Plutonium and the movie: Pu-239

Plutonium is one of the actinides and it was discovered by Glenn T.Seaborg and his team in 1941. Neptunium was named after Neptune (the first planet beyond Uranus) and therefore plutonium was named after Pluto (the second (ex)planet beyond Uranus).

At first, the amount of the plutonium produced was too little to record the mass. The first recorded mass of a plutonium compound was 2.77 micrograms.  Shortly after its discovery, it was realized that one isotope of plutonium can undergo a nuclear chain reaction and it could be used in making an atomic bomb. This isotope was Plutonium 239. So, Plutonium Project started under the pseudonym of Metallurgical Project. This lead to a process of producing huge amounts of plutonium and finally, in 1945  a plutonium containing nuclear weapon, Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki killing 70000 people.

More plutonium : The Plutonium Story : The Journals of Professor Glenn T.Seaborg

Today, plutonium is mostly used in nuclear power plants.

A few months ago, I watched a movie called Pu-239.

—-Spoiler alert!—-

Pu-239 is a striking movie in several aspects. First of all, it is a love story. A man (Timofey) has been exposed to plutonium and knows he will die soon.  The administrative staff of the plant wants to cover the leak. So, they try to buy him off. Having no other option than stealing some plutonium from his work to help his family, he leaves for Moscow to find a buyer.

Secondly, it is a story of corruption. The movie takes place in Russia at a time when mobs rule the cities, businesses. It’s a period of poverty. The market scene and later a robbery clearly shows the socio-economic status of the city or country.

Finally, it is a wonderful movie because it has chemistry in it! I also love the script, because right after the scientific entries, there are very deep sentences. There is also a reference to Radium Girls.

“Light is a particle and a wave…Women, children and light can be two things at once; a particle, a wave. They ricochet off the hard surfaces and illuminate the corners. Without them it would be far darker.”

“An element loses a particle and becomes unstable. A chain reaction is set in motion. Pulsing waves of desperation in every direction.Perhaps the lost part is clarity or hope.”

“Are you aware of the radiological effects on living organisms? Protons cut through your DNA rewriting your genetic code.”

“Uranium, Neptunium, Plutonium. They came from space; found their way here by comet and meteorite. No child ever wished this from a star. Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl. Problems with half-lives forty-thousand years long. “

“ In the end, everything decays to lead, number eighty-two on the periodic table. All of the brilliant things born in the center of stars will have turned cold and gray. Everything is moving in that direction. Toward lead. Impossible to stop.”

I strongly suggest that you should watch this movie. I can not think of one single chemist that won’t like it. It is a shame that this movie is not widely known and the imdb rating of  6.8 is another reason for me to hate populism.

Symmetry and Group Theory- Point Group Tips 1

Since I have really become obsessed about point groups of objects and molecules, I decided to post some practice and tips about them.

Tip : Octahedral complexes with 3 chelating ligands have D3 point groups. Well if you don’t want to believe this, you can always draw the molecule and see it yourself. Trischelates are tricky. So, I suggest that you should always draw a Newman Projection to see the perpendicular C2 axis.

Why do I LOVE inorganic chemistry?

This might be my first “personal” post. But, I think it is worth trying. Everyone in my life (including facebook and twitter) know that I enjoy studying inorganic chemistry and I like to learn more about the role of transition metals in life. I think I should explain why it is so.

Before taking any chemistry course, I had always thought that “chemistry” was all about organic molecules and I believe most people think so. I had no idea how far chemistry goes and honestly, I didn’t imagine metals having anything to do with chemistry. To me they were the subject of materials science. During my general chemistry courses, this didn’t really change at all. I learned that chemistry is more than “organic chemistry.” But, there were still no metals involved. They were right in the middle of the periodic table, but was “forbidden” to talk about. We would draw Lewis Dot Structures of any organic molecule, but never metal compounds. They were so forgotten that nobody would even ask anything about them. When I took my first inorganic chemistry course, I discovered that metals (transition metals here) are at least as important as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen etc. I kind of thought that they are neglected and decided to learn more about them. With my limited understanding and knowledge of chemistry, I started to read inorganic chemistry research papers and my inorganic chemistry textbook. The more I read, the more amazed I was and I still am. They not only play an important role in material science, space exploration, communication, catalysis but also are responsible for many crucial reactions in organisms. There are several metalloproteins and metalloenzymes that contain a specific metal such as hemoglobin, plastocyanin etc. In fact, although you might think that metals are “poisons” and harmful, the metal concentration in brain for example is more than “normal” levels. [1] Luckily, I was accepted to an inorganic research group and I was able to have a closer look at the world of metals. Then came the symmetry and group theory. I am not obsessed with symmetry in my daily life, but how beautiful it is, right? Ever looked at a waste basket and saw the point group of it? I did. I like to find the point groups of objects around me now. I think it is better than sudoku. So, I strongly suggest anyone to learn symmetry and point group theory. I started to think that nothing new could make me more excited than this little game of mine. But, I was wrong. The day I started to learn molecular orbital theory, I was once more enchanted with inorganic chemistry’s beauty. Isn’t it art?

Everyone believes that transition metals mean “color” and I think they are right. Isn’t this beautiful?

When somebody says “drug,” the vast majority of people think of organic molecules. But, there are tens of metallodrugs out there if not hundreds.[2]  Some of them are still on trial and some of them are widely used. Probably the most famous chemotherapy drug cisplatin, is a platinum based drug.

Chemistry supplies answers to many questions and problems. It helps us to understand of the world, body, universe and how they work. It’s a collaboration of several branches (physical, organic, inorganic, analytical chemistry etc.). They are all of equal importance. But, people have emotions and beauty is relative. It is in the eye of the beholder and I find inorganic chemistry beautiful.

[1] Bush, A. “Metals and neuroscience.” Current Opinion in Chemical Biology. 2000, 4:184–191

[2] Barry, N.; Sadler, P. “Exploration of the medical periodic table: towards new targets” 

http://pubs.rsc.org | doi:10.1039/C3CC41143E

Balmer Series and Calculus

Balmer Series is the transition of an electron from n(principal quantum number) equal or greater than 3 to n=2 level.  I have never liked “Series” in Calculus, but here where the “limit(364.5 nanometers)” of the Balmer Series come (you can do the same thing to Lyman Series too) :

By the way you can see what happens if n is smaller than 3.

Particle in the Box

I saw it in Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Homonuclear Diatomic Molecules Practice

I just did them for practice. So, the energy differences between the MO’s and AO’s are not 100% right. I tried to be fast. That’s it.

Kermit the Chemist !

 

 

 

I saved this screenshot long time ago and unfortunately I can’t remember if it was from a paper, website, textbook or something for fun etc.