Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Bevan Koo 1st day reflection

I had learnt that we must not waste water and use it wisely as there are more than 1.1 billion people in the World that has no access to clean water. Proper sanitation is also very important in daily lives. Micrology of electronics helps to improve lives of all as It helps to save time, space and effort. It also brings convenience to all even the blind.

Nanotechnology help to save time, space and effort. It brings convenience to everyone and help to save life even from bullet and even terrorism.

Animation requires a lot of hard work, creativity and labour. In recent years, stop motion, 2d and 3d animations bring in different varieties of fascinating animations.

Sea level rise would not be the same for all places and it is hard to measure the melting of glaciers.

The plenary session that leaves the deepest impression on me is Biomedical Engineering and Technology. What I like about it is that it can save life as it can help to protect oneself from enemies as it help to camouflage and protect from bullets.

Reflection for day 1 ( Brendon Goh )

Reflection for day 1:

Plenary Sessions:

Importance of water - dirty and clean

We must save water and appreciate it and not take it for granted as there are people in the world who do not have access to clean drinking water and fall sick very easily.

Revolution of Microelectronics Technology

Electronics can be integrated to form better technology like bionano electronics.

Biomedical engineering and technology

Reducing size for a fixed volume to get a larger surface area to have more energy.

IT for Animation

Animation is a painstaking process that needs lots of labour to create frames and animate them.

Disappearing glaciers, rising sea levels, gravity being important

When a glacier melts, the land will pop up, so the sea level near the glacier will decrease while the sea level far away from the glacier will rise.

Deepest impression:

The plenary session that gives me the deepest impression is the one about glaciers, and rising sea levels. This is a problem as it concerns the environment. If the glaciers keep melting, the sea level far away will keep on rising, and tide will rise and causing some islands to be submerged. This will be a major problem for people in the future.


Brendon Goh

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Pre-Research (Carisa Chan)

 Here is my research for the keywords below.

partition coefficient: the equilibrium distribution of an analyte between the sample phase and the gas phase.

analyte: the sample being analyzed

Source: http://www.labhut.com/education/headspace/introduction03.php


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solubility

hydrophobic: A hydrophobic molecule is repelled by water; literally, hydrophobe means something with a fear of water. Hydrophobic molecules often cluster together when dropped in water, just as oil does. Hydrophobic molecules are also called lipophilic because they will dissolve in oils and other lipids. They tend to be electrically neutral and nonpolar and work better with neutral and nonpolar solvents.

Source: http://www.iscid.org/encyclopedia/Hydrophobic

hydrophilic: Hydrophilic literally translates as "water loving" or "water friend." Hydrophilic substances are attracted to, and dissolve well within, water. Hydrophilic is typically used to describe a property of a molecule, and refers to the likelihood of its bonding with the hydrogen molecule in water. A hydrophilic molecule is not just soluble in water but also in other polar solvents; it will dissolve less readily in oils and other hydrophobic solvents. Hydrophilic molecules are charge-polarized so that one end is positive and the other negative.

Source: http://www.iscid.org/encyclopedia/Hydrophilic 

Pre-Research (Koh Su En)

Partition Coefficient:The partition coefficient is the equilibrium distribution of an analyte between the sample phase and the gas phase.

Equilibrium (Chemistry) is a state in which a process and its reverse are occurring at equal rates so that no overall change is taking place.
eg. Ice is in equilibrium with water

Calculating Partition Coefficient:

Partition Coefficient (K) = Cs/Cg

where Cs is the concentration of analyte in sample phase;
g is the concentration of analyte in gas phase


an·a·lyte (n-lt)
A substance or chemical constituent that is undergoing analysis.

Source: http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/analyte

Polar and Non-Polar Compounds

Depending on the relative electronegativities of the two atoms sharing electrons, there may be partial transfer of electron density from one atom to the other. When the electronegativities are not equal, electrons are not shared equally and partial ionic charges develop.

The greater the electronegativity difference, the more ionic the bond is. Bonds that are partly ionic are called polar covalent bonds. (Refer to Picture 1.)

Nonpolar covalent bonds, with equal sharing of the bond electrons, arise when the electronegativities of the two atoms are equal. (Refer to Picture 1.)

Picture 1.

Source: http://users.stlcc.edu/gkrishnan/polar.html

Bevan's pre-reading(NTU Camp)

Caffeine (C8H10N4O2) is an example of a type of organic weak base called an alkaloid – alkaloid means ‘alkali-like’. Caffeine is a stimulant and is found naturally in tea, coffee and kola nuts. Organic compounds tend to be soluble in organic solvents. Polar materials, such as salts tend to be more soluble in polar solvents, such as water.

In general, an organic compound and an inorganic salt can be easily separated using these solubility differences. We can tell which phase is aqueous and which is organic by checking the density of the liquids. Swirling the separatory funnel is a better technique to mix the liquids. The rotary evaporator is used to evaporate the solvent that your chemical compound of interest is solubilized in.

We must ensure that the filtrate(filtrated liquid) is in room temperature as caffeine is more soluble in dichloromethane than water. Remember to place a Stopper to the separating funnel and gently invert it. You must not shake it too vigorously.