Question

1. Compare the terminal velocity of a 10 nanometer particle with a 100 nanometer particle. Which one “falls” through the air faster? What are the approximate speeds of both particles as they “fall?” Use Equation 2.1 on page 35 in your analysis. Also use Pg = 1.225 Kg/m³ and Pp = 1000 Kg/m³.

2. What is “fume fever?”

3. What are CCNs and how are they affected by nanoparticles?

4. Why is the amount of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) produced by phytoplankton a concern?

5. What are the effects of cosmic rays on Earth’s atmosphere?

Answer 1

(1) Terminal velocity is inversely proportional to the root of area i.e size of the particle/ nanoparticle. So, the terminal velocity of a 10-nanometer particle is greater than a 100-nanometer particle. The 10-nanometer particle "falls" faster through the air. Terminal Velocity of the 10-nanometer particle is approximately 12777.53 m/sec and the terminal velocity of the 100-nanometer particle is approximately 141.42 m/sec.

(2) Metal fume fever, also known as brass founders' ague, brass shakes, zinc shakes, galvie flu, metal dust fever, Welding Shivers, or Monday morning fever, is an illness primarily caused by exposure to chemicals such as zinc oxide (ZnO), aluminum oxide (Al2O3), or magnesium oxide (MgO) which are produced as byproducts in the fumes that result when certain metals are heated. Other common sources are fuming silver, gold, platinum, chromium (from stainless steel), nickel, arsenic, manganese, beryllium, cadmium, cobalt, lead, selenium, and zinc.

Polymer fume fever or fluoropolymer fever, also informally called Teflon flu, is an inhalation fever caused by the fumes released when polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE, known under the trade name Teflon) reaches temperatures of 300 °C (572 °F) to 450 °C (842 °F).

(3)CCN: The NPI is the National Provider Identifier, and is a unique identification number provided to facilities and other medical entities. The Medicare Provider Number is also known as the CCN (CMS Certification Number). This is the six-digit Medicare certification number for a facility.

In medicine, finding a substance that attacks cancerous tumors without destroying the healthy tissue around it has long been the Holy Grail. From targeted remedies such as monoclonal antibodies to surgery, cancer has still managed to elude a treatment that discretely and separately attacks it alone. Nanotechnologies, however - the manipulation of matter at a molecular and even atomic scale to penetrate living cells -- are holding out the promise of opening a new front against deadly conditions from cancer to Ebola.

At the core of the technology is the ability to attach drugs, and in some cases metals and minerals, to nanoparticles that would then bind themselves to life-threatening cancer cells or viruses.

(4)Significant dimethyl sulfide (DMS) production is confined to a few classes of marine phytoplankton, mainly the Dinophyceae (dinoflagellates) and the Prymnesiophyceae (which includes the coccolithophores). One hundred and twenty-three individual clones of phytoplankton representing twelve algal classes were examined in exponential growth for intra and extracellular DMS (and its precursor DMSP). There is a strong correlation between the taxonomic position of the phytoplankton and the production of DMS. Although the Dinophyceae and Prymnesiophyceae predominate, other chromophyte algae (those possessing chlorophylls a and c) also contain and release significant amounts of DMS, including some members of the Chrysophyceae and the Bacillariophyceae (the diatoms). The chlorophytes (those algae possessing chlorophylls a and b) are much less significant producers of DMS with the exception of a few very small species. Other classes, including the cryptomonads and the cyanobacteria, are minor producers.

(5)Cosmic rays are high-energy radiation, mainly originating outside the Solar System and even from distant galaxies. Upon impact with the Earth's atmosphere, cosmic rays can produce showers of secondary particles that sometimes reach the surface. Composed primarily of high-energy protons and atomic nuclei, they are of uncertain origin. Data from the Fermi Space Telescope (2013) have been interpreted as evidence that a significant fraction of primary cosmic rays originate from the supernova explosions of stars. Active galactic nuclei are also theorized to produce cosmic rays.

Primary cosmic rays:
Primary cosmic rays primarily originate from outside the Solar system and sometimes even the Milky Way. When they interact with Earth's atmosphere, they are converted to secondary particles.

Secondary cosmic rays:
When cosmic rays enter the Earth's atmosphere they collide with atoms and molecules, mainly oxygen and nitrogen. The interaction produces a cascade of lighter particles, a so-called air shower secondary radiation that rains down, including x-rays, muons, protons, alpha particles, pions, electrons, and neutrons. All of the produced particles stay within about one degree of the primary particle's path.

Cosmic rays impacting other planetary bodies in the Solar System are detected indirectly by observing high-energy gamma-ray emissions by gamma-ray telescope. These are distinguished from radioactive decay processes by their higher energies above about 10 MeV.