September
6, 2019
Today in Austin it will be 98 with a low of 71. The average is 92/71
We are 249 days into the year, 116 days until next year.
“Matter, though divisible in an extreme
degree, is nevertheless not infinitely divisible. That is, there must be some
point beyond which we cannot go in the division of matter. ... I have chosen
the word “atom” to signify these ultimate particles.” – John Dalton
John
Dalton (9/6/1766 – 7/27/1844)
An English chemist, physicist, and
meteorologist. He is best known for introducing the atomic theory into
chemistry, and for his research into color blindness, sometimes referred to as
Daltonism in his honour.
Atomic
Theory
The most important of all Dalton's
investigations are concerned with the atomic theory in chemistry. While his
name is inseparably associated with this theory, the origin of Dalton's atomic
theory is not fully understood. The theory may have been suggested to him
either by researches on ethylene (olefiant gas) and methane (carburetted
hydrogen) or by analysis of nitrous oxide (protoxide of azote) and nitrogen
dioxide (deutoxide of azote), both views resting on the authority of Thomas
Thomson.
The main points of Dalton's atomic
theory, as it eventually developed, are:
- Elements are made of extremely small
particles called atoms.
- Atoms of a given element are
identical in size, mass and other properties; atoms of different elements
differ in size, mass and other properties.
- Atoms cannot be subdivided, created
or destroyed.
- Atoms of different elements combine
in simple whole-number ratios to form chemical compounds.
- In chemical reactions, atoms are
combined, separated or rearranged.
Atomic
weights
Various atoms and molecules as
depicted in John Dalton's A New System of Chemical Philosophy (1808). Dalton published his first table of relative
atomic weights containing six elements (hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon,
sulfur and phosphorus), relative to the weight of an atom of hydrogen
conventionally taken as 1. Since these were only relative weights, they do not
have a unit of weight attached to them. Dalton provided no indication in this
paper how he had arrived at these numbers, but in his laboratory notebook,
dated 6 September 1803, is a list in which he set out the relative weights of
the atoms of a number of elements, derived from analysis of water, ammonia,
carbon dioxide, etc. by chemists of the time.
The extension of this idea to
substances in general necessarily led him to the law of multiple proportions,
and the comparison with experiment brilliantly confirmed his deduction. In the
paper "On the Proportion of the Several Gases in the Atmosphere",
read by him in November 1802, the law of multiple proportions appears to be
anticipated in the words:
The elements of oxygen may combine
with a certain portion of nitrous gas or with twice that portion, but with no
intermediate quantity.
Compounds were listed as binary,
ternary, quaternary, etc. (molecules composed of two, three, four, etc. atoms)
in the New System of Chemical Philosophy depending on the number of atoms a
compound had in its simplest, empirical form.
Dalton hypothesised the structure of
compounds can be represented in whole number ratios. So, one atom of element X
combining with one atom of element Y is a binary compound. Furthermore, one
atom of element X combining with two atoms of element Y or vice versa, is a
ternary compound. Many of the first compounds listed in the New System of
Chemical Philosophy correspond to modern views, although many others do not.
Dalton used his own symbols to
visually represent the atomic structure of compounds. They were depicted in the
New System of Chemical Philosophy, where he listed 20 elements and 17 simple
molecules.
Assignation
of a President
On September 6, 1901, William
McKinley, the 25th President of the United States, was shot on the grounds of
the Pan-American Exposition at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York. He was
shaking hands with the public when Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist, shot him twice
in the abdomen. McKinley died eight days later on September 14 of gangrene
caused by the gunshot wounds. He was the third American president to have been
assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and James A. Garfield in 1881.
McKinley had been elected for a
second term in 1900. He enjoyed meeting the public, and was reluctant to accept
the security available to his office. Secretary to the President George B.
Cortelyou feared that an assassination attempt would take place during a visit
to the Temple of Music and took it off the schedule twice. McKinley restored it
each time.
Czolgosz had lost his job during
the economic Panic of 1893 and turned to anarchism, a political philosophy
adhered to by recent killers of foreign leaders. Regarding McKinley as a symbol
of oppression, Czolgosz was convinced that it was his duty as an anarchist to
kill him. Unable to get near the President during the presidential visit
earlier, Czolgosz shot McKinley twice as the President reached to shake his
hand in the reception line at the temple. One bullet grazed McKinley; the other
entered his abdomen and was never found.
McKinley initially appeared to be
recovering, but took a turn for the worse on September 13 as his wounds became
gangrenous, and died early the next morning; Vice President Theodore Roosevelt
succeeded him. After McKinley's assassination, for which Czolgosz was sentenced
to death in the electric chair, Congress passed legislation to officially
charge the Secret Service with the responsibility for protecting the President.
Hurricane
Dorian
Hurricane
Dorian continues to parallel the US east coast.
While glancing off the coast of North Carolina. We were lucky on this one. A Category 5 would have been a major disaster
to the USA. On a side note in the 1960’s
the US government payed about 5% of the costs in hurricane damage. Today it is close to 70%. What is happening? Does the US government need to be picking up
the costs for someone’s second (or third or fourth) beach house? With more and more multi-million dollar homes
being built on the beaches and low lying coastal plains should the US shift coverage
away from government funded insurance to private insurance? Talk about socialism?
Double
Down
The comander in chief has doubled
down on Alabama. A coast guard Admiral
is taking the fall for Trump thinking that Alabama was in danger on September 1st,
2019 from Hurricane Dorian. Trump still
insist that it was not a mistake and that he was right. This has become a trend. Never admit a mistake, justifiy your
statement, vilify anyone who says you made a mistake. When did we start being led by a toddler?
NFL
Season Opener
The Green Bay Packers beat the
Chicago Bears 10-3 in a snooze fest.
With less than 600 total yards by both teams this was a bit of a
bore. How do I know you ask? I turned it
off a halftime because it was absolutely the worst thing on television.
Jobs
130,000. That
was the number of new jobs added in August.
While unemployement remained at 3.7%, the number was 30,000 less than
predicted. The job growth for the past
six months has averaged 150,000 down from 223,000. Makes me suspect that the 130,000 will go
lower over the next few weeks. Please
note, 25,000 of these jobs were from the Census Bureau gearing up for the 2020
census.
Progress
on Drugs?
Novo
Nordisk has reduced it’s insulin price from $300 to $144.68. While progress it still remains higher than
India ($112), Japan ($70), UK ($65) or Italy ($19). Makes you wonder?
The
Sum Up
The A/C is still working!
The University of Texas versus LSU.
Both teams won last weekend and are ranked #9 (UT) and #6(LSU) with only
1 days. The anticipation is in the air.
That’s all for today sports fans.
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