h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Good stuff, there are one or two minor errors such as a ;, combination towards the begining of the article and a reference to 'chlorine anions' at the end but nothing to write home about.

I would like to query the Osmium 8+ ion however, this might be possible in a star or in interstellar space but under more normal conditions it is very rare indeed to find a naked ion of more than 3+ (or -) charge. Osmium does indeed form the formal +8 oxidation state but the species is invariable covalently bonded to, say oxygen atoms (Osmium tetroxide for example OsO4).

Anyway, minor points all, nice job

I hope you were referring to deoxyribonucleic acid...

---Fadkie The Frdy (The Shah of Great Boo-hally, Vice President of the department of Vice and Strife, Coveter of Llamas, Newbie)

*grin* I noticed that too... Chloride *is* an anion...


It's okay, Orcus, we know that you are very intelligent and just weren't thinking what you typed.

(Don't you dare disagree either, or you'd be perpetuating a falsehood!)

*dares*



Ummm, but the penultimate paragraph refers first to 'chlorine-anions' and then to 'chloride-anions' - just thought it was slightly inconsistent that's all.
As I said, nothing to write home about

Hrm... Okay. I didn't notice that; I just saw a couple fragments that bothered me... But again, besides disrupting the flow, they don't affect the content in any major way...


Shee

Hey Orcus...

Chloride, Chlorine - BIG confusion(!!!) I'm sad I didn't notice first.

Osmium 8+: First checkout the footnote - The charge is explicitly 'formal'. Second you wouldn't need to go to outer space to get Os(8+). If you can even 'isolate' K(19+) at crygenic temperatures, why not Os(8+). OK, It's still a very special case, and you don't get that in everyday life...

Anyways, keep in touch...

H

Oops, forgot about the footnote.

Isolating things in cryogenic matrices was always my bugbear when I was studying undergraduate chemistry - it seemed you could isolate practically anything in an argon matrix at 0.1 K - I must say I was always suspicious about the true existence of these things.
K19+ huh?- hmmm, the formation of that must invovle some interesting energetics. Still, fair enough, I am but a lowly organic chemist and what do I know about the inorganic/physical side of things.

I'll be K19+ is a pretty darn good reducing agent!

...or even oxidising agent!

OH, you don't isolate it in Argon matrices, as it would probably react with Argon (!!!) so much for oxidation. You generate it with plasma and then cool it down and keep it in a magnetic trap.

... but I guess that's a little to far.

Apart from that, I think the 'formal' charge footnote solves most of the problems.

H