Category Chemistry

What is the concept of the first british atomic bomb?

Like it or not, science and technology sees unprecedented growth during dire times. This is probably because funding flows into different branches of science like never before, allowing for progress inconceivable during ordinary times. Just like how the COVID-19 pandemic saw a global collective search for vaccines, there have been other times in the past – mostly during wars – when a number of scientific fields received a tremendous boost.

World War II was one such period when scientific progress was at its pinnacle. The ability to split an atom through nuclear fission was discovered in the 1930s. With its ability to release immense power realised, it wasn’t long before the race to build a bomb with it was on. The Manhattan Project was born early in the 1940s and we all know what happened in Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

To retain influence                                           

While the Manhattan Project was led by the U.S., it was done in collaboration with the U.K. along with support from Canada. Following the war, however, the U.S. refused to share atomic information with the U.K. With the objective of avoiding complete dependence on the U.S., and to remain a great power and retain its influence, Britain sought to become a nuclear power.

The prospect was discussed in a secret cabinet committee in October 1946. While Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Dalton and President of the Board of Trade Stafford Cripps were opposed to the idea of a British bomb citing the huge costs involved, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Ernest Bevin had his way and work went ahead. By the time the bomb was ready, however, Winston Churchill’s government came to power.

Penney at the helm

Led by British mathematician William Penney, who had worked on the world’s first atomic bomb in the U.S., the project that went on to become Operation Hurricane began with a secret laboratory tasked with developing the trigger device. With the Soviets managing to successfully explode their first atomic bomb in 1949, Penney’s team was under further pressure. Soon enough, the Brits were ready with their bomb.

Early in 1951, the Australian government agreed that the blast could take place at the uninhabited Monte Bello islands, an archipelago of over 100 islands lying off the coast of north-western Australia. The region was declared a prohibited zone and ships and aircraft were later warned to stay clear of an area of 23,500 nautical square miles off the coast.

Plym carries the bomb

 The troops were mobilised, the first set of vessels left for their destination in January 1952 and six months later HMS Plym, carrying the bomb, and the fleet flagship HMS Campania, made their way. The radioactive core, which used British and Canadian plutonium, was flown out later, and installed in the bomb on Plym very close to the scheduled detonation.

On the morning of October 3, 1952, Britain’s first atomic bomb exploded, sending thousands of tonnes of rock, mud, and sea-water blasting into the air. The Plym was instantly vaporised, with scant bits of red-hot metal from the vessel falling on one of the islands even starting a fire.

An eye-witness account of a Reuters correspondent stationed less than 100 miles away mentions a grand flash followed by the appearance of a grey cloud-a zigzag Z-shaped cloud as opposed to the mushroom cloud that we instantly associate with such detonations.

The success of Operation Hurricane resulted in Penney being knighted. Churchill, who was serving as the Prime Minister of the U.K. for a second time, announced to the House of Commons that there had been no casualties and that everything had gone according to plan. While he did congratulate the Labour Party for their role in the whole project, he also did take a dig at them saying that ‘as an old parliamentarian I was rather astonished that something well over £100 million could be disbursed without Parliament being made aware of it.’

Like it or not, science and technology sees unprecedented growth during dire times. This is probably because funding flows into different branches of science like never before, allowing for progress inconceivable during ordinary times. Just like how the COVID-19 pandemic saw a global collective search for vaccines, there have been other times in the past – mostly during wars – when a number of scientific fields received a tremendous boost.

World War II was one such period when scientific progress was at its pinnacle. The ability to split an atom through nuclear fission was discovered in the 1930s. With its ability to release immense power realised, it wasn’t long before the race to build a bomb with it was on. The Manhattan Project was born early in the 1940s and we all know what happened in Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

To retain influence                                           

While the Manhattan Project was led by the U.S., it was done in collaboration with the U.K. along with support from Canada. Following the war, however, the U.S. refused to share atomic information with the U.K. With the objective of avoiding complete dependence on the U.S., and to remain a great power and retain its influence, Britain sought to become a nuclear power.

The prospect was discussed in a secret cabinet committee in October 1946. While Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Dalton and President of the Board of Trade Stafford Cripps were opposed to the idea of a British bomb citing the huge costs involved, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Ernest Bevin had his way and work went ahead. By the time the bomb was ready, however, Winston Churchill’s government came to power.

Penney at the helm

Led by British mathematician William Penney, who had worked on the world’s first atomic bomb in the U.S., the project that went on to become Operation Hurricane began with a secret laboratory tasked with developing the trigger device. With the Soviets managing to successfully explode their first atomic bomb in 1949, Penney’s team was under further pressure. Soon enough, the Brits were ready with their bomb.

Early in 1951, the Australian government agreed that the blast could take place at the uninhabited Monte Bello islands, an archipelago of over 100 islands lying off the coast of north-western Australia. The region was declared a prohibited zone and ships and aircraft were later warned to stay clear of an area of 23,500 nautical square miles off the coast.

Plym carries the bomb

 The troops were mobilised, the first set of vessels left for their destination in January 1952 and six months later HMS Plym, carrying the bomb, and the fleet flagship HMS Campania, made their way. The radioactive core, which used British and Canadian plutonium, was flown out later, and installed in the bomb on Plym very close to the scheduled detonation.

On the morning of October 3, 1952, Britain’s first atomic bomb exploded, sending thousands of tonnes of rock, mud, and sea-water blasting into the air. The Plym was instantly vaporised, with scant bits of red-hot metal from the vessel falling on one of the islands even starting a fire.

An eye-witness account of a Reuters correspondent stationed less than 100 miles away mentions a grand flash followed by the appearance of a grey cloud-a zigzag Z-shaped cloud as opposed to the mushroom cloud that we instantly associate with such detonations.

The success of Operation Hurricane resulted in Penney being knighted. Churchill, who was serving as the Prime Minister of the U.K. for a second time, announced to the House of Commons that there had been no casualties and that everything had gone according to plan. While he did congratulate the Labour Party for their role in the whole project, he also did take a dig at them saying that ‘as an old parliamentarian I was rather astonished that something well over £100 million could be disbursed without Parliament being made aware of it.’

Picture Credit Google

Who was a famous chemist and physicist who won the Nobel Prize twice?

