass equipment on your lab bench made you feel superior to everyone else. And cleaning glass was easy. You just threw everything into a KOH bath for a couple of hours (or weeks) and they came out as good as new.1 The only reason anyone ever threw glassware away was because of breakage, and even then, if it was only a crack, you kept using it anyway. Or you brought it back to the dorm room/apartment/home office as a showpiece. (Just ask my wife.)
But now you can get almost everything in plastic. Plastic beakers, plastic eyedroppers, plastic volumetric flasks …it’s insidious.2 Not only does this practice decrease our valuable reserves of bisphenol A, but it also facilitates the practice of “throwing out” versus “cleaning up”.3 Even worse, it allows the organikers a foothold into the Hallowed Halls of Inorganic chemistry. Dammit! Inorganic reactions should be performed in Inorganic vessels! And silica is about as inorganic as you can get.4
But evil always loses out in the end. It’s now been reported that certain organic compounds which tend to leach out of plastic labware can influence (read: screw up) certain experiments. Ha! I always knew those plastic testtubes were releasing nasty organic chemicals! Plastic should only be used to store foods and medicines.
I'll write about this more after I finish repairing a cracked beaker of mine with some epoxy.
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I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to those readers who have sent me emails asking for information. Although I've been neglecting this site lately due to employment concerns, I've been totally remiss in actually checking out my emails. I'll try to start answering your questions in the future. Thanks again.
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Footnotes – I blame the large number of footnotes on Carbon Based Curiosities and its influence on the blogosphere.
1KOH/ethanol baths work by slowly dissolving the surface of the glass. It’s an excellent way of dealing with stubborn deposits, although it can trash a fritted glass filter if you leave it in there for too long. There are limitations however. In my attempt to decorate my home office with all sorts of exotic glassware, I’ve discovered that while KOH can make laboratory glassware (borosilicate) look like new, it can mar the finish of regular old antique glass bottles. You have been warned!
2Some of those plastic volumetric flasks have no menisci when holding aqueous solutions. I tell you, that’s damned unnatural.
3I’m actually fairly conflicted about this “throwing out” vs “cleaning up” dilemma. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a hoarder. I rarely throw anything away. Yet, I’m really bad about cleaning, so I tend to find myself surrounded by hoards of dirty, unusable stuff. (Just ask my wife.)
4Any evidence (video or otherwise) pertaining to my use of nonglass vessels or equipment is categorically denied.
But now you can get almost everything in plastic. Plastic beakers, plastic eyedroppers, plastic volumetric flasks …it’s insidious.2 Not only does this practice decrease our valuable reserves of bisphenol A, but it also facilitates the practice of “throwing out” versus “cleaning up”.3 Even worse, it allows the organikers a foothold into the Hallowed Halls of Inorganic chemistry. Dammit! Inorganic reactions should be performed in Inorganic vessels! And silica is about as inorganic as you can get.4
But evil always loses out in the end. It’s now been reported that certain organic compounds which tend to leach out of plastic labware can influence (read: screw up) certain experiments. Ha! I always knew those plastic testtubes were releasing nasty organic chemicals! Plastic should only be used to store foods and medicines.
I'll write about this more after I finish repairing a cracked beaker of mine with some epoxy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to those readers who have sent me emails asking for information. Although I've been neglecting this site lately due to employment concerns, I've been totally remiss in actually checking out my emails. I'll try to start answering your questions in the future. Thanks again.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnotes – I blame the large number of footnotes on Carbon Based Curiosities and its influence on the blogosphere.
1KOH/ethanol baths work by slowly dissolving the surface of the glass. It’s an excellent way of dealing with stubborn deposits, although it can trash a fritted glass filter if you leave it in there for too long. There are limitations however. In my attempt to decorate my home office with all sorts of exotic glassware, I’ve discovered that while KOH can make laboratory glassware (borosilicate) look like new, it can mar the finish of regular old antique glass bottles. You have been warned!
2Some of those plastic volumetric flasks have no menisci when holding aqueous solutions. I tell you, that’s damned unnatural.
3I’m actually fairly conflicted about this “throwing out” vs “cleaning up” dilemma. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a hoarder. I rarely throw anything away. Yet, I’m really bad about cleaning, so I tend to find myself surrounded by hoards of dirty, unusable stuff. (Just ask my wife.)
