Gateways 2018-2019

Magnetism in credit cards Shahminah Mahar-ullah 3/29/19 The ­stripe on the back of a credit card is a magnetic stripe, often called a mag-stripe. The mag-stripe is made up of tiny iron-based magnetic particles in a plastic-like film. Each particle is really a very tiny bar magnet about 20 millionths of an inch long. After you or the cashier swipes your credit card through a reader, the EDC software at the point of sale, terminal dials a stored telephone number via a modem to call an acquirer. An acquirer is an organization that collects credit authentication requests from merchants and provides a payment guarantee to the merchant. When the acquirer company gets the credit card authentication request, it checks the transaction for validity and the record on the mag-stripe for merchant ID, valid card number, expiration date, credit card limit, and card usage. In my opinion I think this can get us pretty far in the future. We already use magnetism in so many things ...

Helium atoms Shahminah Mahar-ullah 3/28/19 A helium atom is an atom of the chemical element helium, a basic element found on the periodic table of elements. Helium as a chemical element is composed of  two protons, two electrons and two neutrons. Because it has two protons and two neutrons, helium's atomic weight is 4. It is an inert gas and therefore one of the noble gasses. A substance being inert indicates that it does not chemically react. When a balloon is filled with helium, it rises because of the difference in densities between the inside of the balloon and the air outside of the balloon. Because helium itself is a very light atom, the helium gas in the balloon is lighter than the air around it, making its density relatively low and so it rises. If a balloon is filled with helium slowly deflates over time. That's not including temperature and without puncturing the balloon, because the helium atoms are small enough to escape between the molecules of the b...

Earth's Magnetic Poles Shifting Earth's north pole has seemed to start moving faster than usual. For earth's magnetic poles to move is not unusual and actually happened often in the past. The north pole which located in the Canadian Arctic, has slowly started to move to the Russian, around a staggering 37 miles a year. In the 1800 it was known for the poles to drift but in the later 1900 the poles have seemed to move at a faster rate. It even went so far to cross over a national date line in 2018, this shows how fast the magnetic poles can switch. The question on why this is happening might show up. Well the magnetic poles have switched before around 720,000 years ago. From what scientist can estimate we are in the stone age of the magnetic poles flipping. This is a result of earth's liquid iron core, and the large magnetic field running through it has a center that center is decreasing every year and increasing more somewhere else. Through the years it will  ...

Claudia Morales                                                                                                           3/27/19 Are Electricity and Atoms the Same? Electricity is the movement of electrons between atoms.  The electrons stay a constant distance from the atom`s nucleus in specific shells.  The inner shell can hold 2 electrons while the outer shell can hold up to 8 electrons or more.  The inner shell attracts more protons than the outer shell.  Since the outer most shell doesn't have as much of a strong force with the protons those electrons start to shift.  This shift is what causes electricity. While atoms are made up from smaller particles calle...

Magnetic Tattoos   Tattoos have been a prevalent part of culture since ancient times. They represent a rite of passage and could symbolize religious meaning. Throughout history tattoos have improved and changed ever since the invention of the tattoo gun in the 1800’s. Currently, some tattoo inks contain certain amounts of ferrous metals such as iron oxides. Red tattoo ink is most commonly the carrier of these types off metals and can rarely have negative effects. One example is that these metals can sometimes react to very powerful electromagnetic fields.    Red tattoo ink only contains trace amounts of iron and that can react very violently to powerful electromagnetic fields in certain circumstances. But imagine if magnetic materials were purposefully added to tattoo ink. Nokia had patented for an idea for tattoos that could potentially buzz when your phone rings.   Only very few metals are magnetic regardless of popular belief. Iron, nickel...

Atoms in the Human Body Atoms are the smallest things known to humanity, and the human body is just riddled with them. In other words, the amount of atoms in the human body is more than a billion times more than the amount of people on Earth.  The amount of atoms in our bodies is approximately 7*10^27 atoms. Basically, 7 and 27 zeroes. That number, for reference, looks like this: 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. In addition, 99% of these atoms have six  elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. Around 0.85% is made up of five  other elements: potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. 

