Week 2

My element of the week is......... Oxygen!

It's atomic number 8, the chemical symbol is O and the atomic mass is 16.  It's part of the non-metal group. In it's natural state (room temperature), oxygen is in a gaseous form that is tasteless, colorless, and odorless.  The name oxygen derives from two greek words oxys and genes, which means "acid forming." It's the third most abundant element in the sun.  And without oxygen, humans would not be in existence since it comprises 2/3 of our body!

Discussion Question:
Are we too lax in our environmental controls?
Definitely! Look at all the instances that happen because of it. The most recent and major one being in West Virginia. The fact that 4-methyl-cyclohexane-methanol (MCHM) was  allowed to be dealt with in large quantities, regardless of the fact that most chemists and toxicologists have no idea what this chemical does and the impact it can have on human life. And why was the chemical plant so close to the water? The consequences are being taken lightly, with most officials brushing it off saying that it's "generally not likely to be associated with any adverse health effects." How reassuring.

 

http://www.chem.purdue.edu/gchelp/atoms/elements.html

 

A handy site to visualize how elements, compounds and mixtures look like in atomic form. The moving pictures of each one of them help because you can see how they move. Each of them are also broken down into a simplified list with bullet points to get the actions across. This helps rather than just reading paragraphs out of a book.