Pauling, the (near) perfect man for science

On February 28, 1951, American scientist Linus Pauling, along with his co-workers at Caltech, published their theoretical description of the structure of proteins in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. For Pauling, who spent a lifetime in science, it was the perfect way of turning 50. A.S.Ganesh takes a look at the life of Pauling…

There have been only five scientists who have won two Nobel Prizes – Polish-French physicist and chemist Marie Curie (1903, 1911), American scientist Linus Pauling (1954, 1962), American physicist and electrical engineer John Bardeen (1956, 1972), British biochemist Frederick Sanger (1958, 1980), and American stereo chemist Barry Sharpness (2001, 2022). Additionally, there have been two organisations – the International Committee of the Red Cross (1917, 1944, 1963) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (1954, 1981) – that have won multiple Nobel Peace Prizes.

On top of being part of such an elite group, Pauling has done something that makes this feat extra special. For he is the only person ever to receive two unshared Nobel Prizes! In a lifetime spent as a chemist, biochemist, chemical engineer, peace activist, author, and educator, Pauling was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962.

Born in Portland, Oregon, on February 28, 1901, Pauling had science running through him right from the start. For he was the son of a pharmacist, Henry Pauling, and Lucy Pauling, a daughter of a pharmacist.

 

Starts with a chemistry set

It was a friend’s chemistry set that aroused his fascination with chemistry though. As his family lacked the wherewithal to buy him a chemistry set, Pauling instead created his own with chemicals that he found in an iron smelter that had been 54, abandoned. He soon taught himself more in the subject than what he was taught at school.

Despite attending the Washington High School in Portland, he didn’t receive his diploma until 1962 owing to a technicality. This meant that Pauling had received his bachelor’s degree from Oregon State College in 1922, his doctorate in 1925 from the California Institute of Technology and even the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, before he got his diploma!

Gifted Teacher

Having enrolled in college aged 16, he was teaching the course he had taken the year before by age 18. A gifted speaker, it was no wonder therefore when he earned the reputation of being a fabulous teacher after he became a member of the professorial staff of California Institute of Technology in 1927. This was following fellowships after his doctorate that enabled him to study with three renowned physicists – Arnold Sommerfeld in Munich, Ervin Schrodinger in Zurich, and Niels Bohr in Copenhagen.

Pauling remained at Caltech from 1927 until 1964. It was here that he spent most of his time researching and teaching. In addition to being enthusiastic with a willingness to engage in controversial topics, he also had the innate ability to simplify, making even mundane subjects suddenly seem interesting, even to those who knew little about the topic.

 

The alpha helix

On the day he turned 50 on February 28, 1951, Pauling, along with his co-workers at Caltech-American biochemist Robert Corey and the African-American physicist and chemist Herman Branson reported the discovery of the alpha helix. The alpha helix was the first discovery of a helical structure for a protein and they published their theoretical description of the structure of proteins in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

While Pauling is best known for working out the nature of the chemical bond, his accomplishments were numerous. In addition to determining the structure of proteins, he also discovered the cause of sickle cell anaemia, helped in the creation of synthetic plasma, and even developed an accurate oxygen detector for submarines, among other contributions. It is worth noting that when he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, it was not for a single contribution, but for his entire body of work.

The only time since childhood when Pauling’s focus shifted from his work was after World War II, when he took a public stance against the war and the use of nuclear weapons. He was even accused of being pro-Soviet or Communist, but it didn’t deter him from his crusade against nuclear weapons testing. It was his advocacy for nuclear arms control and disarmament that eventually led to him winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

 

Share of controversies

Despite being the poster boy for science, Pauling wasn’t without his share of controversies. Most famous among these was how he championed Vitamin C, as he believed that megadoses could ward off the common cold, going to the extent that it could even prevent or treat cancer. Even though much of his later work was mired in controversy and provoked scepticism, Pauling’s contributions and accomplishments ensure that he is celebrated to this day, nearly 30 years after his death in August 1994.

Picture Credit: Google

Making mendelevium, one atom at a time?

The discovery of mendelevium was announced at the end of April in 1955. It was described by one of its discoverers as “one of the most dramatic in the sequence of syntheses of transuranium elements”.

The search for new elements is something that scientists have been doing for hundreds of years. Once Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev organised the elements known at his time according to a repeating, or periodic (and hence the name periodic table), system in the 1860s, the search became a little easier.

This was because the gaps in Mendeleev’s periodic table pointed to elements that weren’t known yet. The properties of these elements, however, could be predicted based on their place in the table and the neighbours around them, thereby making it easier to discover new elements. Mendeleev’s table has since been expanded, to make space for other new elements

One of those new elements discovered was element number 101, named mendelevium after. Mendeleev. American Nobel Prize winner Glenn Seaborg, who was one of the discoverers of the element, wrote that the discovery of mendelevium was “one of the most dramatic in the sequence of syntheses of transuranium elements”, in a chapter co-written by him for The New Chemistry. Additionally, he also wrote in that chapter that “It was the first case in which a new element was produced and identified one atom at a time.”

Begins with a bang                                                                       

Ivy Mike, the first thermonuclear device, was dropped for testing on the Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific Ocean in 1952, sending a radioactive cloud into the air, from which samples were collected. The lab reports suggested that two new elements-elements 99 (einsteinium) and 100 (fermium) – were discovered from the debris. The discoveries came at a time when there was a race to discover new elements.

 The leading researchers of the U.S. involved in this race were camped at the Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, under the direction of physicist Ernest Lawrence A team of scientists which included Albert Ghiorso, Stanley Thompson, Bernard Harvey, Gregory Choppin, and Seaborg, came up with a plan to produce element 101 using a billion atoms of einsteinium-253 that were formed in a reactor.

The idea was to spread the atoms of einsteinium onto a thin gold foil. As its half-life was about three weeks, the researchers effectively had a week to perform their experiments after receiving it. Based on Ghiorso’s calculations, they were aware that only about one atom of the new element 101 would be produced for every three hours the gold foil was bombarded with alpha particles.

Race against time

As the experiment would yield only a very small amount of the new element, the scientists set up a second gold foil behind the first to catch the atoms. It was a race against time as well as the half-life of element 101 was expected to be a few hours only.

With the Radiation Laboratory atop a hill and the cyclotron at its base, there really was a mad rush to get the samples to the lab on time. The samples “were collected in a test tube, which I took and then jumped in a car driven by Ghiorso”, is how Choppin put it in his own words.

On the night of the discovery, the target was irradiated in three-hour intervals for a total of nine hours. By 4 AM on February 19, 1955, they had recorded five decay events characteristic of element 101 and eight from element 100, fermium. With conclusive evidence of element 101’s existence, Choppin mentions that “We left Seaborg a note on the successful identification of Z =101 and went home to sleep on our success.”

