turtonCHEM


Here I hope to share with you some of the excitement of Chemistry, and provide a resource that students of all ages can use as a way to complement their studies and fuel their interest in a fascinating subject.

Please feel free to leave feedback about any of the links or resources, and provide suggestions about how this site can be improved at smithm@tmac.uk.com.

Also, please let me know if for any reason any of the links stop working.

Wednesday, 24 February 2010

year 13 born haber worksheet

You may have been given a worksheet in class with several Born Haber cycle questions for you to have a go at. Here you can download a powerpoint with the correct answers for you to check through as part of your revision.

born haber powerpoint answers


Mr Born and Mr Haber in happier days before the split

Sunday, 7 February 2010

explosion of the month 4

A fire at a rocket fuel factory. Sounds nasty.



The PEPCON disaster occurred in Henderson, Nevada on May 4, 1988 at the Pacific Engineering Production Company of Nevada (PEPCON) plant. The chemical fire and subsequent explosions claimed two lives, injured 372 people, and caused an estimated $100 million of damage.

The PEPCON plant, located just outside of Las Vegas, produced ammonium perchlorate, an oxidizer used in solid fuel rocket boosters of the type used in the Space Shuttle and military weapons.

In addition to the PEPCON plant there was also a large marshmallow factory about 500 feet away. That's a lot of toasted marsmallows.

The explosions leveled the PEPCON plant and Kidd & Co marshmallow manufacturing facility. Damage within a 1.5 mile radius was severe, including destroyed cars, damage to buildings and downed power lines. Damage to windows and moderate structure damage was recorded within three miles of the incident.

The damage reached a radius of up to 10 miles, including shattered windows, doors blown off their hinges, cracked windows and injuries from flying glass and debris. At McCarran International Airport, seven miles away in Las Vegas, windows were cracked and doors were pushed open. The shock wave even buffeted a Boeing 737 on final approach.

In short, the explosion made a bit of a mess. The irony was that with the space shuttle program frozen as a result of the 1986 Challenger disaster, there was no government instruction detailing what to do with such large quantities of product. If this had not been the case, there would probably not have been the same stockpiling of the rocket fuel on site.

calorimetry

Calorimety calculations come up pretty often on your CHEM2 paper, and any Year 13 students might also expect them as synoptic content on CHEM5.

The powerpoint you can download from the link below will remind you of the basics and give you worked examples for a number of calculations.

calorimetry worksheet answers