Acids and Bases

Name of 3 Acids:

• Hydrofluoric Acid - HF

• Hydrochloric Acid - HCl

• Hydrobromic Acid - HBr

Name of 3 Bases:

• Sodium Hydroxide - NaOH

• Potassium Hydroxide - KOH

• Ammonium Hydroxide - NH₄OH

Two Properties of Acids:

•  Acids release a hydrogen ion into water (aqueous) solution 
• Acids turn blue litmus to red

Two Properties of Bases:

•  Bases release a hydroxide ion into water solution  
• Bases turn red litmus to blue

Source: http://www.chemtutor.com/acid.htm
 

What is a Mole?

A mole is a unit of measurement. A mole is the quantity of anything that has the same number of particles found in 12.000 grams of carbon-12. That number of particles is Avogadro's Number, which is roughly 6.02x1023. Amedeo Avogadro, an Italian Physicist, discovered and created the number. He believed that equal volumes of all gases at the same temperature and pressure, contain the same number of molecules.  This hypothesis then led to the concept of the mole and are important and helpful in chemistry because they allow scientists to count a large quantity of something small such as molecules. It also allowed for the calculation of the molecular weights of gases relative to some chosen standard. Avogadro and his contemporaries typically used the density of hydrogen gas as the standard for comparison.

Sources:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/388062/mole
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/45884/Amedeo-Avogadro

Coupled Biogeochemical Cycles

Coupled biogeochemical cycle is an emerging scientific discipline that looks at how Earth's biogeochemical cycles interact. Researchers are discovering that biogeochemical cycles--whether the water cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the carbon cycle, or others--happen in concert with one another. Biogeochemical cycles are "coupled" to each other and to Earth's physical features. Studying cycles as coupled is more important that studying them as separate entities because the study of coupled biogeochemical cycles has direct management applications.The "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico is one example. Nitrogen-based fertilizers make their way from Iowa cornfields to the Mississippi River, where they are transported to the Gulf of Mexico. Once deposited in the Gulf, nitrogen stimulates algal blooms. When the algae die, their decomposition consumes oxygen, creating an area of water roughly the size of New Jersey that is inhospitable to aquatic life. Protecting the Gulf's fisheries--with an estimated annual value of half-a-billion dollars--relies on understanding how coupled biogeochemical cycles interact.