At the end of April 1955, the discovery of element 101 was announced to the world. The university’s press release stated that “The atoms of the new element may have been the rarest units of matter that have existed on earth for nearly 5 billion years… The 17 atoms of the new element all decayed, of course, and the ‘new’ element is for the present extinct once again.”

Cold War era

As element 101 marked the beginning of the second hundred elements of the periodic table, the scientists wanted to name it after Mendeleev, the man behind the periodic table.

Despite the discovery happening during the Cold War era, Seaborg was able to pull enough strings to convince the U.S. government to accept the proposal to name the element after a Russian scientist. The International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry approved the name mendelevium and the scientists published their discovery in the June 1955 issue of Physical Review Letters.

While only small quantities of mendelevium have ever been produced, more stable isotopes of the element have since been made. The most stable version known as of now has a half-life of over one-and-a-half months, allowing for better opportunities to further study heavy elements and their properties.

Picture Credit : Google

When was mendelevium discovered?

The discovery of mendelevium was announced at the end of April in 1955. It was described by one of its discoverers as “one of the most dramatic in the sequence of syntheses of transuranium elements”.

The search for new elements is something that scientists have been doing for hundreds of years. Once Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev organised the elements known at his time according to a repeating, or periodic (and hence the name periodic table), system in the 1860s, the search became a little easier.

This was because the gaps in Mendeleev’s periodic table pointed to elements that weren’t known yet. The properties of these elements, however, could be predicted based on their place in the table and the neighbours around them, thereby making it easier to discover new elements. Mendeleev’s table has since been expanded, to make space for other new elements.

One of those new elements discovered was element number 101, named mendelevium after. Mendeleev. American Nobel Prize winner Glenn Seaborg, who was one of the discoverers of the element, wrote that the discovery of mendelevium was “one of the most dramatic in the sequence of syntheses of transuranium elements”, in a chapter co-written by him for The New Chemistry. Additionally, he also wrote in that chapter that “It was the first case in which a new element was produced and identified one atom at a time.”

Begins with a bang

Ivy Mike, the first thermonuclear device, was dropped for testing on the Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific Ocean in 1952, sending a radioactive cloud into the air, from which samples were collected. The lab reports suggested that two new elements-elements 99 (einsteinium) and 100 (fermium) – were discovered from the debris. The discoveries came at a time when there was a race to discover new elements. The leading researchers of the U.S. involved in this race were camped at the Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, under the direction of physicist Ernest Lawrence A team of scientists which included Albert Ghiorso, Stanley Thompson, Bernard Harvey, Gregory Choppin, and Seaborg, came up with a plan to produce element 101 using a billion atoms of einsteinium-253 that were formed in a reactor.

The idea was to spread the atoms of einsteinium onto a thin gold foil. As its half-life was about three weeks, the researchers effectively had a week to perform their experiments after receiving it. Based on Ghiorso’s calculations, they were aware that only about one atom of the new element 101 would be produced for every three hours the gold foil was bombarded with alpha particles.

Race against time

As the experiment would yield only a very small amount of the new element, the scientists set up a second gold foil behind the first to catch the atoms. It was a race against time as well as the half-life of element 101 was expected to be a few hours only.

With the Radiation Laboratory atop a hill and the cyclotron at its base, there really was a mad rush to get the samples to the lab on time. The samples “were collected in a test tube, which I took and then jumped in a car driven by Ghiorso”, is how Choppin put it in his own words.

On the night of the discovery, the target was irradiated in three-hour intervals for a total of nine hours. By 4 AM on February 19, 1955, they had recorded five decay events characteristic of element 101 and eight from element 100, fermium. With conclusive evidence of element 101’s existence, Choppin mentions that “We left Seaborg a note on the successful identification of Z =101 and went home to sleep on our success.”

At the end of April 1955, the discovery of element 101 was announced to the world. The university’s press release stated that “The atoms of the new element may have been the rarest units of matter that have existed on earth for nearly 5 billion years… The 17 atoms of the new element all decayed, of course, and the ‘new’ element is for the present extinct once again.”

Cold War era

As element 101 marked the beginning of the second hundred elements of the periodic table, the scientists wanted to name it after Mendeleev, the man behind the periodic table.

Despite the discovery happening during the Cold War era, Seaborg was able to pull enough strings to convince the U.S. government to accept the proposal to name the element after a Russian scientist. The International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry approved the name mendelevium and the scientists published their discovery in the June 1955 issue of Physical Review Letters.

While only small quantities of mendelevium have ever been produced, more stable isotopes of the element have since been made. The most stable version known as of now has a half-life of over one-and-a-half months, allowing for better opportunities to further study heavy elements and their properties.

Picture Credit : Google 

When does a paper set on fire doesn’t burn to ash? Let’s find out by an experiment!

What you need:

A lighter or a matchbox, a piece of plain paper, water, rubbing alcohol (70% strength), a glass, a measuring cup, a pair of tongs, adult supervision.

What to do:

In the glass, mix 30 ml of water and 90 ml of rubbing alcohol. Stir the mixture well.

Using the tongs, dip the paper into the mixture. Soak it completely.

Lift the paper out of the liquid and shake off any extra droplets. Stow the glass with the mixture away from your experiment table.

Now, using the lighter or a matchstick, set the bottom part of the paper on fire while still holding it with the tongs.

What happens:

If all goes well, the paper should catch fire but it doesn't bum to ash. In fact, the flame goes out, leaving your paper intact.

 Why?

The key is water. If you had dipped the paper into a pure alcohol solution, the paper would have burnt to a crisp.

But when you ignite the paper that is soaked in a water-alcohol mixture, the water absorbs most of the heat generated by the flame and starts to evaporate. This absorption and evaporation of water does not allow the temperature to rise to the point where the paper starts to burn. Needless to say that if the ratio of the alcohol and water is altered, the paper will burn!

Picture Credit : Google 

Can microorganisms blow up balloons?

What you need:

Three small balloons, three packets of yeast, sugar, warm water, three one-litre plastic bottles

What to do:

  • Fill up each bottle with about one inch of very warm water.
  • Put one packet of yeast into each bottle.
  • Now, in the first bottle, put one teaspoon of sugar; in the second one, put two teaspoons, and three teaspoons in the third. Cap all the bottles and shake them well.
  • Open the caps and put the three balloons on the bottles' necks. Leave the bottles undisturbed for a couple of hours.

