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0.1 Salutations and Introduction Chemistry in Society

Dr. Fred Omega Garces Chemistry 111

Chemistry in Society

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Fundamentals of Chemistry 111 Chemistry in Society

Objective: This is an introductory chemistry course for non-science majors. The course emphasizes conceptual topics in chemistry and scientific thinking. Students learn to understand how society uses chemistry-based technologies and how to analyze current trends or news involving chemistry. Topics include a basic understanding of matter and energy, physical and chemical changes, the atom, nuclear chemistry, bonding, acids and bases, organic chemistry, and biochemistry. Current issues in environmental chemistry such as energy resources, air and water pollution are explored. Students discuss the effects and controversy surrounding the use of different forms of energy.

This course will give you the knowledge to wisely make these important decisions.

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So why are you taking Chemistry ? (… and enrolled in this course)

Most will say It is required for

-For major -For science education

Understand how Science impact society.

(Rarely do I hear the answer that it is a favorite subject) Even if you do not like chemistry you will be amaze on how much this science impacts your life.

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Knowledge in science is more than a collection of facts; it involves comprehension, correlation, and an ability to explain established facts, usually in terms of a physical cause for an observed effect.

Science: (Latin) Knowledge

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Science and the Universe How is Science and the Universe related? Science encompasses the Universe. A better understanding of our universe leads to the improvement to our quality of life.

Matter Energy

Universe

E=mc2

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Science and Technology How is Science related to Technology

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Which came first Science or Technology? Science feeds technology;

Science itself can’t cause change. Likewise, Technology cannot happen without without science.

-Examples of Science symbiotic relationship to Technology

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How is Science different from Technology ?

In essence there is a Symbiotic relationship between Science and Technology

Basic Science - The accumulation of knowledge about the universe requires adhering to logical guidelines.

This Guidelines is called the Scientific Method Technology - Is defined as using scientific knowledge to manipulate nature.

To make science translate to technology, scientist must be great problem solvers.

i.e., making a better battery for today’s electronic devices Google uses the Bloom Box.

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Time incubation before technology is realized after innovation was conceive by science.

Innovation Conception Application Incubation Antibiotics 1910 1940 30 Heart pacemakers 1928 1960 32 Nylon 1927 1939 12 Xerox 1935 1950 15 photography 1782 1838 56

Table of science transformation to technology

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Today we see technological revolution happening in our daily lives

What do you think are the current the biggest technological revolution? 20 years ago it was the computer chip and recombinant DNA.

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Technology doesn’t come without a price. Risk & Benefits of a Technological Society

There are many benefits of a technological society but what sacrifice must be paid. What is the risk ?

1. Pesticide to improve crop yield - (Union carbide) Bhopal India over 2000 dead.

2. Nuclear fission - USSR Chernobyl, hundreds dead, more dying.

3. Space travel - Challenger disaster. 4. Automobile - Leaded fuel

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What are acceptable risk? Society tend to judge involuntary exposure to activities & technology riskier than voluntary exposure.

i.e., Nuclear power plants are very dangerous but so are smoking & drinking. Are all chemicals made by chemist bad for you? Society says certain risk are okay as long as the individual chooses.

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

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What is Chemistry ? What are Chemicals ?

Chemistry is the science which deals how material in the universe undergo changes.

Matter (material) are any substance which occupies space and has mass.