4Any evidence (video or otherwise) pertaining to my use of nonglass vessels or equipment is categorically denied.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Attack of the Heavy Metals
As a (mostly) transition metal chemist, I enjoy heavy metals -- the elements, not the bands. Heavy metals should be a part of any self-respecting chemist’s lab. But they shouldn’t be part of our ecosystem, at least not in the levels associated with human use. The health effects can be serious. Industrial waste, residential garbage (you do recycle your Ni-Cd batteries, don’t you?), and certain pesticides all lead to elevated levels of these elements. I now read that heavy metals are a concern in organically grown foods. Not the first place I would have associated with toxic materials. The whole point of organic growing techniques is to be more biofriendly to the environment by using recycled organic matter instead of synthetic fertilizers. Unfortunately, these organic fertilizers, “composted animal manure, rock phosphates, fish emulsions, guano, wood ashes, etc.” can contain significant levels of these metals. Now this does not necessarily mean that heavy metal concentrations are always higher in organically managed soils, but it has been observed and is a concern. Regulations are tightening and research is continuing, but as we release more and more metals into the environment, the differences between organic and nonorganic farming may become smaller and smaller.
Of course, this is an example of unintentional exposure to heavy metals. Some health practitioners actually want you to ingest heavy metals for your own good. For example, Ayurvedic medicine, based on an ancient practice, uses herbal remedies for a wide variety of illnesses. In the practice of Ayurveda, “…a balance of the metals, including lead, copper, gold, iron, mercury, silver, tin, zinc are considered to be essential for normal functioning of the human body and an important component of good health.” So these metals are often added to Ayurvedic medicines. Unfortunately, there have apparently been reports of heavy metal poisoning related to the use of these medicines, especially in the case of lead. Again, regulations are tightening, but it’s hard to control substances you can buy over the Internet.*
I think I’ll just stick with playing with my metals in the lab.
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*Why is the Internet always capitalized? Are there religious connotations here?
Of course, this is an example of unintentional exposure to heavy metals. Some health practitioners actually want you to ingest heavy metals for your own good. For example, Ayurvedic medicine, based on an ancient practice, uses herbal remedies for a wide variety of illnesses. In the practice of Ayurveda, “…a balance of the metals, including lead, copper, gold, iron, mercury, silver, tin, zinc are considered to be essential for normal functioning of the human body and an important component of good health.” So these metals are often added to Ayurvedic medicines. Unfortunately, there have apparently been reports of heavy metal poisoning related to the use of these medicines, especially in the case of lead. Again, regulations are tightening, but it’s hard to control substances you can buy over the Internet.*
I think I’ll just stick with playing with my metals in the lab.
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*Why is the Internet always capitalized? Are there religious connotations here?
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Back in the Saddle Again
Well, it's been harder to get back into the saddle than I originally expected. Once I stopped my regular routine of web surfing to find snippets of chemistry to post on this blog, it's been too easy to keep putting it off “until tomorrow.” It also doesn’t help that every time I sit down in front of the computer, I feel obliged to visit CareerBuild.com or tweak my resume or search for more companies to whom I can send resumes.
While searching the web for hints on job hunting, I ran into an old post from the “Lamentations on Chemistry” blog. The author describes a rather frightening trip to a recruiter’s office. I read it just a few days before my first interview with a head hunter and I was not sure what to expect. It’s an interesting read.
Obligatory chemistry snippet (It’s about damn time!)
I’m sure you’ve all heard the warnings about cell phones and their possible (but unlikely) harmful side effects due to the small amount of electromagnetic radiation they emit. You’ve probably even seen the amusingly bogus “cell phones pop popcorn” videos on Youtube. (My 8 year old daughter has, and she’s at that age where she’s just coming to grips with the idea that not everything you see on TV or the computer is true). But a new concern over cell phones is showing up as nickel in the phones can result in contact dermatitis for those people with nickel allergies.
I hadn’t heard of nickel allergies before this, although apparently it’s been well known that the presence of nickel in jewelry often causes skin problems for a certain percentage of the population. Since my company (used to) manufacture platinum catalysts, I was aware that Pt could have the same effect. (Hmmm, Ni and Pt are both d8 metals. Coincidence?) If a worker in the plant began to show signs of a Pt allergy, they were moved to another location. Besides the dermatological problems, Pt allergies can affect the lungs too, producing symptoms rather similar to asthma. So similar, in fact, that one of the PhDs in charge of that catalyst plant theorized that the use of Pt in automotive exhaust catalysts (starting in the 70’s) may explain the rise in asthma cases in the US at the same time. I haven’t seen any of this verified, so take it with a grain of salt.
I’ve enjoyed working with precious metal (Pt, Pd, Rh) salts over the years and I’m fortunate that I have exhibited no such allergies. I would expect it to be rather disappointing to find that you could no longer work in a certain area of chemistry because you were allergic to chemicals.
While searching the web for hints on job hunting, I ran into an old post from the “Lamentations on Chemistry” blog. The author describes a rather frightening trip to a recruiter’s office. I read it just a few days before my first interview with a head hunter and I was not sure what to expect. It’s an interesting read.
Obligatory chemistry snippet (It’s about damn time!)
