Chemistry

How PFAS Pollution Has Become a Global Crisis

1Dec

By andoverscienceandtechreviewNo Comments

Chemistry

How PFAS Pollution Has Become a Global Crisis

By Nina Capaldi '27 Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) are a group of chemicals used to make fluoropolymers, or polymers consisting of carbon and fluorine atoms. PFAS are human-made chemicals that have been used industrially since 1950. There are more than 12,000 types of PFAS, including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA). Due to their water, oil, heat, and stain resistance, engineers use PFAS to construct fluoropolymer coatings. Further, PFAS are commonly used in products such as food packaging, furniture, clothing, accessories, insulation, non-stick kitchen appliances, dental floss, children’s toys, makeup, cleaning products, nail polish, turf, carpets, plastic bags, shampoo, fast food cont...

Conor Scheidt ‘25’s Simulations of Diffusions and Interactions between Molecules Within a Lattice Structure

By Cleo Xu '26 In the summer of 2024 and continuing into the school year of 2024-2025, Conor Scheidt ‘25 worked on ways to model the diffusion and interaction of molecules with mentor Todd Gingrich. Traditionally, this is done by considering molarity—the moles of molecules per liter of volume. However, Scheidt realized that sometimes interesting chemical reactions are “averaged” out using this method, which results in a smooth curve. To avoid getting an averaged function, he considered analyzing individual molecules, or more specifically, the different states in which a given number of molecules can be. This method is not restricted to just microscopic particles, the generalization can also be used in modeling the number within a species in biology or even the cells within our body.&nbs...

The Future of Science: Nate Liang’s Research and Independent Project on Computational Chemistry

By: Patrick Xu ‘27 During the Spring term of the 2023-2024 school year, Nate Liang ’25 is doing an independent project (IP) relating to chemistry. Specifically, he is researching computational chemistry, which uses computers to model chemical reactions, different types of molecules, and more, which makes it easier to analyze reaction kinetics, thermodynamics, and molecule interactions. Liang remarks that his interest in this IP stems from the need for computational chemistry in the real world: “I think for our generation at least, it's becoming more important to utilize technology when studying and applying science. People are making different types of medicines or other things that will save the environment. Right now, that process is really expensive because you have to buy all the...