 What happens:

The balloons begin to inflate in a while. The bottle with the maximum amount of sugar has the most inflated balloon.

 Why?

Yeasts are nothing but a kind of microorganism. They like to feed on sugar. Which is why they are used mostly in baking.

Yeasts require warmth and moisture to become active.

When yeasts begin to feed on sugar, carbon dioxide gas is released. This gas fills the bottle and then inflates the balloon. The more sugar the yeasts get to eat, the more gas they release and the more the balloon inflates.

Picture Credit : Google

How to make Candy rocks at home? Let’s find out by an experiment.

It certainly does! And even more if you can make rock-shaped candy at home!

What you need:

A clean wooden stick, water, sugar, a clothes-pin, a tall, narrow glass jar, a pan, food colour (optional), paper towel

 What to do:

Heat water in a pan.  Bring it to a boil. Ask help from an adult for doing this.

Keep adding in sugar to the boiling water one spoon at a time. Wait for one batch to dissolve before you add the next spoon. There will come a time when no more sugar can dissolve into the water. Stop adding the sugar then and allow the water to cool down.

Dip the wooden stick into the sugar solution and then roll it in some sugar (on a plate). Let it dry completely.

If you want, add food colour into the solution, the darker the better. Pour the sugar water into the glass jar filling it almost to the top.

Clip the stick to the clothes-pin. Let the pin rest on the mouth of the jar as the stick is submerged into the sugar water. It should hang straight without touching the sides of the jar.

Leave the jar undisturbed for a week. You can keep monitoring it though. Cover the top with a paper towel to keep dirt out.

What happens:

Sugar crystals start to grow on the stick. By the end of a week, you have candy on a stick!

Why?

You made a ‘super saturated’ solution when you mixed sugar into the water until it could hold no more. Heating the water added to its capacity of letting sugar dissolve. But once the water cooled, it could not hold that much sugar. So it started forming crystals again. More crystals form as the water evaporates.

The reason these crystals form on the stick is because the stick already had some sugar crystals on it which acted as grabbing points for the other crystals.

Picture Credit : Google 

Ryugu samples reveal earlier formation of carbonates

Scientists find that minerals from the asteroid were produced more than 4.5 billion years ago, even closer to the beginnings of the solar system

The age of our solar system is estimated to be around 4.57 billion years. While previous studies of ancient meteorites have revealed minerals created 4.5 billion years ago, a new study has pushed that even closer to the beginnings of the solar system.

Using mineral samples from the Ryugu asteroid collected by Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft, researchers from the University of California – Los Angeles are trying to better understand the chemical composition of the early solar system, closer to its infancy. Their results were published in January in Nature Astronomy.

Within 1.8 million years

 With the help of isotopic analysis, scientists discovered that carbonate minerals in the samples were crystallised through reactions with water. According to their estimates, these carbonates were formed within the first 1.8 million years after the solar system came into existence. They thus preserve a record of the temperature and composition of the asteroid as it was at that time.

Apart from being rocky and carbon-rich, Ryugu is the first C-type (carbonaceous) asteroid from which samples have been collected and studied. Unlike meteorites, which might have been chemically contaminated during their contact with Earth, these samples plucked off the asteroid are untouched.

Formed rather rapidly

Based on their research, the scientists were able to tell that Ryugu’s carbonates were formed several million years earlier than previously believed.

Additionally, it also indicates that Ryugu, or the parent asteroid from which it broke off, was a relatively small object- less than 20 km in diameter. This came as a surprise as most existing models predicted the formation of bodies at least 50 km in diameter.

In essence, the study helped the researchers suggest that the Ryugu asteroid and similar objects formed in the outer solar system. They must have formed relatively rapidly and probably as small bodies.

Understanding the mineral structure of asteroids provides insights into various questions on astrobiology. Current and future research on the Ryugu samples and other materials will thus continue to help our understanding about the formation of the solar system’s planets, including our own Earth.

Picture Credit : Google 

What’s a binary star system?

When two stars orbit a common centre of mass, they are called binary stars. These stars are gravitationally bound to each other. It is said that 85% of stars are in binary systems or in multiple systems.

Did you know that the light that we observe coming from a star in the sky may not be produced by a single star? That the light emanating from the single point may actually be light coming out from two or even more stars that are orbiting together? These are called multiple-star systems.

The most common star system that you come across will be a binary star system that comprises two stars. When two stars orbit a common centre of mass, they are called binary stars. These stars are gravitationally bound to each other.

Did you know that most stars are in binary systems? It is said that 85% of stars are in binary systems or in multiple systems.

While the brighter star is called the primary star, the dimmer one is called the secondary. If the stars are of equal brightness, then the discoverer gets to decide on the designation.

Binary stars are very important from an astronomic point of view as they help in understanding stellar evolution. They help determine the masses and luminosities of stars.

But how are these binary stars formed? The most common way of formation of a binary star system is by a process called fragmentation.

According to this, the gas and dust cloud which collapses to form a star splits into two or more stars due to their instability or cooling/heating effects.

These fragments or stars then evolve separately and form the binary star system. But there are rare incidents when a massive star captures a passing one, as the star travels through the galaxy and thereby creates a new binary pair.

Binary pairs can be classified based on a number of factors. One such classification is on how they are observed viz. visual binaries.

They are called visual binaries when the two stars have a wide separation when viewed through a telescope.

The first binary stars to be ever spotted were visual binaries. In 1617, at the behest of a scientist, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei used his telescope to focus on a star at the end of the handle of the Big Dipper, a constellation.

It was discovered that this wasn’t a single star, but two stars which later turned out to be six. Sir William Herschel, who is known for cataloguing 700 pairs of stars, used the term binary for the first time in 1802 to refer to the double stars.

Picture Credit : Google 

When chemistry meets myth

Step into the captivating realm of chemistry, where elements bear the names of legendary figures from myth and folklore.

Titanium

British mineralogist William Gregor made a significant discovery, in 1791, when he detected an unfamiliar metal in a black mineral known as menachanite. However, it was not named until four years later German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth independently identified the same metal in a different mineral called rutile. Upon learning about Gregor’s findings. Klaproth realised that the two metals were, in fact, the same. In honour of the Titans, a group of Greek deities known for their strength and power, Klaproth named the element “titanium.” This name befits the metal perfectly, as it exhibits remarkable resistance to corrosion and possesses an impressive tensile strength, especially considering its low density.

