Today We Learned How to Make Crack Cocaine and Kevlar!

So today we learned about amines and amides, in Organic Chemistry. (For those not familiar, it involves organic compounds with a Nitrogen component.)

This is cocaine:



Chemistry professors sure seem to know a lot about illegal substances... crack is a lower purity form of free-base cocaine that is usually produced by neutralization of cocaine hydrochloride with a solution of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3) and water, producing a very hard/brittle, off-white-to-brown colored, amorphous material that contains sodium carbonate, entrapped water, and other by-products as the main impurities.

Someone in class asked why it is that rich people tend to be the ones who do the pure cocaine, whereas poor folks tend to be the ones who do crack. She wasn't sure, but said she'd get back to us.



But what was really cool is we learned what kevlar and many fire-proof and bullet-proof vests are made of:



Those red balls are oxygen atoms, the blue balls nitrogen, white balls hydrogen, and black carbon.

It's amazing that just these 4 simple elements, when arranged a certain way, produce properties that make them so impervious to penetration.

This class has been nothing short of fascinating, it really is amazing how chemistry ties in to so many aspects of our lives. It really is the central science.

If I wasn't so dead-set on becoming a biologist, I'd definitely pursue chemistry instead.

The things we've learned in just the past 200 years since chemistry was founded as a science really have changed everything.

Everything boils down to chemistry. Everything.

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