The Chemistry Quiz:

Curious ChlorideOr

{It Really Isn’t All About That Base.}

The Chemistry Society, St. Stephen’s College

presents, as part of Pandemonium ‘15

In Associaton with:

Prelims (Answers)

The word X is a neologism first used by the early 17th-century Flemish chemist J.B. van Helmont, probably influenced by

Paracelsus, who used the Greek khaos (empty space; abyss) in an occult sense of "proper elements of spirits" or "ultra-rarified water," which was van Helmont's definition of X.

Hunc spiritum, incognitum hactenus, novo nomine X voco ("This vapor, hitherto unknown, I call by a new name, 'X.'"

[Helmont, Ortus Medicinae]

An alternative story is that Van Helmont's word is corrupted from the Dutch for ghost or spirit. This was because certain Xs suggested a supernatural origin, such as from their ability to

cause death, extinguish flames, and to occur in "mines, bottom of wells, churchyards and other lonely places".

*1

Gas.

1

Plumbers in Chicago used a certain chemical dye to trace sources of illegal pollution discharge in 1962. The dye eventually flowed into the Chicago river. The sight was

impressive enough to convince the plumbers' Union to do this every year, in observance of St. Patrick's day. In 1966 they

switched to a vegetable dye for safety reasons.

What chemical dye?

*2

Fluorescein.

2

The structure of X is a significant cause of the eruption because of its nucleation sites.

The surface of the X is covered with many small holes that increase the surface area available for reaction (and thus the quantity of reagents exposed to each other at any given time),

thereby allowing carbon dioxide bubbles to form with the rapidity and quantity necessary for the "jet"—or "geyser"—or eruption like nature of the effusion. This hypothesis gained

further support when rock salt was used as a "jump start" to the reaction.

Tonya Coffey, a physicist at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, confirmed that the rough surface of the X helps speed the reaction. Coffey also found that the

aspartame in Y lowers the surface tension and causes a bigger reaction, but that caffeine does not accelerate the reaction.

Give X and Y, Funda basically.

*3

X – Mentos; Y – Diet Coke.

3

This bridged cycloalkane is officially Bicyclo[2.1.0]pentane. What is its more popular common name?

4

Housane.

4

X , a chemical term, is also the name given to common heavy duty cleaning and disinfectant formulations. X is typically an

emulsion of pine-derived terpineols in water, with a recognisable and characteristic smell. The name for X and its chemical species-namesake both come from a Greek word for

'shiny'.What is X?

5

Phenyl/Phenyle.

5

Emsley predicts 128.Khazan, 155.Seaborg, 130.

Bohr's model, 137.Feynman, via the Dirac equation, 173.

Greiner says it can't be predicted.

What are we talking about?

6

Total number of elements.

6

In French, it is Azote (A-zoo-te – lifeless); in German, Stickstoff (Ensticken - to suffocate). What is it in

English?

7

Nitrogen.

7

Titin also known as connectin, is a protein important in the contraction of striated muscle tissues.

It connects the Z line to the M line in the sarcomere.After myosin and actin, titin is the third most abundant protein in muscle and an adult human contains approximately 0.5 kg of

titin.

With its length of ~27,000 to ~33,000 amino acids (depending on the splice isoform), titin is the largest known protein.

What other distinction does it hold?

8

As the largest known protein, titin also has the longest IUPAC name. The full chemical name

contains 189,819 letters and is sometimes stated to be the longest word in the English language, or

any language.

8

Claude Émile Jean-Baptiste X is a fictional character created in 1978 by Kenneth Woolner of the University of Waterloo.

Woolner perpetrated the April Fools' Day hoax in the April 1978 issue of "CHEM 13 News", a newsletter concerned with

chemistry for school teachers. According to the hoax, Claude X was born on 12 February 1716, the son of a manufacturer of

wine bottles. During X’s extremely distinguished fictional scientific career, he purportedly proposed a unit of volume measurement that was incorporated into the International

System of Units after his death in 1778.

