This poem’s a
tribute to Robert Burns
That praises
Scottish chemists and their works in four turns.
I hope that you’ve
all lowered the bar enough,
I’m a chem teacher,
not a poet, but you might learn some stuff.
Joseph Black
discovered carbon dioxide.
Without this gas our
plants would have died.
Produced when carbon
compounds burn,
Too much in the air
is a global warming concern.
Black found latent
heat would suffice
To explain boiling
of water and melting of ice.
James Dewar
developed his namesake flask
And for liquid gases
it was up to the task.
It’s used today in
your Thermos bottle…
…Your eyes are
glazing over, so I won’t dawdle.
If I had to choose,
if I had to guess,
I think Sir William
Ramsay was among the best.
He had English
colleagues, which isn’t so wrong.
We can be quite
productive when we all get along.
Argon, neon, and
others with like labels,
He added noble gases
to our periodic tables.
Scottish pride likely
hit new highs
When in 1904 he earned
a Nobel Prize.
Finally there was
Thomas Graham (not of cracker fame)
Who developed the
law that now bears his name,
Which says that the
rates of effusion of gases
Are inversely
proportional to the square roots of their molar masses.
(We even cover this
in our General Chemistry classes!)
We have students use
this law in gas analysis,
But neglect to
mention his gains with dialysis.
Over one million
lives have been spared in this way.
His use of the word
“colloid” remains to this day.
The word (meaning
“glue-like”) can describe gel behavior
Nanotechnology
helps keep colloids in favor.
Four Scottish
chemists whose fame involved gases.
Be thankful this
poem is shorter than my classes!
Speaking of gases,
if you think my air’s gone too far,
Note I wrote much of
this in a car!
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