38

EDITORIAL

A new look

This issue of Chemistry in Action! is mostly in a new style as I am using a different production system, using a laser printer to produce pages ready for printing by off-set. I hope it will make it more attractive and more readable, although the content and approach will remain the same.

Chemistry numbers decline

Following the last issue's emphasis on the falling popularity of Chemistry as a leaving certificate subject, the numbers doing L.C. Chemistry this year continued to drop. The total number doing Chemistry this summer was 8,116, 13.6% of the total L.C. cohort, down from 10,287 in 1987, which was 20.4% of the LC Cohort. At the same time Physics has gone from 9,846 in 1987 to 11,632. This represents a massive swing away from Chemistry, particularly in the Lower course, which is where the main losses have occurred. Good students are still doing Chemistry and third-level Chemistry courses are still attracting good students, particularly those that are specifically labeled Chemistry or Applied/Industrial Chemistry. But these trends are very disturbing to all involved in Chemistry and require drastic remedial action. It is to be hoped that the Chemistry Syllabus Committee, now meeting, will take this on board and will look seriously at what can be done to make Chemistry more attractive, particularly to weaker students. No doubt we shall hear more about this topic and there is more detail on the LC statistics and university entry points for 1992 on p.16.

More jobs in Chemistry

Despite the economic gloom and doom this Autumn, with a world-wide recession and the collapse of sterling, the news from the chemical industry in Ireland remains good. At SICICI we are doing a survey of jobs in the chemical industry and jobs requiring chemistry qualifications from the adverts in the Friday Irish Times during 1992. We will do this to the end of the year and publish the results in the Spring issue. However, the initial impression is very good with lots of jobs in industry requiring degrees in chemistry, chemical engineering or related subjects. Many chemical companies in Ireland are expanding and taking on new staff, at a time when other industries are laying-off workers or closing. The total numbers employed in the chemical industry continue to show a steady increase (about 7% per annum), with every sign that this will continue. On the other hand everyone is aware of the massive shake-out in the computer industry, where a number of companies in Ireland have closed or reduced their numbers. This is a message that we need to get out to careers advisers and students: that jobs in the chemical industry are stable, clean and well-paid, and need people with good qualifications. Graduates from Irish third level colleges, particularly those with postgraduate degrees, are in high demand both in Ireland and abroad, where their quality is highly regarded. Let's get out the message:

Chemistry offers a good career

Peter E. Childs

Hon. Editor

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Change of address

The Federation of Irish Chemical Industries has moved offices and the new address is:

F.I.C.I.,

Franklin House,

140 Pembroke Road,

Dublin 4.

Tel. 01-603350/603661

Fax. 01-68672

This is just opposite the American Embassy.

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The views expressed in Chemistry in Action! are the views of the author and the Editor is not responsible for any views expressed. Chemistry in Action! does not represent the official views of any institution, organisation or body. Any unsigned articles or items are the responsibility of the Editor, and if reprinted the Editor should be credited. If any errors of fact are published or anyone's views are misrepresented, then the Editor will be glad to publish a correction or a reply.

The Editor is not responsible for any actions taken as a result of material published in Chemistry in Action!. Any experiments and demonstrations are done at your own risk and you should take all necessary precautions, including eye protection.

Teachers may copy materials from Chemistry in Action! freely, without permission, for use in their schools. Articles and other material in Chemistry in Action!, except that originating in other publications, may be used freely in other educational publications without prior permission. Please acknowledge the source and author and send a copy of the publication to the Editor. Prior permission is needed if material is being used in commercial publications.

Contributions are welcome from anyone providing they are of interest to chemistry teachers at second level. Research articles will normally not be published or material which is too specialised.

P.E.Childs

CONFERENCE REPORTS

RSC SUMMER SCHOOL, BELFAST

22nd. - 26th. June 1992

Excerpts from the Daly diary

The Malone Road didn't know what to make of it. A cabal of crusading chemists - Peter Childs, Ted Forde, Jim McCarthy, Alison Graham and John Daly - up from the South determined "to do it all".

The residential halls were to be our first stop - very comfortable indeed, while still providing us with an invigorating 15 minute walk to lectures and workshops.

Dr. Frank Curragh, together with his staff and students from the School of Education at Queen's, hosted the events of the week with enthusiasm. You can see from the table below, outlining the activities for the week, that they had ambitious plans for their visitors.

One of the highlights of the Summer School was the set of lectures given by Dr. Jocelyn Bell Burnlee, Professor of Physics at the Open University, and famous for her discovery of pulsars in 1967. She took us on a trip from the big bang to the awesome gravitational pull of the black hole, with a clarity that was the envy of the many teachers present. She introduced us to molecular astronomy and interstellar chemistry, and left us wondering at the concept of dust particles acting as surface catalysts in space, where at temperatures of about 10K, one can expect one collision per 500 years.

During the year, as I struggled through another practical preparation, I would dream about walking into the lab one day and finding it all ready, worksheets laid out, solutions made up etc. This may explain my "child in a toy-shop" expression at the two workshops I managed to attend.

The first workshop was a session on interfacing, i.e. linking chemical experiments and computers. While the vast majority of schools in the Republic may not at the moment be able to afford the necessary equipment, it is still important to see simple examples of how modern lab might carry out experiments.

The second workshop was superbly organised by Dr. John Gaston. It gave us the opportunity to try out some new experiments suitable either to Junior Cert. Science or to Leaving Cert. Chemistry. A comprehensive hand-out was included. One of the most delightful experiments, suitable for demonstrating alloy formation, and new to me, was entitled "Copper into Gold: the alchemist's dream", and it worked first time!

Showing at this workshop was a video of a new demonstration lecture by the world champion of chemical demonstration lecturers, Dr. Bassam Shakashiri from the University of Wisconsin. This video titled Once upon a midnight cheery, in the lab of Shakashiri, is now available for loan from the SICICI Video Library. Make sure you get a look at it.

On Thursday we were guests of the Du Pont polymer factory just outside Derry (see Chemistry in Action! #30 p.28-34 Spring 1990 for an article on the plant.) This was a fascinating operation where I finally came face to face with the spinneret I have been telling my students about all these years. I had hopes of bringing an old worn one home with me but to my amazement I was told that for reasons of commercial security all the old spinnerets are buried in concrete!

This next bit you are probably not going to believe but it is sadly true. We were so engrossed in the intricacies of polymer manufacture that the Bushmills Distillery, a few miles up the road, was closed when we got there. However, a flying visit to the Giant's Causeway and dinner in Port Ballintrae made amends for this for most of us anyway. On our return to Belfast a final pint on the Malone Road ended a good day out.

I will skip diplomatically over the more robust social activities, hardly mentioning the set dancing skills of Peter and Alison, who may have come from across the water but who show definite signs of being affected by the Irish "airs".

All told, a good week and highly recommended to any chemistry teachers with a little time to spare.

John Daly, Blackrock College.

[Unfortunately only four teachers from the South went to this RSC Summer School, although the organisers had been hoping for more. Many teachers didn't know about it because of poor publicity. The course only cost £25 plus travel and everything else was paid for. SICICI provided bursaries of £25 to help the southern teachers with their expenses. If you see any more of these Summer Schools advertised, either in the North or in England, try and get to go on one. PEC]

Copper to Gold: the Alchemist's dream

In this demonstration experiment a copper penny (pre-1991) is placed in an evaporating basin and heated with a mixture. The penny turns silver. The penny is removed, dried and then heated on a hotplate and it suddenly turns gold.

Experimental details

SAFETY: Safety goggles, gloves and for extra safety a face shield should be worn. SEE THE END FOR DISPOSAL PROCEDURES.

1. Place about 5 g of zinc powder in an evaporating dish.

2. Add enough 6M sodium hydroxide (Safety: Caution - corrosive solution) to cover the zinc and fill the dish to about one third.

3. Heat the dish carefully until the solution is near to boiling.

(Safety: be very careful in this operation as the hot solution is very corrosive.)

4. Prepare a pre-1991 copper penny to remove any tarnish using steel wool, Brillo pad etc. and rinse with distilled water.

5. Using tongs place the penny in the hot mixture in the dish.

6. Leave the penny in the dish for 3-4 minutes. The copper penny turns 'silver'.

7. Remove the penny with tongs, rinse it with water, and dry it by blotting carefully with a paper towel. Do not rub it. Make sure that any particles of zinc are removed.

8. Using tongs again, place the 'silver' penny on the hot surface of the hotplate. The penny should turn 'gold' almost immediately.

9. When the gold colour forms, remove the penny with tongs, rinse it with water and dry it with a paper towel.

10. Safety: disposal of the zinc-NaOH solution. This mixture and the waste zinc should not be disposed of in a bin. Rinse off the liquid with several portions of water. Add the remaining zinc to a beaker containing 200 mL of 1M sulphuric acid. This dissolves the zinc to give zinc sulphate and neutralises any remaining alkali. The waste can now be washed down the drain with plenty of water.

The chemistry explained

1. Zinc dissolves in concentrated sodium hydroxide solution to form sodium zincate, Na⁺(Zn(OH)₃(H₂O))^-. When the copper penny is placed in this solution the zinc plates out on the surface, displacing copper. The penny thus turns 'silver'.

(You can check this by showing that the silver coating dissolves in dilute acid.)

2. When the zinc-coated copper penny is heated on the hotplate, the zinc and copper atoms interdiffuse to form brass at the surface, an alloy of zinc and copper which has a gold colour.

Notes

1. The experiment works best with pre-1991 pennies which are copper. Later ones are copper-coated steel and don't work as well.

2. Brass is the name given to alloys of copper and zinc: zinc and copper atoms are similar in size and can dissolve in each other in any ratio to give a range of brasses. The colour depends on the composition: high copper brasses are gold-coloured, high zinc brasses are silver-coloured.

3. A bunsen burner could be used to heat to penny but it is easy to overheat. If a hotplate is not available it would be better to heat the penny on a metal lid or metal block, heated by a bunsen.

4. If you continue heating the penny the gold colour will fade to copper as the zinc diffuses from the surface into the penny.

