Microscale Chemistry Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
After a demonstration talk and workshop at a meeting , here is a document published in the Irish Teachers' magazine, Chemistry In Action
Scleractinian corals are a major source of biogenic calcium carbonate, yet the relationship between their skeletal microstructure and mechanical properties has been scarcely studied. In this work, the skeletons of two coral species:... more
Scleractinian corals are a major source of biogenic calcium carbonate, yet the relationship between their skeletal microstructure and mechanical properties has been scarcely studied. In this work, the skeletons of two coral species: solitary Balanophyllia europaea and colonial Stylophora pistillata , were investigated by nanoindentation. The hardness H IT and Young's modulus E IT were determined from the analysis of several load–depth data on two perpendicular sections of the skeletons: longitudinal (parallel to the main growth axis) and transverse. Within the experimental and statistical uncertainty, the average values of the mechanical parameters are independent on the section's orientation. The hydration state of the skeletons did not affect the mechanical properties. The measured values, E IT in the 76–77 GPa range, and H IT in the 4.9–5.1 GPa range, are close to the ones expected for polycrystalline pure aragonite. Notably, a small difference in H IT is observed between...
Description. In 2005 we published an article in the Journal of Chemical Education describing a microscale ozone generator. 2 The generator is capable of producing 800 nanomole of ozone per minute. At this rate, it would take 18 days of... more
Description. In 2005 we published an article in the Journal of Chemical Education describing a microscale ozone generator. 2 The generator is capable of producing 800 nanomole of ozone per minute. At this rate, it would take 18 days of continuous operation to generate one gram of ozone! Nevertheless, enough ozone is generated to detect the odor at a level similar to that produced by a photocopy machine or a Tesla coil. Despite the small amount of ozone generated, there is enough to cause a variety of interesting oxidations. In our original article, we described the oxidation of food coloring over the course of minutes. Here we greatly expand the list! In this article we describe an improvement in design using a framework built of elbow drinking straws on a base consisting of a 96-well plate — in the spirit of Professor Steve Thompson's (Colorado State University) microscale architecture. We also describe a wide variety of other oxidations of foods and other materials. Apparatus. The apparatus used is shown in Figure 1 and a photograph is provided at our website.
Thin-film-based nanoporous membrane technologies exploit evaporation to efficiently cool microscale and nanoscale electronic devices. At these scales, when domain sizes become comparable to the mean free path in the vapour, traditional... more
Thin-film-based nanoporous membrane technologies exploit evaporation to efficiently cool microscale and nanoscale electronic devices. At these scales, when domain sizes become comparable to the mean free path in the vapour, traditional macroscopic approaches such as the Navier-Stokes-Fourier (NSF) equations become less accurate, and the use of higher-order moment methods is called for. Two higher-order moment equations are considered; the linearised versions of the Grad 13 and Regularised 13 equations. These are applied to the problem of nanoporous evaporation, and results are compared to the NSF method and the method of direct simulation Monte Carlo (i.e. solutions to the Boltzmann equations). Linear and non-linear versions of the boundary conditions are examined, with the latter providing improved results, at little additional computational expense, compared to the linear form. The outcome is a simultaneously accurate and computationally efficient method, which can provide simulat...