quarter one just about down

Holy cow! It's been a while since my last post and SO MUCH has happened in the mean time.

Does that mean that I'll be posting a long blog today? Probably not, but I will give you some pictures. Firstly, here are some pics from class a few weeks ago. That is a pillar of salt (the sodium acetate kind, not the Lot's wife kind). You see, as far as solids go, you can only dissolve so much of one into a solution before it stops. That's why as a kid when mom finally let you make the Kool-Aid and you decided it would be so much better if more sugar was added you ended up with a slurry of red syrup at the bottom. Only so much sugar can be dissolved in the water... at that temperature. Now, if you were to heat up the Kool-Aid you could easily dissolve more sugar into each pitcher of childhood goodness. However, the problem with sugar is that it will tend to crystalise and precipitate back out of the solution as it cools down. So, unless you like a steaming cup o' Kool-Aid you had best stick to the recommended amount of sugar.


Now, sodium acetate doesn't have this problem. It forms a very stable solution. You just heat up the solution and add a few extra grains here and there. Once you allow it to cool down, the solution will remain clear and no crystals form. The solution is now considered to be 'supersaturated,' and contains more salt dissolved in it that would normally possible at that temperature. The sodium acetate will remain as a liquid until the solution is disturbed (sometimes it only takes a little bump to make it crystalise). In the picture below, I started with a single crystal of sodium acetate in the petri dish and started pouring out the solution. As soon as the supersaturated solution hits the crystals the dissolved salt has something to start crystalising on and the liquid immediately begins to form into a solid. The same effect can be achieved by scratching the glass (a common practice in my Organic II lab at ISU) or dropping the crystal directly into the solution.

Notice the liquid at the top and solid at the bottom. Science is amazing!

And also incredibly phallic at times...

Now, you may be asking yourself, 'What could possibly be the application of making penis shaped sculptures in chemistry class?' None really. However, the crystalisation of sodium acetate is extremely exothermic. That is, it releases a lot of heat. Enough to change the temperature upwards of thirteen degrees or more. This principle is used in some handwarmers and those of us who live in colder climes are all too familiar with. If you have a hand warmer that operates by popping a disc inside the chances of it also containing sodium acetate are pretty good. See, popping the disc gives a place for the crystals to start forming. As they form they release energy in the form of heat which one can then use to warm up. The nice thing about these hand warmers is that they are totally reusable. All you really have to do is drop them into a pot of warm water and allow the heat to liquefy the crystals again and then allow them to cool back down.

Anywho, science lesson over. On to show and tell.

A few weeks ago I was walking back up to my home after a long day of work and decided to take the longer, less steep route up to my abode. There's a path you walk up and I was lucky enough to stumble upon the carcass of a monkey in the middle of the road.

Warning, gross picture above!... whoops, too late

Typically, I would be somewhat saddened to see an animal torn apart like this, but as anyone who has lived with real monkeys knows (the Man in the Yellow Hat does NOT count. Besides, George had no tail, I'm more inclined to believe he was a chimp and not a monkey.) monkey's are evil! Therefore, I was less than saddened at the sight. However, I then realised that something had to have done this to the monkey. What could have though? My first thought was LEOPARD! Now, I have seen a leopard skulking around my area of habitation before and I know that there have been numerous sightings just up the hill from me but I never got to see damage. The monkey was torn apart and these guys are vicious and resilient. You have to be a tough guy to tear apart a monkey.

I'm hoping it was one of the dogs from next door...

We also had our advisor night. I took my ten kids (now five boys and five girls since two girls went on exchange this semester) up to the top of the hill to Char Dukan (not sure if I'm spelling it right) which literally means four shops. There are four shops at which you can get food, tuck (snacks), etc. The kids enjoyed the night, ate way too much, and played some games.

We also recently had our annual school cross country races up at the top of the hill. I made the mistake of deciding to run this year without having run since being back to India. I finished the race (something like 5miles) but realised just how difficult it is. I came in almost last but I'm sticking to the fact that I was wrangling up the stragglers and 'encouraging' them (much in the same way as one of those big with no shirt on 'encourages' the rowers on those old-timey warships). I was sore as heck afterwards but I felt accomplished.



The same night as the cross country I had a few boys over for dinner. All kids I had last year in tenth grade. One of the boys organised it and invited ten others over. Now, I'm considered a sexist by the girls and racist by they Koreans b/c neither of their respective groups were represented that evening. I just can't win.

