Large Hardon Collider

[Metrosio]

I would think so. Some quick googling gave http://chemistry.about.com/od/acidsb...egative-ph.htm. I'd imagine the same holds true for 14+.

[Psion]

Damn, first chemistry question asked and I don't know yet.

We just started getting into the different types of reactions and states of matter, how to calculate their molar mass, etc. All I know so far about acids is that they have hydrogen in front of them, bases have OH after em, and when you combine an acid and a base they combine to form HOH (H2O basically, aka water) and whatever's leftover, usually an ionic compound or the like.

I can balance an equation and calculate molar mass of things though! :O

[Restrat]

i think the only time you'd see that is on a chem test, thought it is possible. Especially the MCAT, they know most people will go "this can't be right!" and change their answer even though they did all the math right

[Tristam]

I can't imagine why you couldn't go over pH 14, you'd just need to make a > 1M NaOH solution. Google says solubility of NaOH in water is 106 g/ 100ml. Same for HCl on the other end.

[Altariel]

Thanks I'll definitely read Smolin next then and revisit the list after that. Sorry if you had to go to alot of effort to pare down a list to what's available electronically. I'm not a dedicated enough reader to carry a book everywhere but when I can it right on my phone I do a pretty good job catching a bit at a time.

It is actually Elegant Universe that I am just finishing now. I certainly haven't really read anything recent making a non-string theory arguments so it will be something fresh. I'm mostly drawn to Brain Greene's writing not so much for the string theory per se but he really explains everything so clearly and uses helpful analogies.

[Shiroikage]

pH stops being a particularly accurate way of measuring proton acceptance or proton donation when discussing superacids and superbases.
Ka or H0 is a more effective gauge.

[Eliseos]

I'm mostly drawn to Brain Greene's writing not so much for the string theory per se but he really explains everything so clearly and uses helpful analogies.

Yeah, Greene is really good at explaining concepts. His explanation of entropy is pretty awesome. Also, definitely check out some Feynman. He can turn pretty much any subject and make it interesting/funny.

[Shiroikage]

Feynman is my favourite scientist, and I'm a biochemist/structural biologist, so you know that means something.

[Maguspk]

PhDComics is hilarious, I randomly decided to stop in this thread to see if it was still about the LHC and I'm pleasantly surprised by what I've found. Too true, too true.

So what is allowed in this thread, is it just a general discussion for anything tangentially related to science?

[Shiroikage]

So what is allowed in this thread, is it just a general discussion for anything tangentially related to science?

Sort of.

[Woozie]

Yeah, I agree, Brian Greene is a really really great author. Even though I don't agree with string theory, he's still usually the first author I recommend to people when they ask for non-technical physics books. In my opinion, Lee Smolin isn't quite as great at keeping me interested, even if his topic is something I like.

[Max™]

Six Easy Pieces, Six Not So Easy Pieces, and anything else by Feynman you can find in ebook form.

[Woozie]

Another chemistry question:

NaOH + HCl -> H2O + NaCl, right? So if I mixed lye and hydrochloric acid, I'd end up with an end result that I can drink? Not that I'm going to try this or anything, lol.

[Max™]

It will either neutralize, or open a rift in space and time, destroying the planet.

[Shiroikage]

Correct, but you wouldn't want to perform that reaction for a number of reasons.

[Shiroikage]

For one, it's decently exothermic.

[Woozie]

For one, it's decently exothermic.

Hmm, now I wan to see if I can find a youtube video of this.

Edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erWTsWut7Vc

Lame. I was hoping for fire. Or something like how sodium + water reacts or something.

[Shiroikage]

There won't be any fire.

[Psion]

No fire, but it will be pretty hot to touch heh. And sorry for the code formula, I hate how forums don't let you use excess spaces by default. <.<

NaOH + HCl --> H2O + NaCl is also conveniently balanced already, so if you wanted to find out
how to neutralize say, 100.0 grams of NaOH theoretically with HCl, you could use ratio's to
figure it out. So, for instance, NAOH's molar mass is the sum of each atom, so it would be 

  Na -  22.990 g/mol x 1 (atomic mass on the periodic table, can also stand for molar mass)
  O  -  15.999 g/mol x 1 ( x1 because there's only one of each atom in the formula for NAOH)
+ H  -   1.008 g/mol x 1 (large numbers like 2(HCL) aren't used, stick to # of atoms in a single formula unit)
------------------------------
=       39.997 g/mol of NaOH