I’m sure you’ve all heard the warnings about cell phones and their possible (but unlikely) harmful side effects due to the small amount of electromagnetic radiation they emit. You’ve probably even seen the amusingly bogus “cell phones pop popcorn” videos on Youtube. (My 8 year old daughter has, and she’s at that age where she’s just coming to grips with the idea that not everything you see on TV or the computer is true). But a new concern over cell phones is showing up as nickel in the phones can result in contact dermatitis for those people with nickel allergies.
I hadn’t heard of nickel allergies before this, although apparently it’s been well known that the presence of nickel in jewelry often causes skin problems for a certain percentage of the population. Since my company (used to) manufacture platinum catalysts, I was aware that Pt could have the same effect. (Hmmm, Ni and Pt are both d8 metals. Coincidence?) If a worker in the plant began to show signs of a Pt allergy, they were moved to another location. Besides the dermatological problems, Pt allergies can affect the lungs too, producing symptoms rather similar to asthma. So similar, in fact, that one of the PhDs in charge of that catalyst plant theorized that the use of Pt in automotive exhaust catalysts (starting in the 70’s) may explain the rise in asthma cases in the US at the same time. I haven’t seen any of this verified, so take it with a grain of salt.
I’ve enjoyed working with precious metal (Pt, Pd, Rh) salts over the years and I’m fortunate that I have exhibited no such allergies. I would expect it to be rather disappointing to find that you could no longer work in a certain area of chemistry because you were allergic to chemicals.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Reflections on Job Hunting
Well, it's been exactly 2 weeks since I first got the word about my job status. Since then, I've been sending out resumes, talking to headhunters, scouring the web for job openings in the Detroit area, and networking with people I know. If I didn't have to worry about the future of my family, this would be a pretty exciting time. Surprisingly, I'm fairly upbeat about the whole thing although that might change in a few months if nothing happens. If you've read the intro to this blog, you'll know that I wasn't very happy with the way work had been going. Very little science and even less chemistry. If I land a new job and I'm doing real chemistry again, at roughly the same salary, and without having to move -- it's quite possible this will all have been a blessing. But that's just the optimist in me talking. Or the beer. Not sure which.
Even more surprising is the lack of bitterness over my situation. If the company had been doing well and had just decided to let me go, I'm sure it would be different. But the company is in trouble. Deep trouble. I've never mentioned this before, but my company has been in chapter 11 bankruptcy for about 2 years now. Now originally this was done to allow the company a chance to reorganize itself and shed itself of some money losing contracts and business units. At the time, the future of the company was looking pretty rosy, assuming you were one of the employees who made it through the transition. However, negotiations with labor and the parent company took too long and my company didn't make it out of bankruptcy before the credit crunch hit, and things started going downhill.
As a result, the company was forced to make another round of cuts, much more drastic this time. In this last purge, a lot of really good people were cut. Some of them high performance types who I never would have thought would be released. So my ego didn't take a huge hit. It had nothing to do with performance, but with the job description. Had I started working in the electrochemical sensor group a few months earlier, it might have been someone else in our group who got tapped. So knowing that helps a little.
For that matter, I may still be one of the lucky ones. The severance package is good and I'll be okay for a while. It's generally assumed that the next round of cuts, which might occur early next year based on the company's financials and the general financial state of the country, will have significantly smaller severance packages. At least I have a head start looking for a job in this area.
I was planning on actually discussing chemistry now, but it's late and I'd rather blow up some video game aliens before going to bed.
Even more surprising is the lack of bitterness over my situation. If the company had been doing well and had just decided to let me go, I'm sure it would be different. But the company is in trouble. Deep trouble. I've never mentioned this before, but my company has been in chapter 11 bankruptcy for about 2 years now. Now originally this was done to allow the company a chance to reorganize itself and shed itself of some money losing contracts and business units. At the time, the future of the company was looking pretty rosy, assuming you were one of the employees who made it through the transition. However, negotiations with labor and the parent company took too long and my company didn't make it out of bankruptcy before the credit crunch hit, and things started going downhill.
As a result, the company was forced to make another round of cuts, much more drastic this time. In this last purge, a lot of really good people were cut. Some of them high performance types who I never would have thought would be released. So my ego didn't take a huge hit. It had nothing to do with performance, but with the job description. Had I started working in the electrochemical sensor group a few months earlier, it might have been someone else in our group who got tapped. So knowing that helps a little.
For that matter, I may still be one of the lucky ones. The severance package is good and I'll be okay for a while. It's generally assumed that the next round of cuts, which might occur early next year based on the company's financials and the general financial state of the country, will have significantly smaller severance packages. At least I have a head start looking for a job in this area.