This is the food we had. A veritable feast of delicious food. We ordered from Kalsang's, a restaurant notorious for improper handling of food and making everyone sick. I eat there a lot and have never been sick (knock on wood). We had momos, a type of Tibetan dumpling made of meat, veggies, and spices wrapped in dough and steamed; shaptek (again, spelling?) a spicy meat dish; dingmos, steamed Tibetan bread; and various other things ranging from chips to smoked chicken. I literally had a bag of chips left at the end of the night.

We had fun eating, talking and watching The Last of the Mohicans (we couldn't decide what to watch so I put this in). Nothing like Natty Bumpo to make a good party a GREAT party.

Also big in the news here at Woodstock is that our gym has finally opened up. We had a big ceremony with all of the pomp and circumstance for the opening of a long anticipated building. You see, the gym project began 10 years ago but got held up in legal issues and only last year on Independence Day was construction finally able to begin. A little more than a year later the school finally has a gym again complete with basketball court, locker rooms, a climbing wall, weights room, and squash court. A building of this caliber is really unheard of in India. The kids are loving it and I'll probably be more motivated to do more exercising than just walking home if I can just hop over to the gym in the evening and do a little work out. Old teachers, donors, and alumni showed up for the opening and got special gifts of flowers and shawls.


The big guest though, was WS's own mascot, the tiger. As far as I know he has no name but the kids loved him. I got a kick out the fact that roar was actually a tiger's mating call.

Hey, wha's happenin' hotstuff?

And so the first quarter of a new school year ends on Wednesday. Lots of staff and students are going for trips over the extended weekend. I'm going to stay around the area and work relax. Maybe I'll do some day hikes in the area and hang out with others still on the hillside. I'll also begin looking up schools in Europe, Turkey, Hong Kong, and Korea. I think I've narrowed it down to those four places for my next excursion.

Grad school isn't out yet though I doubt I'll be able to make it for next year's session. I think I've finally decided what I'd like to go in for. I'd most like to do some work with implementing more instrumentation into high school labs. A lot of places use data collecting probes but I'd like to see if there wouldn't be a cheaper, easier way to get that out there.

Also, monsoon has ended. The ferns on the hillside have all turned brown and withered a sure sign that the rains and humidity are gone. It's sad because for as much hassle as it is keeping things dry and mold free in monsoon, the beauty of the hillside really comes out in the mist and rains. The colours are lush and vibrant and everything just feels alive. It will be nice, however, to be able to keep the green outside and not so much on my cushions or in my pipes.

Well, enough procrastination. I have to get comments written and grades finished. Enjoy this sunset while I work.

I am my father's child

I've always felt like I am a miniature version of my father. We both love scouting, Eagle Scouts, the whole chemistry thing, MTU (hey, a year still counts), &c.

Well, this past week I think it really solidified things. In my tenth grade IGCSE class we were discussing some covalent molecules. Ammonia was one of them. As we discussed the shape and arrangement of electrons and then went on to talk about some uses. They came up with the usual: fertilizers, cleaning supplies. I prompted them by asking if there were any boxing fans (surprisingly there was at least one in each class) and proceeded to ask them what they do to a boxer when he gets knocked out and they can't wake him up. After a bit more prompting they came up with smelling salts. Now, anyone who has opened a bottle of ammonia (even the diluted solutions you buy in the stores) knows that it has a characteristic smell and the vapours make your nostrils burn and your eyes water.

As fate would have it, there were quite a few kids who didn't know what it smelled like. So, of course, I rummaged through the store room to find some. The stuff I got was pretty concentrated lab grade stuff. So, as soon as I opened the bottle my eyes and nostrils are burning and figure this won't do. I pour about 10mL into a 50mL beaker and keep my hand covering it so that the fumes don't get to me. I slowly walk around the room wafting the vapours to the students who all have the same reaction: to squish up their faces like Andy Rooney and quickly turn away. After I get through about half of the class (and as I'm right in the middle of the room) I accidentally hit the beaker as I waft towards some more students and the whole thing falls to the floor and shatters sending 10mL of ammonia all over the floor and the vapours immediately begin to diffuse throughout the entire place. I send one kid to get a broom, another to turn on the fume hood and one last one to open all the windows.

I got it all cleaned up but the entire time all I could think of the phone ringing at home during dinner and the person on the other end saying, "Charlie, we need you to come back to the plant, we got an ammonia leak."

"An ammonia leak!"

I am my father's son.


Note: I figured that this is really only funny to my brothers and sister so a bit of explanation might be in order. You see, my father is a retired chemical engineer. He used to work at plant in town that manufactured shortening and salad dressings. During my childhood I can remember my dad coming home after a long day's work only to receive a call (inevitably during dinner) saying that there was an ammonia leak out at the plant and they needed him to come back in and help take care of things. It's become a bit of a joke between us now and I feel like I've come full circle.

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