Use of Sodium polyacrylate for water adsorption _KeralaFlood

 Hi dear readers over there.. 

There are many fake messages circulating on social media like facebook and whatsapp on the use of sodium acrylate for absoprtion of water in flooded houses. This is indeed dangerous as this chemical clogs water ducts and the disposal is really gruesome.

 The chemical indeed absorbs water but cannot be used in large quantities as the disposal of the waste is indeed a tedious task. The water might evaporate on keeping it open for some days while water adsorbed on sodium polyacrylate won't go that easily. It swells up the gel resulting a very large volume of the material swollen up. 

    

SO dear people. please dont believe in the fake science articles being circulated and dont use these type of chemicals for simple jobs like water removal. This is highly important since we are facing a very serious threat of flood and included wastes.. Please dont add further waste to the already suffering ecosystem. 

Thoughts about Research - an International Perspective


I have done my PhD at IITM and eversince it was my dream to go for a postdoctoral research abroad, somewhere outside India. It was not exactly the same, but still a dream come true when I got chance to undergo an academic training at University of Southampton. So here I am, in SOTON, in Dept of Chemistry for the training

The one thing here I noticed is that all the faculty create online badges for showcasing their research which is not so popular in India. So I also made one and thought may be this one will inspire me doing more research. After reaching back my institution, I should work on research which I feel is like fire hidden in ashes of my life. I think its my way of creating this world a beautiful space. 

Here in this university, I can see a lot of importance given to safety of the individual and also the society. As a country it is something India also should focus on. 

    

    Here the labs are clean, they are very serious about handling of chemicals, safety of person handling the chemicals, waste disposal etc. No one even enters the wet laboratory without their goggles and safety clothes and shoes, even for watching a process. The people have acquired this quality to their habit and it is a regular thing for them like wearing a spectacles. And for us, it seems very difficult to go through these procedures every time. 

    These researchers here plan their works before hand and get the safety check from the Department safety officer who goes through the procedure carefully and approves the new process. The eye wash stations, emergency showers, fumehoods etc are not a luxury but a necessity here. I would like to see this work in our institution as well. 

    Hope the waste management and safety measures of the international laboratories here become common in our Govt College laboratories also sometime soon.. 

International year of chemistry 2011 and thoughts about Green Chemistry

http://www.chemistry2011.org/

Kindly go  through the website to know more about the year of chemistry.

Being a responsible inhabitant of the earth, its our duty to thrive our best towards the goal of Green Chemistry.

I'm not talking about using solvent free reactions or finding new methodology for existing reactions, but about using only the necessary amount of chemical and the safe disposal of the waste.

We have already been exposed to what harmful effects chemicals can bring, through the tragedy of the farmers in Kasargod district of Kerala. We have seen the impact of the toxic chemical endosulfan to human population. The truth is that  is more reactive than lindane or DDT and is a potential toxin for endocrine system and has the bad effects like bioaccumulation. It means that the rate of absorption in body is more than the rate of excretion.

Is it looking so dangerous???

This molecule is known to be a non-specific pesticide. It can kill all the organisms where it is used. There is no discrimination whether it is a good thing or is it killing a pest alone. The most terrific fact regarding this is that our country is going to use this dangerous toxic chemical till the alternatives and options are invented for them. This clause will give the permission to use this chemical for another 5 year atleast. Who will benefit from this other than the industrialists who manufacture this and the owners of the farms which use this poison? No one. 

No one thinks about the health troubles and environment impacts of all these toxic pesticides like Endosulfan or DDT other than those who literally suffer from it. 

So I just want you to answer one question, Do you want your child to be like the one in the picture? If no, please be responsible, vigilant and careful when you handle any type of chemical. It need not have to be endosulfan or DDT. 

To my chemist friends I request you to be responsible while you handle any type of chemicals. 

No one can revert back a mutation in gene and in your health. Doctors may be able to reduce the harmful effects, but you may have to suffer for the rest of your life.

Be responsible to your friends, your family, your future generation, to the environment and moreover to YOU.

Courtesy of images: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endosulfan

http://newsworld.co.in/tag/endosulfan/ 

Fractals...

Right now, I'm approaching the conclusion that dendrimers can assume a fractal geometry. And that complicates my area of research pretty well. Fractal geometry is a part of mathematics and to understand  that, I'll have to do another Ph.D.

Anyway, I'm posting the dynamics of a fractal formation here..

A Chemical is a Substance that:





An organic chemist turns into a foul odor.
An analytical chemist turns into a procedure.
A physical chemist turns into a straight line.
A biochemist turns into a helix.
A chemical engineer turns into a profit.

Let's learn alphabets...

Hey this post is about chemistry and that too a bit too specific to our lab. We are working on dendrimer aggregates and fluorescence

These are the alphabets which we usually come across...

A - Aggregates

B - Branching

C - Crown ether

D - Dendrimer

E - Encapsulation

F - Fluorescence

G - Google

H - Hypothesis

I - Irradiation

J - Journals

K - Kinetics

L - Liquid Crystals

M - Macromolecules

N - Nano

O - OPM

P - Plasmon

Q - Quenching

R - Resonance

S - SEM

T - TEM

U - UV

V - Voltammetry

W - Wavelength

X - XRD

Y - YAG Laser

Z - Zeta potential

A beautiful dendritic structure formed by lightning..