Unit 6:Chemical Engineer

Chemistry is a very interesting field with many interesting subtopics as documented throughout my previous blog posts. There are many options and jobs in the world for those interested in pursuing a career based on chemistry. Today we're going to be examining chemical engineering and what the requirements are and who has contributed to this field of work.

Chemical engineering is a job in high demand because of the large number of industries that depend on the synthesis and processing of chemicals and materials. Chemical engineering is basically creating and designing processes to produce, transform, and transport materials  beginning with experimentation in the laboratory, allowing the product or item to be produced in a large quantity. In simpler terms, chemical engineers try to convert materials into more valuable and usable materials.

There have been many well recognized chemical engineers including Toronto’s own Lewis Frederick Urry, who was a Canadian chemical engineer. He invented both the alkaline battery and lithium battery while working for the Everyday Battery company. The minimum you need to become a chemical engineer is a bachelors in chemical engineering or one can can go further and get your masters or PhD. Training in university would require, different types of chemistry, maths, and physics.


There are many health risks that are associated with becoming a chemical engineer. Working with corrosive or dangerous materials poses many health concerns including illnesses and problems like: cancer and potential organ failures, which can ultimately lead to death. Based on the evidence presented, I still think chemical engineering is a very cool job because the individuals handling the materials are trained professionals and know how to deal with the materials.


Hopefully this has given you some new background information about chemical engineering, which will hopefully sway you towards the field.
After hearing a little bit about chemical engineering, would you want to pursue this as a career? Does any of the training required scare you?


References:

“Lemelson-MIT Program.” Josephine Cochrane | Lemelson-MIT Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018,
https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/lewis-f-urry


“What Is Chemical Engineering?” What Is Chemical Engineering? | Chemical Engineering, Stanford Engineering, 2018, https://cheme.stanford.edu/admissions/undergraduate/what-chemical-engineering

Unit 5: Gases and Atmospheric Chemistry

Throughout unit five of our chemistry course we explored gases and atmospheric chemistry. We learned about the dangers that an overabundance of carbon dioxide has on our environment. Humans are ultimately the main producers of carbon dioxide and transportation plays a huge role in contributing to our greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. 

Almost every Cedar Ridge High School student goes and gets picked up from school each day either by getting a ride, or taking city transportation. Although many people prefer getting a ride from their parents, city transportation surprisingly plays a huge role in reducing air pollution. 

In 2016, Vehicles emitted over 202 Megatons worth of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada alone. Some of the major greenhouse gases that are emitted into our environment by transportation include: hydrocarbons which cause smog, nitrogen oxides, which help in forming ground level ozone, carbon monoxide which is very toxic to humans, and carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming. If you are riding on public transport, you are ultimately helping to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by leaving your car at home. A bus with just seven passengers is more fuel efficient than a car carrying one person. Buses produce as little as 20% as much carbon monoxide per mile as a car only carrying one person. 

They also produce much less hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and carbon dioxide. This ultimately helps you reduce your own carbon footprint. 

Reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by taking public transport is definitely a more tiring and time consuming activity, but it is ultimately saving our planet. Seeing as buses produce just 20% as much carbon monoxide

 per mile as a car only carrying one person really makes me wonder why we shouldn’t all just try to take public transit. Although it is a timely activity, it could be the difference between having fresh air, or having air pollution. I think there is still work to be done in order to reduce the personal carbon footprint of buses. One way to combat this is by installing an electric battery powered engine. This could potentially cut our greenhouse gas emissions caused by transportation even further allowing for us to live in a cleaner environment, for a longer period of time. 

Questions:

After reading this blog-post, has your opinion changed on using cars as a mode of transportation?

Has your opinion changed on public transportation? Why? Or why not?

References:

 Middleton, James. “Transit's Role in Environmental Sustainability.” Federal Transit Administration, United States Department of Transportation, 14 Dec. 2015, www.transit.dot.gov/regulations-and-guidance/environmental-programs/transit-environmental-sustainability/transit-role.

Sitther, Vijji. “Vehicles, Air Pollution, and Human Health.” Union of Concerned Scientists, 23 July 2018, www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/vehicles-air-pollution-and-human-health#.XDPMWc9Kjs0.