The hoax was mistakenly printed as fact in the IUPAC journal Chemistry International, and subsequently retracted.

Give X.

*9

Litre.

9

X was an American neo-futuristic architect, systems theorist, author, designer, and inventor.

X published more than 30 books, coining or popularizing terms such as "Spaceship Earth", ephemeralization, and synergetic.

X was also the second president of Mensa from 1974 to 1983.

Give X and tell me why he’s being spoken about here.

10

Buckminster Fuller.

10

X acid was the old name for a form of tartaric acid that contained equal amounts of the (+) and (-) isomers.

Louis Pasteur was able to separate the enantiomers by hand-picking crystals.

X is no longer used to refer to this substance, but is a commonplace chemical term.

Give X.

1:1

Racemic.

1:1

Three elements are named after minor or dwarf planets.

Name them all.

12

Cerium, from Ceres;Paladium, from Pallas;Plutonium, from Pluto.

12

The term X was coined by Frederick Soddy and Margaret Todd in 1913, and it means “having the same place” in Greek. The ‘place’ here refers to the discrete places in a particular system well known in science. Many similar words are used in science,

and mean “having the same weight” or “…heat”, “…volume” and so on.What is X?

*13

13

Isotope.

Whose name have I blanked out?

14

Emil Erlenmeyer.

14

John Nettleship was a British schoolteacher who taught chemistry at Wyedean School, Gloucestershire.

He studied Chemistry at the University of Leeds in the late 1950s.

He joined the Labour Party at that time, and remained an active member

for the rest of his life.

Nettleship described himself in hindsight as "a short-tempered

chemistry teacher with long hair...[and a] gloomy, malodorous

laboratory..“

Tell me why we would include a British schoolteacher in this quiz.

15

He had one Joanne Rowling in his class, who based Severus Snape on him.

15

The Chemistry Quiz:

Curious ChlorideOr

{It Really Isn’t All About That Base.}

The Chemistry Society, St. Stephen’s College

presents, as part of Pandemonium ‘15

In Associaton with:

Prelims (Finals)

A is the name of a common and fairly simple chemical. A's name is eventually derived from the Sanskrit word for blue, via the Portuguese and Arabic names of the B plant. The chemical B is derived from the B plant, and was once very rare. In 1917,

C led a famous revolt against a colonial government that insisted upon B cultivation, even during famine. German

chemist D set out the first synthetic schemes for B in the late 1870s, and won the Nobel prize in 1905. His syntheses of B

are considered his foremost achievements, despite also discovering phthaleins, barbiturates, synthesising fluorescein and the first phenol-formaldehyde resin, and elucidating the

structure of indole. D succeeded E as Professor of Chemistry at the University of Munich in 1875. E is considered among the 'fathers' of both organic chemistry and the fertiliser industry. E devised the modern laboratory-oriented teaching method, and for such innovations, he is regarded one of the greatest chemistry

teachers of all time.

MQ1a

E gave his name also to a piece of laboratory equipment essential even today, nearly 200 years after his time, for reflux.

F, a nephew of his student, also gave his name to a piece of apparatus used in laboratories, for low pressure filtration. Part

of this apparatus, the F flask, is considered a specialised G (a.k.a conical) flask that allows for the connection of a vacuum

source. G was also a student of E, and was an important chemist, proving that only three nitrobenzoic acids exist, and

providing the first description of keto-enol tautomerism. G worked with H on the description of certain phosphorus-

containing crystalline substances. H is also best known by an item of laboratory equipment, and helped develop emission

spectral analysis, using which he co-discovered Caesium and Rubidium. German chemists Richter and Reich used the same technique to discover I, an element named after its B-coloured

spectral line.

MQ1a

A - AnilineB – Indigo C – Gandhi

D – Adolf von Baeyer E – Justus von Liebig

F – Buchner G – Erlenmeyer

H – Robert BunsenI – Indium.

