|
RedneckwithGuns posted:Actually those pools of water keep the radiation pretty well contained, you'd have to get just about right on top of any of the reactor elements before you'd start getting a decently high dose. You've bested me on the knowledge that water cuts down radiation much faster than I thought it would. It still doesn't answer the fact that you either needs to have years of clearance level upgrades or break into the place and risk being shot.
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 09:43
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 9, 2024 07:59 |
|
|
GWBBQ posted:Have a video of a reactor pulsing from 1 MW to over 20GW I cannot believe in this age people are still burning peat and coal for energy. That video is sweet.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 09:55
|
|
|
Maxwells Demon posted:You've bested me on the knowledge that water cuts down radiation much faster than I thought it would. It still doesn't answer the fact that you either needs to have years of clearance level upgrades or break into the place and risk being shot. You can calculate how much energy gets cut down by knowing a few properties like particle energy and what the barrier is. Oh and Washington St has a 1MW reactor for educational purposes. You can get tours where you can stand above the pool the reactor sits in. Like close enough to reach your hand in. The actual reactor is pretty drat deep so nothing gets out. Get to wear a sensor to measure exposure--we got el zilcho the whole time their. One of the ways they fund it is by making radioactive isotopes. They're made by lowering a can down near the beast using rope and pulley. Only clearance I needed to tour it when I took radiochem was just giving them a copy of my driver's license a few days before.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 10:04
|
|
|
The R1 reactor in Stockholm was connected to the institute's tube mail system, so researchers could put their samples in a special mail tube and send it off. The tube and sample would pass right through the core of the reactor and return freshly irradiated. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 10:28
|
|
|
For reference, I was looking at the reactor and chatting with someone for about 20 minutes from that view and received less than the dose of radiation you receive from an hour long airplane ride
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 13:08
|
|
|
Talk about foul smelling chemicals got me thinking: what are, on the other hand, the best smelling chemicals out there? I don't mean something "strawberry syrup" with whatever it contains, but a single, concrete chemical compound?
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 20:39
|
|
|
Methyl salicylate smells like bubble gum. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 20:44
|
|
|
pigdog posted:Talk about foul smelling chemicals got me thinking: what are, on the other hand, the best smelling chemicals out there? Esters are a generally nice smelling moiety.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 21:44
|
|
|
HOW COULD YOU posted:For reference, I was looking at the reactor and chatting with someone for about 20 minutes from that view and received less than the dose of radiation you receive from an hour long airplane ride edit: I found videos shot handheld of the reactor pulsing, so I guess it's perfectly safe to stand over it. Now I really want to go see one in person. GWBBQ has a new favorite as of 22:07 on Mar 13, 2014 |
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 22:00
|
|
|
Dusseldorf posted:Esters are a generally nice smelling moiety. I might be misremembering, but I seem to recall one of my professors claiming that esters tend to be cheaper but break down to less pleasant-smelling compounds more readily, whereas ketones tend to wind up in higher-end products. Edit: I was thinking of aldehydes vs ketones, not esters. Toast Museum has a new favorite as of 14:50 on Mar 14, 2014 |
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 22:03
|
|
|
Butyric acid, which is a pretty common ester component, does not smell nice. Also according to wikipedia humans can smell it down to around 10ppm.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 22:09
|
|
|
I can't remember the name of it now but I made a compound the other week that smelled of peaty whisky. Pretty awesome. Isoamyl acetate smells of bananas!
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 23:15
|
|
|
Ignimbrite posted:Butyric acid, which is a pretty common ester component, does not smell nice. Also according to wikipedia humans can smell it down to around 10ppm. In general anything "butyl" has a good chance of being pretty foul. Throw some group 6 elements (sulfur, selenium, tellurium, polonium if you really like things spicy... and radioactive... AND toxic) with butyl- groups and some other poo poo and you really won't want to be in the room at all. There's one featured on Things I Won't Work With, n-butyl* (even worse than regular butyl groups) isocyanide/isonitrile (oh dear  ) as I recall.I can only imagine that tossing a selenium in between to make n-butyl selenoisonitrile (not sure I have that naming right, but basically an n-butyl group stuck to a selenium** with an isonitrile stuck on the other side) would be something to avoid experiencing at all costs. * I'm not entirely sure of the difference between butyl and n-butyl groups. ** selenium is in the same group as sulfur. They're neat because you can just kinda slap them into the middle of an organic molecule, like for instance methyl mercaptan (the odorant used to notify people of gas leaks) is just methane CH4 with a sulfur stuck between one of the hydrogens and the carbon, H3C-S-H. And doing this usually either makes something odorless smell bad, and makes bad smelling things worse. As you go down the periodic table from sulfur to selenium to tellurium, the effect just gets stronger. Group 6 elements (chiefly sulfur, it's more common and less toxic than the others) are used like this to vulcanize rubber, too. The sulfur atoms bond between carbon chains in the rubber and sorta "tie" them together so they're stronger and more resilient than natural rubber. Organic chemistry is fun because it's like playing legos or tinkertoys for chemists