“Where Do Canada's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Come From?” From Risk to Resilience, Prairie Climate Centre, 7 Mar. 2018, 

http://prairieclimatecentre.ca/2018/03/where-do-canadas-greenhouse-gas-emissions-come-from/

Unit 4:Solutions

    Throughout unit 4 of our chemistry course, we expanded our knowledge in the world of solutions. As a class, we were able to learn about the concentrations of solutions and today we're going to discuss a real world application of bad concentrations of metals leaching into water. A solid solution of metals is also considered to be a specific type of alloy.

Throughout industrial activities such as mining, chemicals and contaminants get leached into groundwater systems which is increasingly becoming a major concern for Canada’s mining industry and federal Government because the water is directly shipped off to reserves and territories nearby. Some of these very toxic metals include: Arsenic,(As) Copper, (Cu) Nickel, (Ni) Aluminium, (Al) Zinc, (Zn) Cobalt, (Co). These metals can cause skin lesions, cancer, and poisonings, which cause organ failure,  leading to death. There are efforts to develop a sustainable ways for mining companies to clean up their hazardous messes. The processes include trying to find methods to ensure that the heavy metals liberated during the mining process are not allowed to contaminate the territory's water supply. 

There are many health risks that come with living near a mine. If you live near a mine, the water systems could potentially be filled with various  harmful metals listed above, which pose many health concerns including: cancer and organ failures, which can ultimately lead to death. It is no shock, seeing as many independent and government funded groups are desperately trying to place restrictions on different kinds of chemicals used and practices of mining. Based on the evidence presented, I don’t believe it is ethical for people to have to drink contaminated water because of unethical mining practices. Although it is hard to tell if unsafe practices are being used, I believe there should be a crew who tests the water quality on a daily basis, in areas near mines in order to ensure the water is safe to drink. 

Question:

Is there a water plant that can actually filter out all these toxic metals? If not why haven’t we been able to create such a device for communities bordering mines?

References:

Fashola, M., Ngole-Jeme, V., & Babalola, O. (2016). Heavy Metal Pollution from Gold Mines: Environmental Effects and Bacterial Strategies for Resistance. Retrieved 17 December 2018, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5129257/

Unit 3: Stoichemotry

Throughout unit 3 of our chemistry course, we expanded our knowledge in the world of stoichiometry. As a class, we were able to learn about calculating moles, theoretical yield, and percent yield. Today we're going to discuss a real world application of stoichiometry (quantities in chemical reactions) and take a look at what would happen if the wrong quantities of baking powder were used while baking.

Baking powder is a chemical leavening agent that is used in mixtures to help them rise during the baking process. Baking powder consists of baking soda, acid salts,(cream of tartar and sodium aluminum sulfate) and cornstarch to absorb any moisture in order to ensure that a  reaction does not take place until a liquid is added to the batter.
The reaction that occurs once liquid is added to the batter looks like this:

NaHCO3 + KHC4H4O6 → KNaC4H4O6 + H2O + CO2
If the quantities aren’t right, too much baking powder would cause the batter to be bitter tasting. The batter can also rise rapidly and then collapse.The air bubbles in the batter grow too large and break, which causes the batter to fall. If too little of a quantity of baking powder is added to the mixture, it would result in a rock solid cake that has poor volume.

Based on the evidence presented, I think having the proper quantities of baking powder is vital in any kind of mixture. Without the proper quantities we wouldn’t be able to bake the precious delicacy of cakes and other sweets. If too much is added there wouldn’t really be a cake at all as it would collapse leaving us with a blob of straight up batter. Too little would result in a nearly inedible dessert seeing as it would be rock solid.

Questions:

If too much baking soda were added, how bitter would the dessert be? Would it still be considered edible despite the wrong quantities of baking soda?

Reference page:

Jarowski, Stephanie. “Baking Powder and Baking Soda (Bicarbonate).” Cocoa Powder - Joyofbaking.com, 2018, www.joyofbaking.com/bakingsoda.html.

Post #2-Paper Making Process

Throughout the second unit of our chemistry course, many examples of chemical reactions were prevalent in every slideshow. Throughout the article I retrieved about about the chemical processes involved in the creation of paper, many examples of chemical reactions were present. This article relates to the unit of chemical reactions because the chemicals used in the paper industry convert brown wood chips into the pieces of paper we see in our printers. Two different  chemical reactions can be involved in the paper making process including, krafting and bleaching.

