Chemistry: friend or foe.

Lulubelu · Post by **Lulubelu** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 12:09 pm

i have to make a project on this topic and i am cluuueeeless.

i have to give arguments for both friend and foe. what should i do?

oh and what kind of presentation?

powerpoint slideshow or should i present and post things on a cardboard?

PLEASE GIVE ME SOME IDEAS.

Lulubelu · Post by **Lulubelu** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 12:15 pm

PLEASE HELP

deleted-71588 · Post by **deleted-71588** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 12:38 pm

I'm not sure I'm following this. Is this a "debate" type question:

"Is Chemistry a friend or foe?" that you are asking about?

If so, that is a political science type of topic.

Chemistry "IS". Long before human ancesters knew anything about chemistry, their bodies were doing biochemistry.

Lulubelu · Post by **Lulubelu** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 2:27 pm

Craig_Bridge wrote:I'm not sure I'm following this. Is this a "debate" type question:

"Is Chemistry a friend or foe?" that you are asking about?

If so, that is a political science type of topic.

Chemistry "IS". Long before human ancesters knew anything about chemistry, their bodies were doing biochemistry.

i have to show ways in which chemistry is our friend and ways in which it's our enemy.

i was thinking about chemical reactions that happen and are either harmful or helpful.

im not sure its a good idea, though. nor am i sure about the examples i should give or the RESEARCH im supposed to make.

(((

/cries out loud.

deleted-71588 · Post by **deleted-71588** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 2:59 pm

Think about it, the same chemical reaction can be benificial and harmful in different circumstances.

For example, consider the reaction of toilet bowl cleaners when used to clean toilets, a benificial result to most purchasers of the product. Get some on your hand, same or similar chemical reactions occur, harmful result.

There isn't much scientific merit in most politically charged debates and this topic has the potential for, well ending up in the ...

deleted-71447 · Post by **deleted-71447** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 5:02 pm

I would just pick something wonderful and something terrible and then research how they are related to chemistry. Good luck!

Lulubelu · Post by **Lulubelu** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 2:55 am

ChrisG wrote:I would just pick something wonderful and something terrible and then research how they are related to chemistry. Good luck!

global warming and photosynthesis?

the second seems more biology related buuut, it still has chemical reactions.

would this be enough though? maybe i should find some other examples.

OH but wait. global warming is caused through chemical reactions ***that happen because of the humans***. see how this is different from the photosynthesis example?

im lost.

deleted-2131 · Post by **deleted-2131** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 10:29 am

Perhaps it would be more interesting to discuss how the same reaction can produce both beneficial and harmful results. Case in point: nuclear fission. Nuclear fission can be used to generated electricity (friendly chemistry) or in an atomic bomb to kill millions of people (chemistry as a foe). I think another benefit of doing this kind of comparision is that you will be minimizing other variable sources. For instance, there are millions of variables involved in global climate change, so this might not be the best topic to discuss.

Let me know if I can be of further help,

Louise · Post by **Louise** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 2:20 pm

Lulubelu wrote:
ChrisG wrote:I would just pick something wonderful and something terrible and then research how they are related to chemistry. Good luck!
global warming and photosynthesis?

the second seems more biology related buuut, it still has chemical reactions.

would this be enough though? maybe i should find some other examples.

OH but wait. global warming is caused through chemical reactions ***that happen because of the humans***. see how this is different from the photosynthesis example?

im lost.

Chemistry is the study of atoms and molecules. It is neither friend or foe. I sincerely hope you are misunderstanding your project topic, because I think this exercise is without merit from a scientific standpoint. I think it is also poor form to make politcal debate on an entire area of knowledge. This is like posing the question 'Reading- Friend or Foe?' and then citing a wonderful book and a terrible book.
Whether a particular chemical reaction is good or bad is a subjective issue. Someone pointed out the example of toilet cleaners. We say it is good when it we have a clean bathroom, but bad if we burn our hand. Chemistry merely tells us that if we react the chemical in the cleaner with organic materials, it will break down the organics.

Since we live in a molecular world, everything we do is related to chemistry. You can pick any object or any event and find out about the chemistry of it.

If you want to study some chemical reactions then I think you should look at photosynthesis. It is one of the most beautiful collections of chemical reactions that I have ever seen.