kastein has a new favorite as of 23:39 on Mar 13, 2014 |
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 23:27
|
|
|
Ignimbrite posted:Butyric acid, which is a pretty common ester component, does not smell nice. Also according to wikipedia humans can smell it down to around 10ppm.  ) Most people in the rest of the world aren't accustomed to the taste and associate it with the common source: bile. That's why American chocolate tastes like vomit to the rest of the world and we don't really notice.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 00:51
|
|
|
GWBBQ posted:A lot of American chocolate manufacturers add butyric acid because everyone is so used to it (thanks, Hershey Knowledge is gross.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 01:05
|
|
|
Citral is pretty nice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citral Also, that explains why the chocolate here is so nice compared to that at home.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 01:33
|
|
|
Vitamins posted:I can't remember the name of it now but I made a compound the other week that smelled of peaty whisky. Pretty awesome. And also acts as bee pheromone. Specifically, bees release it when they sting to signal other bees to do the same. So keep it out of places with bees. For that matter, products with banana flavouring also contain significant amounts of it, so maybe think twice when eating banana-flavored candy near bee colonies. Kind of dangerous substance to get a hold of if you think about it, if you're enough of an rear end in a top hat to prank someone with it. An ester that smells really nice is methyl benzoate, smells like feijoa. The easiest ester to make, ethyl acetate, smells awful though. It's that headache-inducing smell found in acetone-free nail polish removers. Well, awful is a strong word in this thread, it's not pungent or anything, but it gives me a headache, don't know why, ethanol and acetone i'm fine with. Falukorv has a new favorite as of 02:10 on Mar 14, 2014 |
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 02:00
|
|
|
kastein posted:* I'm not entirely sure of the difference between butyl and n-butyl groups. If I remember my nomenclature, that's specifically a butyl group with all its carbons in a straight chain, as opposed to branched like isobutyl or tert-butyl.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 03:18
|
|
|
Toast Museum posted:If I remember my nomenclature, that's specifically a butyl group with all its carbons in a straight chain, as opposed to branched like isobutyl or tert-butyl. Yeah, it doesn't have any branches, whereas Iso/Sec butyl have one branch and the name changes depending on whether it's close to the end with a carbon on it, or the end with a, you know. I forget what you call it. A thingy on it. It's been a while since I took organic chemistry, okay?
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 03:27
|
|
|
Ignimbrite posted:Butyric acid, which is a pretty common ester component, does not smell nice. Also according to wikipedia humans can smell it down to around 10ppm. Some Pro-life rear end in a top hat filled a super-soaker with Butyric acid, then sprayed it through the mail slot of the local Planned Parenthood office. Even after having the affected area dealt with by a professional cleaning/abatement company, the office still smelled like vomit months later. The sad thing is, this office does not perform abortions, and a lot of women missed out on prenatal care until the clean-up could be performed.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 03:27
|
|
|
genesplicer posted:Some Pro-life rear end in a top hat filled a super-soaker with Butyric acid, then sprayed it through the mail slot of the local Planned Parenthood office. Even after having the affected area dealt with by a professional cleaning/abatement company, the office still smelled like vomit months later. The sad thing is, this office does not perform abortions, and a lot of women missed out on prenatal care until the clean-up could be performed. They file charges?
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 05:52
|
|
|
genesplicer posted:Some Pro-life rear end in a top hat filled a super-soaker with Butyric acid, then sprayed it through the mail slot of the local Planned Parenthood office. Even after having the affected area dealt with by a professional cleaning/abatement company, the office still smelled like vomit months later. The sad thing is, this office does not perform abortions, and a lot of women missed out on prenatal care until the clean-up could be performed. That's absolutely awful, though that attack demonstrates a knowledge of chemistry / level of intelligence I wouldn't normally associate with pro-life idiots. e. then again, I suppose even stupid people have access to Google...
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 06:08
|
|
|
GWBBQ posted:I browsed published research for half an hour and I can find plenty of information on radiation dose when TRIGA reactors are in steady state mode, but nothing about during pulses. Do you have any info on that since you have first hand experience? Unfortunately my reasons for being there were less the reactor itself and more the neutrons that come out of it, so I can't really tell you any more than you would have found by googling.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 06:53
|
|
|
Vitamins posted:Isoamyl acetate smells of bananas! Would this also be the reason some wheat beers taste like bananas? I need to know before summer.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 07:14
|
|
|
Jerome Agricola posted:Would this also be the reason some wheat beers taste like bananas? I need to know before summer. Some yeasts produce isoamyl acetate during the fermentation process. I believe it's part of the brett character. The brett character is considered an no-no in wine, but is desirable in several beer styles.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 07:25
|
|
|
Read the list of ester odorants on wikipedia. They really are the nicest smelling chemicals to humans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ester Bornyl acetate for that fresh pine scent!
