chemisch - 25-10-2012 at 09:42
Hello.
I'm a senior in high school i was attempting to write a paper on nuclear energy and the ethics related to that but i can't seem to narrow it down or
have any real thought towards it i love chemistry in particular organic chem. I always love this forums input its an odd question but would any of you
have a suggestion for a thesis for this paper?
any input is appreciated my condolences
Hexavalent - 25-10-2012 at 09:46
I think an investigation into copper complexes would be nice....because of its electronic structure and properties it can form many interesting
complexes with organics and inorganics.
Also, what do you mean specifically by "research paper"? Do you have to attempt to try something not done well/at all previously, or it is just
another school report/paper that you've called this?
chemisch - 25-10-2012 at 23:22
Well its simply for graduation requirements. But I plan to indulge into organic chemistry so would love to get a headstart in actual work not this
highschool textbook hokkum I have a fair bit of chemistry knowledge and lab experience well actually a ton for being a senior in high school. The
suggestion for investigating into copper complexes seems like a great suggestion
Thanks feedback makes me happy
Vargouille - 26-10-2012 at 00:25
Well, it might not get you published in JACS, but you could definitely do a scientific study on solubilities of a large number of copper compounds, or
those of any transition metal, a realm of information that is sorely lacking.
For organic chemistry, perhaps try to make interesting derivative compounds that take a number of steps to synthesize.
chemisch - 26-10-2012 at 15:30
Really interesting the soluablity idea. I could see myself doing that. Synthesis of the compounds and testing. Now a question about that is the realm
of predicting soulublity based on characteristics of the compound a field in which I could study more so?
chemisch - 26-10-2012 at 15:31
And would there be a lesser place I could publish because publishing at all would be so amzing
Vargouille - 27-10-2012 at 03:06
Probably. There are books about the solubility of inorganic compounds in either the SciMad Library or the References section. For predicting, you
might be able to get by with predicting whether the dissolution is thermodynamically favorable, entropically favorable, or both, so a good copy of the
CRC would be a great help there, as well as knowing how to calculate for those. As for publishing, I'm not sure. I only know of three big places where
you can publish: ACS, RSC, and Science. To publish, however, you would have to do some kind of very useful study, such as finding the Ksp
values for a wide array of compounds, that hasn't been done before. I would suggest writing the report in full academic style and then shooting emails
to each to see if they would be willing in publish your paper.
This page and having a stroll through the References section and reading up on a few articles should tell you all you need to know about full
academic style.
AJKOER - 27-10-2012 at 10:47
Surprise to find a lot of recent research/break-throughs on extracting H2 and O2 from water using various catalysts. I will let you do the research.
Great clean energy source! Possibilities...
However, so why no industrial success? Apparent lack of US Government/private investment to get a start-up working.
Perhaps some politics involved. The coal lobby obviously not interested, nor oil companies, nor wind nor solar nor nuclear or your fuel cell company.
The US President would be a sponsor, well at least one with the long term interests of the American people in mind. Congress has been reduced to a
lobbyist club for existing corporate interests (so called crony capitalism), so no help there.
Good topic for a long paper. Discuss/outline at least two recent discoveries, discuss chemistry... Then, outline uses and pitfalls of H2 as a direct
fuel. Note also, cheap H2 can be turned into NH3 (discuss current technology), a fuel and .... Conclude with implementation issues, capital, political
will, ...
[Edited on 27-10-2012 by AJKOER]
kavu - 27-10-2012 at 10:52
There are a lot of interesting topics in organic chemistry as well. Choosing a group of natural products and describing their chemistry and biology
would be a good choice, artemisinin is a good example.
Hexavalent - 28-10-2012 at 01:58
If it's of any use, I have a short article in Prepubs on hydrogen fuel cells.