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12 October 2001
Readers Respond
Keeping SAS Alive
Dear Shawn Carlson, and SAS Membership,
Recently, as we all know by now, Shawn our Executive Director, conveyed that the core operation of the SAS was in dire financial straits. This was most alarming for me, as a member of this important organization. Here we have a tradition, being carried on in expanded form, that is over 70 years old. My dear SAS friends, this is a national treasure of America. It would be in my opinion, most tragic, if we, the founding membership allowed the demise of this most valuable asset that helps to culitvate all interested citizens of the world in the pursuit of scientific inquiry.
Therefore, as I see it, each and every one of us is responsible to the viable continuance of an organization which serves as a profound interface between the young just beginning, the non-traditional students, and the established professionals of the scientific community. Yes, each of us could make a single emergency donation to prop up the situation. But if we are really committed then we will , as each's capacity permits, stand by a monthly allegiance of a regular donation. Personally, I am committing myself to providing fifty dollars per month over and above membership dues, and any purchases from SAS.
If the current membership as a whole were to average around fifty per month this would be a steady support to the tune of $600,000 per year. Obviously, this amount would go a substantial distance in increasing the viability of such an important non-profit organization to the advancement of scientific awareness, and knowledge over time. Fifty dollars a month may seem like a lot to commit for an extended period of time, but when you think of what we spend ten to fifteen dollars a week on, it is a relatively minor effort to make for such a good cause.
Carpe Diem!
Averett Lee Lidzy
Dear Averett,
Thank you so much for your kind letter. We will of course share it with the rest of the membership in this Friday's E-Bulletin. Nancy tells me that you already called her to authorize her to bill your credit card. Let's hope that many of our members will follow your generous lead here.
With highest regards,
Shawn Carlson
The subject article brings back old memories. I tried esentially the same experiment when I was in high school. I was never able to recover any of the sodium however. It would always burst into flame as soon as it was exposed to the air. Thought about doing it in an inert atmosphere but never got around to it.
As for stunts we used to toss small pieces of sodium into hydrochloric acid. Instant salt!
Jim Hannon
Shawn,
Here are some additional safety concerns and approach in response to the excellent article "Make Your Own Sodium":
- In addition to keeping the sodium hydroxide out of your eyes, also try to keep it off of your skin - sodium hydroxide will turn the skin oils instantly into soap before attacking skin cells, so if your fingers feel like they have soap on them, wash in running water immediately. The easiest way to keep this from happening is to wear latex gloves (which also keeps you from accidentally contaminating your work with skin oils).
- Pure sodium generates a tremendous amount of heat when it reacts, and it is also a prime candidate for mysterious laboratory fires that will burn your lab to the ground - so only make enough that you need for immediate consumption in your experiments, and do not attempt to store it for more than a few days (unless you want to install a heavy duty automatic fire sprinkler system in your home lab).
- Sodium hydroxide solution is safe for disposal down the drain of modern construction. For those who for whatever reason would rather neutralize it before disposal, can add an equal molarity amount of hydrochloric acid (aka muratic acid at the local hardware store) - the resulting chemical reaction yields a sodium chloride solution.
- Sodium chloride (solid) can also be subsituted for the sodium hydroxide (solid). During the electrolysis chlorine gas is generated instead of oxygen, thus a fume hood is likewise suggested.
warm regards,
Charles Burgess
A Case of Water Pollution?
Hi,
Thought you may be interested in this. Attached is a photo of outpouring from a concrete sluice from a sea cave entrance at the site of a chemical experimental base (closed in 1950).
(click to enlarge image)
The photo was taken by a couple where I work so I'm not sure if its sewage from Portreath or something more sinister !! They said there is an uncommonly strong acrid smell.
Editor's Note: Next week's issue of Amateur Scientist Bulletin (19 October) will include a lot of information on volunteer water quality monitoring programs, plus extensive materials on methods for gathering data on water quality. -SG
"However, unless you have an older machine (probably too old to run this product) your computer isn't likely to have BASIC installed."
Not true! BASIC is alive and well as "Visual Basic", an application development language for Microsoft Windows. Thousands of end-users and professional developers program in Visual Basic every day. In addition, Visual Basic is used as the extension language in Microsoft Word, Excel, and Access, and as a consequence many folks have this language on their computers without knowing it. Excel plus Basic is an especially nice combination for quick analyses: BASIC for computing that is too tedious in Excel + spreadsheet for data entry and simple manipulations + built-in graphing.
Separate note: most references attribute the "A" in BASIC to "All-purpose", not to "Algorithmic".
Greg Lee
A Science Mystery in Atmospheric Pressure
I enjoyed the subject article in the SAS bulletin very much. This is the level of work that I would dearly like to see amateurs doing. I realize that Kevin is not exactly an amateur but with a little help I think amateurs could get involved in this sort of research. The neat thing is you don't even have to do any data acquisition just mine the internet for the data. I have worked with FFTs a lot but have never heard of the Burg algorithm. (It might have some application to things going on at work.) Maybe I missed it but I did not see any indication in the article that the phase of the 29.68 day signal had been determined. It seems knowing the phase would help in understanding its origin.
On a related subject: I have been interesting in doing an amateur version of some of the work Dr. Bedard has been doing in infrasonics http://www.etl.noaa.gov/infrasound/ particulary the tornado detection idea. I have the room for an array of sensors and live in an area frequented by tornados but so far haven't found the time to do much work on it.
Jim Hannon
From A New Member
I am a new member to SAS. I was impressed with what I read of SAS, and the roster of members, and the dedication of Shawn and Nancy, so decided to become a member.
I must say that it's kind of disheartening becoming a new member and my first email from Shawn is seeking additional funding (I thought the email was going to be something of a science nature). My first thought was 'What kind of group is SAS if the members aren't that supportive?' Anyways, I am glad to read today that some members have since made contributions, and I would like to thank them, and more of us should do likewise.
Edward T Kraynak
Shawn's Reply:
Hi Edward,
Thanks for your note. Yes, I'm sure getting my appeal letter after only having been on board with us for a few days must have caused some alarm. Actually, you should know that I haven't gone to the membership very often in the past for money beyond their dues. You won't be getting these requests every few weeks, as many nonprofits do.
I think we were on the verge of becoming victims of our own success. We were doing so well in terms of publishing newsletters and providing membership services that I think everyone just assumed we had all the support we needed. I'm glad to be able to report to you that the membership came immediately to our rescue when they understood our real situation.
Thanks again and I look forward to working with you on some great amateur project in the future.
Sincerely,
Shawn Carlson
