Week Six: Molecular Weight and Molar Mass

Alkali Earth Metal of the Week

So far, I've enjoyed learning about the Earth Alkaline Metals most because they are all found naturally on Earth. This is more appealing to me because the more I learn about synthetic chemistry and synthetic anything, really, the more I see a relationship between creating something and in turn creating some sort of imbalance.
All Alkaline earth metals are shiny. They are somewhat reactive at standard temp and pressure and are usually a silvery-white color.
I chose Magnesium for my Alkaline Earth Metal of the week because I have been learning a lot about it in Nutrition and Vitamins and also in Physiology.
Magnesium (Mg), along with the other alkaline earth metals, has two electrons in their outer shell. This forms cations with a charge of +2. It is also in group 2 and the s-block of the periodic table of elements, which also means that the outer electrons in are in an s-orbital.
Mg has many uses. Mixing it with other metals can make the over all product lighter. It can be used as a reducing agent and helps with many physiological aspects of the body.

Avogadro's Hypothesis
After looking over Avogadro's Hypothesis "equal volumes of gases, at the same temperature and pressure, contain equal numbers of molecules." I obviously also agree with it although I'm not sure how I could "test" this. I could see how there was much confusion before about the mixing of molecules and compounds, but because of Avogadro and his hypothesis we can now see that molecules come in units. So H2O is 2 sets of hydrogen molecules with one set of oxygen molecules.

Molecular Medicince
Molecular medicine seems like an amazing way to help get rid of immediate pain and discomfort in certain conditions and could maybe even be life saving for some, but it sure isn't going to come without a price. Inhaling medicine because of the vast surface area on our lungs seems like a great idea, and I'm not saying that it isn't, but if we look at where we're at now, our gut has suffered both individually and as a people, because of medicine hitting our stomachs, I can't help but worry about what it may do to the condition of our lungs. I suffer with an auto-immune disorder which is directly related to the over use of anti biotics given orally, not just to me but to my parents and grandparents. Antibiotics and other western medicines given in pill form has caused so many epidemics while trying to "cure" others. There is no doubt that molecular medicine will also have drastic side effects causing new problems.