http://junksciencearchive.com/feb99/perkins.html

Chemistry and Chemicals San Diego: Is Any Chemical a Bad Chemical? "Is any chemical a bad chemical?" The San Diego Union-Tribune by Joseph Perkins,, February 19, 1999 Copyright 1999 Remember the dioxin scare? Back in the early 1980s, the Environmental Protection Agency pronounced it the deadliest chemical known to humanity. By 1991, however, the federal government was forced to admit that it was wrong; that dioxin was virtually harmless. If it (dioxin) is a carcinogen, it's a very weak carcinogen," conceded Dr. Vernon Houk, the federal official who needlessly ordered the evacuation of an entire town in 1983 that was supposedly contaminated by the chemical. How about the radon scare? In the early 1990s, the EPA calculated that the radioactive gas -- to which an unsuspecting individual may be exposed when he or she takes his or her daily shower, the public was warned -- was responsible for as many as 30,000 lung cancer deaths each year. Yet, as it turns out, none of the cities or states or regions of the country with high readings of radon (which is produced by decaying natural deposits of uranium) have higher-than-normal rates of lung cancer. Moreover, not one lung cancer patient has ever been identified whose illness has been positively attributed to radon.

Now we have the MTBE scare. Methyl tertiary-butyl ether is a gasoline additive. The chemical has been around since 1979, when it was initially added to fuel to increase octane, but the Exxons and Mobils and ARCOS and Chevrons have greatly increased its use over the past decade. That's because MTBE is what is known as an "oxygenate." Cars and trucks fueled by oxygenated gas emit less smog-producing compounds from their tailpipes than those using the old-fashioned non-oxygenated gas. It is for that reason that a 1990 amendment of the Clean Air Act required oxygenated gas to be used in smoggy Los Angeles, in San Diego (which has the misfortune of being downwind from the City of Angels) and eight other metropolitan areas throughout the country reeling which, at the time, were suffering from poor air quality. And since 1995, when service stations throughout California began selling gasoline reformulated with MTBE, the oxygenate is credited with reducing carbon monoxide pollution by roughly 10 percent in Los Angeles and San Diego, much to the better health of the 10 million or so inhabitants of Southern California's two largest metropolises.

Alas, this does not sit well with the environmental left. Not because they are against cleaner air. But because they simply don't like chemicals, like MTBE, no matter how beneficial they may be. They believe, as an article of faith, that chemicals are bad; are injurious to health. And that the chemical industry is unholy and its executives evil. … As to the problem of MTBE leeching into municipal water supplies, that has nothing whatsoever to do with the chemical's properties and everything to do with the failure of oil companies to keep their underground storage facilities properly maintained. It should also be mentioned that, when these underground gas tanks leak, the biggest danger to the water supply is not MTBE, but benzene and toluene, two indisputable cancer-causing chemicals.

MTBE has done much to improve air quality in Southern California and other smoggy, car-infested regions of the country. It would be ludicrous for lawmakers to accede to the wishes of scare-mongering environmentalist crusaders who seek to ban the oxygenate, not because it poses a scientifically-proven threat to human health, but simply because these latter day Luddites never met a chemical they liked.

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The bottom line; there is no absolute answer to the question-"How safe is safe ?"

It is difficult to determine risk. To assess risk, knowledge of toxicity and exposure is required:

1. Exposure - this is easily measure and it is based on the amount of time exposed and quantity of the material.

2. Toxicity - This is difficult to measure. How can toxicity be determine?

a) Human population - unethical b) Statistical analysis - vague c) Animal studies - animal rights

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We as informed consumers have a responsibility to ...

We as consumers should know how to weigh the risk and the benefits and hopefully after this class, you will be able to understand the science behind certain consumer goods so that you can make sound judgment.

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Sound decision comes from knowledge and a good understanding of Science.

Branches of Science Math - Language of Science. Biology - Science of the living. Physics - Science of the way things work. Chemistry - Science of the building block of matter.

As known as Lego Science

Chemistry is often called the Central Science.

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The Lego analogy of Matter What is matter ? Anything which contains substance (occupies

space and has mass) mass is a measure of quantity, weight is the force due to gravity.

Chemistry is Everywhere !!

Since matter is everywhere -

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Everywhere you look Chemistry happens

Realm of- (Power10 Website)* 10 -12 Subatomic - Fission/Fusion

elements particles 10-6 Microscopic - cells, virus,

bacteria, DNA, semiconductors 101 Macroscopic - CD, pen, cars 109 Cosmic - sun, galaxies, comet

* http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/index.html