Category: Chemistry

How Breath Alcohol Analysis Works

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Alcohol shows up in the breath because it gets absorbed from the mouth, throat, stomach and intestines into the bloodstream. Alcohol­ is not digested upon absorption, nor chemically changed in the bloodstream. As blood circulates through the lungs, some of the alcohol moves across the membranes of the lung’s alveoli, into the air stored within the lungs. Because the alcohol concentration in the breath is related to the concentration in the blood, an approximate measurement can be identified when using a simple ratio formula of breath alcohol to blood alcohol which is 2100:1. This means that 2100 milliliters of alveolar air will contain the same amount of alcohol as 1 milliliter of blood

American Theoretical Physicist Robert Oppenheimer’s Reaction to the First Successful Nuclear Weapon Detonation

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After the Trinity nuclear launch test which occurred on July 16, 1945, the first nuclear detonation in human history, when Manhattan Project lead Julius Robert Oppenheimer was asked about the reaction of himself and others on that fateful day Oppenheimer responded, “we knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multiarmed form and says, Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. I suppose we all thought that one way or another” (this phrasing/sentence structure while confusing in English, is the correct direct translation from Sanskrit)

The Etymology of the “AR15” Firearm and the Civilian AR15 vs the Military AR15

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Contrary to popular belief, the civilian version of the AR15 firearm is not an assault rifle, nor does the “AR” portion of the name stand to represent the term “assault rifle”. The AR15 is named as such because it was the 15th design (e.g. the “15” portion of “AR15”) of a firearm originally manufactured by ArmaLite (e.g. the “AR” portion of “AR15”), an American firearms manufacturer which has manufactured and sold the AR15 since 1959, with the firearm first being developed in 1956. The civilian version of the AR15 firearm became available to consumers from 1963 onward. The primary difference between the militarized model and the civilian model, being the function to enable automatic fire. Once the function of automatic fire is enabled, the AR15 is considered a militarized assault rifle

Botulism Toxin (Botox) Disabling Portions of the Human Brain Related to Emotion

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Because human beings interpret emotions by mirroring one another, botulism toxin, more commonly referred to by the brand name “Botox”, when injected into the forehead, alters brain activity connected with various emotional states. The temporary paralysis of facial muscles from the use of Botox disables a person’s ability to mirror the person(s) they are interacting with. It also hinders their ability to read and interpret the facial expressions of others. Surprisingly, this information is being leveraged within studies of depression and patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, as it is believed that temporary paralysis of the forehead may help aid those who are experiencing clinical depression and/or a borderline personality disorder

Tudor Period Mining and Metal Smelting

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During the Tudor period, lead was utilized to build roofs and windows because it was easily mailable and resistive to corrosion. Farmers would mine for lead during the summer months when their crops did not need tending to in order to generate additional income. Mining during the summer months could earn an extra £5.00 which equates to £25,000 as of 2012 when accounting for inflation. Entire families often worked within the mines because 50 barrels worth of ore and soil would be extracted per day to meet the quota of what was required to be profitable. Smelting involved the use of white coal which is effectively dried wood from a kiln and was always setup upon windy hilltops or mountains because the wind would cause the fire blaze with more intensity therefore reaching higher overall temperatures. The best wood to make white coal is oak. Kilns must be airtight, so gaps were filled with clay. Knowing a kiln to be airtight was easily verifiable by searching for smoke as if smoke only came out of only the front entrance, the kiln was considered airtight. Ore was smashed into small pieces to help it smelt more rapidly which yielded approximately an 80% return upon investment. Metals were then refined using a secondary kiln, and smelted to remove any ash or impurities. The first burn removes ore from the rock, and the second burn removes impurities with the main impurity being sulphur. Molds were constructed using sand and wood to create divots which allowed the ore to be molded into blocks much the same as a modern day bar of gold. The sand gives the mold an indentation which archeologists use to identify Medieval bars of smelted ore

The Ecologically Destructive Technique of Blast Fishing and Cyanide Fishing

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Blast fishing was introduced in Southeast Asia post World War II, by American soldiers who threw grenades into bodies of water to yield a large cache of fish, a technique which is used  during the modern day to produce fish as a food resource in local markets. Dynamite is often used but any explosive will perform the task effectively, even improvised devices which utilize an explosive chemical within a glass drinking bottle with an improvised wick lit by a cigarette. Cyanide fishing is an ecologically destructive method of catching fish in which a diver takes bottled cyanide and pumps it into reef areas where fish reside, stunning the fish and making them easier to catch, so that they can be extracted for the pet and live fish trades. These techniques result in coral reefs losing their color and ultimately dying, eliminating a major food source for marine life within the region. Both methods are extremely damaging to the ecosystem and left unchecked, can decimate entire ecosystems within a few short years. Portions of and entire coral reefs which have slowly built over thousands of years can be destroyed in a matter of seconds by using either of these harmful techniques. Fortunately, both methods of fishing are illegal in most of Southeast Asia

The First Person to Weigh the Atmosphere

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Italian Jesuit Evangelista Torricelli was able to definitively prove that the atmosphere has a specific weight by designing an experiment in which a tube is filled with mercury and then placed into a dish of mercury. Torricelli disovered that when performing this experiment, half of the mercury runs down into the dish and the other half stays within the tubing. Until this point, it was believed impossible to create a negative or empty space as the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle once stated, “nature abhors a vacuum” believing that nature would forever fight against the creation of true and pure nothingness. This is the same reason that an object (e.g. plastic straw or an oil drum barrel etc.) crumbles when all of the air within is extracted. Torricelli was able to overcome this phenomena by using the exteme weight of mercury within a ridged glass tube. The level of mercury left within the tube was a measurement of the weight of the atmosphere, a balancing act between the weight of the mercury and the weight of air pressing down upon this mercury, balancing each other out like scales. Torricelli famously stated, “noi viviamo sommersi nel fondo d’un pelago d’aria” which means “we live submerged at the bottom of an ocean of air” in Italian, and his findings made scientists realize that air was a substance for the first time. Torricelli became the first person to invent the barometer because of his understanding of atmospheric pressure. Despite Aristotle being believed to be correct for millennia, Torricelli definitively proved that air does have weight

How Methamphetamine Works Within the Human Brain

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Methamphetamine causes a rush of dopamine to be released which provides euphoria with a rapid onset. Typically the brain has a dopamine level of 50 – 75 units, but when methamphetamine is present within the system, this value bounds to become 900 – 1250 units, larger than any other drug. Over time, methamphetamine destroys the brain’s ability to produce dopamine naturally, allowing levels to fall below baseline, causing a person who uses the substance to crave more and more to feel normal and balanced. To provide a scale of reference, cocaine typically produces dopamine levels of 100 – 350 units

The Advent of Oil Paint Storage Changing Artwork and the First Artist to Begin Painting Outdoors

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Tubed oil paint became available in 1841, superseding the traditional methods of storing paint in pigs bladders and glass syringes, which made traveling to a location and/or painting outside, suddenly possible, so that aspects of light and shadow would not have to be manufactured as with classical paintings, but rather they could be painted exactly as the artist laid witness to them. Claude Monet was the first Impressionist artist to start painting outdoors during the mid 19th century, often painting in the public’s view, outdoor scenery like The Manneporte which he painted in 1885