Chemistry Week 3
Element of the Week: Cobalt
Cobalt
Cobalt salts have been used for thousands of years by Chinese artists and Egyptian pharaohs. Pharaoh Tutankhamen was found with a cobalt dagger in his tomb, with the ratio of nickel and cobalt reflecting the composition of a meteorite! (1) Cobalt was discovered as its own element in 1730 by Swedish scientist Georg Brandt. It's name is derived from an expletive said my German miners who often mistook cobalt for silver. Other scientists disputed Cobalt as an element of its own right, stating that it was merely a fusion of iron and arsenic. Currently, cobalt is used to make magnets, especially when combined with aluminum and nickel. It is used to make jet and gas turbines because it can withstand high temperatures. It is often used in electroplating because of its pleasing aesthetic and resistance to corrosion. (2)
(1) http://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/history/king-tuts-blade-was-made-of-meteorite.aspx
(2) http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/27/cobalt
Green Chemistry and our Optimistic Future
Reishi Mushrooms
Mushrooms and Bacteria
Student from Yale University discovered a fungus that breaks down poly-urethane. The fungus species is called Pestalotiopsis microspora, and was discovered during a Spring-break trip to Ecuador during a trip in 2011. Poly-urethanes are very difficult to break-down and can be found in landfills for several generations. (1)
In Islamabad, Pakistan, researchers found a soil fungus, called Aspergillus tubingensis, degrading the masses of plastic wastes filling a local dump. According to their research, this fungus could degrade poly-urethane based plastics in less than two months. (2)
At the Kyoto Institute of Technology, researchers discovered a bacteria which could transform PET, a plastic used for an array of items, but mainly plastic bottles. Ideonella sakaiensis, the bacteria found, can degrade PET in just six weeks. (3)
Chinese Medicine
Mushrooms and seemingly toxic substances are a huge part of the pharmacopeia of Chinese Medicine. Reishi mushrooms are found to consume cancerous cells and heal wounds. (4) Just like natural substances are being discovered to heal human created problems on earth, Chinese Medicine (as well as other Traditional healing modalities) can act as a salve to modern problems. Just as the movie, The Shape of Water, suggests, we must draw from the far past to compensate for the excessive aggression of capitalist development.
(1)https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3303-a-fungus-that-eats-polyurethane
(2) https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/plastic-degrading-fungus-pakistan-rubbish-dump-islamabad-dr-sehroon-khan-a7962046.html
(3) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/bacteria-able-to-eat-plastic-bottles-discovered-by-scientists-a6927636.html
(4)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25271863
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