Rosner, Hillary. “A Chemist Comes Very Close to a Midas
Touch.” The New York Times. The New
York Times, 15 Oct. 2012. Web 15 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/16/science/modern-day-alchemy-has-iron-working-like-platinum.html?ref=science&_r=0>
This
article goes into how Dr. Chirik, 39, is trying to use certain abundant
elements to act as scarce ones, which are expensive and hard to get. At the
beginning, the article leads introducing alchemy. In defining how it is the
science of trying to change elements into others, like lead to gold, it goes
into how Dr. Chirik has managed to achieve this idea, with a twist. Although
not full blown atomically changing the element of iron to platinum, the chemist
is able to essentially wrap an iron molecule in an organic molecule called
ligand. This ligand alters the number of electrons available to form bonds,
making iron act like platinum. The article then goes into how Dr. Chirik’s
process now has to be flexible, in case certain elements that were abundant
become scarce, like with what is happening with cobalt. As explained in the
article, Dr. Chirik was working with cobalt in producing new types of cheap
plastic, but with the cobalt now being highly used in flat batteries for iPads
and iPhones, it has become too scarce and expensive to even work with. The
ending of the article goes talks about how Dr. Chirik first got inspired into
trying to use abundant elements to replace the scarce expensive ones. It even
quotes him talking about a past experience of being extremely careful with a
small amount of Iridium, which costs $16,00 per pound, and wondering why he
cannot just use something cheaper.
This can greatly impact the world, considering this scientific change could alter the economy for the better. As talked about in the article, small amounts of very scarce and expensive elements, such as platinum, are used in making products from jeans to beer. Large amounts of money are spent on elements like these (platinum costs $22,000 per pound) and chemically making a substitute would not keep manufacturing at the same efficiency, but also make it incredibly cheaper. A pound of iron only cost 50 cents, so having it replace something as valuable as platinum will have a strong affect on the global economy for the better, and that is only with one element.
This can greatly impact the world, considering this scientific change could alter the economy for the better. As talked about in the article, small amounts of very scarce and expensive elements, such as platinum, are used in making products from jeans to beer. Large amounts of money are spent on elements like these (platinum costs $22,000 per pound) and chemically making a substitute would not keep manufacturing at the same efficiency, but also make it incredibly cheaper. A pound of iron only cost 50 cents, so having it replace something as valuable as platinum will have a strong affect on the global economy for the better, and that is only with one element.
The
article, although fairly interesting, had a bad set up in my opinion. It kept
on flipping from topic to topic while going back to Dr. Chirik’s progress. It
seemed odd to end the article with Dr. Chirik’s motivation to go into this
alchemy-type of thinking rather than start with it, and the article does not
get to explaining how Dr. Chirik alters iron to act as platinum until halfway
through the article. Lastly, it would have been more interesting to go into the
actual chemistry of how exactly iron now can act like platinum in going through
this process. Other than this, the article was still a great read.
I thought this review of “A Chemist Comes Very Close to a Midas Touch” was presented very well. I thought the review summed up the article very clearly. The review included all of the information needed to understand what the article was about without making it hard to follow. The review explained exactly what Dr. Chirik does and what he is hoping to accomplish. Another part of the review I appreciated was the part in which Thomas shared his opinions of the article, and how he thought that the article should have gone into more detail about the actual process.
ReplyDeleteI thought the review could have mentioned more about what other people are saying about Dr. Chirik’s process. By including this it would show readers the different comments and different opinions on it. Also, the review could have included a little more detail about the benefits of this new process.
Overall I was surprised to learn that this new process could change the world dramatically. It would be very effective way of ensuring that no metals would ever run out. I would have liked to learn more about how this process actually works and what is stopping people from really finding a way to do this.
The review of “A Chemist Comes Very Close to a Midas Touch,” was detailed and interesting. The reviewer begins by introducing Dr. Chirik, a chemist, who works to try and change elements and make them act as other elements. A good point presented was exactly how Dr. Chirik achieved his goal of making elements act as other elements. It is explained that ligands are used to alter the number of electrons available to form bonds, making the elements like iron act as platinum. Another point presented well was how Dr. Chirik’s work has become flexible in the case of abundant elements becoming scarce. Lastly, it is mentioned that using cheap elements instead of extremely scarce elements like Iridium, can save thousands of dollars.
ReplyDeleteThe article was well written, but could have included more examples of Dr.Chirik’s work and its impacts on the environment. Another detail that could have been included was that getting two elements to work like each other can take a really long amount of time. It is mentioned in the article that making identical envelope glue, one with iron and another with platinum, took nearly a decade of work.
It was interesting to learn that it is possible to make elements act as other elements. Some elements are becoming scarce and this method, although time-consuming, can help aid in the conservation of these elements.
This review of “A Chemist Comes Very Close to the Midas Touch,” was well done because it was straightforward and concise. No unnecessary explanations were employed and key details were strongly emphasized. I liked the reviewer’s employment of specific examples such as cobalt, a traditionally abundant element, being used in iPad and iPhone batteries and thus becoming scarce and expensive. I felt like the use of such examples strengthened and validated his review. I also think that the reviewer did a good job in summarizing a poorly written article. The original article was poorly organized and hard to understand; however, this review was written so that it communicated the key points of the article in a much simpler manner.
ReplyDeleteI think the review could have been better if the chemistry associated with Dr. Chirik’s processes had been more thoroughly explained. Having not taken advanced chemistry, I was slightly confused both by scientific jargon and the science behind the processes. In addition, I think the reviewer could have touched on the reasons why this technique hasn’t been more broadly adopted. After reading the review, I kept thinking to myself, “If this process essentially creates scarce elements out of abundant ones and leads to dramatically lower input prices of these elements, why isn’t it done more commonly?” I would have liked to see that question touched upon, even just in a general context.
This article was very interesting to me because of the economic implications of such processes. The input costs for scarce elements are very high and thus the products that they compile also have very high prices. If this system can use abundant resources to act as scarce resources, the cost of these inputs would drop dramatically and logically, so too would the price of the product.
Thomas's review for the article was well done and explicitly mentioned the key aspects of the article. While I felt the article was difficult to understand at times, Thomas summarized it in a very clear way and made it easier to understand and take significance from. Another thing Thomas did well was utilizer examples of elements to show how this new discovery's potential. Lastly, I appreciated Thomas's viewpoint on the article because it personalized the summary more.
ReplyDeleteOne thing i thought Thomas could have expanded on in his summary was the chemical process in which Dr. Chirik carries out, because with such a complex idea you need a dense explanation to understand it thoroughly. Another thing I think Thomas could have improved was the reactions people are having to Dr. Chirik's process, as peer review and such is very important in the science world.
One thing that stuck with me from this article was the idea that elements can be made to replicate other elements. From environmental last year we know the implications this technology could have on our future as minerals and elements we are dependent upon are dwindling. It is fascinating that technology and science is becoming this advanced that we are able to replicate the some of the most fundamental parts of science.