I was planning on actually discussing chemistry now, but it's late and I'd rather blow up some video game aliens before going to bed.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Enough is Enough!
OK, I think I've spent long enough away from this blog. Between the big lab move at work and working on my resume at night, I've managed to avoid updating this blog for far too long. Yes, the company still wants me to be responsible for making sure the move to our new labs (as well as various aspects of its construction) goes without a hitch, even though I will probably not be around long enough to actually occupy the new lab site. It's tempting to just say "the hell with it" and let someone else work out all the kinks after I'm gone, but I am good friends with some of the people who are going to be occupying the lab and I have no desire to leave them in the lurch. (I'm sure I will never use the work "lurch" again in my lifetime). It is kind of strange though. I'm one of the few chemists they have left in the division and so it's hard to say how much of the new lab will actually be utilized once I'm gone. But the company has much bigger problems to solve, so I suspect this is a rather minor concern for upper management.
I've begun the process of networking, which means meeting people I haven't talked to for a while and letting them know my situation. For example, on Tuesday, I attended my first Michigan Catalysis Society meeting in over a year. I had stopped going to them when I realized I wasn't really performing much science at work anymore. I had forgotten how much fun it can be to talk to other researchers in my field.
I talked to my first headhunter on Friday, and it was an interesting experience. When I finished my doctorate at Illinois, all I needed to do to find a job was to interview with the recruiters who came to the campus, so I've never had to go out and look for a job before. When you talk to a headhunter, you feel obligated to try and sell yourself to them even though they won't be the one to actually hire you and I found that to be a bit surreal. During the course of the interview, I also began to realize I really wasn't ready to describe myself to potential employers in a coherent fashion yet. I'm working on that now.
So besides being a place to discuss aspects of chemistry, this blog will also be an record of my attempts to find new employment. I hope that part of the blog ends rather quickly.
I've begun the process of networking, which means meeting people I haven't talked to for a while and letting them know my situation. For example, on Tuesday, I attended my first Michigan Catalysis Society meeting in over a year. I had stopped going to them when I realized I wasn't really performing much science at work anymore. I had forgotten how much fun it can be to talk to other researchers in my field.
I talked to my first headhunter on Friday, and it was an interesting experience. When I finished my doctorate at Illinois, all I needed to do to find a job was to interview with the recruiters who came to the campus, so I've never had to go out and look for a job before. When you talk to a headhunter, you feel obligated to try and sell yourself to them even though they won't be the one to actually hire you and I found that to be a bit surreal. During the course of the interview, I also began to realize I really wasn't ready to describe myself to potential employers in a coherent fashion yet. I'm working on that now.
So besides being a place to discuss aspects of chemistry, this blog will also be an record of my attempts to find new employment. I hope that part of the blog ends rather quickly.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
A New Beginning
When I started this blog back in January, one of my reasons for doing so was to compensate for the lack of chemistry in my current job. Well, this will soon not be a problem since, as of December 1st, I will no longer be employed at my current job. The severance package is fairly generous, especially considering the financial condition of the company, so I'll be all right in the near term. But I'm not necessarily looking forward to the prospect of finding another job with similar pay at my current location. Life sure is interesting.
The headcount reduction was pretty severe, and a lot of good people were let go. In our group, it came down to a choice between myself and another guy, and we were both fighting over the same position. In its original incarnation, that spot was tailor-made for my skills and experience, but for reasons I'll probably never know, that position was redefined at the last minute and the other guy was chosen, much to the surprise of the rest of the group.
In any case, I should now have more time to devote to this blog. And if anyone is looking for an inorganic chemist in the general Detroit area, be sure to let me know.
Chemist Ken
The headcount reduction was pretty severe, and a lot of good people were let go. In our group, it came down to a choice between myself and another guy, and we were both fighting over the same position. In its original incarnation, that spot was tailor-made for my skills and experience, but for reasons I'll probably never know, that position was redefined at the last minute and the other guy was chosen, much to the surprise of the rest of the group.
In any case, I should now have more time to devote to this blog. And if anyone is looking for an inorganic chemist in the general Detroit area, be sure to let me know.
Chemist Ken
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Interesting Times
I apologize for not posting anything for the past week, but we are undergoing some major upheavals at work right now. They are downsizing significantly, and the advanced research group is going to get hit. I'll know in about 3 weeks whether I am still employed at this company or not. So my postings may be a bit less frequent for a little while.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Nano-Rods and Sex Videos
Fortunately, my mother doesn't read this blog, or its titles.
