Two new official elements!

Check out this article, How to Put a New Element on the Periodic Table. What do you guys think Element 114 and Element 116 will be named? (Or should be named?)

I saw this and thought that all would appreciate it:





The sun is shining through the (metaphorical) p-chem clouds. What a lovely thought; the storm is almost over! The end is in sight! Only 3 and a half more weeks!

Janitors Hate Elevator Selection Rules

So Katie, Sam, and I really like posting amusing sticky notes in the Benson elevators. Shahn gave us this great idea so today we posted the elevator selection rules. (For an explanation of selection rules, see Wikipedia) The selection rule is that delta F cannot equal +/- 1 where F is the floor number. Of course, like all selection rules, just because it's forbidden doesn't mean it doesn't happen; it just means it doesn't happen very often.

Last time we posted something, it was removed within a half hour. (This will be the subject of a future post). The same thing happened this time! So, we put signs back up again saying do not remove. These were removed again! We're considering mounting an offensive....

Anyway, here are pictures of the signs for your amusement. Posing for the second picture was really impossible while we were trying to do it ourselves, so we finally got some random guy in the elevator to take it for us. His look was priceless.

The Myth of the "Scientist"

"Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not an engineer!" Those of you who have ever watched Star Trek, TOS will recognize this as the words of Dr. "Bones" McCoy. Hollywood, it seems, has grasped the idea that those who are experts in medicine are not necessarily experts in everything else, as well. However, somehow that understanding has not flowed over to other areas of science. How many times have you seen a movie where the "scientist", who was studying fundamental particles, designed and built his own equipment, genetically engineered his own lab assistants, and also cooked his own meals (male scientists and engineers know that this is the most unlikely of all)?

I am constantly amazed at what people lump together as 'science.' As a chemist I have taken 1 biology class in my entire college career. I've taken a couple of physics classes, but I'm certainly no expert in relativity (heck, I'm not even an expert in quantum mechanics). And I've never taken a geology or anthropology class. And yet somehow, I'm still constantly asked "Sam, you're a chemist. How does groundwater diffusion work?" That's a bit like saying "Jim, you majored in French. How to you say 'sleep' in Arabic?"

So how do we combat this universal misunderstanding? Ultimately, it will probably never happen. However, if it ever does, it will probably be media that is responsible. I therefore propose that we push the following taglines, in hopes that they get adopted by Hollywood:

"Dammit Jim, I'm a physicist, not a mechanical engineer!"

"Dammit Jim, I'm a chemical engineer, not a (real) chemist!"

"Dammit Jim, I'm a natural product synthetic organic chemist, not a pharmaceutical organic chemist!"

Inspiration for this blog

Sam, Katie, and I have talked for a while about making a chemistry-themed blog with our awesome chemistry-related experiences. Today we were reminiscing about playing google docs tag (chasing each other with our cursors in the spreadsheet)and after that nerdy memory we decided today was the day. So welcome to our epic adventure!