MQ1

A is a former research scientist, and earned a doctorate in quantum chemistry after graduating in Physics from the

University of Leipzig. A is one of the most influential politicians in the world. Her style of political leadership is

often compared to B, who also had a chemical background, graduating with second-class honours from Somerville

College, Oxford University. B did her fourth-year research project under the supervision of C at Oxford. C won the Nobel

Prize in Chemistry in 1964, for her X-ray studies of biomolecules. In 1953, C was banned from entering the USA,

because of her associations with communists, including pioneer X-ray crystallographer John Desmond Bernal. C gained some infamy in 1982 by contributing to a scientific paper by D, wife of the Romanian dictator. After the Romanian revolution in 1989, it was learnt that D had never finished school, and

that her scientific credentials were false. Bernal was also partly reponsible for E's entry into active research. E, controversially, was never awarded the Nobel

Prize. Beneficiaries of her X-ray studies on genetic material, F and G famously won the Prize in Physiology in 1962. E died at 37. Aaron Klug, who carried her research forward, also won

the Nobel in Chemistry in 1982. MQ2a

H, whose ideas also contributed to F and G's Prize-winning work, also won a Nobel in 1962, for Peace. H could not see E's work when it was presented in 1952 because his passport was withheld by US authorities, once again due to suspicion that

he had communist sympathies. H is one of three chemists to have won the Nobel prize twice. J

won it for chemistry twice. K won it once for chemistry and once for physics.

 Bernal was also partly reponsible for E's entry into active research. E, controversially, was never awarded the Nobel

Prize. Beneficiaries of her X-ray studies on genetic material, F and G famously won the Prize in Physiology in 1962. E died at 37. Aaron Klug, who carried her research forward, also won

the Nobel in Chemistry in 1982. H, whose ideas also contributed to F and G's Prize-winning

work, also won a Nobel in 1962, for Peace. H could not see E's work when it was presented in 1952 because his passport was withheld by US authorities, once again due to suspicion that

he had communist sympathies. H is one of three chemists to have won the Nobel prize twice. J

won it for chemistry twice. K won it once for chemistry and once for physics.

  MQ2b

A – Angela MerkelB – Margaret ThatcherC – Dorothy HodgkinD – Elena CeausescuE – Rosalind Franklin

F and G – Watson and CrickH – Linus Pauling.

J – Fred SangerK – Marie Curie

MQ2

In 2011-12, The Royal Society of Chemistry website published a series of articles with such titles as "Poisoning... With

Phosphine Gas", "Acid Bath Disposal of Bodies", "Can a Little Crystal Blow Up a Room?" and "Thermite Break-in".

What were these articles trying to investigate?

1

The science behind Breaking Bad.

1

In the Soviet Union, X theory — especially as developed by Pauling — was attacked in the early 1950s as being contrary to

the Marxist principles of dialectical materialism, and in June 1951 the Soviet Academy of Sciences under the leadership of

Alexander Nesmeyanov convened a conference on the chemical structure of organic compounds, attended by 400 physicists, chemists, and philosophers, where "the pseudo-

scientific essence of the theory of X was exposed and unmasked".

Give X.

2

Resonance.

2

The video shows Purdue professor David Goble setting the record time for preparing a barbecue for cooking.

Anyone who has ever tried this knows it usually takes a few minutes. Prof. Goble took less than five seconds. His technique involved the use of a smouldering cigarette, charcoal, and X.

When these efforts were noticed by the West Lafayette, Indiana fire department, he was warned to never let them catch him in the possession of X near a barbecue fire ever

again.

What is X?

3

3

Liquid Oxygen.

3

An increasingly popular, but entirely unscientific marketing practice by promoters of 'natural' or 'organic' consumer

products led the Royal Society of Chemistry to announce a one-million pound prize in 2008, for any evidence of such a product actually existing, What is this common advertising

claim?