In a continuation of what appears to be my rather unhealthy obsession with nanoparticles, I now read that gold nano-rods are useful in the treatment of cancer. If you are interested in the details, you may read about them here. My reason for mentioning these nano-rods has more to do with their synthesis, which utilizes ionic liquids as the solvent. This results in the formation of nano-rods, as opposed to the usual nano-spheres. [1]
Now ionic liquids aren't all that hard to make -- just heat a salt until it melts. In reality though, the term ionic salts is typically used to indicate salts which are liquids at room temperature, or at least below 100C. Ethylammonium nitrate is one example, with a melting point of 34C, but there are lots of them out there.
I’ve always thought ionic liquids were a pretty cool concept. A fluid made up totally of ions just seems so bizarre. As a class, they tend to have certain properties such as high electrical conductivities, low vapor pressures, and high heat capacities that make them excellent coolants. I had a chance to work on a project focusing on ionic liquids a few years ago, which was tempting since I would have been doing real synthetic chemistry again. However, based on reasons which have nothing to do with science, I chose not to work on that project. A decision which I am now very happy with, for reasons which I won't mention. (Never let it be said that the roads through industrial research careers are any less tricky to navigate than academic career paths.)
The use of ionic liquids as solvents is particularly intriguing. I mean, these liquids are more polar than water! Imagine the opportunities in synthesis. Both inorganic and organic chemists can use them, and anything that brings us closer together isn’t a bad thing.
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Just in case you were disappointed with this post after reading the title, consider David Bradley's take on spray-on condoms. The video is particularly amusing.
[1] I never know whether I should use a hyphen after the term "nano," so I tend to be rather random with its use.
In a continuation of what appears to be my rather unhealthy obsession with nanoparticles, I now read that gold nano-rods are useful in the treatment of cancer. If you are interested in the details, you may read about them here. My reason for mentioning these nano-rods has more to do with their synthesis, which utilizes ionic liquids as the solvent. This results in the formation of nano-rods, as opposed to the usual nano-spheres. [1]
Now ionic liquids aren't all that hard to make -- just heat a salt until it melts. In reality though, the term ionic salts is typically used to indicate salts which are liquids at room temperature, or at least below 100C. Ethylammonium nitrate is one example, with a melting point of 34C, but there are lots of them out there.
I’ve always thought ionic liquids were a pretty cool concept. A fluid made up totally of ions just seems so bizarre. As a class, they tend to have certain properties such as high electrical conductivities, low vapor pressures, and high heat capacities that make them excellent coolants. I had a chance to work on a project focusing on ionic liquids a few years ago, which was tempting since I would have been doing real synthetic chemistry again. However, based on reasons which have nothing to do with science, I chose not to work on that project. A decision which I am now very happy with, for reasons which I won't mention. (Never let it be said that the roads through industrial research careers are any less tricky to navigate than academic career paths.)
The use of ionic liquids as solvents is particularly intriguing. I mean, these liquids are more polar than water! Imagine the opportunities in synthesis. Both inorganic and organic chemists can use them, and anything that brings us closer together isn’t a bad thing.
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Just in case you were disappointed with this post after reading the title, consider David Bradley's take on spray-on condoms. The video is particularly amusing.
[1] I never know whether I should use a hyphen after the term "nano," so I tend to be rather random with its use.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Chemical Symbolism
So, they are now making nano particles from volcanic lava.
Yes.
From lava.
Really.
When is this nano madness going to end?
Okay, so perhaps I'm exaggerating here a little bit. It would be more correct to say that Dang Sheng Su and his team are making nano particles using volcanic lava. Lava obtained from Mt. Etna in Sicily contains nanosized Fe2O3 particles, which can be reduced to iron nanoparticles at 700C in the presence of hydrogen. These iron particles are apparently good templates for the production of carbon nanotubes and nanofibers when exposed to ethylene and hydrogen at high temperatures.
I know I tend to rag on nano-technology a bit too much on this blog. My first post on nanoparticles wasn't too complimentary. But I've been coming around lately as I read more and more articles on the subject. Much of the research may eventually just turn out to be hype (which can probably be said about any emerging field), but it certainly seems as if there is a lot of potential in this area. Who knows? Maybe I'll be offered a job in nanotechnology sometime in the future. I wouldn't want my views on this blog to limit my opportunities. :)
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Back in 1803, John Dalton developed a series of atomic symbols for some of the known elements at that time. Here is his representation of the table of elements. It cannot be called a periodic table yet since it doesn't demonstrate the periodicity of the elements.
Yes.
From lava.
Really.
When is this nano madness going to end?
Okay, so perhaps I'm exaggerating here a little bit. It would be more correct to say that Dang Sheng Su and his team are making nano particles using volcanic lava. Lava obtained from Mt. Etna in Sicily contains nanosized Fe2O3 particles, which can be reduced to iron nanoparticles at 700C in the presence of hydrogen. These iron particles are apparently good templates for the production of carbon nanotubes and nanofibers when exposed to ethylene and hydrogen at high temperatures.