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1st. European Conference on Research in Chemical Education

25-28th. August 1992 Montpellier, France

The 1st ECRICE (European Conference on Research in Chemical Education)/9th. JIREC (Journees d'Innovation de la Recherche dans l'Enseignement de la Chimie) was held in the University of Montpellier from 25-28th August 1992. This well-organised and interesting conference was run under the auspices of the French Chemical Society and the Federation of European Chemical Societies. It was chaired by Danielle Cros and R. Lissillour. The comprehensive programme consisted of five plenary lectures: by Richard Kempa (UK), Peter Fensham (Australia), A. de la Garanderie (France), J.M. de Ketele (Belgium) and H.Stork (Denmark). There were also six workshops: representation-conception, problem-solving, evaluation, experimental teaching, educational technology, environmental chemistry, and a poster session.

The social side of the conference was equally well-organised, with two receptions on the opening day, one of which was hosted by the Deputy Lord Mayor in the beautiful grounds of Gramonnet.

The conference banquet was a sumptuous affair which took place in the Listel wine caverns of Aigues Mortes and was preceded by a coach drive through the Camargue-like landscape of pink flamingoes, wild bulls and inland salt lakes.

Of the 150 or so attending the conference the majority were French, although Italy, Spain and Germany were well represented. There was only one participant from Ireland (myself) and two participants from the U.K., one of whom, Michael Akeroyd, is organising the 1st. International Conference on the Philosophy and Methodology of Chemistry and Biochemistry in Yorkshire in July 1993 (see below).

Geraldine Rafferty

Department of Chemistry

Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland

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"I cannot ever remember having sold a book, but I once burned one.

It was a textbook of thermodynamics."

M.L. McGlashan, J. Chem. Educ. 43 226 1966.

RSC Autumn Meeting

15-18th. September

Trinity College, Dublin

Over 400 chemists gathered in Dublin from September 15-18th for the RSC's Autumn Meeting at Trinity College. Each year the RSC holds two meetings at different universities in the UK and Ireland: the Annual Meeting in April and the Autumn meeting in September. In 1990 the Annual Meeting was in Queen's, Belfast and it will visit Ireland again in 1997 when it is in Dublin. Trinity hosted the Autumn meeting this year as part of its 400th. Anniversary celebrations.

The various divisions of the RSC hold symposia during the meeting in parallel sessions, and each symposia is a mini-conference. The Education Division held two symposia: one on The graduate and Industry and one on Communication in Chemistry. These were organised by the Ireland Region Committee and most of the credit goes to Odilla Finlayson (DCU) and Mary Carson (DCU). They are to be complimented for getting together two interesting symposia.

For me the highlight of the meeting was the special guest lecture by the Nobel prizewinner, Herbert C. Brown, on Tuesday 15th. on Discovery and Exploration of a New Continent of Chemistry. Herbert Brown is now 80 and he has been doing research for 56 years. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1979, with G. Wittig, for their work in developing the use of boron and phosphorus compounds in chemical synthesis. His talk was excellent and gripped the audience's attention from beginning to end. Professor Brown reviewed his career in chemistry, how he got into studying boranes, his wartime work and the gradual development of boron chemistry and hydroboration over 50+ years. He is still excited and still active in chemical research, and while giving us a taste of some real and up-to-date chemistry, he also added the human touch.

How did he choose to work on boron hydrides, which eventually led him to a Nobel Prize? He told us how his girlfriend Sarah (now his wife) gave him a book by Alfred Stock on Hydrides of boron and silicon, he read it and got interested and never looked back. Why did she give him this particular book?

It was the cheapest book in the University of Chicago bookstore and so for $2.00 Herbert Brown was launched on a career that would lead to the Nobel Prize. After finishing his Ph.D. he tried to get a job in industry, with no success, and ended up in academic life by default. During the war he discovered ways to make diborane in quantity and accidentally discovered the reducing power of sodium borohydride. Hydroboration was also discovered by accident when a graduate student reported an odd result which Brown insisted be investigated further.

"A research director (supervisor) is in a good position to insist on high standards because he doesn't have to do the work himself." The poor graduate student gets to do the hard work. In 1936 Brown thought that organic chemistry was a relatively mature science with very little left to discover. But he himself discovered, what he termed a whole new continent of chemistry when he started looking at the reactions of diborane and derivatives with organic compounds. Brown describes his career as "Tall oaks from little acorns grow", and in his case it started with a little pollen from a $2.00 book back in 1936.

The meeting also included a second plenary talk by a Nobel laureate, James Watson, famous for his search for the structure of DNA with Francis Crick and their discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA. This attracted a packed house, much larger than that for Brown, but it was a great disappointment for those present. Apart from finding out that he had been sacked from the Directorship of the Human Genome Project, and that he had a long correspondence with George Gamow, the physicist, the audience learned very little.

The symposium on The graduate in Industry had some interesting contributions on how graduates are trained, recruited and used in the chemical industry. It was clear that industry was looking for as much or more for personality rather than academic prowess: qualifications were assumed at interview and the industry interviewers are more interested in how people would fit into a team. Clive Cathcart reported on the latest recruitment figures into the chemical industry (reported elsewhere in this issue) and the steady demand for well-qualified chemists and other graduates is very encouraging. Courses where students have a placement in industry as part of their course seem to have an advantage over courses without this.

The symposium on Communication in Chemistry proved to be equally interesting. Professor David Waddington started with a talk about the need to make chemistry courses relevant to students, by starting with applications and issues and then moving on to the chemistry, rather than tacking applications on at the end (if there's time). He described the Salter's A-level course which is currently being trialled in the U.K. as an example of the issues-first approach. The first students have taken their A-levels based on this course, more schools are joining the scheme and the indications are that it is drawing more students in to study chemistry at A-level and more of them are continuing with chemistry. The later discussion on the Irish leaving certificate suggested very strongly that the existing Irish Chemistry course should be radically revised in this direction if it is to survive.

After the break three people gave their views on the role of the media in communicating chemistry. John Lynch, producer of Molecules with sunglasses, the Horizon programme about buckminsterfullerene, talked about the different aims of the TV producer and the academic chemist. TV is mainly about entertainment and a good story, not primarily about education and giving a complete story. He showed clips from the programme and everyone agreed it was one of the best-ever TV programmes on chemistry.

Roger Highfield, science correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, then talked about the constraints on getting science into newspapers. But at least the Daily Telegraph, unlike the Irish papers, does have a weekly science page and frequent science pieces in the news pages. Caroline Nolan, PR person at the Science Museum in London talked about the many different ways her museum is trying to communicate science to the public.

This session was very useful but it was unfortunate that all the speakers were from the U.K. and no-one was there to describe the Irish scene, where science in the media is noticeable by its absence. After lunch one of the teacher's involved in the Salter's A-level course talked about its implementation, and in particular about the way industrial chemistry is integrated into each unit, rather than being tacked on at the end. Jim McCarthy, from Coolmine Community School and currently seconded to the NCCA, finished off the day with a survey of the LC science statistics, where Chemistry continues to decline as a subject, particularly at lower level. (See his article in the last issue of Chemistry in Action!, # 37, pp 19-24 1992). The LC Chemistry syllabus committee is about to start work on revising/rewriting the lower level course, followed by the higher level course.

The strong feeling of the meeting was that that chemistry in Irish schools was in a parlous state, in particular in its low appeal to weaker students and that it needs a radical new approach not a cosmetic revision. Several submissions had suggested a topic-based approach similar to the Salter's course, where the same Chemistry is repackaged in a more user-friendly manner. A similar approach is taken by the American ChemCom materials, which have been adopted by several other countries. However, it is hard to be hopeful that anything more than a facelift will result - unless the appearance of the syllabus is changed radically it will appear to be unchanged and numbers will continue to decline. I hope that the NCCA syllabus committee will take up the challenge.

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Improving the image of Chemistry

If you didn't see that last issue of Chemistry in Action! (#37, Summer 1992) with the Proceedings of ChemEd-Ireland 1992, you can still get a copy by sending a cheque or P.O. for £2.00 to Dr.Peter E.Childs, University of Limerick, Plassey, Limerick.

Chemical Classics

Click here to read the letters

Justus Liebig

Who was Justus Liebig? Every chemist has heard of a Liebig condenser, but most of us know very little about the man. Like his contemporary Robert Bunsen he is remembered most for a gadget he invented! He was one of the most influential chemists of the last century.

J. von Liebig (1803-73)

He was a German, born in Darmstadt on May 12^th 1803 as Justus Liebig. His father was a chemist and Justus grew up playing in the laboratory where his father made drugs, varnishes and pigments. He wasn't a great success at school and the teacher asked him what he hoped to become. When Liebig replied that he hoped to become a chemist, the teacher and class were convulsed with laughter. He was first apprenticed to an apothecary (the equivalent to our pharmacist), but then left to study chemistry at Bonn and Erlangen. He graduated at 19 with a Ph.D. and he then spent two years in Paris (1822-24). He then returned to Germany as assistant Professor, and then Professor of Chemistry at the University of Giessen at the age of 22. He stayed there until 1852 and his work was recognised by a baronetcy in 1845 when he became Justus von Liebig. From 1852 until his death on April 18^th 1873 he worked at the University of Munich.

At first his facilities in Giessen were very poor and he worked in a small room with his students. In 1839 he built a new laboratory to his own design and it was on crowded with students. Kekule attended Liebig's lectures and this kindled his interest in chemistry. His lectures were clear and illustrated with experiments. A.W. Hoffmann was his student and he went to London in 1845 to become Director of the Royal College of Chemistry. He introduced a research school on the Giessen model and introduced synthetic organic chemistry. Henry Perkin was one of Hoffman's students who went on to found the fine chemicals industry. Liebig visited England in 1837 and 1845.

He was a pioneer of chemical education and his laboratory at Giessen became a model for many others around the world. Many chemists from England and America made the pilgrimage to Giessen to work with Liebig. In the middle of his career he became in agricultural and physiological chemistry, and laid the foundations of both subjects.

