Journal of the 39th International Chemistry Olympiad Moscow Russia
Issue no.7 Friday 20 July 2007

The champions of the taste

sibly the most burning taste. It has second name Capsaicinum from the Latin name of capsicum. Capsicum
Annuum contains the most part of this substance, it isabout 0,03 %. If you chew a little bit of this pepper yourtongue will be tormented with a burning pain for a longtime afterwards. Capsaicinum is known since 1876.
It is difficult to tell, what taste has a grapefruit. Butfrom 100 liters of juice of this exact fruit Swiss chemists
E.Demolle, P.Entist and G.Oloff have picked out in 1982
the champion of the taste. It was mercaptan, chemicalname is 1-p-menthene-8-thiol. Taste of this substanceSensitivity of tongue to the different tastes is unequal.
In most cases the first place takes bitter substances: theorganism as though warns us - spit out this muck immediately! Taste of the most bitter substances - quinineand strychnine - is distinctly perceived in mix 1:100000 and more (it approximately the teaspoon of substance dissolved in half ton of water).
However in very small concentration bitter taste canbe pleasant, therefore in some drinks we add the quinine (usually in the form of sulfuric salt). It is possible
to find out quinine in tonic not only to taste, but also toa bright light blue luminescence of a drink under beams
of a ultra-violet lamp.
Vanylamide - one of derivatives of vanillin marked
as 8-methyl-N-vanillyl-trans-6-nonenamide - has pos-can be felt at concentration only 0,02 ng/l. You need tomix only 2 mg of this substance to get such concentration in the huge tanker of 100 000 tons of water!

Best of the best
Today we will talk about substances - championsof the taste. How is it possible to estimate taste
digitally? It’s very simple! The main criterion is theminimal concentration of substance (bitter, sour,salty, hot) at which our tongue perceives this taste
as dominated.

Use your brain
Why do roofs cover with tile?

Question. Beautiful tile roofs are a visiting card of the European
countries. A tile has been exactly used here for a long time for aroof. Why is it exactly a tile?
Answer. It is clear, that a tile was used as a good protection. But
from what? From acid rains! When in the Europe almost all woods
have been fired people started to heat houses with coal. And local
coal contains fair quantity of sulfur. At combustion it formed oxides which were dissolved in drops of water and dropped out on theground by acid rains. The metal roof quickly would fail. And the tileis acid-proof, therefore in the Europe it serves for centuries. Now in
the European countries coal isn’t used for heating so often. And airin the European cities became much purer. But the beautiful tradition has remained.

Journal of the 39th International Chemistry Olympiad Moscow Russia
Issue no.7 Friday 20 July 2007

Have you asked the photographs? Here they are, please!

“A happy scientist is the one who searches for a needle in a haystack, and finds a daughter of a farmer”. Edmond Fisher“The more I live, the more I am confirmed of the idea that in the Solar system the Earth plays a role of a madhouse”. George Bernard

Journal of the 39th International Chemistry Olympiad Moscow Russia
Issue no.7 Friday 20 July 2007

“Life does not have the sense that could be opened.
It has the sense that we give to it”. K. Nilsen“Put off till tomorrow what you can not think about today”.
Haruki Murakami

Journal of the 39th International Chemistry Olympiad Moscow Russia
Issue no.7 Friday 20 July 2007

Entertaining Statitics
We asked the participants of the Olympiad to fillquestionnaires for the statistics. Here are preliminary
results.
The questionnaires were filled by 58 students, mostof them are boys – 47 smart chemists, and 11 nicegirls.
Almost everybody want to connect their future
life with science. Here are branches of science theywant to work in.
1) Organic chemistry – 13 students.
2) Medicine – 12 students.
3) Biochemistry – 6 students.
4) Physics – 5 students.
5) Engineering - 4 students.
6) Researching work – 4 student.
7) Nanotechnology – 4 students.
8) Mathematics – 2 students.
And this is the list of the most urgent problems forthe humanity.
1) Pollution – 9 students.
2) Global warming – 9 students
3) Energy crisis – 7 students.
4) Poverty – 5 students.
5) Human rights – 3 students.
6) A.I.D.S. – 3 students.
7) War – 2 students.
8) Unemployment – 1 student.
9) G.W.B. – 1 student.

The majority of the students were fascinated by
Moscow. But, of course, there are several things
they disliked.
1) Traffic jams – 11 students.
2) Food – 6 students.
3) Unfriendly people – 5 students.
4) Expensive city – 4 students.
5) Airport – 4 students.
6) Mosquitoes – 2 students.
7) Noise – 2 students.
8) Weather – 2 students.
9) Smoking – 1 student.
Dear Friends, we are waiting for your questionnaires!
Alina Sabanova

Lessons in Russian

It’s a nice day today – Сегодня прекрасный день – [sevodnjaprekrasnij den]
I want to eat (to drink) – Я хочу есть (пить) – [ja hochu est(pit)]
I have a good mood – У меня хорошее настроение – [u menjahoroshee nastroenie]
I’m tired – Я устал [ja ustal]I need your help – Мне нужна ваша помощь – [mne nuzhna va-

sha pomosch]
Let’s photograph together – Давайте сфотографируемся – [davajtesfotografiruemsja].
I would like to get to know you better – Я хочу узнать тебя получше– [ja hochu uznat tebja poluchshe]
Good night – Спокойной ночи – [spokojnoj nochi]

CallTomorrow program Saturday July 21thPolice - 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

8.00 – 8.30 Breakfast, Olympiets
8.40 –
Buses depart to the excursions
10.00 – 13.30 Excursion in groups: Kremlin
13.30 – 19.00 Lunch at “Manezh” cafè
15.00 – 19.00 Excursion to the Moscow Zoo
19.00 – 20.00 Transfer to Olympiets
20.00 – 21.30 Dinner, Olympiets

Guest support:
Alexandra (Shura) Prokhorova +7 (916) 587 - 60-26

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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