Claudia Morales                                                                                      3/25/19 Why does Oil and Water not Mix? Its obvious that oil and water do not mix but why?  Oil and water dont mix because water molecules are more attached together than the oil molecules.  Water and oil dont mix because water is polar and oil is non-polar.  Oil is less dense than water that is why oil always floats on top.   There is one way oil and water could mix.  DETERGENT!  Detergent mixes with both water and oil because it is hydrop hilic (which means water-loving) and hydrophobic (which means water-fearing).  so when you add detergent to both the oil and water at the same time they would mix.  Thats why...

Claudia Morales                                                                                                           3/22/19 Why Does Iron Rust Rust forms from a compound called iron oxide.  Its formed when iron and oxygen is exposed to moisture in the air.  Its very hard to find very pure iron because its always exposed to oxygen and at least some moisture in the air. Iron can also rust in chloride.  Pillars under a pool would turn a green color instead of the brown color.  If iron meets with its alloys like steel and corrode, the pieces of iron would rust and disintegrate when its meet with water and then left alone for a long while. The rust process is a combustion reaction, kind of ...

Mixtures Are Everywhere By: Shahminah Mahar-ullah Date:3/13/19 The amount of mixtures that can be created is infinitive. Everything you combine is a mixture, not only is this the case in the laboratory but even in your own house. Think of your kitchen, if you bake a basic cake your combining each of those ingredients to make a mixture that becomes your batter that you then put in the oven. Even the metal creating your water bottle is a mixture, the stainless steel and chromium is melted together then formed to make the bottle you use everyday. Mixtures are all around us in everyday life. Solutions are also mixtures, but since all the molecules are evenly distributed its then considered homogeneous mixtures. There are many examples of this in the kitchen is  lemonade, I say lemonade because all the ingredients in the drink dissolve or mix in with each other. Another type on mixture is a homogeneous mixture. A homogeneous mixture is a mixture that consist of visibly d...

Recently a new state of matter was discovered by putting a hydrogen atom inside of the electron shell of another atom at far below freezing. This state of matter was dubbed Rydberg polarons. Jochim Burgdörfer,   director of the Institute for Theoretical Physics  at the Vienna University of Technology, states "For us, this new, weakly bound state of matter is an exciting possibility of investigating the physics of ultra-cold  atoms." This new state of matter does not have any uses as of yet, however it is speculated that this new state of matter could have many medical uses. I personally believe that this type of matter will never be used in my lifetime, but maybe in the future it could have many inexpensive practical applications. This new sub-zero state of matter sent scientists into a tizzy. While the experiment only lasted for 6 milliseconds it still helped make great strides in the field of physics. If you believe this discovery could make a difference in scie...

Claudia Morales                                                                                                  3/19/19 How to make Neutrino Beams Neutrinos beams are made by using an accelerator.  It propels protons into a a graphite target which then collides with nuclei which can produce new cells which are positive and negative ions and neutrons.  The magnetic horn then is focused on positive ions to make a narrow beam leaving behind the other ions and neutrons.  The positive ions also start to decay into positive muons and neutrinos.  A block of concrete and steel slows and absorbs the muons but neutrinos can pass through anything.  Which leaves with a Neutrino Beams.   Neutrinos are in everyth...

Last week scientists at the University of Plymouth blended a cell phone to dust and measured the chemical composition. The results of this test proved that when a phone's life span runs out that you should recycle it. For example in a single phone 90 milligrams of silver and 36 milligrams of gold. This may seem like a small number but when millions of phones are produced every year it adds up. Not only is their silver and gold in phones, there is also large quantities of iron, silicon, chromium, and tungsten. While these materials are quite common, they do require a large amount of ore to get the small amount needed for a single phone. Each phone requires 10-15 kilograms of ore to make. Bear in mind that a smart phone weighs a average of 150 grams. Now  begs the question will people start recycling their phones? Based on current studies people care more about the environment they live in more than ever. This leads me to the belief that people will start recycling their phon...

Belle James March 21, 2019 Chemistry Blog The History of the Periodic Table In 440 BC, Democritus and Leucippus propose The Atom , something that makes up ALL matter. Because of their discovery, they became known as "Atomists", one who studies atoms. Many people credit just Leucippus for the discovery of both atoms and void, but Democritus deeply expanded the knowledge on the two topics. Because of Democritus and Leucippus, we now have the basic foundation for the Periodic Table. 110 years later, in 330 BC, there was a man named Aristotle. Aristotle was a Greek Philosopher and Scientist who, because of all of his discoveries, garnered the name, "Father of Western Philosophy". He was not only an outstanding thinker, but also an inovator and inventor. He was the individual who proposes the four elemental theory: Earth, Water, Fire and Air. These elements were already thought as highly religious and spiritual in China, but now they became incredibly importan...