He published over 200 papers. One of his main achievements was to develop methods for analysing organic compounds so as to determine their composition. He also established the radical theory of organic chemistry, and discovered many new compounds, and did work on the chemistry of fertilisers and fermentation.

It was Liebig who said "we may judge, with great accuracy, of the commercial prosperity of a nation from the amount of sulphuric acid it consumes". He also said that the quantity of soap consumed by a nation is a measure of its wealth and civilisation. You will find more of his famous quotations in his Chemical Letters. He was a controversialist and made many enemies by his forceful criticisms. His own views on fertilisers, animal chemistry and fermentation also came under attack and he was inclined to speculate on too little evidence. It seems that even his condenser wasn't invented by him. His greatest legacy may have been the establishment of a rigorous method of training research workers, in which his method was to "to give the problem and supervise the execution.. Every one was obliged to follow his own course".

One of his pupil, A.W. Hoffmann, wrote in his obituary of Liebig:

"..no other man of learning, in his passage through the centuries, has ever left a more valuable legacy to mankind" (Berichte, 6,473,1873).

How is Chemistry doing in 1992?

In the last issue of Chemistry in Action! (no. 37) the Proceedings of ChemEd-Ireland looked at the position of Chemistry in schools and third level institutions in Ireland. In this issue we update some of these statistics based on this year's L.C. results and university entry. Some comparison is also made with the U.K. scene.

1992 saw a number of changes in the system. Grades from only one year only can now be used for third level entry and this had the effect of reducing slightly the number of external L.C. candidates (see below). This was the last year of the matriculation examination and the first year of the new grading system, where the A, B, C, D grades were split to give more discrimination in the grades and to make the points system more precise.

1992 POINTS SCHEME

*The points for higher level maths apply only to UCD, UCC, UCG and UL. All colleges count six subjects and count only results attained in one sitting of the Leaving Cert. UCD, UCG, UCC and Maynooth will combine Matric and Leaving results, provided they are sat in the same year.

For results from pre-1992 exams, grades are counted on the middle point of the new bands, i.e. an old B is counted as a B2, an old c is counted as a C2 etc.; an old higher A merits 95 points and an ordinary A, 55 points.

It was also the year when every third level institution had the same points system so that entry standards could be compared directly. The NCCA also commissioned a report on the LC grades which was published soon after the examination, bringing the discussion on assessment fully into the public arena at long last.

The numbers taking the L.C. examination in 1992 are given below with 1991 figures in brackets:

L.C. Science results

The tables on the next page show the Higher and Lower level results in the 1992 LC examinations.

The top 20 subjects are arranged in popularity at higher and lower levels:

* indicates a compulsory subject.

What conclusions can we draw from this data? Chemistry is 13th in popularity at Higher level and 17th. at lower level. Biology remains the top science subject (3rd. at higher level, 5th. at lower level). Physics is now much more popular than chemistry (10th. at higher level and 13th. at lower level). However, in general the science subjects and particularly the engineering subjects (Engineering, Technical Drawing, Construction Studies) lie down the bottom of the table, with the exception of biology. The percentage taking the higher level in different subjects shows a wide variation from subject to subject.

If we ignore the bottom six subjects in the table which are only taken by a handful of students, it can be seen that 73% of chemistry students take it at higher level, compared to 63% for physics and 54% for biology, and only 12% for mathematics. It seems that chemistry is losing the weaker students, possibly to physics, and only the brightest students are tending to do chemistry. This bears out the contention that chemistry, and to a lesser extent physics, are seen as elitist and difficult subjects. Notice that the numbers doing higher level maths are almost the same as those doing higher level chemistry. Maths is a compulsory subject but only 12% attempt the higher course. It is likely that it is the same students, in general, who are taking higher level maths, physics and chemistry as the numbers are very similar.

How do the percentages taking different sciences compare with the A-level statistics from the U.K.? The statistics are shown below on p.19. If we analyse them we find the following for the science subjects:

* several subjects grouped together

Total number of candidates:

The order of popularity of the sciences is:

biology > chemistry > physics, however, the three sciences do not differ as much as they do in Ireland. Of course, the A-level is more specialised and most students do only three subjects, and usually either all sciences or all arts subjects. A smaller proportion of the school population stays on to take these exams in the U.K. compared to the proportion taking the leaving certificate. Thus the leaving certificate is a broader course both in the range of subjects taken and in the range of ability of students taking it. This probably explains in part why the sciences are higher up the popularity charts in the U.K.

Grades in L.C. sciences

The percentages were shown above in the tables of results. In summary the % getting A and B grades are shown below:

Comparing these with A-levels grades:

We cannot compare grades at A-level and L.C. level directly, even though it appears that university admissions tutors in the U.K. equate an A at A-level to 2A's at higher level

in the Leaving Certificate. The Irish grades are directly related to % marks obtained and are thus most probably criterion-referenced. The A-level results are probably norm-references with almost the same percentage each year getting a particular grade. The larger percentage getting A grades at A-level also indicates that the cut-off level for an A is lower down e.g. around 70-75% rather than 85%. In fact it is probable that a B1 or above in the LC is equal to an A grade at A-level. This difference of grading would repay further study especially as the raw grades are being used to determine university entry for Irish students into U.K. universities and colleges. What I am trying to say is that it would appear to be harder to get 6 A's in the L.C. than 3 A's in the A-level course, based on the marks alone, and disregarding the difficulty of studying six widely different subjects compared to studying only three, closely-related subjects.

It would appear to be 'easier' to get an A or B grade in chemistry both at L.C. higher level and A-level, compared to biology and physics. As has been noted many times before there is a considerable variation in the number of A's particularly between different subjects.

The 1992 matriculation results are also given on p. 17 for comparison with the LC results. The science subjects are compared

with regard to %A's and B's obtained:

These results are similar to those obtained in the L.C. exams although the number taking the matriculation is much smaller, and probably more selective. The proportion of LC candidates in physics and chemistry doing the matriculation is much higher than that for biology.

Points for 1992 entry

Finally we look at the 1992 entry to third level courses and how the sciences fared compared to other subjects. The table at the bottom of page 19 compares the points needed on the major courses in the 8 universities.

The points needed for science courses ranges from 310-415 points. For comparison business/commerce courses required 380 - 450 points and medicine 515 - 530 points. Engineering courses ranged from 295 - 465. The 1992 figures support those of previous years where the professional courses and business/commerce courses were in most demand, with science and engineering courses down at the bottom in popularity. The table below shows the most popular courses

requiring 500 or more points. Six B3 grades would be 450 (490 with Higher maths at UCD,UCC,UCG,UL). 3 A2's and 3B2's would be 510 points (550 with higher Maths). Thus to get into these high-demand courses requires exceptional performance across all the subjects taken.

Courses with highest points requirements (500 points and over)

*Not all on this points level accepted.

+ Denotes certificate/diploma course.

CAO/CAS applications numbered 54,573 this year for around 25,830 places. Over the past three years 8,000 extra places have been created at third level. This year saw the opening of the new Regional Technical College at Tallaght with 2,000 new places, which include a Certificate (and Diploma) in Applied Chemistry. As mentioned in issue 37 of Chemistry in Action! the majority of students are opting for business-related courses, rather than science or engineering courses.

"An increasing trend in college entry in recent years is the decline in interest among applicants in engineering, science and technological courses. This is again painfully evident this year, with only one science course featuring in the top 20 points-rated courses." Irish Times editorial 29/8/92

The same complaint is heard in the U.K. and an editorial in The Times of 20/8/92 said very similar things:

"But the pattern of (A-level) results shows the continuation of some disturbing trends over the past three years. The nation's grip on science is still weakening. The academic 'two cultures' canyon between arts and science is not closing and may even be widening."

However, the situation is if anything, worse in the U.K. because of the specialisation in the sixth form. The same editorial recommended moving to a broader sixth-form curriculum with more AS subjects. An AS subject would be roughly equivalent to a LC higher subject.

This was reflected in the points for these courses when offers were made in August. I have extracted out the points needed for courses related to chemistry or including chemistry at the various universities and colleges:

It is interesting that the more applied courses appear to be more in demand than those simply labeled 'Science', which usually includes chemistry as an option, except for Trinity. This is particularly evident in UCG. The applied chemistry course at Galway (see Professor Butler's letter in this issue) had the highest points of any chemistry course in the country, followed by the Biological and Chemical science option at UCC. Environmental science courses also seem to be very popular, reflecting the popularity of green issues. DCU introduced two new chemistry courses this year: Applied Chemistry and Chemistry with a language. All three chemistry courses at DCU were quite popular, with essentially the same points for each.

If we look at the Applied Chemistry courses on offer in the RTC's we see the following picture of points required:

These show considerable variation from 345 for Applied Chemistry at Cork RTC (which can lead on to a degree course in Chemical Technology) to 170 for Applied Chemistry at CoACT, Limerick. The average for the App. Chemistry courses is 252 and for the Science courses, where Chemistry is an option, 259. Obviously, the demand and the quality of students going for certificate courses in the RTC's is lower than that going for degree courses in science or chemistry. However, the most popular certificate courses (at Cork and Sligo) require higher points than the least popular degree courses in Science (at Sligo and Maynooth). That certainly gives one something to think about.

Conclusion

This limited analysis of this year's results and university entry serves to emphasise the dropping popularity of Chemistry as a school subject, and the relatively low status of chemistry courses at third level. Thus the intake for third level courses is drawing from a smaller and smaller pool, even if the quality and numbers of the higher level students is still holding up. We must not forget that some of the best chemistry students go for the prestige professional science-based courses like medicine, pharmacy and veterinary, all of which require chemistry.

We cannot be complacent and we need to address urgently the problems of making the lower level LC Chemistry course more attractive, and making chemistry courses at third level more attractive to the best students. None of us would want to see Chemistry to go the way of the classics in the school curriculum.

I would welcome contributions from readers on this subject or comments on the data presented above.