I know I tend to rag on nano-technology a bit too much on this blog. My first post on nanoparticles wasn't too complimentary. But I've been coming around lately as I read more and more articles on the subject. Much of the research may eventually just turn out to be hype (which can probably be said about any emerging field), but it certainly seems as if there is a lot of potential in this area. Who knows? Maybe I'll be offered a job in nanotechnology sometime in the future. I wouldn't want my views on this blog to limit my opportunities. :)
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Back in 1803, John Dalton developed a series of atomic symbols for some of the known elements at that time. Here is his representation of the table of elements. It cannot be called a periodic table yet since it doesn't demonstrate the periodicity of the elements.
Picture obtained from WiredNow it's not like there wasn't already a series of symbols for most of these elements already. Alchemists had been using a set of elemental symbols for centuries before Dalton came along, but a lack of standardization was a significant problem, especially since alchemists often used many different symbols for the same element. Certainly, part of the problem was due to the lack of a central authority (IUPAC hadn’t been invented yet). There are at least 20 different versions of the symbol for gold that I know of, and probably a lot more. But the biggest roadblock to standardization among the alchemists was their need for secrecy. Treatises by alchemists were often ambiguous and confusing, apparently to confuse the competition. For example, alchemists often used the term "mercury" for the element mercury, the element gold, the liquid fraction of certain reactions, and various metaphysical concepts such as spiritual goodness. You really need a course to understand what these alchemists were trying to say.
I'm guessing that Dalton was doing his part to disassociate chemistry from the art of alchemy by refusing to use any of the common alchemical symbols of the time. Ironically, his symbol for hydrogen is the same as (one of) the alchemical symbols for gold. Remove the circle from the symbol for phosphorus and you have the alchemical symbol for phosphorus. His symbol for sulfur is the same as the alchemical planetary symbol of earth. Nevertheless, it was a start. It wasn't until Berzelius started using letters based on the Latin version of the element names that everything became manageable. Can you imagine writing out chemical formulas for large organic molecules using Dalton's symbols? If that wouldn't drive you toward Inorganic chemistry, then nothing would. ;P
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Xbox's and Cats
Warning! Very little chemistry in today's post.
How many of you have Xbox 360s? How many of you have had Xbox 360s that have failed? If you're interested, here's a link to an article about what went wrong at Microsoft's Xbox division.
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Yesterday we celebrated the one year anniversary of our cat Sierra. One year ago, we found her as an undernourished 2 month old kitten in my mother-in-law's back yard. Other than destroying a few glass vases, she's turned out to be a great cat. She was apparently weaned off her mother too soon, as her favorite pastime now is to suck on my wife's shirt sleeve whenever she gets a chance (as she is shown doing here).
How many of you have Xbox 360s? How many of you have had Xbox 360s that have failed? If you're interested, here's a link to an article about what went wrong at Microsoft's Xbox division.
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Yesterday we celebrated the one year anniversary of our cat Sierra. One year ago, we found her as an undernourished 2 month old kitten in my mother-in-law's back yard. Other than destroying a few glass vases, she's turned out to be a great cat. She was apparently weaned off her mother too soon, as her favorite pastime now is to suck on my wife's shirt sleeve whenever she gets a chance (as she is shown doing here).
Several months ago there was an article on the blackest black pigment ever produced, using carbon nanotubes (IIRC). Back when Sierra was a kitten, before her coat became shiny, she probably could have challenged that claim. She was an absolute black hole as far as absorbing visible light. Taking photographs was almost pointless since all you'd see was an amorphous black mass, occasionally with two eyes showing, which let you know which end you were looking at.
Happy first birthday, Sierra!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Nano-gold Catalysts
Reports of nano-gold and its use as a catalytic material are beginning to pile up. Last week I mentioned nanogold particles in stained glass windows and their ability to oxidize organic pollutants. This week, two more articles showed up, here and here. Hmmm…. seems like we’re beginning to reach a critical mass here. Pretty good for a metal that hasn’t been considered a particularly good catalyst over the years. Perhaps I'll start paying more attention to this area. I’ve read articles about nano-particle based catalysts in the past and have generally been underwhelmed, but nano-gold catalysts may be about to change that view. And that’s because of two words that are often found in these reports.
Room temperature.
Or at least, low temperature.
