Sometimes Miss Chemistry.....a lot!!!

Rate Constants and the Orders

Usually, the rate of a reaction is a function of the concentrations of reactants. For example, the rate of the reaction

2 NO + O2 = 2 NO2

has the form:

Rate = k [O2] [NO]2

The rate is proportional to the concentration of O2, usually written as [O2] and is proportional to the square of [NO], or [NO]2. The orders of 1 and 2 for [O2] and [NO] respectively has been determined by experiment, NOT from the chemical equation. The total order of this reaction is 3 (=2+1).

Note the rates and order in the following example reactions:

H2 + I2 = 2 HI,
Rate = k [H2] [I2],
Total order 2.

H2 + Br2 = 2 HBr,
Rate = k [H2] [Br2]1/2,
Total order 1.5.

In particular, note that orders are NOT determined from the spectrophotometry of the reaction equation.

Rates as Functions of Reactant Concentrations

The order with respect to (wrt) a reactant are determined experimentally by keeping the concentration of other reactants constant, but vary the concentration of one of the reactant, say A in a general reaction

a A + b B + c C = products

If concentrations of B and C are kept constant, you can measure the reaction rate of A at various concentrations. You can then plot the rate as a function of [A]. For a zeroth order reaction, you will get a horizontal line.


For a first order reaction, the plot is a straight line (linear), as shown above, because

rate = k [A] (a straight line)

Note that rate = k when [A] = 1.

For a second order reaction, the plot is a branch of a parabola, because
rate = k [A]2

For a reaction with an infinite order, the plot is a step function. The rate is small, almost zero, when [A] less than 1. When [A] is greater than or equal to 1, then the reaction rate is very large. This model applies to nuclear explosion, except that [A] = 1 is actually the critical mass of the fission material.
rate = k [A]00



Well, we all know that one of the key conditions in an atomic bombs is to have a critical mass of the fission material, 235U or 239Pu. When such a mass is put together, the reaction rate increases dramatically, leading to an explosion. Thus, this model seems to apply, however, the mechanism for the fission reaction is not discribed by the order of the fission material.

State of the Vatican City

The State of the Vatican City is a walled enclave which is situated in Italy's capital, Rome. It's the smallest country in the world by both population and area. Its walls are 3.2 km long and they enclose a territory of about 0.44 square kilometers.

Vatican City is the home of Popes and the Holy See. Though Holy See exists since early Christianity, Vatican City became a city-state only in 1929, after the Lateran Pacts, agreements made between the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See which ended the "Roman Question".
It's interesting how Holy See and Vatican City have two different passports. The firs one, since it's not a country, has only diplomatic passports, meanwhile the second one has normal ones. Anyway the number of these passports in the world is very small.

Due to its small territory and impossibility to have all of its institutions inside the walls, some of the major basilicas and the Gandolfo Castle enjoy extraterritorial status which is similar to that of foreign embassies.

The Vatican City was born upon a small portion of Rome. The name "Vatican" is very ancient. It's coming from the Latin Mons Vaticanus, which means Vatican Mount. That unpopulated area saw its beginnings in the 1st century AD, when Agrippina the Elder, granddaughter of the first emperor of the Roman Empire, drained the hill and environs and built her gardens there. Then, in time, the location has been developing until it gained its first church in 326, the Constantinian basilica. For much of the time through history Vatican was not the habitual residence of the Popes.

Vatican City is organized as an ecclesiastical or sacerdotal-monarchical state and is ruled by the bishop of Rome–the Pope.The Pope is the head of legislative, executive and judicial power. It's interesting that the Holy See has the oldest active continuous diplomatic service in the world.

The Popes security is in hands of the Pontifical Swiss Guard which was founded by Pope Julius II on January 1506 as personal bodyguards, meanwhile the police force services are reserved for the Corpo della Gendarmeria which is responsible for public order, law enforcement, traffic control and criminal investigations in Vatican City.
It's rare to see, but Vatican City issues its own coins for its currency euro.

Upon the last population census Vatican City has about 900 citizens. Some of them live and/or work inside the Vatican's walls, others are Holy See's diplomats and work in embassies around the world. The whole citizenry consists of two groups: clergy and the Swiss Guard.
As far as concerns the official language, Vatican City doesn't have one, but Holy See often uses Latin.
Unlike other states, citizenship of Vatican City is granted iure officii, on the grounds of appointment to work in the service of the Holy See, and it usually ceases upon cessation of the appointment.

In 1984 Vatican City became UNESCO's World Heritage Site and it is the only one to consist of an entire state.
This small portion of land has very rich cultural significance. World famous St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel are both Vatican's marvels. They treasure important work of some famous Italian artists like Botticelli, Bernini, Raphael and Michelangelo. Vatican Gardens spread upon more than half of its territory and are very famous for their beauty, fountains and sculptures.




source
www.aboutroma.com

THE "UGLY FRUITS"

An ugli fruit is a Jamaica


It was discovered growing wild in Jamaica where it is mainly grown today. Its name derives from the unsightly appearance of its rough, wrinkled, greenish-yellow skin, wrapped loosely around the orange pulpy citrus inside. The light green surface blemishes turn orange when the fruit is at its peak ripeness. An ugli fruit is usually slightly larger than a grapefruit (but this varies) and has fewer seeds. The flesh is very juicy and tends towards the sweet side of the tangerine rather than the bitter side of its grapefruit lineage, with a fragrant skin. The taste is often described as more sour than an orange and less bitter than a tangerine, however, and is more commonly guessed to be a lemon-tangerine hybrid. The fruit is seasonal from December to April. It is distributed in the USA and Europe between November and April, and is on occasion available from July to September.

The fruit is also described as an exotic tangelo which is a citrus fruit that is a hybrid of a tangerine and either a pomelo or a grapefruit.

Ugli fruit are sold under two different brand names: Uniq Fruit which is a registered trademark of Brooks Tropicals, LLC. and UGLI which is a registered trademark of Cabel Hall Citrus Ltd.