Argon

Finally, internet in the apartment (thanks baby sister)!! And because I have it in a fast and unlimited supply, I thought I would do a science-y post today. Enjoy this video about argon...you'll like the "mad scientist" who appears about 25 seconds in. I recently found this YouTube channel and though the argon video is not their best, I thought I would at least introduce my newest addiction.

Because argon is a noble gas and therefore has very few interesting tidbits (it doesn't react/interact with much of anything) I want to jump back to chlorine. In my haste of putting up a post about exploring Ann Arbor, I completely forgot that I've been waiting to highlight chlorine since my lithium post.

Though chlorine can be used for a great many things (salt, bleach, etc.), it can also be lethal (poison gas in WWI) and harmful to humans and the environment. To the upstate New Yorkers out there, I hope we all know about the dilemma with the Hudson River, but did you know that the problem deals with chlorine?? PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) are a type of organic compound that is extremely difficult to breakdown, which is why GE used them in capacitors and such. The more chlorine atoms a molecule of PCB has, the greater resistance it has to being broken down (and also the more toxic/lethal it is). The problem with PCBs in the water is that they don't go away: while PCBs settle into the sediment at the bottom of the river, the constant flow also keeps them in the water. And being the sneaky little molecules that they are, PCBs can diffuse through skin, which is why you shouldn't eat fish or swim in the Hudson, unless you want to increase your odds of getting cancer.

 

While GE is currently trying to solve this MASSIVE problem, dredging is not the best solution. PCBs that have settled into the sediment are stirred up again when heavy machinery digs up the polluted dirt. PCBs that are released from dredging float downstream and ultimately spread the problem farther down the Hudson River. And get this: the sediment dug up from the Hudson is not actually "cleaned." It is instead transported to a remote location in Texas and left there. Essentially the problem is moved to another location and forgotten about.

While looking for videos on the Hudson River dredging, I also found one about dioxins in a river in Michigan. Dioxins are another type of organic molecule, but once again they have chlorine, which makes them extremely stable and extremely toxic. University of Michigan (woo woo!) did a study on the Tittabawassee River, which has a high level of dioxins, to look at the levels of dioxins in locals bloodstreams. Like PCBs, dioxins are cancer-causing.

This video is heartbreaking isn't it? The woman never thought about what she was exposing her children to by letting them swim in the river...it's just terrible to even think about. Click on the links below for more information!

Hudson River dredging
Michigan study


Fun Fact: Wine snob? To prevent wine from oxidizing, you can buy disposable cylinders of argon to top off the bottle. Because argon does not react with anything, the wine is protected from any air that might enter the bottle.