P.E.Childs

Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

Following the discussion on the image of chemistry in the Autumn 1992 issue of Chemistry in Action!, it is necessary for me to explain to your readers the new honours degree in Chemistry and Applied Chemistry at University College Galway, since this was erroneously described as a degree in Applied Chemistry. In the College we now have two options for a degree in Chemistry:

Option B: A degree in Chemistry & Applied Chemistry

Three years ago a number of new "denominated degrees" were started in UCG to cater for students who already know on entering college which branch of Science they wish to specialise in. One of these new courses in a degree in Chemistry and Applied Chemistry. This course contains all of the existing honours degree material thereby giving the well-established strong foundation in chemical knowledge, in the areas of Physical, Inorganic, Organic and Analytical Chemistry. In addition to the content of the normal honours degree in Chemistry, a large amount of extra work on industrial and applied chemistry, including chemical biotechnology, has been added to the course. This work has essentially replaced the "subsidiary subject" which has been part of the traditional NUI degree structure up to now. Hence the overall load on the students has not significantly changed, but they are getting much more practical and applied chemistry in the degree. This development is proving successful i.e. a degree in Chemistry and Applied Chemistry as against a degree in Chemistry and Physiology, or Chemistry and some other "subsidiary subject."

Yours sincerely,

Professor R.N.Butler

Department of Chemistry, UCG

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What is a chemist?

"A chemist is a person who develops a general theory from a string of diverse formulae deiced with micromatic precision from vague assumptions based on debatable tables of results extracted from inconclusive experiments carried out with inaccurate equipment by persons of doubtful reliability and questionable mentality."

Quoted in Science of Materials W. Brostow Wiley 1979.

The chemistry of the biuret test

The biuret test is commonly used for identifying proteins or compounds with a peptide linkage, -NH-CO-. In the test an alkaline solution of the substance being tested is treated with copper(II) sulphate solution. The development of a violet colour indicates the presence of a peptide linkage and this is used to identify the presence of proteins qualitatively.

Biuret is the compound:

H₂N-CO-NH-CO-NH₂, formed by the condensation of two molecules of urea, CO(NH₂)₂. The colour is due to the formation of chelate complexes between the biuret (which is a bidentate ligand which coordinates through the terminal nitrogens) and the copper(II) ion. Typical complexes are shown below.

When a protein is treated with alkali is hydrolysed into peptide fragments like biuret, containing the basic peptide unit -CO-NH- (also known as an amide linkage) which then form coloured complexes with copper(II). These complexes are similar to those formed by ammonia (intense royal blue) or ethylenediamine, another chelating ligand. A chelating ligand is a molecule or ion which can form at least two bonds to a metal ion. Such complexes are very stable and this favours the formation of the complex. EDTA is a hexadentate ligand which forms six bonds at once to a metal ion and forms very stable complexes with M2+. This is used in determining the hardness of water.

Scientific anecdotes

Borodin - chemist and composer

"When it came to composition, Borodin was not exactly a fast worker. He laboured for about 15 years on his opera 'Prince Igor' (and left it incomplete). The First Symphony took him five years, the Second seven.

But as Borodin was an industrious and highly regarded chemist, the remarkable fact is that he found time to write any music. As Rimsky-Korsakov recalled in his autobiography, 'I often found him working in the laboratory next to his apartment .. sitting over his retorts.'; and their conversations about music were frequently halted by Borodin rushing to the lab to check that nothing had boiled over."

Geoffrey Norris in the Sunday Times

For a fuller article on the life and chemistry of Borodin see: Aleksandr Porfir'evich Borodin (1833-1887) G.B.Kauffman, Y.I. Solov'ev, C.Steinberg Educ. Chem. 24(5) 138-140 (1987). The illustration above is taken from this article. Can you think of any other chemical composers or pieces with a chemical theme?

Chemistry on a small budget

Herbert C. Brown was one of the pioneers of boron chemistry and its industrial application. He recalls this episode from his career when he was just starting in postdoctoral research under Professor Morris Kharasch at the University of Chicago in 1939. He went on to win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1979 for his work on Boron Chemistry.

"One evening I was reading 'Chemical Kinetics' by Farrington Daniels. In his book, Farrington Daniels reported that the photolysis of oxalyl chloride proceeds via the formation of ·COCl free radicals. I decided to see if I could react hydrocarbons with oxalyl chloride and produce acid chlorides in the way we were synthesising sulphonyl chlorides from sulphuryl chloride. I placed oxalyl chloride and cyclohexane in a flask. I took a 300W electric bulb and shone the light on the flask. Gas was evolved. After the evolution of gas became slow, I distilled the reaction product. I obtained a fraction boiling where cyclohexanecarboxylic acid would. Addition of a few drops to aqueous ammonia gave a solid with the same melting point as the known amide. The reaction worked!

My entire experiment had taken less than two days. Suppose I were to ask one of my coworkers today to perform a similar experiment. First, the experiment would be delayed as he awaited his order of specialised photochemical equipment. Then it would take time as he worked out a suitable gas chromatographic analysis for acid chlorides. I might get an answer in six to eight weeks. We have powerful tools today, but we must remember that it is sometimes better to obtain rapid results with simple methods."

One consequence of this piece of ingenuity was that Herbert Brown got a raise from his Professor!

From Some adventures on the research trail H.C.Brown Chem. Indy. No.7 3/4/82

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The perils of statistical mechanics

"Ludwig Boltzmann, who spent much of his life studying statistical mechanics, died in 1906, by his own hand. Paul Ehrenfest, carrying on the work, died similarly in 1933. Now it is our turn to study statistical mechanics."

David L. Goodstein

States of Matter Prentice-Hall 1975

Elements get proper names at last

Those who have studied the Periodic Table supplied in a laminated pocket-sized version by SICICI (see Chemistry in Action! #37 p.41) will have noticed the peculiar symbols for elements 104 to 109: Unq, Unp, Unh, Uns, Uno and Unn. If these symbols look bad enough, then the 'names' are worse:

104 Unq unnilquadium

105 Unp unnilpentium

106 Unh unnilhexium

107 Uns unnilseptium

108 Uno unniloctium

109 Unn unnilennium

These names were of course chosen by a committee (the inorganic nomenclature commission of IUPAC, whose job it is to adjudicate the claims for new elements and decide who will have the honour of naming them. The discoverer of a new element has traditionally had the privilege of naming the new element. The IUPAC commission merely approves the name and symbol, which must of course be unique and have no more than two letters.

The names above are interim names and were given to elements 104 to 109 because different groups claimed first discovery and in some cases more than one name existed for the same element. Another committee called the Transfermium Working Group has just reported its 4-year deliberations on the competing claims (Progress in Particle & Nuclear Physics 29 453 1992). Only three research groups in the world have the capacity to make these heavy elements and in some cases only one atom of each was made. The groups are, respectively, American (at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California), Russian (at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research at Dubna, near Moscow) and German (at the Gesellschaft fur Schwerionenforschung at Darmstadt). The committee made the following decisions, which are already being disputed: Darmstadt gets sole credit for elements 107,108 and 109

Dubna gets sole credit for 102 (Nobelium)

Berkeley gets sole credit for 106

Dubna and Berkeley share the discovery of elements 103, 104 and 105

The names and symbols for elements 107, 108 and 109 were formally proposed at a ceremony in September at Darmstadt, as follows:

107 nielsbohrium Ns

(named after Niels Bohr, the Danish physicist)

108 hassium Hs

(named after the Latin name, Hassia, for the state of Hesse where Darmstadt is located)

109 meitnerium Mt

(named after Austrian physicist, Lise Meitner, one of thee discoverers of nuclear fission)

102 is known as nobelium, No although the Russians had proposed joliotium, after Frederic Joliot-Curie.

103 is known as lawrencium, Lw and there is no alternative name.

104 is called rutherfordium Rf (after Ernest Rutherford) by the Americans and kurchatovium by the Russians (after Igor Kurchatov).

105 had been called hahnium Hn by the Americans (after Otto Hahn) and the Russians had suggested nielsbohrium, now taken by element 107)

106 still remains to be named by the Americans.

All three groups are trying to make 110 and have attempted in the past to make even heavier elements. The decision by IUPAC marks a step forward in replacing the awful interim names, of which Michael Nitschke says:

"Nobody uses them, nobody likes them, everybody finds them utterly ridiculous".

The new names, when they are all decided will bring personality and a human face back to the bottom of the Periodic Table and I hope we can soon reprint our Periodic Table with new symbols from 104 onwards:

102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109

No Lw Ru Ha ? Ns Hs Mt

(Source: C & ENews 14/9/92)

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IRISH ASSOCIATION FOR ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

Teachers interested in mining and minerals may not be aware of the above association which recently sent a set of fact sheets on mining in Ireland to all schools in the country. Included in the package was a map of Ireland’s Mining Heritage which was sponsored by Tara Mines/Outokumpu Zinc. It is possible that the fact sheets were circulated to your geography department, so check with them to see if they have them. The fact sheets are about to be reprinted and there will be a small fee of £1.00 per set for future orders, although several exploration companies are planning to distribute them within their areas. If you locate the fact sheets in your school and would like to order further copies or obtain more information about the association contact

Maeve Boland, Honorary Secretary, Irish Association for Economic Geology, c/o Geological Survey of Ireland, Beggars Bush, Haddington Rd., Dublin 4.

ChemEd-Ireland 1992

"Health & Safety in School Chemistry"

October 16th-17th.

University of Limerick

This year's ChemEd-Ireland (the 11th. in the series) addressed an important topic: Health & Safety in School Chemistry. The conference in 1983 looked at Practical Work in Chemistry and as part of his presentation Dr. Carl O'Dualigh (Department of Education) told us about the safety booklet he and his committee were preparing. In 1983 this was essentially finished and the final document was promised within the year. It is now 1992 and the Department of Education still has not published the guidelines on safety in science laboratories. Since that time the legal scene has changed and the Health & Safety Act of 1989 now applies to schools. The first speaker at ChemEd-Ireland 1992, Dr. Brian Dunlevy from Dundalk R.T.C., referred to the famous safety guidelines. After several revisions and rewrites and updates they are now ready for publication! He also went on to talk about the making of The Cop Factor by NISO as a contribution to laboratory safety. This has been sent to all schools but not all science teachers have seen it or used it.