Thorium & Cerium

 Jons Jacob Berzelius, a Swedish chemist, made an exciting discovery while examining mineral samples from Norway and Sweden in 1815. He named this newfound substance thorjord, meaning “Thors earth,” in honour of the powerful Norse god of thunder. However, further investigation revealed that thorjord was, in fact, yttrium phosphate, an existing compound. Nevertheless, Berzelius later had the opportunity to pay tribute to Thor once again when he successfully identified a new element, which he named thorium in the late 1820s. Berzelius had a penchant for bestowing mythological names upon elements, and his naming of cerium was no exception. In 1803, while working alongside his colleague Wilhelm Hisinger, Berzelius discovered a silvery rare earth metal. Inspired by the recent sighting of the asteroid (now considered a dwarf planet) Ceres, they named the element cerium after the celestial body. The name Ceres, in turn, originated from the Roman goddess associated with agriculture and abundant harvests. It is worth noting that the word “cereal” is also derived from the name of this goddess.

Vanadium

Vanadium was discovered in 1801 by the Spanish-Mexican mineralogist Andres Manuel del Rio. He found a new mineral in a lead ore from a mine near Zimapan, Mexico. Del Rio initially believed that the mineral was a form of chromium, and he named it “panchromium” due to its ability to exhibit various colours when oxidised.

However, in 1830, Swedish chemist Nils Gabriel Sefstrom rediscovered the element independently while working with iron ores. Sefstrom recognised that the mineral previously identified as panchromium was a distinct element and named it “vanadium” in honour of the Scandinavian goddess Vanadis (also known as Freyja) Vanadis was associated with beauty and fertility, which Sefstrom felt was appropriate due to the many vibrant colours exhibited by vanadium compounds.

Promethium

During the development of the atomic bomb as part of the Manhattan Project in World War II, American chemist Charles Coryell and his colleagues Lawrence E. Glendenin and Jacob A. Marinsky were involved in the identification of elements produced during nuclear fission of uranium. Surprisingly, they discovered an unknown rare earth metal during their research. Credit for the name of this radioactive element goes to Coryell’s wife, Grace Mary. She proposed naming it after Prometheus, the Greek Titan who famously stole fire from the Olympians and gave it to humans. However, Prometheus faced severe consequences for his actions. He was bound to a mountain by Zeus, and every day an eagle would come to peck out his liver, which would then regenerate overnight. This punishment served as a reminder of the dangers associated with defying the gods.

When Glendenin described the name “promethium” in 1976, he explained that it not only symbolised the remarkable manner in which the element is created through the harnessing of nuclear fission energy but also served as a warning about the potential consequences and perils of engaging in war, as represented by the eagle punishing Prometheus.

Picture Credit : Google 

What does Hawking’s final theory reveal about the origin of time?

In 1998, physicist Stephen Hawking asked Belgian cosmologist Thomas Hertog to work with him to develop “a new quantum theory of the Big Bang”. What started as a doctoral project for Hertog turned into an intense collaboration that continued until Hawking’s death in 2018. Their answers to the question of how the Big Bang created conditions so perfect for life is what makes the recent book On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking’s Final Theory.

In their quest to rethink cosmology from an observers perspective, they had to adopt the strange rules of quantum mechanics that govern the micro-world of atoms and particles. A property called superposition in quantum mechanics suggests that particles can be in several positions at the same time. Only when observed does it randomly pick a specific location. In addition, quantum mechanics also involves random jumps and fluctuations.

Quantum universe

In a quantum universe, therefore, the past and the future emerge from a number of possibilities by continuous observations. These refer to not just the observations done by us human beings, but even the environment or a single particle can “observe”. All other possibilities become irrelevant once something has been observed.

Hawking and Hertog discovered that looking back at the earliest stages of the universe through a quantum lens gave it a more Darwinian flavour of variation and selection. In this deeper level of meta-evolution, even the laws of physics change and evolve in sync with the universe that is taking shape.

Laws evolve

While cosmologists usually start by assuming initial conditions and the laws that existed at the time of the Big Bang, Hawking and Hertog suggest that the laws themselves are a result of evolution. This means that the specific set of physical laws that govern our universe can only be understood in retrospect.

When reasoning back in time, therefore, evolution focussed towards greater simplicity and lesser structure continues all the way. This forms the crux of their hypothesis, meaning that ultimately even time and physical laws would fade away.

The study of the origin of the universe over the last 100 years or so has been against the backdrop of immutable laws of nature. Hawking and Hertog suggest that it isn’t these laws themselves, but their ability to transmute that dictates terms. If future cosmological observations find evidence of this, Hawking’s final theory might well be his greatest scientific legacy.

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What is Kuiper Belt?

Also called the “third zone” of the solar system, this large volume of space outside Neptune’s orbit is home to thousands of icy, cold objects. This is where Pluto is also present.

In the cold, outermost area of our solar system lies one of the largest structures in our solar system. Also called the “third zone” of the solar system, this “donut-shaped” volume of space is called the Kuiper belt. This is where Pluto is also present.

The region encompasses hundreds of thousands of icy, cold objects and is outside Neptune’s orbit.

The region is named so after astronomer Gerard Kuiper, who published a paper speculating objects beyond Pluto. This was also suggested by Astronomer Kenneth Edgeworth in the papers he published and sometimes this belt is called the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt. Some researchers also refers to it as the Trans-Neptunian Region.

The icy bodies are called Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOS) or trans-Neptunian objects (TNOS). They are highly diverse in terms of size, shape, and colour. A significant number of KBOS have moons.

So how did the icy objects form? According to scientists, these icy objects are leftovers after the formation of our solar system. The region must have formed after these objects came together to form a planet but Neptune’s gravity played spoilsport. The gravity shook up this region and these icy objects couldn’t join to form a planet.

The Kuiper Belt volume is being lost nowadays. The amount of material which it carries now is much less when compared to what it contained earlier.

The objects in the belt collide and lead to fragmented, smaller objects. Sometimes the dust gets blown out of the solar system. We take a look at a few of the KBOS.

Haumea

This KBO is known for its strange shape and rotation style. According to NASA, the Haumea resembles a squashed American football. This was a result of the object’s collision with another object half the size of it.

Eris

Smaller than Pluto, Eris takes 557 years to orbit the Sun. It has a moon called Dysnomia.

Arrokoth

Lying some billion miles past Pluto is the Arrokoth, a Kuiper Belt Object which means sky in the Native American language. This small snowman-shaped object is believed to hold clues about the origin of life on Earth and also about the planet’s formation.