Now we have the amount of NaOH we're using (100 grams) and the molar mass of it, now 
we just need to know the molar mass of HCl to find out the grams of HCl we need, so:

   H  -  1.008 g/mol x 1
 + Cl - 35.453 g/mol x 1
------------------------------
=       36.461 g/mol HCl

So now, we just use ratios and canceling of units to figure out the answer. Anything divided
by itself in equal amounts is equal to 1, and 1 x anything = that thing, so you use this to your 
advantage here. there's an equal ratio between NaOH and HCl in the balanced equation ( 1 
NaOH and 1 HCl - if for instance, there were a 2 in front of the NaOH it would be a ratio of 2 
NaOH for every 1 HCl. But it's not in this case, so don't use that. :D )

100.0 g NaOH          1 mol NaOH             1 Mol HCl            36.461 g HCl
------------   X   -----------------    X   -------------   X   ----------------  = 91.15933695 g HCl 
    1                39.997 g NaOH           1 Mol NaOH           1 Mol HCl


Since our lowest significant figure in this case is the 100.0 g of NaOH, with 4 sig figs, the
answer is also rounded down to 4 because you did multiplying. ( in addition or subtraction it's 
least amount of decimal places, absolute measurements like 1 L = 1000 mL do not affect this, 
because for all intents and purposes it's an infinite amount of sig figs.)

So the actual answer is ~ 91.16 g HCl needed (theoretically) to neutralize 100 g of NaOH. If in 
reality, the actual yield % is 84.3%, due to crappy chemists mixing them together or what 
have you (seriously, is 100% actual yield even possible?) then, considering that 84.3% is the 
same thing as saying for every 100.0 grams of substance used, only 84.3 grams of it actually 
reacts:

91.16 g HCl         100.0 g HCl
-------------   X  --------------  =  108.137603795597 g HCl actually needed
     1              84.3 g HCl

And with sig figs taken into account, here with 84.3% being the limiting factor (3 sig figs), 
the answer would be ~ 108 g HCl actually needed.

I <3 ratios. So simple yet they make so much sense, and are so useful. You can use the same
concept to calculate how much water and NaCl would be produced as well in grams, or moles.

This is probably review for you guys though.

And ulgh, what should have been a 5 minute post turned into 25 minutes after OCBing on the broken tables. <,<

[Kaddisfly]

Direct link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11711228

The Large Hadron Collider has successfully created a "mini-Big Bang" by smashing together lead ions instead of protons.

The scientists working at the enormous machine on Franco-Swiss border achieved the unique conditions on 7 November.

The experiment created temperatures a million times hotter than the centre of the Sun.

The LHC is housed in a 27km-long circular tunnel under the French-Swiss border near Geneva.

Up until now, the world's highest-energy particle accelerator - which is run by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern) - has been colliding protons, in a bid to uncover mysteries of the Universe's formation.


Proton collisions could help spot the elusive Higgs boson particle and signs of new physical laws, such as a framework called supersymmetry.

But for the next four weeks, scientists at the LHC will concentrate on analysing the data obtained from the lead ion collisions.

This way, they hope to learn more about the plasma the Universe was made of a millionth of a second after the Big Bang, 13.7 billion years ago.

One of the accelerator's experiments, ALICE, has been specifically designed to smash together lead ions, but the ATLAS and Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiments have also switched to the new mode.

'Strong force'

David Evans from the University of Birmingham, UK, is one of the researchers working at ALICE.

He said that the collisions obtained were able to generate the highest temperatures and densities ever produced in an experiment.

"We are thrilled with the achievement," said Dr Evans.

"This process took place in a safe, controlled environment, generating incredibly hot and dense sub-atomic fireballs with temperatures of over ten trillion degrees, a million times hotter than the centre of the Sun.

"At these temperatures even protons and neutrons, which make up the nuclei of atoms, melt resulting in a hot dense soup of quarks and gluons known as a quark-gluon plasma."

Quarks and gluons are sub-atomic particles - some of the building blocks of matter. In the state known as quark-gluon plasma, they are freed of their attraction to one another. This plasma is believed to have existed just after the Big Bang.

He explained that by studying the plasma, physicists hoped to learn more about the so-called strong force - the force that binds the nuclei of atoms together and that is responsible for 98% of their mass.

After the LHC finishes colliding lead ions, it will go back to smashing together protons once again