Louise

Lulubelu · Post by **Lulubelu** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 5:15 am

Chemistry is the study of atoms and molecules. It is neither friend or foe. I sincerely hope you are misunderstanding your project topic, because I think this exercise is without merit from a scientific standpoint. I think it is also poor form to make politcal debate on an entire area of knowledge. This is like posing the question 'Reading- Friend or Foe?' and then citing a wonderful book and a terrible book.
Whether a particular chemical reaction is good or bad is a subjective issue. Someone pointed out the example of toilet cleaners. We say it is good when it we have a clean bathroom, but bad if we burn our hand. Chemistry merely tells us that if we react the chemical in the cleaner with organic materials, it will break down the organics.

Since we live in a molecular world, everything we do is related to chemistry. You can pick any object or any event and find out about the chemistry of it.

If you want to study some chemical reactions then I think you should look at photosynthesis. It is one of the most beautiful collections of chemical reactions that I have ever seen.

Louise[/quote]In my chemistry class, my chemistry teacher announced a new project : "chemistry: friend or foe". we are to bring arguments for both sides. This is the topic. Not much i can missunderstand, eh?

now, i think the way i should approach this, is through things that happen WITHOUT THEM BEING CAUSED BY HUMANS, because then, chemistry wouldnt be the foe, the humans would. now, this obv leaves me with basically... two examples : photosynthesis and nuclear fission.

Lulubelu · Post by **Lulubelu** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 5:17 am

Terik Daly wrote:Perhaps it would be more interesting to discuss how the same reaction can produce both beneficial and harmful results. Case in point: nuclear fission. Nuclear fission can be used to generated electricity (friendly chemistry) or in an atomic bomb to kill millions of people (chemistry as a foe). I think another benefit of doing this kind of comparision is that you will be minimizing other variable sources. For instance, there are millions of variables involved in global climate change, so this might not be the best topic to discuss.

Let me know if I can be of further help,

now, i think the way i should approach this, is through things that happen WITHOUT THEM BEING CAUSED BY HUMANS, because then, chemistry wouldnt be the foe, the humans would. now, this obv leaves me with basically... two examples : photosynthesis and nuclear fission, which btw i srsl need to get some information on.

oh by the way, i forgot to mention, i have to do the whole project in romanian, which pretty much stinks, for google is mostly english based

Louise · Post by **Louise** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 8:13 am

now, i think the way i should approach this, is through things that happen WITHOUT THEM BEING CAUSED BY HUMANS, because then, chemistry wouldnt be the foe, the humans would. now, this obv leaves me with basically... two examples : photosynthesis and nuclear fission, which btw i srsl need to get some information on.

oh by the way, i forgot to mention, i have to do the whole project in romanian, which pretty much stinks, for google is mostly english based

Again, I disagree very strongly about the basic idea behind this debate- namely that chemistry is friend or foe. It is _only_ a subjective judgement whether a particular is "good" or "bad". The universe isn't good or bad. Gravity isn't good or bad, nor is physics. I think this question "friend or foe" either shows an incredible misunderstanding of science or a horrible anti-science bias.

Even your example of nuclear fission- which I'm guessing you are putting in the foe category. Take nuclear power plants. They use this class of reaction to make energy for tens of millions of people (17% of all electricity) They produce much less gas pollution than coal based plants. Disposal of radiactive waste is a problem. There are many points and counterpoints. However, these have little to do with chemistry and everything to do with human nature and needs. We want (need?) energy. We want to avoid global warming (maybe?). We are afraid of a nuclear accident. We don't want nuclear waste stored in our town. Until you add the human element there is no friend or foe to fission. It just IS.

Anyway, I've said this twice now, and I won't say it again. You have an assignment you have to do. If I were given this assignment, I would talk to my teacher about it (unless this is for a philosophy class or something) because it isn't science.

Since this isn't a science fair project, and (at least in my opinion) isn't a science question at all, I'm not sure how much help you will get on this forum, where we are focussed on science fair projects and not general homework questions.

Louise

deleted-71588 · Post by **deleted-71588** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 9:51 am

Since the basic question here is absurd to anybody who understands chemistry, you might take an extreme posture:

Anybody out there who thinks chemistry is a foe? Ok, are you willing to give up total use of chemistry for the next 15 minutes?

Any takers? Good, stop using oxygen for the next 15 minutes or the rest of your life which ever comes first! After that, I won't have to convince you that chemistry is required for life, you will definitely be "brain dead" if not "dead dead".

At typical room tempertures, a human brain without oxygen for around 4 minutes undergoes severe damage.

Chemistry: friend or foe.

Chemistry: friend or foe.

omggggggg