Give me a real world chemistry problem...

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makeshift123

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Contaminant levels between the different brands of bottled water. Maybe use tap water as control?
 
WildcatS11 said:
alcohol content of different beers/wines/liquors, along maybe with calories as well, would be really cool! Too bad it was done already...
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I know!! The professor said if we came up with a protocol for it, we could do it again since he didn't tell us how the other group did it. As for the water contamination, my partner and I actually thought of something similar to that, but it just seems trite and pretty lame, but its kinda our last choice.

We really wanted to do something related to drug toxicology or forensics or something pretty sweet. Anyone got suggestions about those types of experiments. I'm searching online but with little luck.
 
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One thought we had was to see if the myth that 4 out of 5 bills have traces of cocaine/illicit drugs on them was true. Obviously, we couldn't compare with the real drugs, but we could probably find spectral data of the drugs online or in a paper?
 
makeshift123 said:
One thought we had was to see if the myth that 4 out of 5 bills have traces of cocaine/illicit drugs on them was true. Obviously, we couldn't compare with the real drugs, but we could probably find spectral data of the drugs online or in a paper?
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What, you don't already have access to cocaine? :sleep: Shame on you...

Something I was reading about a while ago was the levels of toxic chemicals found in regular skin care products (like lotions, creams, make up, chapstick, etc.) since those regulation boards are pretty lax about what gets past.

Or... whether or not the calorie levels in food (especially food that's advertised to make you thin) match up with what they say...

Or... how full of nastiness the air that gets past your filter is?

Apparently I spend my whole life being skeptical of purity. :laugh:
 
comparing the properties of different brands/ratings of gasoline :cool:
 
Iron content levels of murder suspects. Iron is in a trace amount on people who shoot weapons. Using Flame Ion Spectroscopy you can detect it in quite trace amounts.
 
caffeine levels from different types of coffee beans/teas.
 
Phosphate levels in Coca Cola.
 
makeshift123 said:
One thought we had was to see if the myth that 4 out of 5 bills have traces of cocaine/illicit drugs on them was true. Obviously, we couldn't compare with the real drugs, but we could probably find spectral data of the drugs online or in a paper?
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Since I love Mythbusters, I think this is a very cool idea, if you can pull it off.
 
whimsical said:
What, you don't already have access to cocaine? :sleep: Shame on you...

Something I was reading about a while ago was the levels of toxic chemicals found in regular skin care products (like lotions, creams, make up, chapstick, etc.) since those regulation boards are pretty lax about what gets past.

Or... whether or not the calorie levels in food (especially food that's advertised to make you thin) match up with what they say...

Or... how full of nastiness the air that gets past your filter is?

Apparently I spend my whole life being skeptical of purity. :laugh:
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TOTALLY do the calories one! i did something similar in a chem class a few years back... i think we calculated the calories in a twinkie and compared it to what was on the box. 'twas AWESOME.
 
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Find the varying amounts of BACC protein in protein powder using a MALDI.

Find the amount of capsaicinoid additives in spicy foods using HPLC.

Find the amount of selenium in food/water by complexing it with a fluorophore after digesting it in a microwave and using a spectrofluoromter for analysis.

Find the amount of heavy metals in water (including hardness) using ICP-AES

...just a couple things we did in instrumental lab.

Alternatively you could find a more efficient way to create oil derivatives to earn big bucks from petroleum companies or get cancer and lose your conscience and start making meth.
 
Bacchus said:
HAHA! I didn't read the article but I did see the IR image and the chemist in me went, HUZZAH!
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You actually like those IR things? They give me a headache, haha.
 
chutzpah said:
Alternatively you could find a more efficient way to create oil derivatives to earn big bucks from petroleum companies or get cancer and lose your conscience and start making meth.
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Awesome show :D.

