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James Gember How do Chemical and Binary weapons work? Many chemicals are near harmless when left in their elemental form, but when combined some can form chemical gasses. These gasses tend to have ashort half life, but we have revolutionized weapons systems sice then. This has created the binary weapon or missile shown above. The two precursors or chemicals to be mixed upon launch are kept in seperate containers. These containers are broken open when the missile is launched. Next, as the missile rotates it mixes the two chemicals to form a toxic chemical agent. These chemials agents were originally discovered in Germany and there were four in this series called the G-series. The other series was discovered by the allies of WWII and was called the V-series. These chemicals are the primary components of chemical and binary weapons.

Miriam Haboubi Why does chlorine turn blonde hair green? Chlorine often has an impac on blonde-haired people, usually resulting in a greenish tint. The radiating tint is a consequence of copper being placed in the water. The reason why copper is placed in the water is to prevent the formation of algae growth. The copper in the water is oxidized, along with the chlorine. Chlorine, when oxidiezes, turns green as visible in the pool. Blonde hair has the least amount of color pigment, thus is more prone to be affected by the chemical reaction.

Chris Charnogursky How Do Fireworks Get Their Colors?

The purpose in researching this topic is to find the chemical relationship between fireworks and how they get the colors that you see during a show. To create certain or specific colors, two or more elements are combined to form a chemical compund which results in a color. For example, To create an orange like color, calcium chloride and calcium sulfate are combined. There are almost 26 different types of colors that can be created using chemical compounds. Some of the most popular colors used in fireworks today are, blue, white, purple, green, and red.



Erin Sanderson How Food Affects Your Mood  Few people fully comprehend just how powerful food really is. Not only is food the main support of human survival, but it also triggers how many neurotransmitters are created and released within the brain. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that transport bits of data to and from nerve cells. They activate many emotions in humans, such as anxiety, fear, and happiness. A food’s nutrients are believed to be precursors of neurotransmitters. This means that after different chemical reactions, nutrients become neurotransmitters in the brain. Since there are different amounts and sorts of nutrients in each kind of food a person eats, the assorted types of nutrients will all affect the brain in their own way. The various combinations of nutrients generate the speed of neurotransmitter production, which in turn adjust a person’s mood. Whether it is a good mood or a bad mood depends on which types of neurotransmitters are released.

Jessica Ingalls How Soap Works The purpose was to find out how soap works. Water is polar, dirt is non-polar, and the two don’t really like each other. Soap molecules have a polar and non-polar end, so it is attracted to both dirt and water. When cleaning something, the non-polar ends of the soap molecules attach to the dirt and the polar ends attach to the water. This allows the soap to pull the dirt away from whatever is being cleaned. If it weren’t for soap, it would be hard to get things clean.

Caffeine and Its Effect on the Human Body Tyler Rippon Caffeine is the world’s most popular, widely used psychoactive substance, though few actually understand how it works, or even, the full effects which it has on the human body. As a central nervous system and metabolic stimulant, caffeine is often used to increase mental alertness and decrease physical fatigue—by functioning as an antagonist of the adenosine receptors, which, it is believed, play a major role in suppressing arousal and promoting sleep. Though it does not eliminate the need for rest or sleep, as an erogenic, caffeine serves to increase an individual’s capacity for mental or physical labor, in it reducing the sensation of being tired. The long terms effects of caffeine are unclear, but data from various studies suggest that there is a link between caffeine use and a decreased risk of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Visual Hallucinations and the Brain Josh MacGregor

Visual hallucinations can be induced by many different phenomena, however, the chemical process which occurs in the brain resulting in a visual hallucination is the same. A visual hallucination occurs when the occipital lobe, or visual processing center, of the brain is activated by an internal stimuli, without any sort of external stimulus or object being actually seen. Reasons for false stimulation can include spinal chord spasms, hallucinogenic drug use, dehydration, psychosis, and dementia to name several. In the case of hallucinogenic drug consumption, to give an example and put everything together, the substance flows through the bloodstream and eventually fills in the synaptic gaps between the eyes and the occipital lobe. Having filled in the gaps, these chemicals send false readings to the occipital lobe, resulting in a visual perception of something that, in reality, does not exist.

ecstasy is a member of the hallucinogenic drug family.

Mentos and Diet Coke Explosion Erin Foley If you drop mint Mentos into a two liter bottle of Diet Coke; a buildup of foam bursts out of the top of the bottle. This occurs because the mint candies have a rough surface with tiny microscopic cracks in them. These cracks allow a process called nucleation to occur, which is when carbon dioxide passes through the candy cracks and causes a rapid increase of bubbles. As the candy sinks in the soda and creates new bubbles, the water in the soda will try to resist the expansion of them. Then the water molecules will attract each other and link around each bubble of carbon dioxide. It takes energy to push water molecules away from each other to form a new bubble, and this process is called surface tension. These two processes put together cause the rapid formation of foam and buildup to push it out of the bottle.

Mallory Dolan Fireworks The reason for researching fireworks was to find out how chemicals worked within them. Chemicals are what induce the brilliant colors we see in the displays. There are 19 elements that are used to create each color. For example to create the color red you would use Lithium. And for orange, calcium salts. Specific combinations of the 19 elements help create a separate color.