4

“Chemical Free” Products.

4

Ig Nobel prize-winning Soviet crystallographer Yuri Struchkov

published a staggering 948 chemical research papers in ten

years from 1981-1990 (about one every four days).

His Ig Nobel prize is not in Chemistry. What is it in?

5

Literature.

5

Carl Mosander, in 1841, thought he had discovered a new element. He named it Didymium, from the Greek for 'twin',

since it seemed so similar chemically to Lanthanum.

In 1885, Carl Auer von Welsbach separated Didymium into two new, actual elements, X and Y. The 'twin' thus turned out be be

a pair of twins.

What are X and Y?

6

Praseodydium and Neodydium

6

The Swedish village where this sign stands is immensely important to chemistry.

What is the village called?

7

Ytterby.

The rare earth mineral yttria was discovered and named after the village.

This crude mineral eventually proved to be the source of four new elements that were named

after the mineral ore and the village. These elements are yttrium ( (Yb). Y), erbium (Er),

terbium (Tb), and ytterbium

7

French scientist Pierre Janssen made an astronomical discovery while in Guntur, then Madras State, in 1868.

This created speculation that the elements on Earth might not be the same as those that make up the rest of the Universe.

What did he discover?

8

Helium.

8

Hamburg Alchemist Hennig Brand discovered Phosphorus in the 17th Century, using this recipe:

"Boil X to reduce it to a thick syrup.Heat until a red oil distills up from it, and draw that off.Allow the remainder to cool, where it consists of a black

spongy upper part and a salty lower part.Discard the salt, mix the red oil back into the black material.

Heat that mixture strongly for 16 hours.First white fumes come off, then an oil, then phosphorus.

The phosphorus may be passed into cold water to solidify."

Give X.

9

Urine.

9

What have I blanked out?

210

10

Laughing gas.

Chemist and playwright Carl Djerassi, who died earlier this year, was the co-inventor of X, perhaps the most socially

important chemical work of the '50s. He is quoted as saying “The irony was, I lived on both sides of it. I married my second wife before X, in 1949, because she got pregnant. We wouldn’t have married otherwise. That’s unheard

of now.”

Give X.

211

11

Oral Contraceptive Pills.

X, also known as the ‘agrin-like protein’ is coded for by the EGFLAM gene, discovered by Shigeru Sato et al in Japan in 2008. It plays a key role in photoreceptor mechanisms in the

human eye. It was named X because it was ‘nimble’ and due to its ‘lightning-fast moves and shocking electric effects’.

Give X.

212

12

Pikachurin.

Supporters of X have been unable to provide a scientific explanation for how X works, if it does at all.

A proposed, but dodgy mechanism is attacked here by comedian Tim Minchin:

"It's a miracle! Take physics and bin it!Water has Y!

And while its Y of a long lost drop of onion juice is Infinite,It somehow forgets all the poo it's had in it!“

Give X or Y.

(*Hint on Request.)

13

X – Homoeopathy;Y – Memory.

13

Humphrey Davy of England: poisoned, recovered. George and Thomas Knox of Ireland: both poisoned, one

bedridden 3 years, recovered. P. Louyet of Belgium: poisoned, died.

Jerome Nickels of Nancy, France: poisoned, died. George Gore of England: X / hydrogen explosion, narrowly

escaped injury. Henri Moissan of France: poisoned several times, success,

but shortened life. 

Give Funda.

14

Fluorine Martyrs.

14

X's basic idea was that acidity was caused by the presence of Y in the compound. In fact, X (in September 1777) created the word Y, from the Latin "acid maker." Hence, his conclusion

(published about April 1776) was that Y was the component in a compound that was responsible for the generic property of

acid. The other portion of the compound combined with the Y was

called an 'acidifiable base" and was responsible for the specific properties of the compound. He was later disproved, but the idea is historically important since it is the first systematic

attempt to chemically characterize acids and bases.