Harmful Chemicals in Vapes Apparently nowadays the "cool" thing kids do is vape. However, as expected, vapes have chemicals that do in fact slow down respiratory systems. Although vapes are less harmful than cigarettes, the fact that they are trending right now with the younger generation makes it just as bad. Vapes have chemicals such as diacetyl, which is a "flavorant" drug that adds flavor to it, but can inject a serious disease into your lungs. Vapes are typically made by mixing flavorants, nicotine, and propelyne glycol. These intend to make vapes incredibly addictive while having a good taste. https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/18/17996706/vape-juice-flavoring-electronic-cigarettes-chemicals-ingredients-irritating-e-liquid https://e-cigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov/

  Scientists say there are signs of humans having a subconscious magnetic sense In some experiments the applied magnetic fields were fixed in one direction, while in others they were rotated. In still others the machines were turned on but no magnetic field was produced meaning the participant was only exposed to Earth’s natural magnetic field. The participant was not aware which experiment was underway. The results, gathered from 34 adult participants, revealed that certain cases triggered a drop in participants’ alpha brain waves, a change that is linked to the brain processing information. This occurred if the applied magnetic field was pointed north and then swept upwards or downwards, or directed down while pointing north and rotated counterclockwise. That is like a human raising their hand. The team say the experiments offer clues as to what the human magnetoreception system might look like – noting that the results rule out electrical induction, or simply artefacts,...

Do meteoroids have magnetic properties? Meteoroids are small rocks or pieces of meal in outer space. Most meteorites contain a significant amount of Fe-Ni metal, which cause them to be heavier than rocks found on Earth. They are mostly made up of silicon and oxygen. Larger meteoroids are made of nickel and iron. They orbit the sun and other rocky planets. Meteoroids are created by asteroids smashing together and creating space debris. Because larger meteorites are made of nickel and iron, so is it magnetic? Meteoroids are not magnetic, such as they can’t attract a paperclip, but they will attract magnets. There are many exceptions of meteorites that contain no metal and are not attracted to a magnets. however, many terrestrial rocks and artificial rocks do show magnetic properties. Magnetic rocks are found to be in space though. The rock must contain magnetite in order to be magnetic. Scientists studying the Allan Hills meteorite, a 4-billion-year-old rock from Mars that land...

Katelyn Miller Atoms Blog History of an Atom Democritus, a Greek philosopher, was thought to be the first person to use the term atom in 400 BC. He hypothesized that if you take a piece of matter and divide it and continue to divide it you will eventually come to a point where you could not divide it any more. This fundamental or basic unit was what Democritus called an atom. This is called the theory of the universe. This created the basic facts we know today. That all matter is made of atoms, atoms are completely solid, and that atoms vary between substances. Later in the 1800’s, John Dalton created an atomic model using the theory of the universe. He hypothesized that atoms are indestructible and unchangeable. In the late 1890’s is when J.J. Thompson was then credited for discovering the electron and and then used his research on the cathode ray tube. An electric charge is passed through the tube. The charge is invisible, so to see where it traveled a fluorescent screen is ...

Katelyn Miller Chemistry Blog The Haber-Bosch process The Haber-Bosch process, also called Haber ammonia process, or synthetic ammonia process is a method of directly synthesizing ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen. It was Developed by the German physical chemist Fritz Haber. He received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1918 for this.. The method was translated into a large-scale process using a catalyst and high-pressure methods by Carl Bosch, an industrial chemist who won a Nobel Prize in 1931 with Friedrich Bergius for high-pressure studies. Haber-Bosch was the first industrial chemical process to use high pressure for a chemical reaction. It directly combines nitrogen from the air with hydrogen under extremely high pressures and moderately high temperatures. A catalyst made mostly from iron enables the reaction to be carried out at a lower temperature than would otherwise be practicable, while the removal of ammonia from the batch as soon as it is formed ensures that an eq...