Thursday 9 June 2011

Paranoid. Do we have chemistry?

This is my first time doing an experiment in KML. The last experiment i did when i was in UMS. I still remember the experiment was the analytical chemistry and syhthesis organic. Both were for those majoring Chemistry.
This experiment is my task to test the experiment whether the experiment done smoothly or not, to identify the problems that might happen during the experiment, and to take more safety precaution when the students run the experiment in the real class.

My experiment today was to look at the relationship between the pressure with volume, temperature with volume, and the influence of the number of moles compund to the volume. In other word, the application of Boyles, charles and avogadro's law.

My partner, Mr.Byron and me start to develop a manometer. A gas (a
ir) was trapped in the sealed end of the tube and varying amounts of mercury were added to the J-shaped tube to vary the pressure of the system. We should systematically varied the pressure and measured the volume of the gas. These measurements were performed using a fixed amount of gas and a constant temperature. In this way Boyle was able to examine the pressure-volume relationship without complications from other factors such as changes in temperature or amount of gas.

The Charle's law is more complicated. These 2 experiments that involve Boyle's and Charle's law need us to use the mercury. Unfortunately, the lab assistant fill a bit worry to deal with mercury. That is why this experiment was stopped for long time ago. According to Puan Nuria, the lab assistant, the last time they did the experiment was in 2004.

Byron and me try to use the mercury, but the the mercury was very hard to be inserted into the tube, but the trial is using the tap water. Besides, the amount of mercury that we have is not enough and it impossible to give to the 82 tutorials group. And the important thing is they dont want to take a risk, the mercury spillage.
Byron said, dont be so paranoid with the mercury!

Mercury and most of its compounds are extremely toxic. Most people who use any of them know to handle them with extreme care. The extra threat from mercury is that it is easily absorbed through the skin. It can also be inhaled when it’s heated. Organic compounds of mercury are the most toxic forms. Examples are methyl mercury and dimethylmercury.

Basically, mercury can enter the body through inhalation, ingestion and skin absorption. It is often used in meters, like thermometers, barometers, and other scientific equipment. However, due to the toxicity of mercury, many people are phasing out these mercury items in favor of alcohol-filled, digital and other alternative instruments. The lab assistant said, some people use to heat the mercury so that they can easily filled the tube with mercury. But, mercury is easily vaporised, and the vapour is hazardous. Prolong effect can cause neurodegeneration. Surely, NIOSH will said that heating the mercury is not safe.

Finally, we decided not to proceed with the mercury. We only did the third part which is the avogadro's law.
Ok, thats all. I was so exhausted. Thank you to all chemistry lab assistants which were helpful and cooperative.

Amal Harun
Labuhan Island



8 comments:

  1. Salam.

    Your grammar is . . . a-hem, atrocious. But it made the writing looks cute, somewhat. And to be honest, I really enjoyed reading this. :')

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  2. haha thank you for reading, i love writing but i dont care about the grammar hehee

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  3. Ahaha. I noticed that. Not only English grammar, you even care not BM's grammar when you write. But I myself just never would be able to do that because I am a language people. :'p

    But owh, well . . . grammar isn't the most important thing. The more important thing is how the writing affects, effects and influences the readers. :')

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  5. throughout my entries, all of them wrote with extra and maximum awareness towards the grammar. so those were the best and less grammatical error from me hehe..a non-language people because i am chemistry people.

    chemistry dont care the language, as long as the writer and readers have chemistry to each other

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  7. After grammar correction:
    "Throughout my entries, all of them were written with extra and particular attention to the grammar. So the writing was of the best quality and less grammatical errors from me. Hehe. At least for a chemistry-people like me. In fact, in chemistry we don't really mind the language so long as the writer and the readers have chemistry with each other."

    How's that? Just trying to do some proofreading for your earlier comment. Ehehe.

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nak komen? silakan. komen anda sangat berharga..