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What do we know about Dr. Sachchida Nand Tripathi?

You might have read in the papers some time back that the Taj Mahal was losing its white marble sheen and turning yellowish due to pollution. Dr. Sachchida Nand Tripathi, who holds the Arjun Dev Joneja Faculty Chair of Civil Engineering at IIT-Kanpur, was in the news for this study. His study helped bring about policy changes in Agra city.

This study specified that black carbon and brown carbon from the burning of trash and fuels was the main cause for discolouration. Using a novel method, the team discovered how the specks of dust on the surface reflect light and affect the colour. This study is crucial to develop strategies that address yellowing of the Taj Mahal and improves air quality.

His work in the field of Atmospheric Sciences has addressed the issues of air pollution and climate change. He has also novel approaches for low-cost sensor-based network technology which can monitor air quality in cities and Real Time Source Apportionment (RTSA). RTSA involves finding out the sources of pollution and how much they affect the environment.

Dr. Tripathi is the Coordinator of the National Knowledge Network devised under the National Clean Air Program, and is a member of its Steering Committee and Monitoring Committee. Further, he is a member of the Executive Council, Climate Change Program, Department of Science and Technology.

The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award and the J C Bose National Fellowship are both feathers in his cap. He is an elected Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) and National Academy of Sciences of India (NASI). He also worked at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre as a senior fellow.

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What do we know about Kanishka Biswas?

Have you ever noticed that all electric appliances generate heat energy? Do we need to waste electrical energy as heat? Kanishka Biswas, who is an associate professor in the New Chemistry Unit at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, and his team have come up with a novel compound called silver copper telluride(Ag Cu te) which converts waste heat into electricity. Usually, 65 per cent of electrical energy is wasted as heat energy. Silver copper telluride can be used in automobile industry and power plants where much of the energy is wasted as heat.

Kanishka Biswas is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), U.K. He has bagged many prestigious awards and prominent among them is the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, which he won for Chemical Sciences in 2021.

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What are the contributions of Prof. Ashoke Sen?

We meet another theoretical physicist who works on string theory. Prof. Ashoke Sen is a distinguished professor at the Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad. He is also interested in black hole entropy. We have already seen black holes. Now, entropy is the measure of disorder in a system. Dr. Sen applied string theory to black hole entropy. He studied at IIT-Kanpur and got a doctorate from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, U.S.A.

He has authored and co-authored many important papers on string field theory. Prof. Sen holds the position of Honorary Fellow in the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar. He is also a Morning- star visiting professor at MIT and a distinguished professor at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study.

Prof. Sen was one of the nine winners of the first Fundamental Physics prize started by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner – each of the winners getting $ 3 million. This is twice the amount of the Nobel prize. He was nominated as a Fellow of the Royal Society, won the Padma Shri and was a recipient of the Bhatnagar Award in 1994.

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Why is Gautam Radhakrishna Desiraju well known in his field?

Gautam Radhakrishna Desiraju is a professor of Chemistry at the University of Hyderabad. He is regarded as one of the founders of Crystal Engineering.

Have you heard of Crystal Engineering? It is designing molecular solids with specific properties. This is done by making use of the interactions between molecules.

Crystal Engineering has developed greatly and Desiraju played a crucial role in this. Now 200 independent research groups in Crystal Engineering exist worldwide.

He has also researched into the non-conventional hydrogen bond, also known as the weak hydrogen bond. These bonds have distinct roles and guide molecular associations. Earlier they were dismissed to be of no significance. Now these bonds are used to understand biomolecules and to create drugs.

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Why is Charusita Chakravarty a remarkable woman?

Charusita Chakravarty was an Indian academic and scientist. She was a professor of chemistry at IIT – Delhi. She was also an Associate Member of the Centre for Computational Material Science, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru.

When she started her career, women were not taken very seriously in the field of science. Dr Charusita Chakravarty was determined to excel in her field. She raised her voice against the gender bias in the STEM fields. (STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine). She encouraged other women also to enter these fields.

She was born in Massachusetts in the US as her parents were leading economists there. However, she was raised in Delhi. Being a single child and growing up in a liberal environment gave her the courage to defy boundaries from an early age. She was also keen on poetry and music.

She topped the Delhi Higher Secondary Board and also Delhi University in her B. Sc Chemistry from St. Stephens College. She did a Natural Science Tripos from Cambridge and then her PhD, on quantum scattering and spectroscopy. She did her post-doctoral studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Her fields of interest also included theoretical chemistry and chemical physics, the structure and dynamics of liquids, water and hydration, nucleation and self-assembly. Her articles have come in national and international journals.

She received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology and also the B.M. Birla Science Award. Sadly, on 29 March 2016, Chakravarty passed away after a long and arduous battle with breast cancer.

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What do we know about Abhay Ashtekar?

Dr. Abhay Ashtekar is famous world-wide for trying to connect Einstein’s Theory of Relativity with the principles of quantum mechanics. These two theories are conflicting by nature and scientists are divided between the two. Dr. Ashteker is one of the founders of loop quantum gravity, and its sub-field, loop quantum cosmology.

Abhay Ashtekar’s childhood was spent in many Indian metros, including Mumbai. He went to the University of Texas at Austin for his graduation in gravitation. His PhD was at the University of Chicago under the supervision of Robert Geroch. He held many positions at Oxford, Paris and Syracuse before settling at Pennsylvania.

In 1992, Penn State University created the Center for Gravitational Physics and Geometry specifically for him. Ashtekar and his colleagues calculated the entropy for a black hole. This matched a prediction made by Hawking. His approach to quantum gravity has been described as “The most important of all the attempts at ‘quantizing’ general relativity.”

Ashtekar was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. He is a Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science and one of only 40 Honorary Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences drawn from the international community. He won the Einstein Prize of the American Physical Society and Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He has held the Krammers Visiting Chair in Theoretical Physics at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands and the Sir C. V. Raman Chair of the Indian Academy of Sciences.

Currently he is the Eberly Professor of Physics and the Director of the Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry at Pennsylvania State University.

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Who was H.G. Wells?

Known as the father of science fiction, H.G. Wells was not juts a prolific writer, he was also a visionary who advocated world peace and social equality through his books. Here’s a recap of Wells’ life and works as another birth anniversary goes by.

The setting of the story is Surrey, Woking in England. It begins with the narrator observing that no one would have thought that our world would be watched keenly by intelligent beings. And that as we busied ourselves with our concerns we were being studied and ‘scrutinized’.