Give X and Y.

15

X – Antoine Lavoisier;Y – Oxygen.

15

In alchemy, aqua fortis (Latin for "strong water") was first described by Pseudo-Geber. Being highly corrosive, the

solution was used in alchemy for dissolving silver and most other metals with the notable exception of gold, which can be dissolved using aqua regia or "regal water". Aqua fortis was

prepared by mixing either sand, alum, or vitriol, or the last two together, with saltpeter, then distilling it by a hot fire. The gas

collected from this condenses into aqua fortis.

How do we better know aqua fortis?

16

Nitric Acid

16

X is a Portuguese word meaning 'Congratulations'. It is also a family of chemical compounds, found in shampoos

and shaving creams, that have bactericidal and fungicidal properties. The typical structure of one of these is shown.

Give X. 17

Parabens.

17

X was first deposited on Earth by a meteorite 10,000 years ago. The first documented discovery of X was during a human

expedition to Antarctica. This particular isotope of X was dubbed "Anti-Metal" due to its property of dissolving other

metals.

A different variety of X found in Wakanda absorbs soundwaves and other vibrations, including kinetic energy. It was

discovered by the Wakandan king T'Chaka, father of the Black Panther T'Challa. To protect this resource, he concealed his

country from the outside world. T'Chaka funded his country's education by occasionally selling off minute quantities of the

metal. As a result, Wakanda is one of the world's most technologically advanced nations.

Y was inadvertently invented by the American metallurgist Dr. Myron MacLain in an attempt to recreate his prior discovery, a unique alloy of steel and X. The ultra-resilient alloy was used

to create Z's shield.

Give X, Y, Z. 18

X – Adamantium; Y – Vibranium;Z – Captain America.

18

Installation art piece 'Seizure' by British artist Roger Hiorns has been described by viewers as "beautiful but not nice.

There's both an attraction and an aggression about it. It is a toxic takeover.“

The artist himself says, "I had an uncanny moment of standing in this quite threatening environment. The sharpness and the

oddness of it enlivens your senses, puts them in a different state. It's somehow like being a spaceman.”

The work uses a substance whose distinctive colour has allured chemists for centuries. What is the artwork?

19

Copper Sulphate.He filled an abandoned waterproofed council flat in London

with 75,000 liters of copper sulfate solution. The solution was left to crystallize for several weeks before the flat was drained,

leaving crystal-covered walls, floors and ceilings

19

4/19/43 16:20: 0.5 cc of 1/2 promil aqueous solution of diethylamide tartrate orally = 0.25 mg tartrate. Taken diluted with about 10 cc water. Tasteless.

17:00: Beginning dizziness, feeling of anxiety, visual distortions, symptoms of paralysis, desire to laugh.Supplement of 4/21: Home by bicycle. From 18:00- ca.20:00 most severe crisis. (See special report.)

Here the notes in my laboratory journal cease. I was able to write the last words only with great effort. By now it was already clear to me that _____ had been the cause of the remarkable experience of the previous Friday, for the altered perceptions were of the same type as before, only much more intense. I had to struggle to speak intelligibly. I asked my laboratory assistant, who was informed of the self-experiment, to escort me home. We went by bicycle, no automobile being available because of wartime restrictions on their use.…

20a

…On the way home, my condition began to assume threatening forms. Everything in my field of vision wavered and was distorted as if seen in a curved mirror. I also had the sensation of being unable to move from the spot. Nevertheless, my assistant later told me that we had traveled very rapidly. Finally, we arrived at home safe and sound, and I was just barely capable of asking my companion to summon our family doctor and request milk from the neighbors.In spite of my delirious, bewildered condition, I had brief periods of clear and effective thinking — and chose milk as a nonspecific antidote for poisoning.Who on What?

20b

Albert Hofmann on LSD.

20