Analytical Chemist.

Analytical Chemist

Analytical chemists examine substances to determine their composition. They also look at how elements in a compound interact with one another. Their work requires information about the make-up and possible interaction of substances that might be turned into medicine.

Analytical Chemistry has been an important area of science since the beginning of chemistry, It provides us with ways of identifying the elements and chemicals that are present in the object or substance in question. Analytical Chemists typically work in laboratories where they operate and maintain machinery such as spectrometers (an apparatus used for recording and measuring spectra, especially as a method of analysis) and Chromatographs (an apparatus for performing chromatography.)

How do you become an Analytical Chemist?
To be an Analytical chemist you usually need a Bachelor's degree in chemistry also have a relevant postgraduate qualification such as Master of Science or a Ph.D.
Take the courses of Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry.

Where can you get a Bachelors degree in chemistry?

• Victoria University of Wellington.
• Massey University (Palmerston North)
• Canterbury University
• Otago University (Dunedin)

-Rebecca

1. 
   

Bill Bryson-BANG

The chapter first talks about Manson, Iowa and the Manson crater. People knew for a long time that there was something odd about the earth beneath Manson, Iowa. In 1912 a man by the name of Manson dug a well drilling for water, when he discovered a strangely deformed rock. (crystalline clast breccia with a melt matrix and overturned ejecta flap). In 1953 geologists agreed that the rocks were formed by a unspecified volcanic eruption. Where Manson now stands has become a hole 3 miles deep and more than 20 miles across. Unfortunately, after 2.5 million years of passing, ice sheets filled the crater of Manson. This is why not many people of heard of the Manson crater. Every June now Manson has a week-long event called Crater Days, to help people forget a unhappy anniversary of a tornado that hit Main street that killed many people.

The chapter then talks about asteroids. Asteroids are rocky objects orbiting in loose formation in a belt between Mars and Jupiter. As of July 2001, 26,000 asteroids had been named and identified. With up to a billion to identify the count has barely begun.

In 1985, two geologists by the names of Anderson and Witzke, went to an annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union where two scientists, Izett and C.L. Pillmore of the US Geological Survey announced that the Manson crater was the right age to have been involved with the dinosaurs extinction. Unfortunately, a more careful examination of the data was revealed that Manson was not only to small but also 9 million years too early. Since this happened Anderson and Witzke no longer had the crater that made the dinosaurs extinct.

If a asteroid or comet travelling at cosmic velocities it would enter the Earth's atmosphere at such a speed the air beneath it couldn't get out of the way and would be compressed, like a bicycle pump. Since compressed air grows swiftly hot and the temperature would rise below it, when it enters the atmosphere everything in the meteor’s path would just crinkle or vanish. People up to 1500 km away would be knocked off their feet or clobbered by a blizzard of flying projectiles. Beyond 1500 km the devastation from the blast would gradually diminish. But that's just the initial shock wave. The impact would set off earthquakes, cause volcanoes to erupt, tsunamis would rise and within an hour a cloud of blackness would cover the Earth and burning rock and debris would be pelting down everywhere. It has been estimated that at least a billion and a half people would be dead just after the first day. If we managed to get a warhead to the asteroid it would turn into a string of rocks that would slam into us one after the other.

The good news is that it appears to take an awful lot to extinguish a species. The bad news is that the good news can never be counted on. We shouldn't be looking at space for petrifying danger. As we are about to see. Earth can provide plenty of danger of it’s own.

Biochemist

Biochemist

Biochemists study the chemical process and transformation on living microorganisms. This includes viruses and bacteria, the chemical function of digestion, vaccines, DNA and cell parts. They use their study to present to scientists, engineers and coworkers to help improve the life of humans through agriculture, medical research and industrial research.

To enter the work force as a biochemist you need either 

- A bachelor of technology specialising in biochemistry

- Bachelor of science

- a bachelor of science and technology 

At college getting NCEA level 3 in chemistry, biology, maths or physics will help at university 

Where to get a bachelor in biochemistry 

-Waikato university

-Otago university

-Auckland university 

Pay for biotechnologists depends on their qualifications and experience.

• Biochemists with Bachelor's degrees working at the technician level usually earn around $35,000-$55,000 a year.
• Those with Master’s degrees usually earn around $55,000-$75,000.
• Senior biochemists, who have PhDs, may earn $76,000-$94,000.
• With more responsibility and experience, pay could rise to about $130,000 a year or more.