On Saturday Peter Start, College Safety Officer from U.C.D., gave an excellent talk highlighting the importance of safety in laboratories, based in part of his long experience as an expert witness in legal cases. One fact that came out during the conference was the low level of safety awareness in schools and the small number of schools that have actually written safety statements as required by the 1989 act. This means that the management bodies (the employees) are in breach of their legal obligations and if a court case resulted from an accident in school, they would not have a leg to stand on.

Teacher themselves would also be held responsible, at least in part, if they had not taken all reasonable precautions in running their practical classes. Things like not having safety glasses available for all pupils in all laboratories, not knowing the hazards of particular chemicals and thus producing dangerous situations, not giving adequate safety instructions to pupils etc. could all place teachers in a position where they are culpably negligent. Makes one think doesn't it?

If you are reading this and your school has not produced a safety statement and instituted safe working practices in school, including the laboratories, then you need to ask your principal to set this in motion. Unless you do your school could probably by taken to court by the Health & Safety Authority who have said that they are going to follow up employers, after a period of grace.

This topic came up again and again at the conference from different speakers. Ann O'Connor from St. Mark's Community School, Tallaght talked about the law and the teacher, and Michael Shields picked it up again from the point of view of a school principal responsible for getting safety statements drawn up. Philippa King from Shannon Environmental Services talked about the options for disposing of hazardous wastes. Most schools produce small quantities of hazardous wastes e.g. organic solvents, and these would be very expensive to dispose of legally. She reported that one group of schools had got together to form a "waste consortium", their wastes were pooled and then handled by S.E.S., giving a much more economical solution.

Joe Riordan from the Limerick office of Antifyre Ltd. talked briefly about fire safety, but more importantly, took everyone outside to see different types of fire extinguishers in action, and some even got a chance to use them.

The teachers also had an opportunity to watch The Cop Factor after lunch. The long, busy day finished with a short talk/demonstration by Peter Childs on teaching about safety in school and how to conduct demonstrations safely - teaching by example. All the participants went away with a bulky file of handouts and reference material on safety.

The papers given at the conference will be published in the next issue of Chemistry in Action!.

Next year's ChemEd-Ireland will be on Transition Year Chemistry and it will take place on Saturday 16th. October. Due to the small attendances in recent years at the Friday night lecture, I have decided - after consulting this year's participants - to run the conference only on Saturday. This will avoid the expense of an overnight stay and will make it possible for people to come by train from Dublin or Cork on a day return. Any suggestions for topics or speakers for next year's ChemEd-Ireland conference would be welcome. If you haven't filled in the questionnaire on Transition Year Chemistry that was sent out in the last Chemistry in Action!, or the one on Accidents, please do so.

How small can you get?

Most of us are familiar with the SI units kilo (k), milli (m), micro (æ) etc. But some of the prefixes for smaller quantities are unfamiliar. As analytical techniques have become more sensitive so we can measure less and less in more and more. The latest prefixes to be assigned are zepto (z) for 10-21 and yocto (y) for 10-24. "Professor Dovichi, a leader in ultra microanalytical techniques, jokingly suggested that these units have been named in honour of the lesser-known Marx brothers. Indeed, the baptismal habits of the International Committee of Weights and Measures are mysterious, as the bastardized Scandinavian femto- (f) and attom- (a) had already proved. Joke aside, the need to for having units as small as 10-21 and 10-24 is a serious and dramatic development. After all, a yoctomole is less than a single molecule. It makes sense only as a probability in a quantum mechanical context."

Gabor B. Levy

International Laboratory Nov./Dec. 1992

The latest analytical techniques have got down to 300 molecules in sensitivity! The table below from the reference above shows what these units mean in terms of volumes of solution.

The Scales of Chemistry

1st. International Conference on the Philosophy and Methodology

of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Bradford & Ilkley Community College Bradford

26-30 July 1993

This conference is aimed at those who are interested in the philosophy of Chemistry and Biochemistry. For more details write to:

Michael Akeroyd,

Bradford & Ilkley Community College,

Great Horton Road,

Bradford, West Yorkshire BD7 1AY

(Fax: 0274 736175 Tel: 0274 753343)

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PUBLICATIONS

Suggested Solutions?

As most of you know Suggested Solutions plus Background were published from 1985 to 1988 by the chemistry staff at Thomond College. These were well received and copies can still be obtained at the bargain price of œ6.00 per set or œ1.50 per single copy including postage. In 1991 I produced solutions myself to the higher and lower papers and these were advertised via Chemistry in Action! during the last year (cost œ3.00 including p&p). They were produced in response to many requests from teachers for solutions for the missing years. The demand for the 1991 Solutions was very poor, so that printing them did not even break even. This means that it will not be possible to produce further solutions, unless many more teachers and their pupils buy copies of the 1991 issue. It maybe that you didn't know they were available, and if you want copies please write to me at the University of Limerick. The best way to ensure future solutions are published is to make sure your students get their own copies - their are discounts for bulk orders.

P.E.Childs

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The future of organic chemistry

"In 1936 when I received my BSc degree, I felt that organic chemistry was a relatively mature science, with essentially all of the important reactions and structures known. There appeared to be little new to be done except the working out of reaction mechanisms and the improvement of reaction yields. I now recognise I was wrong. I have seen major new reactions discovered. Numerous new reagents are available. Many new structures are known. We have at hand many valuable new techniques. I know that many of today's students feel the same way as I did in 1936 but I see no reason for believing that the next 40 years will not be as fruitful as the past."

Herbert C. Brown

Nobel Prize Lecture 1979

Video library

An update to the video catalogue will be sent out soon to registered teachers. One of the new tapes in Bassam Shakashiri's demonstration lecture "Once upon a Christmas cheery" as mentioned in John Daly's report. Tapes cannot be borrowed from the library unless you are a registered user. To become one you need to request and fill in a registration card - available from Marie Walsh, SICICI, University of Limerick.

The other advantage of being a registered user is that you will be sent additional mailings 2-3 times a year listing free publications available from SICICI. These are available on request, while supplies last and the list of materials is updated with each mailing.

Minitel service

SICICI is on Minitel under the education directory as a service of MAC at the University of Limerick under the heading Chemfacts. This contains the contents of the Resource Directory and we intend to update this information regularly.

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Irish Steel video & booklet

The booklet to accompany the Irish Steel video (previewed at the ISTA conference in Kilkenny) has been written by Peter Childs. The video tape and package are ready and the booklet is printing at present. There was a delay in getting the booklet ready for printing, although it was written in the summer, and this has delayed the launch of the package. It is hoped that schools will receive this early in the new year. The package will be sent to every second-level school and will contain the video, a copy of the booklet (which includes the script of the video) and a set of OHP originals for making transparencies. Irish Steel are to be complimented on investing in this worthwhile project. The project was the initiative largely of Declan Kennedy, together with the ISTA chemistry sub-committee.

Update on the Irish chemical industry

CHEMICAL & MINING NEWS IN IRELAND

Compiled by Marie Walsh as a service of the Schools Information Centre on the Irish Chemical Industry

Unleaded Petrol sales

Environment Bulletin Jan-March ’92

In January 1992, unleaded petrol sales represented 28.1% of total sales. The figures for unleaded petrol are now provided on a yearly basis and details available at the end of September 1991 show that there were 1,865 outlets (63% of total outlets) retailing unleaded petrol.

20m Cans a Year Recycled

I.Ind 10.3.’92

More than 20 million drink cans are being recycled in Ireland each year, but this represents only 10% of national consumption. Latest figures released by Recycling Can-Paign Ireland show that a total of 20.3 million beverage cans, or 454 tonnes, were collected last year by recycling groups in twelve different counties. The major sources of supply are the schools-based " Cash for Cans" scheme and public can collection banks. Dermot Byrne, Chairman of the Can-Paign emphasised once more the environmental benefits of can-recycling, saying "Recycling an aluminium can takes only five per cent of the energy required to manufacture a new one".

Foul Harbour Odours ‘not harmful to health’

C.E. 29.5.’92

The £300.000 study of the Cork Harbour environment commissioned by FICI and undertaken by UCC’s resource and Environmental Management Unit (REMU) has been published. The findings are that the quality of the air in the heavily industrialised Ringaskiddy area is ‘satisfactory’, and that foul odours which persist in the locality are not harmful to public health. However, the report warns that the frequency of the odours is unacceptable, and it recommends that the chemical and pharmaceutical companies in the area continue the environmental monitoring on an on-going basis.

The study identified 51 incidents during the year’s monitoring from August 1990 – July 1991, and stated that between two-thirds and three quarters of them were caused by local industries. The total Organic Carbon content, which is an umbrella measurement for all compounds containing hydrogen and carbon in the atmosphere was found to be satisfactory when compared to two other reference sites in the Cork area. Measurements of other compounds, like toluene and xylene, found them to be at very low levels and within the threshold limits set by the World Health Organisation and the German TA Luft air quality guidelines.

Gas Emissions Pledge

I.T.26.6.’92

The two companies in Cork harbour associated with the emission of mercaptan gas said last night that new programmes would lead to a major reduction in the problem. Representatives of the two companies, angus Fine Chemicals and Penn Chemicals, were present at the launch of a major new initiative by FICI to deal with environmental problems. The ‘Responsible Care’ programme commits the chemical and pharmaceutical industries in Ireland to a self-regulating mechanism for environmental protection.

Meanwhile, FICI has apologised for their statement that the Cork based company Mitsui Denman had not signed up for the Responsible Care Programme. Mitsui Denman has recently been awarded the ISO 9002 certificate and has joined the other companies in promoting the new programme.

Sandoz Plant on Target

C.E. 15.7.’92

Mr. Winifred Pedersen, project director of the Sandoz plant at Ringaskiddy has announced that construction of the plant is proceeding as scheduled. The first production building is predicted to reach mechanical production by Christmas, by which time the current workforce is expected to gave doubled to 100 employees. Speaking to journalists in Cork, Mr. Pefersen said that next year would be largely taken up by the first trials of the process equipment, checking plant validation and water batching.

