Chem Science - 20-11-2024 at 16:29
Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing well.
I had this idea a long while ago, and I wanted to hear your opinions and thoughts about it.
The concept is simple: could there be Collaborative Amateur Research Projects? For example, open "Lines of General Interest or Research" (like a post)
where people can collaborate, communicate, and advance a project by leveraging the tools and equipment they have access to in their own labs.
For instance, imagine studying a particular chemical reaction or phenomenon, like fluorescence. One amateur might be able to conduct the reaction,
another might have a spectrometer to obtain its spectra, and someone else might have a spectrofluorimeter to measure excitation and emission spectra.
Or consider a gas-phase synthesis: one amateur might be able to carry it out, while another could use an IR spectrometer to analyze the gas and
replicate the synthesis for further analysis.
I’m not sure if this is a good or bad idea, but I think it would be amazing to collaborate and build a "shared post" as a team, eventually sharing
it on a dedicated SM topic.
Additionally, we could have something like a SM User Presentation, where users can list the technological capabilities of their labs like which
machines, apparatus, or tools they have access to. This way, others can easily identify potential collaborators and reach out.
I think this could be really cool and interesting. What do you guys think?
Am I crazy, or could this idea actually be viable?
Admagistr - 20-11-2024 at 17:00
Hi, I think this is a very good idea and it has real potential! I don't know how it will work in practice, but it should definitely be tried. Everyone
is interested in a different area of chemistry, so there could be specialised groups. Woelen and Bedlasky, for example, are working on the formation
of compounds with interesting colours, and are mostly working in aqueous solutions. I am involved in solid-state, high-temperature inorganic chemistry
and gem synthesis, and I am not alone on the Forum.
bnull - 20-11-2024 at 17:51
That's a good way to provide material for an eventual official publication. The idea of a (semi-annual or annual, probably the latter) volume of
procedures in the molds of Organic Reactions, for example, has cropped up here at least twice. I've been playing with it for about six months (on and
off, including the time I spend trying to figure out the LaTeX stuff that I forgot since college).