Hydrogen:The Lighest Element

Hydrogen is the first element in the periodic table. It is the lightest element with atomic number 1 and symbol H. It is very abundant element, found in the universe, in the space between stars, and off course on the earth.

It is part of water. One molecule of water has 2 atoms of hydrogen.

The video in this post explains about fundamentals of hydrogen. This channel in you tube is a great one, I found. Very useful, educative to layman. The periodic Table of video has videos of all elements. In the video, they show some demonstration to better understand the element and an old man, looks scientist talks about the importance of the element. I don't know his name though.

Molecule of the Week: Phosgene

Formula: COCl₂

Phosgene, or carbonyl chloride, is an extremely toxic gas, and it was used for that purpose during World War I. Its name is confusing because the molecule does not contain phosphorus. The manufacture of phosgene from chlorine and carbon monoxide was first patented in 1917. Phosgene has been used in many organic syntheses, notably of isocyanates; but its commercial use has been largely discontinued because of its toxicity.

More about Phosgene on wikipedia

More about Molecule of the Week of ACS (American Chemical Sociaty)

Viagra: molecule of the week

Sildenafil, marketed as its citrate salt under the trade name Viagra, is the leading drug for treating erectile dysfunction. It was originally developed by Pfizer for treating pulmonary hypertension and angina pectoris. After scientists noticed that it produced penile erections, Pfizer patented it for this use in 1996 and received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for sale in 1998.

Chemical formula: C22 H30 N6 O4 S 

Name:1-[[3-(6,7-dihydro-1-methyl-7-oxo-3-propyl-1H-pyrazolo[4,3-d]pyrimidin-5-yl)-4-ethoxyphenyl]sulfonyl]-4-methylpiperazine citrate

Nano Obama=Nanobama

The picture shown above contains microscopic faces of Barack Obama made using nanotechnology, and imaged using a scanning electron microscope. Each face consists of millions of vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes, grown by a high temperature chemical reaction.

Using carbon nanotubes as his medium, mechanical engineering professor John Hart has created the world’s tiniest portrait of President-Elect Barack Obama. There are about 150 million nanotubes in each NanObama - roughly one for each person who voted in the presidential election.

Carbon nanotubes and other nanostructures are building blocks for many important technological advances, including high-performance solar cells and batteries, new methods of diagnosing and treating disease, next-generation computer processors and memory, and lightweight composite materials.

More about nanobama can be found here.