In order for the brown wood chips to be converted into a white piece of paper, the wood will undergo the krafting chemical process. The brown wood chips have something called cellulose fibers within the actual wood which are bound together by lignin. The kraft process involves removing the lignin from the wood pulp. The wood chips are combined with a mixture of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium sulfide (Na2S) forming sodium alginate. The Sodium alginate will dissolve in water, causing the fibres to seperate. During the bleaching process, lignin reacts with a chlorine based bleaching chemical and provides a water soluble compound, removing dirt and lignin.

There are many health risks that come with living near a paper mill. If you live near a mill where chlorine compounds are used in order to bleach the pulp, harmful byproducts called organochlorines, which include dioxins and other similar compounds. These products are known to cause cancer, as well as causing developmental, reproductive, and immune system damage.

It is no shock seeing as chlorine compounds are rated the most hazardous industrial chemicals when present in large quantities.

Based on the evidence presented, I don’t believe it is ethical for people to live near paper mills. I believe there should be a law in place which would entail the specific distance that one is allowed to live from a paper mill. The health effects are drastic and could lead to long-term health issues, or even death overtime.

Questions:

1. Seeing as krafting poses less health issues, why don’t all paper mills utilize the process of krafting?

Reference Page:

Soskolne, C L, and L E Sieswerda. “Cancer Risk Associated with Pulp and Paper Mills: a Review of Occupational and Community Epidemiology.” Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2010, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21199601.

Brennan, John. “What Are Some Chemical Reactions Used in the Manufacturing of Paper?” Sciencing.com, Sciencing, 9 Oct. 2018, sciencing.com/chemical-reactions-used-manufacturing-paper-13973.html.

Blog Post #1: MATTER & BONDING-Artificial Sweeteners

Although there are definitely benefits for a certain group of individuals from using artificial sweeteners, there are also many drawbacks that are present in the actual substance itself. Artificial sweeteners are a crystalized substance that look identical to sugar. Artificial sweeteners are said to be low-caloric or non-caloric sweeteners. The purpose is to add the same sweet flavor that sugar normally would, while intaking fewer calories than sugar. Artificial sweeteners will have a form of aspartame,(C14H18N2O5) sucralose,(C12H19Cl3O8) acesulfame potassium,(C4H4KNO4S) neotame,(C20H30N2O5) or saccharin (C7H5NO3S). This topic relates to the unit of matter and bonding because it investigates the purposes of a variety of molecules.

A team of scientists from Israel conducted an experiment to see if artificial sweeteners were as good as they were once claimed. The group of scientists tested a group of rats over a span of 11 weeks, by feeding them with water containing natural sugar, (glucose or sucrose) and a group of rats with water containing artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose, or saccharin). The mice receiving natural sugar ended up being fine, whereas the mice fed artificial sweeteners had abnormally high blood sugar levels. This indicates their tissues were having difficulty absorbing glucose from the blood, which can actually lead to diabetes. A group of seven lean and healthy humans were given the maximum dose of saccharin monitored under the U.S. Food and Drug for give days, and four of the seven subjects showed a reduced glucose response in addition to an abrupt change in their gut microbes. This can ultimately lead to obesity if the experiment was continued for a longer period of time.

Based on the evidence presented, artificial sweeteners are seemingly harmful to those unaffected by diabetes. Individuals who have diabetes are unable to process natural sugars, which is why artificial sweeteners may still be the best alternative. However, those trying to lose weight should just stick to natural sugars because they will not reduce your bodies glucose response.

Questions:

1. Why do healthier individuals still look to artificial sweeteners as an alternative?
2. Based on the evidence, is saccharin among all the other artificial sweeteners the only threat to human health?

Reference Page:

“Artificial Sweeteners May Change Our Gut Bacteria in Dangerous Ways.” Scientific American, Scientific American, 1 Apr. 2015, www.scientificamerican.com/article/artificial-sweeteners-may-change-our-gut-bacteria-in-dangerous-ways/.

Martin, Laura. “What Are Artificial Sweeteners?” WebMD, WebMD, 26 June 2016, www.webmd.com/diabetes/qa/what-are-artificial-sweeteners.