Sandoz has already committed $136 million to construction of the plant, $83 million of which has been spent in Ireland.

Merck, Sharp & Dohme receives NISO award

Various sources July ’92

Merck, Sharp & Dohme Ltd of Ballydine has won the National Irish Occupational safety Award for the South East. The award, given by the voluntary body committed to the promotion of high standards of health, safety and welfare at work, puts emphasis on both the history of accident performance within companies and the quality of safety management and organisation.

Cork was well represented among the winners, as Irish Refining plc (Whitegate) took the large firms’ award for consistent achievement in safety; Janssen Pharmaceuticals of Little Island the medium firms’ award; and the small firm’s prize went to Irish Fher Labs, also based at Little Island.

In addition, certificates of merit were presented to IFI, Arklow, Penn Chemicals, Millipore Ireland, GE Superabrasives, Newport Synthesis Ireland, and IFI, Marino Point.

Decline in air pollution complaints

C.E. 2.7.'92

A major environmental conference organised by BHP Laboratories of Limerick has been told that air pollution is not a major problem in County Cork because of the very strict emission limits and legislation control. Ms Mary Stack, Executive Chemist and head of Cork County Council's air monitoring unit a Iniscarra, Co. Cork, said that the number of public complaints in respect of air pollution in the county has been decreasing, She pointed out that in 1990 the air laboratory investigated over 350 complaints on air pollution, 60% of which related to the Ringaskiddy area, the so-called hub of the Irish pharmaceutical industry. The level of public complaints reduced by 40% in 1991 and by a further 23% in the first 6 months of 1992. Ms Stack attributed the decrease in complaints to the considerable investment of monies n pollution control equipment by the chemical and pharmaceutical industry.

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Out of court settlements reached on nicotine transdermal systems disputes

ALZA Corporation news release 28,5,'92

The countersuits mounted by Elan and Cyanamid and Marion Merrell Dow and ALZA have been settled out of court. The suits concerned the patents owned by the companies covering technologies for transdermal nicotine systems. Elan in Athlone is responsible for the development of the nicotine transdermal system which is marketed by American Cyanamid company's Lederle Laboratories. The nicoderm parches were much in the news in the early part of 1992 when they were launched in the US.

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Conroy says Arcon not interested in Chevron stake in Lisheen

I.T. 1.9.'92

Arcon (formerly Conroy Petroleum) has not made any bid for the 52.5% stake in the Lisheen lead-zinc orebody owned by Chevron Minerals. Arcon plans to develop the Galmoy orebody about five miles from Lisheen and was thus seen as a possible bidder for the Chevron stake by mining industry experts. However, Professor Richard Conroy, Chairman of Arcon, said that his company had looked at the Lisheen stake, studied documentation on the orebody there and had spoken to Chevron about making a bid but had decided against it.

A number of overseas mining groups, including RTZ and Metalgesellschaft, are understood to have bid for the Chevron interest, but with bids now closed the front-runner to acquire the share is still thought to be the Invernia-Minorco-Outokumpu consortium which has the right as 47.5% shareholder in Lisheen to match an other bid.

In July, Ivernia raised £4.32 million in a share placing which saw its two largest shareholders, Outokumpu and Minorco, increase their stakes in the company to 24.5% each. Most of the other shares were placed with the big Irish financial investment companies, with a small number going to UK investors. Mr David Hough, Managing Director of Ivernia, said that most of the money will be used to pay for the company's share of a projected 8 million expenditure at Lisheen over the next year. Latest test figures show that the Lisheen deposit could be up to three times bigger than the one owned by Arcon at galmoy.

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Arcon preparing new planning application for Galmoy mine

I.T. 1.9.'92

Professor Conroy of Arcon Ltd has said that a detailed planning application for the development of the Galmoy orebody, and its seven million tonnes of lead-zinc ore, is likely to be resubmitted to Kilkenny Co. Council by the end of this year. He added that Arcon would move ahead with the £35 million development as soon as planning permission is received, and that discussion with a number of mining industry and financial groups are "on-going".

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Ivernia has informal talks about Lisheen

I.T.15.9.'92

Ivernia has had "informal talks" with Lac Minerals, the Canadian gold-mining company which bought Chevron's stake in the Lisheen lead-zinc deposit for a reported $65 million. Ivernia owns the remaining 47.5% of Lisheen and is considering all its options, including selling its share of the deposit. However, Mr David Hough, Managing Director of Ivernia, has stated that Ivernia has not been formally notified of the Lac purchase and that in any case his company and its backers are considering legal action based on the claim that they had pre-emption rights to buy Chevron's share of the deposits if they could match the highest bid. It now remains to be seen whether Lac will opt to purchase the Ivernia stake, or alternatively purchase Ivernia as a company.

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Comnco sticks with Ennex

i.T.3.9.'92

Cominco, the Canadian mining group, has given a commitment to spend $2.5 million over the next three years on the Rathdowney, Moate and Kildare licenses held by Ennex International, having already spent $2.5 million to build up a 35% stake in the licenses. On its Silvermines licenses, Ennex has completed five diamond drillholes and a major follow-up programme is planned. Discussions are underway with a number of mining companies on a possible joint venture on the property.

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Rift over toxic waste incinerator

C.E. 12.8.'92

Environment minister, Michael Smith, appears to disagree with his Junior Minister, Mary Harney, on whether or no the country needs to build a national toxic waste incinerator. Ms Harney has said that the amount of toxic waste produced by industries in this country is so small as to make the construction of an incinerator for national use unnecessarily expensive. She added that most companies were capable of disposing of their own waste, whether by incineration or other means. However, Mr Smith has stated that his department is pressing ahead with investigations into the feasibility of a national incinerator specifically naming Cork as a potential location in the light of the intensity of chemical and related industries in that area.

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Schwarzhaupt to close

I.T.29.8.'92

The IDA has had discussions with the management of the Schwarzhaupt pharmaceutical company, based in Cork City, following an announcement from the German-owned company that it is to pull out of Ireland in March, 1993, with the loss of 25 jobs.

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Fuel from farm crops may reduce traffic pollution

I.T. 29.8.'92

In the United States, and in countries like France and Austria, fuels derived from common farm crops are making a remarkable impression on urban pollution. Large scale experiments involving bus fleets in more than 20 French cities are currently taking place using the fuel "Diester" instead of conventional fuels. Meanwhile in Austria the fuel, known there as bio-diesel, is available at more than 100 filling stations. Exhaust emission tests carried out at Vienna University show a 50% reduction in soot exhaust pollution and a 60% reduction in highly dangerous aromatic substances.

Bio-Diesel is derived from oil-rich plants (usually oil seed rape) by a simple chemical process, which transforms the rather gum-rich oil into RME, rape methyl ester. The major advantage of RME is that it can be used in any diesel engine without modifications of any kind. Furthermore, an EC directive issued in February 1992 requires all member states to reduce the excise duty on biofuels to 10% of the tax which they charge on equivalent fossil fuels (effectively a 90% reduction).

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Oliver drilling plans

I.T. 19.8.'92

Oliver resources is to carry out exploratory drilling on its onshore mineral license at Ballinalack, Co. Westmeath, where "significant" new zinc-lead mineralisation has been encountered in recent drilling.

Oliver pins prospects on two gas wells

I.T.15.9.'92

Mr Oliver Waldron, chairman of Oliver resources, told the company's AGM that it was pinning its short term future on the results of two exploration wells, on in the Celtic Sea and one in the North Sea. The company made a loss of nearly &19million last year and so far this year is running at a small loss. A share adjustment last June raised almost $3 million which is to be used to finance the new exploration programmes. These look promising and are near existing oil and gas pipelines which will shorten the time until they come on stream.

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Survey to check radon gas levels

I.T.16.6.'92

The radiological Protection Institute has instigated a survey of radon levels in 6,000 randomly selected Irish homes. The houses, located in seven different areas throughout the country were selected at random. The national survey is intended to identify areas in particular risk and to check the current estimates that radon gas levels may exceed the safety limits in up to 4% of Irish homes.

Radon is a naturally occurring gas which is formed in the ground by the radioactive decay of small quantities of uranium present in rocks and soils. Occasionally the gas is released from the earth and quickly dilutes to harmless amounts in the atmosphere, but it can build up to unacceptable levels in enclosed spaces. Lifetime exposure to the gas is believed to increase the risk of contracting lung cancer. A similar survey in England recently indicated that some 100,000 homes had radon levels above acceptable limits.

*****

Cork Chemical company acquired by British firm

I.T. 9.7.'92

Mr Steve Antosik, Managing Director of Angus Fine Chemicals, has announced that the company is negotiating with Hickson International, a Yorkshire based fine chemical group which intends to purchase all the Angus share capital. The takeover of Angus will be determined by the success of a share placing by Hickson, with a cash purchase available as an alternative. Either way the acquisition of angus by Hickson is essential to ensure the jobs of the 180 strong workforce at the Ringaskiddy plant, which has been operating at a loss. The acquisition has gone ahead and the new company will be called Hickson PharmChem Ltd.

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Major Industrial load for Arklow factory

IFI news release June 1992

One of the largest shipments which has ever been transported by road in Ireland was moved from Arklow Harbour to the Irish Fertiliser Industries plant three miles away on Sunday 21^st June. The 420 tonne load of industrial equipment was carried by seven large transporters in an operation which took six hours and involved closure of sections of the main Dublin-Wexford road. The equipment comprised the final sections for the new nitric acid plant being constructed by IFI at Arklow. The plant is expected to go into production next March.

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Council confirms radioactive gypsum lies in path of bypass

I.T. 21.9.'92

Low levels of radioactivity have been discovered in a gypsum dump; part of which lies in the path of the proposed Arklow bypass. The dump lies on land owned by Irish Fertiliser Industries and is covered by up to a metre of shale. It contains deposits of "black gypsum" imported from Africa in the 1950s and 1960s to make fertiliser. The radioactivity is a natural occurrence from the gypsum and a survey by the radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) has shown that the levels of radioactivity at ground level do not pose a risk to health.