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 07:52
|
|
|
Falukorv posted:And also acts as bee pheromone. Specifically, bees release it when they sting to signal other bees to do the same. So keep it out of places with bees. For that matter, products with banana flavouring also contain significant amounts of it, so maybe think twice when eating banana-flavored candy near bee colonies. I didn't know it was a pheromone, thanks for that! Coincidentally I've been part of a group making various insect pheromones over the past few weeks. Some people made Queen Bee Substance which stops bees developing ovaries and becoming queens, and some made farnesol which is an attractant of the Gypsy Moth. We made like 5 different precursors to farnesol through the synthetic route we were using and every product smelled really nice. We started with geraniol, the essential oil of geraniums which smelled great. Farnesol however smelled like fermented rear end which was kind of disappointing. I guess moths have different tastes to myself.  My favourite simple compound is diethyl ether. It's a very useful, volatile solvent. Seeing the vapour pour off of it over the edge of it's container will never get boring to me. The fact it smells kind of sweet also helps!
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 09:07
|
|
|
Vitamins posted:My favourite simple compound is diethyl ether. It's a very useful, volatile solvent. Seeing the vapour pour off of it over the edge of it's container will never get boring to me. The fact it smells kind of sweet also helps! Instantly dries you skin out if you get any on you though.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 12:30
|
|
|
That reminds me. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is an interesting compound. It’s a useful solvent, in the lab and commercially. Its most curious property is that it penetrates skin extremely well. This has been used to deliver medicinal compounds, but in the lab it’s a liability. Recall that hydrofluoric acid and dimethyl mercury are dangerous in part because of their penetrating properties. The good news is that DMSO is non‐toxic. The catch is that is not always true of the compounds it’s called upon to dissolve, which are suddenly imbued with the power to penetrate skin. Spilling a DMSO solution on oneself can be as dangerous as ingesting an ordinary solution, and much easier to do accidentally.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 13:33
|
|
|
It can also be amazingly useful, as I recall it potentiates a lot of drugs, probably for the same reason.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 15:38
|
|
|
Platystemon posted:That reminds me. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is an interesting compound. And it's an absolute pain in the rear end to remove from your reaction products.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 17:31
|
|
|
genesplicer posted:Some Pro-life rear end in a top hat filled a super-soaker with Butyric acid, then sprayed it through the mail slot of the local Planned Parenthood office. Even after having the affected area dealt with by a professional cleaning/abatement company, the office still smelled like vomit months later. The sad thing is, this office does not perform abortions, and a lot of women missed out on prenatal care until the clean-up could be performed. True story: When I was in high school, one day the whole science tract smelt like vomit and couldn't be used. Rumour had it that one of the chemistry teachers (who was known to both be a loving rear end in a top hat and a radical non-smoker) had retaliated against some of his colleagues for smoking in one of the prep rooms.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 17:46
|
|
|
kastein posted:It can also be amazingly useful, as I recall it potentiates a lot of drugs, probably for the same reason. Which opens up the possibilty of a person going around with a spritzer of dmso and lsd anf spraying dudes in the face.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 18:05
|
|
|
ProfFrink posted:And it's an absolute pain in the rear end to remove from your reaction products. Ever tried to remove Triphenylphosphine Oxide? 
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 18:08
|
|
|
Rigged Death Trap posted:Which opens up the possibilty of a person going around with a spritzer of dmso and lsd anf spraying dudes in the face. Given the insanely low doses needed for LSD, I suspect any suitable solvent and a mister would do...
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 20:43
|
|
|
kastein posted:It can also be amazingly useful, as I recall it potentiates a lot of drugs, probably for the same reason. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2M_fQnVqew Computer viking posted:Given the insanely low doses needed for LSD, I suspect any suitable solvent and a mister would do...
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 21:05
|
|
|
Yeah, I initially heard about it from my dad, who is probably one of the biggest suckers on the planet when it comes to believing conspiracy theories and quack medical horseshit.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 21:08
|
|
|
ProfFrink posted:And it's an absolute pain in the rear end to remove from your reaction products. A weird thing about it is that if you put some on your skin, you'll taste garlic in your mouth. Dad was a doc and when I'd get bad poison ivy as a kid, he'd mix DMSO with some hydrocortisone cream for topical application. Every time, about 5 seconds after: garlic.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 21:25
|
|
|
This might be an appropriate question for this thread- Whats a chemistry experiment one could perform for a class of kids with a big WOW factor, and isn't going to be dangerous?
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 22:42
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 9, 2024 07:59 |
|
|
Saint Celestine posted:This might be an appropriate question for this thread- Diet coke and mentos is super-easy to get the materials for and completely safe, but there's a pretty good chance they've seen it before. e: mythbusters clip President Ark has a new favorite as of 22:53 on Mar 14, 2014 |
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 22:50
|
|