Bess Comerford The coffee bean is a naturally caffeine rich fruit that is able to be decaffeinated by several different methods. Among these methods are a chemical process, hot water submersion, or someday, even genetic manipulation. The chemicals presently used in the decaffeination process are ethyl acetate, and carbon dioxide, as opposed to the formerly used harmful chemicals like chloroform and benzene. The hot water, or Swiss water process, is where coffee beans are submerged into hot water in order to remove most of its caffeine. Also, food chemists are now testing a new way to genetically engineer a coffee bean plant that lacks caffeine. In order to do this, chemists have discovered the gene which codes for the enzyme that produces caffeine in the coffee bean. With this knowledge, it is thought that scientists will soon be able to remove that gene altogether. The coffee beans involved in the decaffeination process undergo a chemical change, which is why chemistry is involved.
 * How Coffee Is Decaffeinated**

Kailtyn Ducey  Leaves Changing Color The reason for researching leaves was to identify why leaves change color. Also, the chemical change they have to undergo in order to change color. Chlorophyll is the green pigment in a leaf. Chlorophyll works by absorbing light. Photosynthesis is the method used by plants when they use energy from the sunlight to produce sugar. The overall conclusion was, chlorophyll and photosynthesis are the reasons leaves change color and without them, the leaves would not change color.

Cindy Bi: Chemical Involvement in Emotions Emotions are a result of chemical reactions in the brain. The reactions involve five key chemicals (along with other less essential chemicals): estrogen, testosterone, dopamine, norepinephrine, and especially phenylethylamine. Another chemical, serotonin, is key in feeling angry: low levels of the chemical result in more aggression and hostility. In love, the five key chemicals listed above all play a major role in the emotion and send the brain on a ‘natural high,’ having the same effects on the brain as drugs such as marijuana and cocaine. Chemicals produce the fundamental emotions (such as love and anger) and play a major role in human interactions.



Leah Wrobel

Why Does Salt Melt Ice?
The purpose for researching about ice and salt was to figure out why exactly salt melts ice. First when water is freezing, the molecules start from moving rapidly to barely moving until it reaches freezing point. Once the water is now ice, salt is added and lowers the freezing temperature melting it in the process. On the molecular level, salt molecules stick to the water molecules, making it more difficult for the ice to form. Salt is not the only thing that melts ice, anything that dissolves in water has the same effect, such as sugar. In conclusion, salt lowers the freezing point of the ice then causing it to melt.

Corrine Wolff

Soap and Bubbles
  

This research project explores the chemical reactions that result in bubbles, as well as the chemical qualities of bubbles. Saponification is the chemical reaction that converts a fat into soap. The interaction between soap and water molecules leads to the formation of bubbles, which are a spherical layer of soap film. The color of the bubble depends on the thickness of the bubble wall; the thinner the bubble wall, the more color of alternating bands there will be. ). Bubbles finally pop when they lose the evaporation of their water content, air turbulence, or dryness of air.

Megan Murray How does chocolate make you feel? The purpose for this research was to find out if consuming chocolate has any effect on a user's emotions. The answer is yes! Several chemicals found in chocolate, including: tryptophan, phenylethylalanine, anandamide, theobromine, n-oleoylethanolamine, and N-linoleoylethanolamine all have positive effects on the brain. These chemical reactions cause the consumer to experience feelings such as attraction, excitement, giddiness, and apprehension, or, to put it simply, happiness. In addition, these emotions can also be comparable to the feelings a person might encounter after using drugs like marijuana and ecstasy.



Allison Harris This research was on instant ice packs and why they become cold immediately. In the ice pack the center is ammonium nitrate, surrounding this chemical compound is water. When the water reacts with the ammonium nitrate is creates an endothermic reaction. Meaning when you hit and shake the ice pack, it absorbs all the heat which in return makes the temperature drop to below freezing in ten to fifteen minutes.



Energy Drinks**-** Emily Prindle Energy drinks contain caffeine, which is what helps keep people awake. But they also contain ingredients that have harmful side effects on the human body. Ingredients such as ephedrine have been rumored to have negative side effects on the heart. Pryuvate and other similar ingredients are added, and are claimed to boost performance. Energy drinks are known to have unhealthy side effects, such as heart palpitations.

Microwaves are a common household appliance that is quick at cooking food. Microwaves are tiny waves that go either directly to the food or bounce off the walls of the cooking cavity to the food. The microwaves heat water molecules in food. Microwaves produce constantly changing electrical fields. Also, the 2.45 gigahertz frequency in the microwaves works because the time it takes for the electromagnetic wave to change from positive to negative is just the right amout of time for water molecules to rotate, and that allows the water molecules to rotate due to the change in electrical fields. Since the water molecules inside the food are rotating, they creat frictional heating which causes the water to heat up, and as a result, the food gets hotter. http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/microwaves/index.html Ultraviolet Radiation as a Biocide Dominic Castanzo Among the many possible approaches taken to kill microorganisms is a form involving radiation. The use of ultraviolet radiation as a biocide is a form of nonionizing radiation that, when interacting with microbes, has the expected potential to kill the organism. Ultraviolet radiation is one of many mutagens that use genetic mutilation as its prime method of attack. By forming unnatural bonds between nitrogenous bases in a cell’s DNA, ultraviolet radiation causes mutations to occur in cellular division—mutations that the cell cannot live with. Consequently, the cell dies. Ultraviolet radiation is a practical means of sterilization in high school science class rooms and is, to say the least, effective.
 * How do Microwaves Work? **
 * Rob Rowinski **