The acting secretary of Wicklow County Council, Mr Louis Brennan, has said that the council plan to dig up the gypsum in the path of the roadway and re-bury it, under supervision of the RPII. Meanwhile local environmental groups are calling for a thorough investigation of the options before the work on the roadway begins.

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Aughinish faces uncertain future

Lim.post 12.9.'92

Mr frank McGravie, Managing Director of Aughinish Alumina, has told the company's management team that a question mark now hangs firmly over the future of the plant. Speaking at the team's half yearly review, Mr McGravie said that failure to achieve the plant's target for production of one million tonnes of alumina in 1992 would be ominous for the plant. He urged the workforce to focus on increased production in an attempt to secure the plant's future.

At the beginning of October it was reported that Billiton, the metals and minerals subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, has decided to put its 35% stake in Aughinish up for sale. This follows a loss of $35 million reported by Billiton last year, which has already resulted in the closure of some of the companies tin smelters in Holland. Meanwhile, aluminium prices have fallen 60% since 1988 and the company's investment in Aughinish is unlikely to improve their precarious financial position.

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Achill gold find confirmed

I.T. 22.9.'92

The existence of gold and titanium in the western part of Achill, discovered recently by local people, has been confirmed by Department of Energy geologists, the Minister for Energy announced yesterday.

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Saehan opens Sligo plant

I.T. 22.9.'92

The largest video tape manufactured facility in Europe has been officially opened in Sligo, five years later than originally intended. The $60 million Saehan Media plant employs 480 people, manufacturing video tapes for BASF, Samsung, Kodak, Memorex and Akai

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Bula strikes oil

I.T. 9.10.'92

Bula resources, the operator for a consortium which has been drilling in the Celtic Sea, has announced that oil has been discovered close to the Kinsale and Ballycotton gas fields. The well was originally targeted as a potentially gas bearing structure, but oil was found at depths of between 3,000 and 3,500 feet and to date two short term production tests have been carried out.

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U.S. firm to sell Irish Factories

SBP 4.10.'92

Synthetic Industries is to dispose of or sell its tow Irish plants, which employ a total of 260 people. The factory at Newry manufactures fabrics and yarns which are then shipped to the company's other plant at Clara for processing into flexible packaging materials.

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Plastics Manufacturing Company for Roscommon Town?

The latest edition of New Business Report has information about Carson industries, a New Jersey based company, which apparently proposes to establish a plastics manufacturing plant in Roscommon town. Negotiations between the company and the IDA are at a very early stage.

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Wyeth Medica on target

SBP 4.10.'92

The new Wyeth Medica plant on the site of the old Polaroid plant at Newbridge, Co. Kildare is on target for its first production phase beginning in April next year. The new 37 million plant will manufacture tablets and packaging which will then be sent to other Wyeth plants in various locations.

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Alcohol named as factor in pre-senile dementia

I.T. 1210.'92

Alcohol is a major factor in the development of Alzheimer's disease and other dementia ailments, Professor Brian Leonard of UCG has told the Irish Pharmaceutical Union at their recent Conference. He warned that the drink patterns of Irish people put pressure on the brain cells, adding that too many Irish people drank more than the safe limits of 21 units a week for a man and 14 units for a woman (where a unit is equal to half a pint of beer).

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Safety audit of food plant ordered after gas mishap

I.T. 13.10.'92

Kerry County Council ordered a complete safety audit of the Kerry Group's plant in Listowel following the collapse of a water silo that ruptured an adjacent hydrochloric acid tank and resulted in the formation of chlorine gas.

A spokesman for the company stated that there was no environmental damage because of precautionary measures taken after a similar occurrence two years ago, when a hydrochloric acid tank burst in the same area. The acid tanks each hold 19,000 gallons and are lined with rubber. Following the 1990 accident they were surrounded by a bund, a concrete wall, to prevent the escape of any spillage. Drainage to waste water balancing tanks was also installed and this ensured that acid did not enter the nearby Feale river or any other part of the plant following Sunday's accident.

The environmental officer with Kerry County Council, Mr Tom Carey, said the acid leaked from the tank for six hours as there was no way the leak could be plugged. Water neutralised the acid, but formed chlorine gas, which is an eye and skin irritant. However, Mr Frank Hayes, corporate affairs manager for the Kerry Group, denied that there was anything old or substandard in the plant, adding "This is our flagship operation....much of it is state-of-the-art, and we are very concerned to eliminate any potential environmental or safety problems. It is extraordinary that after all the investigations and examinations two years ago, once again we have a problem with our tanks".

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Du Pont to be investigated

I.T. 11.11.'92

Mr Robert Atkins, Northern Ireland's Environmental minister, ahs announced that an independent environmental audit is to be carried out at the Du Pont plant at Maydown in Co. Derry. The audit has been commissioned as a result of the recent chemical spillage into Lough Foyle from the plant.

The spillage incident aroused considerable controversy on both sides of the border, but particularly from the fishermen who have established a lucrative shellfish industry in the Lough. The Minister for the Marine, Dr Michael Woods, expressed his concern over the spillage of chlorobutadiene, at the same time imposing a ban on all fish harvesting from the Lough. Meanwhile, an investigation was ordered by the Northern Ireland Office to disclose why the authorities were not notified of the spillage until three days after it occurred.

A spokesman for Du Pont stated that the chemical was used in the manufacture of neoprene, a synthetic rubber, and that the spillage had resulted from a "process upset", adding that the process was shut down immediately the fault was noticed. However, it was only two days later that the company established the size of the spillage as 1.25 tonnes of chlorobutadiene and a further day before the authorities were notified.

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Decline in Air Pollution Complaints

C.E. 2.7.’92

The danger of sewage gases

This summer's ferry tragedy on the Cork-Swansea ferries highlighted the danger of gases produced by the anaerobic fermentation of organic wastes. In the absence of oxygen anaerobic bacteria break down organic matter into various gases: hydrogen sulphide, methane, ammonia. Of these hydrogen sulphide is highly toxic. In an earlier issue I highlighted the danger of slurry pits due to the H2S produced (Chemistry in Action! #30 p.24 Spring 1990). The TLV (Threshold Limit Value) for hydrogen sulphide is quite low (10 ppmv) but fortunately we can smell it at very low levels. If you can smell H2S it's time to leave, since if you stay too long you will no longer be able to smell it as it saturates the nose.

The importance of the water seal in domestic sewage systems has been known for a long time. I came across this quotation from Popular Science from July 1888:

"The lack of standards in plumbing made 'sewer gas' a deadly threat in any home with running water. POPULAR SCIENCE urged that U-shaped water seals be incorporated in all fixtures to block gases from entering houses."

The water in toilet bowl is held in by the U-bend and makes a gas-tight seal between the house and the sewage pipes. A vertical pipe vents the sewage system to the atmosphere above roof level, to avoid any pressure build-ups.

Chemical uplift

When limestone, calcium carbonate, is converted to gypsum, hydrated calcium sulphate, the volume occupied increases by about 100%. Two Dutch scientists have just won a $640,000 government grant to investigate the feasibility of injecting sulphuric acid into limestone strata to raise the ground level. The purpose is, of course, to raise low-lying land near the sea to guard against flooding, particularly if sea levels rise as a result of global warming. The idea is patented but requires testing out in the laboratory and in filed tests. The process will also liberate 1 mole of carbon dioxide for every mole of calcium carbonate that reacts, which will contribute to global warming. There must also be severe problems of venting that much gas safely. Ground swelling from sulphuric acid spillages has already been documented in the Netherlands and also in Brazil. So maybe the idea isn't as way-out as it seems.

CaCO₃(s) + H₂SO₄(aq) + H₂(g) V CaSO₄.2H₂O + CO₂(g)

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New anti-cancer drug

A potent anti-cancer drug is obtained from the bark of the Pacific yew tree, a tree found in old forests in the Pacific North-West of the USA. The amount of material available from natural sources is limited and attempts are underway to synthesise it chemically or to find other routes to produce the complex molecule (see diagram).

Bristol-Myers-Squibb will start producing the drug, Taxol, by a semisynthetic process in 1993. Instead of extracting Taxol from the bark, the new process starts with the yew needles and twigs, a renewable resource, which contain a chemical precursor molecule. The ring system is the difficult part of the synthesis and this is done in the plant, while the chemists add on the side-chain. The new route was developed by Robert A. Holton at the University of Florida. The precursor, 10-DAB III, can also be obtained from a species of yew which grows in Europe widening the source of the material. Plantations of the Pacific yew tree have also been set in the USA to provide future supplies.

An alternative route to Taxol being explored uses biotechnology by culturing cells which synthesise Taxol. Rhone-Poulenc Rorer produce a analogue of Taxol, Taxotere, from 10-DAB III.

Taxol and Taxotere have caused a lot of excitement as the first of a new class of a

anti-cancer agents which inhibit cell division by altering the cell's internal structure. Taxol has been tested in small-scale trials against ovarian, breast and lung cancers with varying degrees of success. It is interesting that Taxol itself wasn't patented, although the name is a registered trademark, when it was first discovered in 1963. It remains to be seen whether Taxol or its derivatives lives up to its promise as a wonder anticancer drug.

(C&ENews 12/10/92)

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My chemistry teacher

"Mr. Moore was older. He seemed the sort of chap who might have been in the army. His first lesson was a magic show. We sat round his bench and watched while he turned water into wine, produced flames of every hue and colour, dropped sodium into water and let it skate about.. Incidentally just about everything he did wouldn't be allowed now because the safety officers wouldn't allow it. That's one of the reasons chemistry is disappearing.

He gave us a blue substance, a beautiful blue crystal and asked us to find out everything we could about it. We looked at it and wrote down what we saw and after a while he showed us how to use a bunsen burner to heat it up. Then we had a long reasoning session with him and he got someone to say that since it had gone white and steam had come off when it was heated, if you put it in water it might go blue again. It did! And we had copper sulphate five hydrate. That was fifty years ago and I've never forgotten."