The narrator notes”… perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water….”

The unnamed narrator slowly takes us on a journey of a planetary invasion. What began as flashes of light on the surface of Mars soon turns into a full-blown planetary invasion with ‘Martians’ landing on Earth. A Martian Invasion!

The War of the Worlds (1898), a science fiction novel by English writer H.G. Wells talks about the extraterrestrial race and the conflict between humans and Martians.

The War of the Worlds is just one among the many works by the author who is considered the father of science fiction.

Early Life

Wells was born in 1866 in Kent, England to parents who were household helps. When Wells was just years old, he broke his leg. During the time he spent recuperating, he started reading. This unfortunate event, in fact, made him an ardent reader.

At the age of 14, Wells was apprenticed to a draper (a dealer in cloth). When he was 17, he started teaching at a grammar school.

When he was 18, he clinched a scholarship at the Normal School of Science in London and studied biology. But he left the college without a degree and started teaching in private schools. It would be years later that he would obtain his degree. He graduated in 1888 and started teaching science. But he turned to writing soon.

Wells as a writer

His penchant for science is seen in the bevy of science fiction he created.

In The Time Machine (1895), the story takes us on a journey of time travel when the narrator invents the time machine.

It would be interesting to note that The Time Machine is the first novel Wells published.

It was not just science fiction he delved into. Wells also wrote about the lower classes. Having had a very humble upbringing, Wells could draw upon his life experiences as well.

He wrote novels about the lives of the lower- and middle-class people and also reflected on the problems of Western society. He also advocated world peace and social equality through his books.

Vocal about social progress

Wells was a socialist. He was actively promoting social progress through his books. This can be seen in A Modern Utopia (1905), where he maintains that science can change the world. He also joined the Fabian Society, a British socialist organization.

Futuristic Wells

Wells has written over 100 books. A visionary, Well’s novels are oddly prophetic Reading him would make you wonder how he could foresee so much into our future. But perhaps that’s what science fiction is all about. The modern-day inventions of the phone, email, tanks, lasers, gas warfare and so on echo in Well’s novels.

But there are a few predictions that haven’t come true, such as the invention of the time machine, a Martian invasion, and a man who turns invisible, to cite a few.

A World State

Wells envisioned a world government, which he detailed in A Modern Utopia (1905). He thought that this idea of a world state would ensure peace.

One can surmise that the outbreak of the war made him despondent and dejected. His last book Mind at the End of its Tether (1945) reflects this, with its gloomy future for humankind

He passed away in 1946, in London.

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What makes Prof. C.N.R Rao a notable figure in the Indian scientific field?

Prof. C.N.R. Rao is a world-famous Indian scientist specialising in solid state and structural chemistry.

He did research in superconductivity, and his latest research is on the wonder material graphene and artificial photosynthesis.

Prof. Rao was a single child. His father was an Inspector of Schools, but surprisingly, he did not go to elementary school. He was coached at home by his mother. His parents saw to it that he was fluent in both English and his mother-tongue, Kannada.

Rao’s passion for chemistry started during his high school years and he chose Chemistry for his higher studies, and went to the Banaras Hindu University for his Master’s. Later, he got scholarship offers to do Ph.D. from four foreign universities: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Penn State, Columbia and Purdue. He went to Purdue and completed his Ph.D in 2 years and nine months in 1958. He was only 24!

84 universities have given him honorary doctorates. He has 54 books and around 1,774 research publications.

He is the founder president of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore, and was the chairman of the science advisory council to the prime minister for many years. He is also Founding Fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences.

Now, have a look at some of the awards and honours received by this great man:

  • Marlow Medal
  • Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology
  • Hughes Medal
  • India Science Award
  • Dan David Prize
  • Royal Medal
  • Von Hippel Award
  • ENI award
  • Padma Shri
  • Padma Vibhushan

On 16 November 2013, the Government of India selected him for Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in India. Thus he became the third scientist after C.V. Raman and APJ. Abdul Kalam to receive the Bharat Ratna.

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What is click chemistry?

The recent Nobel Chemistry Prize turned the spotlight on click chemistry that allows molecular building blocks to snap together quickly and efficiently.

Early in October, the Nobel Chemistry Prize was awarded to a trio of scientists-Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal, and K. Barry Sharpless-“for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry”. While Sharpless and Meldal laid the foundation for a functional form of chemistry, Bertozzi took it to a new dimension by utilising it in living organisms.

Sharpless, who was awarded his second Nobel Prize in Chemistry, set the ball rolling around the year 2000 when he coined the concept of click chemistry. A simple and reliable form of chemistry, the reactions in click chemistry occur quickly and unwanted byproducts are avoided. Just like how children build with their blocks, click chemistry allows molecular building blocks to snap together quickly and efficiently.

Soon afterwards, Sharpless and Meldal independently arrived at a specific chemical reaction that uses copper ions as a catalyst. Now in widespread use, this reaction is seen as the crown jewel of click chemistry.

Many advantages

While the use of copper has many advantages, including that the reactions could be done at room temperature and could involve water, they can be toxic for the cells of living organisms.

Bertozzi took click chemistry to a new level by working on the foundations built by Sharpless and Meldal.

What Bertozzi did was to develop click reactions that work inside living organisms without disrupting the normal chemistry of the cell. She called this bioorthogonal chemistry- orthogonal meaning intersecting at right angles. While in click chemistry, the molecules clicked together in a straight flat line as in a seat belt, Bertozzi discovered more stable reactions by forcing the molecules at an angle.

Endless possibilities

Even though this is a very young field relatively, the Nobel Chemistry Prize was awarded to these scientists as this field has taken chemistry into an era of functionalism. While we are still scratching the surface, click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry are expected to bring great benefit to humanity. Click chemistry is already in use to create polymers that protect against heat and in varieties of glue in nano-chemistry. Other use cases include developing new targeted medicines. There is hope to create a targeted way to diagnose and treat cancer, including making chemotherapy have fewer severe side effects. The possibilities are literally endless at the moment.

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WHAT IS METHANE?

Methane is a hydrocarbon, which means that it is a compound made up of hydrogen and carbon atoms. It naturally occurs as an odourless, colourless, and tasteless gas. It is 25 times more dangerous Greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. It can either be introduced into the environment by natural processes like the decomposition of the organic matter or by human activities like coal oil and natural gas extractions from the Earth, uncovered or poorly managed landfills and the burning of fossil fuels to name a few.

