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Chemistry / Re: What medications could you isolate from plants in your backyard?

« on: 14/08/2016 03:11:25 »

I would NOT recommend trying to isolate any significant quantity of atropine! (or any of the other alkaloids in datura stromnium)

If you do try to isolate atropine from jimson weed, just be VERY careful. While it is used as medicine, it is also highly toxic (lethal) to those who don't need it, or at doses higher than prescribed. Toxic effects can begin to manifest as low as 33 µg/kg (2.5 mg for a 75 kg person), and can be fatal at significantly higher dosages. You will need gloves and a jacket and eye protection (it can be absorbed through your skin, and some of the compounds required for purification aren't so friendly either.)

Never fear. I wouldn't dream of attempting something like this without the proper safety equipment. I have no desire to earn myself a Darwin award.

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Chemistry / What medications could you isolate from plants in your backyard?

« on: 12/08/2016 23:39:00 »

It was brought to my attention recently that my region is awash in Jimsom Weed (Datura stramonium). Evidently, Jimsom Weed is a natural producer of atropine, hyosciamine, and scopolamine and of the three, the first is listed as an essential medication by the WHO. I have wondered how much of that list could be isolated or synthesized from local plant life. I am inclined to see if I can isolate atropine from Jimsom Weed, just to see if I can. As for the rest of the list, about 350 entries, I don't imagine I will be making much headway by myself, especially considering that I know almost nothing about plants in general and the number of local fauna I can identify can be counted on one hand. However, if any of you are aware of the name of such plants in your area, and what they produce, I would be glad to know what they are.   

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Chemistry / Re: Can we turn water to ice using the atmosphere?

« on: 12/08/2016 23:04:50 »

I don't see any glaring problems. All you'll have to worry about is the temperature in the layer of atmosphere you are shooting for. By the time the pressure is low enough to cause your ice to sublimate, the temperature will surely be low enough to prevent it. Also you'd have to be rather close to space before the pressure becomes a problem anyway. I don't know how to insert graphics, so I will direct you to the wikipedia page for phase diagrams, which has a very nice one for water. 

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Chemistry / Re: Could we make a translucent human?

« on: 23/06/2016 11:34:00 »

Out of curiosity, if you could directly observe neurons firing, what would you hope to see?

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Chemistry / Re: Is table salt commercially processed with bleach?

« on: 23/06/2016 11:27:23 »

First, I am tempted to try decomposing bleach with citric acid, but will do my best to control myself.

Second, If a pool of brine is opaque with algae, while sunlight might be a cheaper reagent in and of itself, would it not take much longer to get the job done?

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Radio Show & Podcast Feedback / Re: Does free will exist?

« on: 23/06/2016 11:22:02 »

I disagree that a lack of direct responsibility would lead to anarchy. Even if we are not responsible for our actions in a religious sense where we are equally able to choose between different actions, our actions are still, to whatever degree, molded by our environment. It would then be perfectly reasonable to continue to exercise justice. However, I think the nature of this justice would have to be adjusted. If we have no free will, then applying justice in a punitive manner would make no sense. Justice would have to be applied with the aim of rehabilitation.

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Chemistry / Re: Could we make a translucent human?

« on: 23/06/2016 00:29:51 »

Are all of the transparent structures directly analogous to the same structures in humans? I would imagine that it is not so. After all, it is not only our skin that is mostly opaque, and even in sufferers of albinism the skin is far from transparent. If you've ever seen a cut of meat, you will recall the shiny, white opacity of connective tissue, the bright red of muscle tissue. Even if the skin were transparent, these structures would still be in the way since we don't make a habit of growing nervous tissue in vulnerable areas, with the exception of the funny bone, of which we are all painfully aware, no doubt!

I would also consider the thickness of transparent structures in fish and frogs. Even if our skin was identical to frog skin, which would be extremely problematic in and of itself, would it still be transparent or appreciably translucent at the normal width of human skin? We'd probably have to test that to be sure, or you could repost a variant of this question in the physics forum: "How thick does a glass frog's skin have to be before it is no longer transparent?"

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Chemistry / Re: Is table salt commercially processed with bleach?

« on: 22/06/2016 23:44:01 »

Ah! This is a good start! Thank you both for your replies. I took a perfunctory look into where table salt comes from and it looks like one method involves allowing brine to sit in open evaporating pools for a time. Apparently these pools often harbor bright red algae blooms. So, if there were any color-causing organic material that would need bleaching to begin with, it could conceivably come from there. But I also imagine that separating out the algae would be a simple matter since sodium chloride is wonderfully water soluble and algae, by necessity, is not. Which leaves whatever water soluble contaminants were introduced into the brine while the algae was alive and any organic matter that may have escaped the separations process. Of course this does not affect mined salt which sounded like it wasn't processed further, but if it comes up brown, then that cannot be true. I will look into it further.

As for the cost of bleach, I would think it would be quite cost effective to use as you could convert some of the brine into bleach via electrolysis (though I may misunderstand the cost of creating an appreciable amount of bleach in saturated brine on an industrial scale). So then, perhaps removing it is problematic? Letting it decompose naturally appears to be out of the question. Of course if titanium dioxide does the job, then this is all moot. As a fun exercise then, what do you suppose we could add to a bleach-containing brine solution that would react away the bleach, leave as much Na+ and Cl- as possible, and produce a non-toxic or easily removed side-product?

Oh, and I just had another thought. Given the state of our oceans, I wonder how many heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants there are in minimally processed salt...

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Chemistry / Is table salt commercially processed with bleach?

« on: 22/06/2016 14:40:25 »

I recently had a conversation with a friend on the nature of the health benefits of minimally processed salt. She claims that the reason that table salt is so white is due to bleaching, but this does not jive with what little I know of how bleaching works. I suspect that less processed salt is probably duller in color because it retains trace minerals, but I don't have any solid evidence. What say you all? Is table salt white because they bleach it?