Re: Origins and Mental Activity

On Oct 29, 10:05 am, Zoe <muz...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sun, 28 Oct 2007 16:11:53 -0500, Mark VandeWettering


thank you, Mark, for the chemistry lesson. But really, that is not
the area that I'm talking about -- not the how of covalent bonding,
but the differentiation of compounds from a sea of elements, where the
elements could bind with just about any other element.

Narrowing down the field of elements for illustration purposes,
suppose there is an area that contains three oxygens and one hydrogen,
floating around aimlessly:

O H O O

would you expect to get, say, water H2O, with an oxygen left over,
instead of ozone O3, with the hydrogen left out? Luck and chance? If
that is your answer, then good, we can move on. But if there is some
law of chemistry that dictates that in the presence of those elements,
water will form ahead of ozone or vice versa, then say on.

snip>

As a few others have said, it's not possible to say in any one case.
Due to the various energy levels of the various possible resulting
compounds, we can say which compound mixes are more likely, and thus
when we have say 602000000000000000000 atoms (to pick a number) then
we can say with near certainty how many of each we will end up with.
You might like to take note of the size of the number above. It
roughly represents the number of protons or nuetrons per gram. So for
your mix above, there's about 12.3 grams for that number of atoms. Or
a bit less than half an ounce.
The energy levels, are dependant on the environment (temp, pressure,
radiation etc) that these atoms are in. And represents the stability
of the combinations, more than anything else. Most of the mix you
suggested would normally end up in H2O and O2 (assuming there's more
than 4 atoms, there will be spare O form other combos), but we know
that in the rpesence of strong radiation (or other energy source), we
might end up with more O3, OH, etc.
These questions are really fairly simple chemistry, and the basics are
fairly basic. The details can get very complex, but the basics are
quite easy to come to grips with.
The measure engineering (it's more engineering than science, because
it's statistical) has put on the effective stability of these various
compounds at different densities and pressures is cally entropy.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Origins and Mental Activity
    ... thank you, Mark, for the chemistry lesson. ... but the differentiation of compounds from a sea of elements, ... there's about 12.3 grams for that number of atoms. ... These questions are really fairly simple chemistry, and the basics are ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Balancing an equation
    ... >Chemistry and I still don't know anything about it. ... >tell me some basics and maybe show me how to balance an equation? ... The key conceptual point is that, in a chemical reaction, atoms ... Post one you want to balance, and show how far you can get. ...
    (sci.chem)
  • chemistry
    ... Chemistry is a basic science whose central concerns are - ... the structure and behaviour of atoms (elements) ... the composition and properties of compounds ...
    (misc.health.alternative)
  • Re: Origins and Mental Activity
    ... elements formed after the big bang -- except maybe helium and hydrogen ... Then once you have some O atoms floating around, ... eventually to lots of carbon compounds like acetylene, formaldehyde, ... are 'gas-phase free radical chemistry' and 'interstellar molecular ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Theophilus, Churchills Bath and the Uses of Redheads
    ... guy were soaked in a urine ... Once upon a time chemistry was ... which had to do with compounds ... organism thorought its life. ...
    (soc.history.medieval)