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'Alien' Based Chemistry Problems

The format here is in the experimental stage.

Most chemistry books come with a variety of what we will call "small problems", problems that could be solved in two minutes or less. The focus of Modern Alchemist will be more on problems that require 5 or more minutes of work or more to solve.

For the purpose of this exercise, you are a trainee, for a technician position similar to those held by Parker and Brett. Ripley is your supervisor, and she will explain each facet of your training.





Problems directly related to 'Alien':

"Every refinery was equipped with a self-destruct option. If a problem developed and the crew needed to abandon the ship, the company didn't want someone to seize it and steal our technology. The manual made a reference to "minimum safe distance" but never defined what distance is "safe distance". The escape shuttle was reinforced in the back to withstand the shock of the blast, so that should help, but really, we were told to be out and flying away before the countdown reached the five minute point of no return."

Minimum Safe Distance- How far could the Nostromo travel in 30 seconds, subject to Newtonian physics?
• Use of calculus, derivatives
• Transformation of acceleration to distance traveled


"The value of the iron ore aboard a refinery ship such as the Nostromo far exceeds the cost of building the ship. With over a million tons of iron ore, small changes to the price of iron have drastic absolute effects on the profit. As a ship nears earth, the accountants project a high and a low price for iron, and look at the effect on the total value of the cargo.

Cargo Value Calculation- Use of a spreadsheet to estimate the value of the iron ore on board the Nostromo and her sister ships
• Example of spreadsheet calculations
• Use of a spreadsheet to study of the effect of variables


"After crash-landing on Fiorina 161, I met the doctor, who told a story of miscalculating the concentration of a drug, resulting several fatalities."

Drug Concentration- Use concentration calculations to determine the volume of medication that Ripley needs
• Concentration
• volume conversions (cubic centimeters, millimeters)


"After the death of Brett, we decided to go after the alien with propane flamethrowers. The idea was to frighten the alien with the heat and the light, to drive it into an airlock and from there it would be jettisoned into space. Propane undergoes combustion by reacting with oxygen to give water and carbon dioxide as by-products."

Enthalpy of Propane Combustion- Determining the quantity of heat liberated from a liter of propane

Problems indirectly related to 'Alien':

"I make every new trainee solve a helium balloon problem. I want to be sure you are comfortable with applying basic math principles to problems. The helium balloon problem proves that you can take concepts involving one topic, the ideal gas law, and apply them to another, bouyancy.

"Helium Balloon"
• Calculate the weight a helium balloon can lift
• Ideal Gas Law
• Mass-Mole Conversions
• Dimensional Analysis


"You need to convert energy to temperature using specific heat. Your first problem involves converting ice to steam, to give you a feel for calculating the energy corresponding to temperature change. Later, we may be calculating the energy that evolves for a reaction in use, and how much water we need to run through the coolent coil around the reactor in order to absorb all the heat given off by an exothermic reaction."

"Ice Cubes to Steam"
• Calculates the energy needed to heat ice cubes at -20 C to 120 C steam
• Specific Heat
• Latent Heat of Fusion
• Latent Heat of Vaporization


"When we want to begin production using a new reaction, we need to understand its reaction kinetics. We may select certain concentrations to maintain, and know what the reaction rate is, but we need to know to what extent the reaction rate will change if the concentrations change. For instance, what if a faulty valve releases more reactant that what it is supposed to. Does the reaction speed up, generating heat that overloads the coolant, leading to a runaway reaction?"

"First Order Kinetics"
• Use of concentration vs. time graph to confirm first order kinetics
• Spreadsheets
• Calculus (Derivative of natural log)
• Regression Analysis

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Last Revised 02/03/98.
Copyright ©1998 by William L. Dechent. All rights reserved.