Halogen of the Week - Astatine

Astatine is a radioactive chemical element.  Symbol At and its atomic number is 85. It is the heaviest known halogen.

Heavier isotopes of astatine have medical uses.  It is used in radiation therapy for human tumors.

Astatine is extremely radioactive, it is to be handled with extreme care. Because of its extreme rarity, it is not likely that the general public will be exposed.Astatine is a halogen, and standard precautions apply. It is reactive, sharing similar chemical characteristics with iodine.

Color of minerals

The science behind the color of minerals is very interesting.

Reminds me of a time when I traveled to the Canadian Rockies and passed by Lake Louise.  The color of the lake is emerald/greenish color.  And this other Lake, Peyto Lake has a beautiful turquoise color.  When the lake is still, it looks like a piece of turquoise carpet covering the lake.  It's beautiful.

Apparently the color of the lakes can be attributed to the glacial "rock flour" that are flown into the lakes and it's those suspended rock particles that give these lakes their beautiful colors. 

Colors of foods in my own kitchen

So a list of the foods in my kitchen and categorizing them into the different colors:
1.  red:  carrots, red bean chinese new year sticky rice cake (yummy), tomatoes, apples
2.  green:  cabbage, celery, green pepper, salad mix, edamame
3.  white:  konnyaku slices (traditional Japanese vegetable-based jelly-like health food), white rice, fried tofu, home-made fries
4.  brown:  brown rice
5.  yellow:  cheese, eggs, mango
6.  black:  dried Chinese mushrooms

Looks like I have all the colors in my kitchen, except "blue", but according to "The Full Spectrum Diet", seaweed products are considered blue/indigo food, therefore I have blue food too in my kitchen - dried seaweed and nori. 

Nice, healthy green diet :)

Inert Gas of the Week - Neon

Neon has the symbol Ne and an atomic number of 10.  It is a very common element in the universe, but very rare on earth. 

It's a colorless, inert gas and a first-rate conductor of electricity and has an amazing ability to give off light which can be seen at great distances, it is used most frequently in airplane beacons, in lamps, and in advertising signs.

Neon is produced when air is turned to a liquid under high pressure and at temperatures of about -200°C. That liquid leaves behind it a gas, neon.  Neon is costly to produce but very little is needed to create that bright light. Just one quart of neon gas will light up 200 to 300 feet of glass tubing.


The bright red signs we see outside shops and theaters are simply glass tubes filled with neon gas. For blue neon signs, a few drops of mercury are added to the gas.  Neon lamps do not have filaments as are found in incandescent lamps, for in neon lamps it is the gas itself that glows.

Ensure Asia Pacific economic growth truly environmentally sustainable

With the economic crisis in the US and Europe, many businesses are looking to Asia Pacific, specifically China for future investments.

The Chinese economy is booming, property values are going through the roof.   The Chinese are no longer the poor farmers we used to read about in textbooks.  They are the ones with cash to save the world's economy.

However, behind all this glamor lingers an issue that can no longer be ignored - the devastating environmental impact this fast growing economy has made.  Go to China and it's hard not to notice the pollution.  Check out this link, the pictures are horrifying:  http://www.chinahush.com/2009/10/21/amazing-pictures-pollution-in-china/

Ensuring Asia Pacific economic growth truly environmentally sustainable has to be top priority.  Very strict environmental policies and regulations must be in place and dedicated manpower must be available to monitor compliance.  Policies are useless if they are not monitored to ensure compliance and no amount of monitoring would be helpful unless reports are followed up and problems resolved.  Decision makers should focus on what's really at stake.  Even if the world suffered another economic crisis, the worst scenario is that we'd have less material goods to contend with and we'd go back to live like our grandparents, but if we destroyed this earth, that would be the end of all..everything, including us.

Green chemistry as social movement

The more people that are involved in green chemistry, the higher the chance our planet has for survival. 

We cannot simply expect the industries to be green, to clean up all the pollution and garbage while we sit around and do nothing.   There is a lot that we as consumers can do too.

For example, support green products.  They might cost more, but in the long run, it will cost everyone less.  Less clean ups, less landfills, better health, less tax we'd have to pay.  Try our best to get rid of the toxic chemicals we use on a daily basis, from dish washing liquid, to detergent, to most of what we use in the bathroom, shampoos, soaps and cosmetics.

Chemicals aren't just found in what we use, but it's in what we eat too.  So we can choose to go organic, or at least partially initially, support organic farmers and be green. 

Catalyst of the Week

I googled this and found many chemical catalysts which I am not familiar with or names I cannot pronounce.  Then I came across an example of a catalyst used in cooking, which I thought was interesting.

It's a copper lined bowl which is used to whip egg whites (used in French cooking) to make them become stiffer faster.  I don't really know if this is catalytic, but it is something which speeds up a reaction without changing its own chemical properties.

Here are some more catalysts which were easier for me to relate to and understand: 
1.  laundry detergent:  usually contains active enzymes to speed up cleaning and break up compounds
2.  bread:  made with yeast
3.  human body:  cannot function without enzymes