Journal of the 39th International Chemistry Olympiad Moscow Russia
Issue no.6 Thursday 19 July 2007

Chemistry links everything
Prof. Duckhwan Lee (Director, Science Communication Program, Sogang University, Seoul, Korea)

To begin with I’m sure that practical exam shouldbe (and would be) a great success, because it’s organized by a very professional team. I was organizing this Olympiad last time and I know what hard
and tiring this job is. It’s a difficult task to arrange
everything convenient for 256 people, because it’sconcerned with chemicals and sophisticated equipment.
There are not so many students who study practical chemistry at school. Our Korean students wereselected from very specialized schools with specialscientific groups (as Moscow Chemical Lyceum, aschool Leonid Romashov from - M.N.). And I’m
glad that now it’s being held at Moscow State University, in this citadel of science built by Stalin andhistory with old traditions. It’s very important (as I
usually tell my students) to feel the connection between history and modern times. Even chemistry isa modern science it has its own history as well.
Our government understands the necessity of investigating in science and technology. Chemistry isa science of future: especially nanotechnologies andbiochemistry. And we have made a dramatic progress
while last 10 years only due to the science, education and innovative technologies. When the society
is poor, it doesn’t recognize the role of such things,
because they don’t feed their needs directly. Common people don’t understand the importance of highlevel science and technology. When it becomes rich,it can invest in future and contribute into scienceand education, in future development and the science is becoming closer to the majority of people.
I was trained as a theoretical chemist (I don’t
like experiment personally). Chemistry mostly is apractical and applied science and the role of the experiment should be emphasized. But it can’t be done
properly without the base of theory. I should say thatthey are both important and can’t be separated.
Chemistry links everything: history and moderntimes, science and society, theory and practice.
Maria Nefedieva

And where are the planets, the stars andthe Moon from? Can it be chemistry?
M. Zoshenko

Answer. If the strawberry became sour it means that sugar disappeared. What has occurred
to it? Sugar has decayed owing to enzymes. But this answer can seem illogical to you - infact, at low temperature the speed of all reactions are sharply slowed down! It is really so,
however in case of a strawberry one more circumstance works. During freezing pure water isbeing freezed first of all. It means that the part of water is deduced from an endocellular solution, and concentration of other components sharply rises. It means that speed of fermental
processes also increases. Besides, small crystals of ice destroy cellular structures, liberating
enzymes thus raising their concentration. In that way sharp growth of concentration of reacting substances wins downturn of temperature. Especially, if cooling is not very strong.

Why the strawberry
became sour?

Question. People in Russia love strawberry and its jam very much. A strawberryis grown up almost ın each part of the country. To keep it till winter, a fragrant sweet
strawberry is usually freezed, sending in the freezing chamber. In winter it is takenout to regale. But here the trouble ıs - a strawberry became sour! Why?

Use your brain“Get your facts first then you can distort them as you please”. Mark Twain

Journal of the 39th International Chemistry Olympiad Moscow Russia
Issue no.6 Thursday 19 July 2007

Answer. It paradoxical sounds but frog really was used as an alive refrigerator to protect milk from turning sour. The matter is that the skin secret of a frog
allocates bacterial poison - enzyme lysozyme. So the frog protects itself frombacteria, and at the same time milk. By the way, lysozyme is in crude eggs, in ourtears, and in a radish. But why does milk remain cool? The reason is in the jug.
The jugs are made of usual ceramics which is penetrated by the most thin pores.
Under the action of capillary forces water from milk filtered through walls andevaporated. And we know, that evaporation is an endothermic process going withabsorption of heat. Therefore the filled jug always remains cool.
Question. When refrigerators haven’t been invented yet, peasants in the Russian villages stored milk in clay jug and threw a cold, slippery frog in it. And
actually, milk remains cool and did not turn sour. Why?