The obvious reason for using nano-particles is their much larger surface area to mass ratio. Higher surface areas generally mean better catalysts, so the drive to make smaller and smaller catalyst particles has been going on for decades. Back before “nano” became a marketing term, I recall at least one set of researchers making platinum nano-particle catalysts to improve the efficiencies of automotive exhaust catalysts. They succeeded, but unfortunately, at the high operating temperatures (generally above 400oC) to which these catalysts were subjected, the platinum nano-particles tended to move around and coalesce into much larger particles, losing much of their surface area and eventually not looking all that different from more crudely prepared catalysts. In fact, with these types of catalysts, research is focused less on the catalyst itself and more on the substrate which supports the catalyst -- changing its properties so as to limit the movement of the catalyst particles. This is always a bit of a balancing act since too much interaction between the catalyst and substrate can change the properties of the catalyst in undesirable ways. But if the reactions to be catalyzed take place near room temperature, or at least at lower temperatures, you stand a much better chance of maintaining the catalyst nanoparticles and hence their benefits.
Gold has traditionally been the forgotten metal, with all catalyst discussion centering on its neighbors on the periodic table (Pt, Pd, Rh, Re, Ru, and Ag). That looks like it's about to change. The big question to be answered: Why are nanogold particles so much better than bulk gold? Here are some possibilities to consider.
1. Larger surface areas. Well yes, you would expect some benefit here, but gold has been so unremarkable as a catalyst, I don’t believe a simple increase of surface area would account for this big of an effect. If it were that easy, everyone would just have dumped more gold into their catalyst formulations in order to increase the available surface area.
2. More defect sites. In many cases, catalysis only occurs at specific sites on the catalyst surface, such as the so-called "steps" as shown in the figure below. Perhaps nano-gold particles naturally have more of these locations.
Room temperature.
Or at least, low temperature.
The obvious reason for using nano-particles is their much larger surface area to mass ratio. Higher surface areas generally mean better catalysts, so the drive to make smaller and smaller catalyst particles has been going on for decades. Back before “nano” became a marketing term, I recall at least one set of researchers making platinum nano-particle catalysts to improve the efficiencies of automotive exhaust catalysts. They succeeded, but unfortunately, at the high operating temperatures (generally above 400oC) to which these catalysts were subjected, the platinum nano-particles tended to move around and coalesce into much larger particles, losing much of their surface area and eventually not looking all that different from more crudely prepared catalysts. In fact, with these types of catalysts, research is focused less on the catalyst itself and more on the substrate which supports the catalyst -- changing its properties so as to limit the movement of the catalyst particles. This is always a bit of a balancing act since too much interaction between the catalyst and substrate can change the properties of the catalyst in undesirable ways. But if the reactions to be catalyzed take place near room temperature, or at least at lower temperatures, you stand a much better chance of maintaining the catalyst nanoparticles and hence their benefits.
Gold has traditionally been the forgotten metal, with all catalyst discussion centering on its neighbors on the periodic table (Pt, Pd, Rh, Re, Ru, and Ag). That looks like it's about to change. The big question to be answered: Why are nanogold particles so much better than bulk gold? Here are some possibilities to consider.
1. Larger surface areas. Well yes, you would expect some benefit here, but gold has been so unremarkable as a catalyst, I don’t believe a simple increase of surface area would account for this big of an effect. If it were that easy, everyone would just have dumped more gold into their catalyst formulations in order to increase the available surface area.
2. More defect sites. In many cases, catalysis only occurs at specific sites on the catalyst surface, such as the so-called "steps" as shown in the figure below. Perhaps nano-gold particles naturally have more of these locations.
3. More of the appropriate crystal faces. Different lattice faces such as (111) or (100) often have significantly different catalytic rate constants. See figure above. Perhaps nano-gold particles have more of the correct lattice orientations at the defect sites than bulk gold.4. Different surface oxide properties. One of the reasons metals like Pt and Rh make such good catalysts is their ability to maintain surfaces which are relatively clean of oxygen atoms. Whereas the early transition metals tend to form oxides, the late transition metals favor the metallic state. Heat vanadium or molybdenum in air and you form the oxides. Heat platinum or its salts in air and you wind up with platinum metal. Keeping the surface free of oxygen atoms makes the metal more available for catalyzing the desired reactions. Perhaps smaller gold particles tend to have less oxygen on their surface.
Figure obtained from http://www.pnas.org/content/103/28/10577.full.pdf
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Fall and Chemistry
It's September and that means the fall semester has begun in most universities. Of course, this also means the start of chemistry classes. If you are currently employed in industry, like me, then you probably didn’t notice this momentous event, at least until you realized the college football season had begun. If you're an undergraduate, or perhaps a first or second year graduate student, you probably noticed it a lot, especially as you paid for this semester's chemistry textbooks. Once they're done with classes, however, grad students usually don't pay much attention to the beginning of semesters either, unless they are required to teach undergraduate courses. Once they make the switch to full research mode, the ebb and flow of university life is often lost to them. I've known grad students who were so oblivious to the change of semesters, they would often wonder out loud why parking was suddenly so difficult to find.