(Pay amounts from www.careers.co.nz)

In 2012 there were only 76 biochemists working in New Zealand, the number has been dropped from 87 in 2010

Molecular Biochemist

What is a Molecular Biochemist

The job of a Molecular Biochemist is to study chemical processes within living organisms. This means that they study living creatures on the molecular level.  It is very similar to other kinds of chemistry but they mainly specialise in the study of living cells. They study creatures cell by cell and how the cells react with each other. They study anything that is alive including plants and fungi. They study the proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and other important molecules that make up living organisms. Molecular Biochemists are highly respected in their field of science due to their high knowledge of their

How to Become a Molecular Biochemist

To become a Molecular Biochemist it would help to study Biology, Chemistry and Physics. After that you need to get a Bachelor’s degree in Biology or Biochemistry. After that it would help to get a Masters in Biology or achieve a PHd in a subject of biology. It will take about 7 years to get all of the degrees you need to succeed in this field.

By Luke Walker

Oceanographer

Oceanography covers a wide range of topics, including marine life and ecosystems, ocean circulation, plate tectonics and the geology of the sea floor, and the chemical and physical properties of the ocean.

Generally you will need a Bachelor of Science specializing in oceanography. Most Oceanographers complete a PHD as well.

Where to gain qualifications:

·        University of Otago

·        University of Waikato

·         Victoria  University

·         University of Auckland

Useful subjects to take at College would be:

Physics, chemistry, maths with calculus and/ or statistics, geography and English.

University of Otago recommends students have at least 3 of year 13, Biology, Calculus, Chemistry, Statistics, and Physics.

One of the first places you could look for a job as an Oceanographer would be with NIWA. The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd (NIWA) is one of New Zealand's leading environmental science and applied research service provider, specialising in atmospheric, freshwater and marine research. They have 15 offices around New Zealand.

Muster Marks Quarks

in 1911 a british scientist called, C.T.R. Wilson was studying cloud formations by tramping up the same mountain everyday. But he thought that there must have been an easier way instead of the daily tramp. So he built an artificial cloud chamber which could cool and moisten the air. it worked well but gave an after affect of leaving a trail while he accelerated an alpha particle making the particle detector or also known as the atom smasher because the accelerated alpha particle would fly into another particle and they would see what came off. Modern "atom smashers" can move particles at a speed to be able to run 47,000 laps around a 7km tunnel! But it is feared that scientists using these machines will create either a black hole or a thing called "strange quarks" which have the potential to uncontrollably explode. In 1980 production begun, for $8 billion to dig a 84km hole into the ground and create a huge "atom smasher" but they ended up only spending $2 billion on the project and only dug 22km deep and abondoned the project because of expenses. Quarks have the potential to explode the universe and the atom smasher is the only way we could create the quarks.

by Oscar

Bill Bryson- Getting the Lead Out

Bill Bryson- Getting the Lead Out

This chapter is about Thomas Midgley, Clair Patterson, and carbon dating. 

The chapter starts by talking about Thomas Midgley: he was trained as an engineer, and worked for the General Motors Research Corporation in Dayton, Ohio. He was also fascinated by industrial chemistry. One day while working in the late 1940's, he investigated a compound called tetrahedral lead, and discovered that it stopped engine cock, which was a common problem in those days. Lead was widely know as dangerous but was still used in everyday products such as toothpaste holders and food cans, if you get too much lead in your system then in can permanently damage the brain and cause serious health problems, for example kidney failure, delirium and comas. 

When the 3 biggest petrol companies in the USA heard that tetrahedral lead stopped engine cock they formed a company called Ethyl Gasoline Corporation to make as much tetrahedral lead the world could take. They discovered that it was very easy to work and extremely profitable. The company used 'ethyl' instead of 'lead because it sounded less toxic. The problem was when lead was introduced into petrol, it had the massive and long-lasting effect on the amount of lead on the earth.

The chapter then starts to talk about carbon-dating, which is the process of finding the age of rocks through the particles in it. Many people had tried to find a way to accurately do this but it was proving near impossible it seemed. Willard Libby and Arthur Holmes both put forward theories in the early 1940s but they were both proved wrong in one way or another.

When everyone had given up Clair Patterson worked on, even when he lost all funding from his university and didn't even have the funds to afford a calculator he tested and trialled with the most basic and cheapest equipment around.  It took seven years but finally, in 1953, he had samples to take into the National Laboratory for final testing, and it was discovered that he was right, his theory, involving Carbon-14 was correct. During his research Patterson had found unusual amounts of lead in the atmosphere,  he decided to research more into this.

After researching for a while he was astounded to find the amount of lead in the atmosphere and was shocked to see that by trial different things, before the 1900s, and the introduction of leaded petrol and use of lead in household items, there had been almost zero lead in the atmosphere. 50 years later and there was hundreds of thousands of pounds, all because of Thomas Midgley's idea of leaded petrol. 

Patterson was so stunned by the information he found, he started a full scale campaign to ban lead from petrol. It started a war between him and the Ethyl Corporation, Patterson arguing that the lead had devastating affects on the environment and people living there. The war lasted decades, when it finished Clair Patterson had no friends, and hardly any possessions, but he had won, leaded petrol was banned in the early 1990's and began to phase out.

The Ethyl company is still active and as late as 2001 it was still trying to get leaded petrol introduced again.