All (if not Many) of you should have heard about the Melamine Adulteration in milk powders made from china for the past 2 weeks. More common words you heard would perhaps be “Sanlu Milk causing deaths of babies“.
Since this is a chemistry blog-site that also discussed about Chemistry Phenomenons (besides sharing of Chemistry Tips & Strategies), we shall discuss a little bit of this Melamine Scare – a case of Chemistry put into Wrong Use.
Melamine is an organic compound with the chemical formula C3H6N6, with the IUPAC name 1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-triamine, and is only slightly soluble in water. It is commonly used as a fire restardant in commercial products and china is the major supplier of melamine globally.
Ingestion of melamine may lead to reproductive damage, or bladder or kidney stones, which can lead to bladder cancer. In this recent case in China which gone public in september 2008, Sanlu recalled all powdered milk in China where melamine was reported to have been used in 22 brands of infant formula, making more than 50,000 infants ill and hospitalizing almost 12,900. Several have already died at the time of post. Melamine has also been found in products produced by a dozen more companies, including Mengniu, Yili, and Yashili, all now being internationally distributed (yes, we have all these in Singapore).
Melamine have been added to fool government quality tests after water was added to fraudulently increase the milk’s volume. The adulterant melamine was added to the milk to allow dilution of the milk with water and circumvent government regulations, since melamine will cause a false increase in the measurement of protein by increasing the Nitrogen levels in the milk (Milk must have high content of protein – which is shown by high content of Nitrogen).
Hope you learn something about this global concern where Chemistry is put into wrong use.
But before we end this post, i just have a chemistry-related question to ask you.
I have mentioned that these chinese milk-manufacturing companies had added Melamine to milk to increase the NITROGEN CONTENT.
Now, based on information in earlier part of this blog-post, can you:
Question: Calculate the % Mass of N in Melamine??
This will allow you to see why these unscrupulous business owners are using melamine to increase their profits.
PS: Leave your comments and/or answers in the “LEAVE ME A REPLY” section below. I would love to hear from you.
Thanks. I have gotten your email about it and will check that out.
Hi Terence,
Glad to see you attempting the question.
Correct approach to deal with this kind of question.
However, i need to point out that answer should be 66.7% instead, since we need to correct to 3 significant figures.
Hope this helps.
PS: I am launching the ebook “Up Your Chemistry Grades Nows!” before it is being published into hardcopy. There is a major section that have a comprehensive discussion of major / common mistakes made by students.
To Your Academic Success in Chemistry,
Sean Chua
Master Trainer
http://www.SimpleChemConcepts.com
Hi,
I don’t really get your question.
Few points here:
1) Redspot books and all other published exam-based books you get from major bookstore are not without errors. There is a 2-5% error that we have heard from many students. Do use with caution.
2) Which country are you from? and which exam-syllabus are you taking? GCE O or ICGSE etc?
3) Can you send me a scanned or softcopy of your question to my email sean@simplechemconcepts.com so that i can better helo you.
Hear from you.
To Your Academic Success in Chemistry,
Sean Chua
Master Trainer
http://www.SimpleChemConcepts.com
[Ar: C- 12 H -1 N-14]
Mr of C3H6N6: 3(12)+6(1)+6(14) = 126
6(14)
—— X 100% = 66.6%
126
how are liquid molecules supposed to be drawn? school taught us to draw them apart(not in contact with each other) but the redspot guidebook asys to draw them together (linked but not as closely as solid molecules). which is the right method?