When I was a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, however, it was always easy to notice the start of the fall semester, no matter how deeply involved you were in your research. It wasn’t football fever, or seeing all the wide-eyed newbies milling around in herds, or even the sudden lack of parking. The most obvious sign that classes were about to begin in Urbana was: after going through the entire summer with absolutely no road construction projects, suddenly seeing 4 or 5 road projects spring up around campus during the week before classes. Try to imagine 30,000 students showing up at the same time in cars and vans loaded with all the necessities of life (for a university student) and finding many of the roads blocked off. Seriously, this happened every year I was there and I have no reason to believe that tradition still doesn’t occur today. Correct me if I’m wrong.
By the way, the Illinois football team lost their opener to Missouri. I’m not too particularly bummed out about that since Missouri is where I received my B.S. and M.S. in chemistry. Talk about a no lose situation -- one of my alma mater’s had to win.
When I was a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, however, it was always easy to notice the start of the fall semester, no matter how deeply involved you were in your research. It wasn’t football fever, or seeing all the wide-eyed newbies milling around in herds, or even the sudden lack of parking. The most obvious sign that classes were about to begin in Urbana was: after going through the entire summer with absolutely no road construction projects, suddenly seeing 4 or 5 road projects spring up around campus during the week before classes. Try to imagine 30,000 students showing up at the same time in cars and vans loaded with all the necessities of life (for a university student) and finding many of the roads blocked off. Seriously, this happened every year I was there and I have no reason to believe that tradition still doesn’t occur today. Correct me if I’m wrong.
By the way, the Illinois football team lost their opener to Missouri. I’m not too particularly bummed out about that since Missouri is where I received my B.S. and M.S. in chemistry. Talk about a no lose situation -- one of my alma mater’s had to win.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Laxatives and Boredom
Catchy title, huh?
My daughter recently discovered she has an in-grown toenail and the doctor recommended she soak her foot in a warm Epsom salt bath. So of course she asked us what the Epsom salts did. My wife thought Epsom salts (essentially MgSO4) kept the bath warm longer, but that didn’t seem very likely to me since you could get the same effect from cheaper salts like NaCl. So of course, I had to look it up.
Apparently, MgSO4 absorbs through the skin and does reduce inflammation. It acts as a calcium channel blocker and relaxes the smooth muscle groups (blood vessel walls, for example). If you absorb enough of it, it can lower your blood pressure. If you consume enough magnesium (for example, Milk of Magnesia or Maalox) you’ll discover it behaves as a laxative. If you consume MgSO4, you'll discover it is a very good laxative since the sulfate group enhances the effect.
Irrelevant fact: MgSO4 was given the name Epsom salts in honor of the town in which it was originally discovered back in the 1500s -- Epsom, England.
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I was looking over the statistics for this website today and noticed that while traffic has been slowly rising over the past several months, a very noticeable periodicity has begun developing. It’s a weekly cycle, with a minimum on the weekends (no surprise there), and (almost) always peaking on Wednesdays. It’s a triangle waveform, with Tuesdays and Thursday roughly equal but lower, and Fridays and Mondays equal but lower still. Not the distribution I would have expected. Does this represent middle of the week inquisitiveness, restlessness or boredom? Perhaps I should save my best posts for Tuesday evening?
Question of the day: Do you find your blog reading habits to be that structured?
My daughter recently discovered she has an in-grown toenail and the doctor recommended she soak her foot in a warm Epsom salt bath. So of course she asked us what the Epsom salts did. My wife thought Epsom salts (essentially MgSO4) kept the bath warm longer, but that didn’t seem very likely to me since you could get the same effect from cheaper salts like NaCl. So of course, I had to look it up.
Apparently, MgSO4 absorbs through the skin and does reduce inflammation. It acts as a calcium channel blocker and relaxes the smooth muscle groups (blood vessel walls, for example). If you absorb enough of it, it can lower your blood pressure. If you consume enough magnesium (for example, Milk of Magnesia or Maalox) you’ll discover it behaves as a laxative. If you consume MgSO4, you'll discover it is a very good laxative since the sulfate group enhances the effect.
Irrelevant fact: MgSO4 was given the name Epsom salts in honor of the town in which it was originally discovered back in the 1500s -- Epsom, England.
----------------------------------------------------
I was looking over the statistics for this website today and noticed that while traffic has been slowly rising over the past several months, a very noticeable periodicity has begun developing. It’s a weekly cycle, with a minimum on the weekends (no surprise there), and (almost) always peaking on Wednesdays. It’s a triangle waveform, with Tuesdays and Thursday roughly equal but lower, and Fridays and Mondays equal but lower still. Not the distribution I would have expected. Does this represent middle of the week inquisitiveness, restlessness or boredom? Perhaps I should save my best posts for Tuesday evening?
Question of the day: Do you find your blog reading habits to be that structured?
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