Week Four: Green Chemistry

Catalyst

Nickel is a good catalyst. Apparently, it is sticky and so attracts other elements, and then when the reaction is over, it also lets them go. Raney Nickel is a common catalyst because it is relatively stable and can catalyze reactions at room temperature. I don't know what else I can say about this because everything else I read is impossibly technical and not interesting (at least to me).



Green Chemistry as a Social Movement

I think this is very exciting. It is very heartening that scientists have come to realize their social responsibility. Science is an incredibly powerful thing, with some of the world's best minds working in it. It is fabulous that they are methodically (as would be expected) applying common sense principles to industrial applications which could generate an enormous change in the industrialized world. I learned that the simple ideas behind green chemistry could effect the following:

1. eliminate the use or generation of 1.2 billion pounds of hazardous chemicals and solvents each year—enough to fill over 5000 railroad tank cars or a train over 62 miles long
2. save over 16 billion gallons of water each year—enough to supply a city the size of Baltimore, MD
3. eliminate 57 million pounds of carbon dioxide releases to air each year—equal to taking nearly 37,000 automobiles off the road.

Go chemistry geeks go!!!

Atom Economy Link

I'm sorry to say that I didn't find this link to be any more helpful than what we covered in class. Not much to blog about here.