Lord George Porter, Nobel Chemist talking to Susan Thomas (TES 19/6/92)

Worth reading

The October issue of TECHNOLOGY IRELAND had a number of interesting articles for chemistry teachers. (TECHNOLOGY IRELAND is available on subscription at œ19.00 per year for 10 issues from Eolas, Glasnevin, Dublin 9 but I believe there is also a reduced rate for schools. It should be in every school library or staffroom and copies kept for reference.) How radioactive are the fertilisers made and sold in Ireland? John O'Grady of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland looked at "Radioactivity and fertilisers" on pp 41-45. The concern about radioactivity arose from the incident when radioactive steel was supplied to Irish Steel. This had come from the old Goulding Fertiliser plant where phosphoric acid had been made from phosphate rock by the wet process. Natural radioactivity in the rock had contaminated the steel. No-one makes phosphoric acid in Ireland any more and it is imported as the acid or in the form of phosphates for blending into fertilisers. John O'Grady measured the radioactivity in different fertilisers and estimated the doses being received by different people handling or exposed to fertilisers. The annual dose to members of the Irish public from all sources of radiation is between 3,000 and 4,300 microSieverts. The maximum dose from fertilisers was estimated to be 100 microSieverts for workers in fertiliser plants and < 10 for members of the public.

The following article on "The gas question" by Charles J. O'Sullivan (pp 46-50) is a fascinating piece on the industrial history of gas-making in Cork. The importance of chemists in industry is described in an article on Polyglass of Ashbourne, "How to become a leader", pp 31-32, which describes how hiring a qualified chemist turned a company around. Finally, Charles Mollan contributes a short article on "Who discovered the electron?". If you don't know, consult pp 56-59 of TECHNOLOGY IRELAND, October 1992.

The November/December issue of TECHNOLOGY IRELAND also has some useful articles of interest to the chemistry teacher. Francis Long looks at the pros and cons of gold mining in Ireland in Mining our own business?. There are two articles of environmental interest: License requirements and beyond looks at how Penn Chemicals has tackled the requirements of its air pollution license and a following article looks at the implications of the new Act for Food processing and wastewater. Two pages on Discovering Science are aimed specifically at schools.

Irish teachers will find distributed with this issue a copy of Chemicals can be good for you by Dr. Michael Hynes of UCG. This appeared in the September 1992 issue of TECHNOLOGY IRELAND. Dr. Hynes is to be congratulated in getting support from industry to reprint this useful article to make it more widely available. Anyone who wants to get more copies should contact him at the Department of Chemistry, University College, Galway.

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Science is fun

We all know that Science is fun but the RDS' Science Section is continuing to beaver away at getting this message across. They have organised a series of light-hearted science lectures on Tuesdays at 3 p.m., admission œ1: October 6th. (The magic of chemistry); November 17th. (Genetics, the heart of the matter), December 15th. (myths of physics), and in 1993, January 26th. (Chemistry and tomorrows world), March 2nd. (Conservation and environment) and April 6th. (The secret lives of electrons!).

Bridgeen McCloskey is doing a great job and organised a Youth Science Week in the summer from August 17-22 with lectures and workshops.

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STOP PRESS:

ICI Schools Lecture 1992

The Institute of Chemistry of Ireland's annual Schools Lecture took place during the week beginning December 7th. This was organised by Dr. Odilla Finlayson of DCU and by local organisers in Limerick (Peter Childs) and Galway (Niall Geraghty). Lectures were held in Dublin on the 7th., Limerick on the 9th. and Galway on the 11th. The demonstration lecture called Photochemistry in Action! was given by Dr. Andrew Mills and Dr. Peter Douglas of the University College of Swansea. They came over to Ireland for the week and we are very grateful for all the trouble they took. They did one show each in Dublin and Galway and two in Limerick. They brought a mass of equipment and chemicals with them and had to work very hard setting up the show and then dismantling it at the end. Those watching the effortless presentation didn't realise the hours of hard work that went into it. The response from schools was very disappointing: from the whole of Dublin only a handful of schools came and the lecture theatre at DCU was only half-full. Numbers were also low in Galway. In Limerick over 400 attended the two shows.

The Institute of Chemistry of Ireland is doing a great job to popularise chemistry and make it more attractive to students - but it does require teachers to organise the visits, which were free of charge. It seems likely that next year's lecture will travel to the provinces and miss Dublin out.

In Limerick all participants were given a written version of the lecture called Photochemistry in Action!, and a bumper sticker, and this lecture is included in this issue on pages 25-28. It doesn't capture the excitement of the lecture but it gives you a good idea of some of the applications of photochemistry.

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The two cultures

"I think C.P.Snow was right. We are divided by our culture into two systems so that the civil servants and businessmen are all of one culture, and the scientists and engineers are of another. It is a very real, very serious problem."

Lord George Porter TES 19/6/92

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"People who do not have at least some understanding of science and scientific principles do not have the qualifications to vote."

Lord George Porter

Quoted in TES 8/5/92

Teaching Resources

Understanding our Environment Pack

Du Pont/Conoco Services to Education have produced a new environmental education pack:

Understanding Our Environment is designed to increase young people's awareness of our environment and to increase their knowledge and positive action in caring for it. The pack is priced £28.50stg and has been aimed at age range 10-14 years although much of the work is also useful for older children. The pack comprises an A4 wallet folder which contains

A VHS video in 7 sections

Annotated video script

A users guide with Background notes to each section

OHP transparencies

Activity Sheets

A reference fact file and useful addresses

To order the pack contact Du Pont/Conoco services to Education at FREEPOST BM5045, Birmingham B5 4BR

Channel 4 Science Club

This Club is open for membership to all interested viewers of Channel 4 Science Programme. Annual subscriptions of £9 stg. Entitles members to a newsletter, 4S, which is published three times each year in association with ICI, one free Channel 4 booklet and discounts on other Channel 4 publications and various as yet unspecified services.

A number of priced publications are available. Of particular interest would be A-Z of the Elements by Dr John Emsley which gives information about each element's physical properties, discovery and use. This is a support booklet for the Equinox programme The Elements which is available for purchase as a video from Academy Television. (full list of programmes available on video available from Academy Television, 104 Kirkstall Rd, Leeds LS3 1JS).

Further details about the science Club available from Derek Jones/Lizzie Perkins at P.O. Box 4000, Cardiff CF5 2XT

Food and Farming Information Service

This is an independent source of information on all aspects of food, farming and the countryside. It produces and extensive range of free and inexpensive literature and also has stocks of priced and free publications from specialist publishers, e.g. Hobsons, and from other organisations. It has a wide resources bank available for reference by teachers, students, the press and the public. It also organises courses and seminars.

Agricultural Questions of the Day is a series of leaflets examining current and controversial issues, including Food Crops and pesticides and Biotechnology. Free with SAE.

Information sheets include titles such as The Role of fertilisers and Pesticides in Agriculture £1 each inc postage.

Various booklets from ICI Agrochemicals, BASF, Schering Agriculture and a number of other companies are also available.

The service also has a newsletter, Learning Link, which includes reviews, details of new educational initiatives, publications and useful contacts.

More information about this service is available from The Director, European Business Centre, 460-462 Fulham Rd., London SW6 1BY.

Information from BASF plc

Teachers may already be familiar with the glossy publicity material which is produced by BASF Ireland. The UK subsidiary produces a similar superb colour brochure which illustrates very well the diversity of the company and its operations. They also produce a number of other booklets which many teachers would find useful.

Other booklets include What BASF is doing to protect the Environment which outlines pictorially the company's environmental policies and shows them in operation. Environmental questions.... and some answers is an excellent survey of very topical subject.

Three foldout leaflets which contain interesting material are

Plants, Chemicals and Cancer

Public Perceptions of Food and Farming

Photochemistry in Action

The company also produces The Agronomist, a BASF magazine which is produced for farmers and other interested people. Again it contains many useful and relevant articles.

For details of the publications and their availability contact Libby Finney, Public relations Manager, Agricultural Division, Lady Lane, Hadleigh, Ipswich, Suffolk IP7 6BQ

New Brochure from Pfizers

Pfizer Bringing Science to Life is a new brochure from Pfizer Pharmaceuticals in Ringaskiddy. The superb colour booklet includes a brief history of the company's operations in Ireland and an overview of the current processes and products there. A useful booklet for careers use, copies are available from the Community Relations department, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals production Corporation, Ringaskiddy, Cork.

Feed the world Project

Educational Projects Resources have produced another project pack aimed at GCSE and Standard Grade Science. The pack was produced in consultation with teachers and representatives of the British Agrochemicals Association and comprises of seven workcard and a set of teacher's notes. Teachers of Junior Certificate should find the pack useful for Applied Science options. Copies are available from Educational Projects resources, FREEPOST, London SW7 4YY. Incidentally, if you haven't come across this organisation before you might ask for copies of other relevant project packs since they have produced a wide range over the last few years.

New Poster Series from Shell

Oil Refining is a new series of five wallcharts which illustrates the main processes in an oil refinery - from the reception of the crude to the delivery of finished products to the market place. The set is available free from *Shell Education Service, Bankside Business Services, 10 Fleming Rd, Newbury, Berkshire RG13 2DE.

(* This is the new address for the Shell Education Service)

"OIL REFINING"

Five new wallcharts

ABPI Sponsors New Booklet

Issues - Prevention or Cure is the latest ABPI sponsored booklet to be produced by Hobsons. This booklet is aimed at A-level students and is designed for the student's own use, either as part of a defined course or as extension work. The core of the book concerns preventive medicine, but it also looks at its history and current ethical and economical implications of the field. Copies have been sent free to sixth form schools in the UK, but they can be purchased at £3.75 each (ask for details of discounts on bulk orders, 10 copies or more are priced at £1.75 each) from Client Services Department, Biblios Publishers Distribution Services Ltd, Star Rd, Partridge Green, West Sussex RH13 8LD.

Web Site Maintained By Darina Slattery,

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems,

University of Limerick.

(June 2000)

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