I like the illict drugs on money idea. I wonder if certain bills (20s / 50s) are more likely to have it than $1s or $5s? I'd think that you could order a cocaine standard (http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/ProductDetail.do?lang=en&N4=610089|FLUKA&N5=SEARCH_CONCAT_PNO|BRAND_KEY&F=SPEC) without any major problems, given that it's just 1mg of the substance. But of course check with people beforehand to make sure.
 
we measured lead levels from water from a lead crystal glass once. quite interesting
 
DendWrite said:
I like the illict drugs on money idea. I wonder if certain bills (20s / 50s) are more likely to have it than $1s or $5s? I'd think that you could order a cocaine standard (http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/ProductDetail.do?lang=en&N4=610089|FLUKA&N5=SEARCH_CONCAT_PNO|BRAND_KEY&F=SPEC) without any major problems, given that it's just 1mg of the substance. But of course check with people beforehand to make sure.
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I wish it was that easy. I talked to my professor about this, and he said you need a special permit from the DEA to buy any controlled substance. A few professors in the dept have this license and have cocaine in their labs so he's gonna talk to them but it still probly wont work out cuz it wud be "an unauthorized experiment."

thanks for all the good suggestions though, i'm definitely looking into them. any more would be appreciated as well.
 
i always wondered what the heck actually is in burnt plastic smell and if it's actually bad for you
 
Wow. Very cool opportunity here. I think the drug ideas would be interesting, but try something maybe a bit more current? I would be interested in developing new, rapid detection method for explosives. Maybe like a hand wipe or something along those lines? Its applicable and could net you a chunk of change if you get a patent...
 
Cleveland said:
Wow. Very cool opportunity here. I think the drug ideas would be interesting, but try something maybe a bit more current? I would be interested in developing new, rapid detection method for explosives. Maybe like a hand wipe or something along those lines? Its applicable and could net you a chunk of change if you get a patent...
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Wow. That is a really great idea.

I was going to suggest checking whether natural snow falling from the sky is safe to injest or is it too polluted with heavy metals, etc. I guess this would require being somewhere where you can get freshly fallen snow. Enquiring children want to know.
 
makeshift123 said:
I wish it was that easy. I talked to my professor about this, and he said you need a special permit from the DEA to buy any controlled substance. A few professors in the dept have this license and have cocaine in their labs so he's gonna talk to them but it still probly wont work out cuz it wud be "an unauthorized experiment."

thanks for all the good suggestions though, i'm definitely looking into them. any more would be appreciated as well.
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Yeah, that's interesting...we have cocaine in our lab but I thought you could still order the standards (since it's just 1mg) without any problems...that sucks. Maybe ask around and see if there is a toxicology lab that already has the standard you could borrow or could order it for you? Not really sure. Good luck anyhow with whatever you go with.
 
See how much aspartame is in diet soda. Then see if it is within the safe limits for human consumption. There is a lot of controversy going around with aspartame causing cancer and so forth. Makes you question drinking so much diet soda...
 
FloatOn said:
Love IR and NMR even more!
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:thumbup:

Btw, no one noticed that they are charging almost $20 for 1 mg of cocaine?! They are making off better than Tony Montoya, Pablo Escobar, and George Jung all combined!
 
willtl03 said:
See how much aspartame is in diet soda. Then see if it is within the safe limits for human consumption. There is a lot of controversy going around with aspartame causing cancer and so forth. Makes you question drinking so much diet soda...
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No it doesnt. You need some impossible dosage to actually provoke carcinogenic effects. It would still be a cool experiment though.
 
msb1190 said:
No it doesnt. You need some impossible dosage to actually provoke carcinogenic effects. It would still be a cool experiment though.
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i was told once that it can lead to retinal damage. apparently one of the metabolites of aspratame is methanol, which can break down further into formaldehyde. it's a well known fact that drinking methanol (wood alcohol) causes blindness.

never seen any numbers on this though. could be a very very low level.
 
Procyon said:
:thumbup: Haha thanks. I can't wait either...Just like, 19 days left!
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Have you seen the videos at gamespot.com that show the new power each class is getting? Vanguard (which was the class I played through before) gets a Mass Effect Charge thing, Infiltrators get a cloak, Engineers get a battle drone, and it looks like Adepts have been seriously overhauled.
 
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