Frog and milk

Use your brain“The are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one
wants, and other is getting it”. Oscar Wilde

Journal of the 39th International Chemistry Olympiad Moscow Russia
Issue no.6 Thursday 19 July 2007

Journal of the 39th International Chemistry Olympiad Moscow Russia
Issue no.6 Thursday 19 July 2007

After the hard day
Andrew Tulloch (Australia):
About the exam: It was really doable,
we had to do everything perfectly, butmade many mistakes, I think in thefirst question. It wasn’t harder thenwe have seen before. Everything depended on the emotions.
About yesterday’s trip: It was aheavy mix of sport and dancing.
Russian food: It is good, but wehaven’t eaten much.
MSU: It is rather good university.
I think that here you are able tobe creative, intelligent and funny,
Chemistry Department is a mixtureof chemistry and physics. There isvery good nature at the territory ofthe MSU, buildings are in trees.
Why he chooses chemistry: It issomething that I really like to do.
It’s both science and art. You can bevery creative here. Being a chemist
you can help to solve world problems and that’s why I like it.
Friends: We have made manyfriendships. There are many inWould you like to dance? - Хочешь
потанцевать? - [hochesh potansevat]
May I have your adress and telephone
number? - Ты можешь мне дать свойадрес и номер телефона? [ti mozhesh
mne dat svoj adres i nomer telefona]teresting people from India, Asian
countries, Iceland. We wish themgood luck. We hope that Australia
will get the first prize, of course.
But we think the team of New
Zealand – they are our neighbors– will win. We support them.

my exam and can bring a lot of painin future. But I haven’t stopped theexam because I have felt better anddecided to make something. I wasthinking only about the tasks of theexam. And the place I will take is
not very important.

Freddie Manners (The UK):
About the MSU: I have seen theMoscow State University onlyon the picture. The building wasgreat. But it’s really better than Ithought.

And one boy is a real hero. Hetook part in the exam with the broken leg. He is from Iran:
Yesterday we were playing volleyball. I fall on the grass and felt
the pain in the leg. Than we went
to hospital and spent there a lot oftime. But I decided to take partin today’s exam. It was difficult
because I have to get some tubes
from the table that was rather far.
So I had to stand.
But I’ve managed everything and
I’m happy. Today will celebrate!

Jim Ge (Australia):
I have ruined my equipment andthere was a real problem. The
exam was rather difficult, nevertheless I coped with it.
Raul Joao de Sousa Pereira(Portugal):I burned my fingers, because I wasin distraction. I didn’t follow oneof the rules of security: taught thesolution. Now I don’t feel pain because I was given some medicine. I
think it can influence the results ofEkaterina Bredina
Ekaterina Davydova

Lessons in Russian

I like your smile - Мне нравится твоя Were are you from? - Откуда
улыбка [mne nravitsja tvoja uli:bka] ты? [otkuda ti:]What is your name? - Как тебя I am from... - Я из... [ja iz]зовут? [kak tebja zavut]
Beautiful! - Красиво! [krasivo]
My name is... - Меня зовут...
[menja zovut]

CallTomorrow program Friday July 20thPolice - 02
Fire station and ambulance - 911
39th IChO office (for urgent calls only):
Alexander Gladilin +7 (916) 555 - 70 - 27
Vadim Eremin +7 (916) 611 - 88 - 90
Elena Eremina +7 (916) 133 - 00 - 55
Mentor Support:
Alexander Veresov +7 (910) 452 - 41 - 23
Student support:
Ekaterina Yakubovich +7 (916) 676 - 91 - 00
Guest support:
Alexandra (Shura) Prokhorova +7 (916) 587 - 60-26

7.00 - 7.45 Breakfast, Olympiets
8.00 Busses depart to the Theoretical Exam,MSU
10.00 - 15.00 Theoretical Exam, MSU
15.00 - 17.00 Lunch, MSU
17.00 - 18.00 Walk to “Vorobjovi Gori” berth
18.00 - 22.00 Re-union Party on a boat,
dinner included
22.00 Transfer to Olympiets

The issue is prepared by:

Head of the project: Lukichev Alexander // Project managers: Salynkina Irina, Galieva Alina // Correspondents: Agaeva Aysel, Bredina Ekaterina,
Davydova Katya, Eremina Maria, Kravtsova Anastasia, Pomerantseva Anna, Sabanova Alina, Nefedieva Maria // Correctors: Anna Berkovich,Sergey Sobolev, Yulia Valeeva // Photographer: Lobus Alexander // Designers: Turin Vadim, Lukichev Ilya
Published and printed by Trace light studio ltd // Call us: +7 (495) 939-26-66 // E-mail: luk-mail@mail.ru

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