PRIMARY SOURCES OF METHANE EMISSIONS

Atmospheric methane concentrations have grown as a result of human activities related to agriculture, including rice cultivation and ruminant livestock; coal mining; oil and gas production and distribution; biomass burning; and municipal waste landfilling. Emissions are projected to continue to increase by 2030 unless immediate action is taken.

In agriculture, rapid and large scale implementation of improved livestock feeding strategies can reduce of 20% of global methane emissions by 2030, while full implementation of intermittent aeration of continually flooded rice paddies (known as alternate wetting and drying cultivation) could reduce emission from rice production by over 30%.

Emissions from coal mining and the oil and gas sector could be reduced by over 65% by preventing gas leakage during transmission and distribution, recovering and using gas at the production stage, and by pre-mine degasification and recovery of methane during coal mining.

METHANE IMPACTS

  • CLIMATE IMPACTS

Methane is generally considered second to carbon dioxide in its importance to climate change. The presence of methane in the atmosphere can also affect the abundance of other greenhouse gases, such as tropospheric ozone, water vapor and carbon dioxide.

Recent research suggests that the contribution of methane emissions to global warming is 25% higher than previous estimates.>

  • HEALTH IMPACTS

Methane is a key precursor gas of the harmful air pollutant, tropospheric ozone. Globally, increased methane emissions are responsible for half of the observed rise in tropospheric ozone levels.

While methane does not cause direct harm to human health or crop production, ozone is responsible for about 1 million premature respiratory deaths globally. Methane is responsible for about half of these deaths.

SOLUTIONS

The relatively short atmospheric lifetime of methane, combined with its strong warming potential, means that targeted strategies to reduce emissions can provide climate and health benefits within a few decades.

The Coalition supports implementation of control measures that, if globally implemented by 2030, could reduce global methane emissions by as much as 40%. Several of these emission reductions could be achieved with net savings, providing quick benefits for the climate as well as public health and agricultural yields.

Credit : Climate & clean air coalition   

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WHAT ARE HYDROFLUOROCARBONS?

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are a group of industrial chemicals primarily used for cooling and refrigeration. HFCs were developed to replace stratospheric ozone-depleting substances that are currently being phased out under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

Many HFCs are very powerful greenhouse gases and a substantial number are short-lived climate pollutants with a lifetime of between 15 and 29 years in the atmosphere.

Though HFCs currently represent around 1% of total greenhouse gases, their impact on global warming can be hundreds to thousands of times greater than that of carbon dioxide per unit of mass. Assuming no new regulation, HFC consumption is projected to double by 2020, and emissions could contribute substantially to radiative forcing in the atmosphere by the middle of the century.

The Kigali Amendment to phase down HFCs under the Montreal Protocol entered into force in 2019. Under the amendment, countries commit to cut the production and consumption of HFCs by more than 80% over the next 30 years to avoid more than 70 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 2050 — and up to 0.5° C warming by the end of the century. Solutions are available to replace high-global warming potential HFCs in many sectors and reduce emissions.

HFCs CLIMATE IMPACTS

HFCs are potent greenhouse gases that can be hundreds to thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2) in contributing to climate change per unit of mass. A recent study concluded that replacing high-GWP HFCs with low-GWP alternatives could avoid 0.1°C of warming by 2050. Fast action under the Montreal Protocol could limit the growth of HFCs and avoid up to 0.5°C of warming by 2100.

SOLUTIONS

HFCs can be most effectively controlled through a phase down of their production and consumption.

In addition to the direct climate benefits from HFC mitigation, a global HFC phase down could also provide indirect benefits through improvements in the energy efficiency of the refrigerators, air conditioners, and other products and equipment that use these chemicals. These efficiency gains could also lead to reduced emissions of CO2 and other air pollutants.

Credit : Climate and clean air coalition 

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Who was Marie Curie?

Marie Curie (November 7, 1867-July 4, 1934) was a French Polish physicist and chemist, famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity and the discovery of polonium and radium.  She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the only woman to win in two fields, and the only person to win in multiple sciences. She was also the first female professor at the University of Paris (La Sorbonne), and in 1995 became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in the Pantheon in Paris]

In 1867, Maria Sklodowska was born in Warsaw, Poland. She was a bright and curious child who did well in school. At the time, the University of Warsaw refused students who were women. But that didn’t stop young Maria! Instead, she learned in secret. She went to informal classes held in ever-changing locations, called the “Floating University.”

In 1891, the woman the world would come to know as Marie Curie made her way to Paris. There, she enrolled at the Sorbonne, a university that didn’t discriminate. Over the next few years, she completed advanced degrees in physics and mathematics. She also met French physicist Pierre Curie. The two married in 1895.

Marie and Pierre worked closely over the next decade. Marie’s biggest discoveries came from studying uranium rays. She believed these rays came from the element’s atomic structure. Curie created the term “radioactivity” to name the phenomena she had observed. Her findings led to the field of atomic physics.

Together, the Curies studied the mineral pitchblende. Through their experiments, they discovered a new radioactive element. Marie named it polonium in honor of her native Poland. The two later also discovered the element radium.

In 1903, Marie and Pierre Curie were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. Marie was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize. That same year, she also became the first woman to earn a Ph.D. from a French university. After Pierre’s death in 1906, Marie took over his teaching job at the Sorbonne. She was the first female professor at the institution.

In 1911, Curie became the first person—of any gender—to win a second Nobel Prize. This time, she was recognized for her work in the field of chemistry. Curie’s scientific reputation was known around the world. In fact, she was invited to attend the Solvay Congress in Physics. There, she joined other famous scientists of the day, including Albert Einstein.

After World War I began in 1914, Marie used her scientific knowledge to support France’s efforts in the war. She helped to develop the use of portable X-ray machines in the field. In fact, the medical vehicles that carried these machines became known as “Little Curies.”

Marie Curie never knew the toll her work would take on her health. She died in France in 1934 from advanced leukemia related to prolonged exposure to radiation. Today, Curie’s notebooks are still too radioactive to be safely handled. They are stored in lead-lined boxes in France.

Marie Curie left a great legacy of accomplishment and scientific curiosity. Her daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie, followed in her footsteps. Joliot-Curie received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1935, one year after her mother’s death.

In 1995, Marie and Pierre Curie’s remains were placed in the Panthéon in Paris. This is known as the final resting place of France’s most distinguished citizens. Marie Curie was the first woman to be interred there on her own merit.

Credit : Wonder Opolis

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