4.72x10^14

Back in late April, I discovered the chemistry van.

This past Sunday, I was walking across St. Mark's Place, when I saw it again, with new additions:

New additions.

A 4.72x10^14 EV expression, and a spermatozoon — I'm sure this symbolizes something important, I just don't know what!

I'm also sure that the expression should be 4.72x10^-14, since 4.72x10^14 would be an extremely large number, and would make no sense in chemistry, whereas 4.72x10^-14, even though an extremely small number, does make sense. For instance (as everyone knows), 4.72x10^-48 kg (an even smaller number!), is the moment of inertia of a hydrogen molecule!

The "EV" is just for the East Village… Today!

#eastvillage #stmarksplace #chemistry #chemistryvan

The Chemistry Van

I was walking across St. Mark's Place yesterday, when I saw a seriously messed-up van:

Seriously messed-up van.

Suddenly, something stood out from the mess of black paint:

The chemical symbol for octane.

It was the chemical symbol for octane, straddling the fuel tank! Then, I noticed more chemical symbols, painted all over the van:

1,3-Butadiene.

1,3-butadiene, used in the production of synthetic rubber.

Ammonia.

Carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide.

Sulpheric acid.

Nitric acid.

Hydrogen cyanide + water.

HCN + H2O = CN + H3O, or cyanide and hydronium — betcha didn't know that!

Channel 4. Ha ha, just kidding! It's methane.

Methane — what cows burp!

Theophylline.

Wikipedia lists three results for this compound. I'm going to go with theophylline, a methylxanthine drug used in therapy for respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma.

Methane again.

I read in a fortune cookie once: "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear". This van is out there, if you're ready to learn chemistry!

#eastvillage #chemistry #chemistryvan #graffiti #paint #stmarksplace