The Weekly Beaker
Volume 13, Number 25
May 6th, 2009
A Science and the Liberal Arts Theme Year Event
St. Olaf College
As part of the “Science and the Liberal Arts” theme year, Dr. Gregory Smith, a faculty member in Art Conservation Science at Buffalo State, will be visiting St. Olaf. He’ll be giving the following seminar on May 7.
What’s Wrong with this Picture?
The Technical Analysis of a Known Forgery
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Regents Hall 150, 7:30 p.m.
This lecture will explore the role of the conservator and conservation scientist in authenticity studies that straddle the Arts-Science interface. Dr. Smith will take the audience through the technical analysis of the Robert Lawrence Trotter forgery case and describe the construction of a typical folk art painting while highlighting the “red flags” that might indicate a fake or forgery.
More information about the Trotter case and a brief biography of Dr. Smith can be found here.
Seminar Announcement
Friday, May 8, 2009
3:30 p.m.
Olin 04
Garry Crosson
University of Dayton
A Solid-State NMR Study of Zeolite Formation in Hyperalkaline Aluminosilicate Suspensions
Aqueous radioactive metal solutions leaking from waste storage tanks at Department of Energy storage facilities have contaminated the soils. The interactions with natural soil particles govern the mobility of radionuclides (such as 137Cs and 90Sr) in the saturated and vadose zones of contaminated sites (e.g. Hanford Site, Savannah River Site). High surface area aluminosilicate clay minerals, a soil component at these sites, are recognized as important radionuclide sorbents. However, extreme characteristics of leaking tank waste (high pH, high Al, and high ionic strength) promote mineral dissolution which reduces the immobilization ability of soils thus impacting the environmental fate and availability of harmful nuclei in the subsurface environment. This research seeks to gain a better understanding of fundamental processes taking place in the vadose and saturated soil environments using specimen clay samples reacted in environments similar to those at DOE storage facilities. Specifically, in this project, solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) spectroscopy (in conjunction with other methods) are utilized to: a) observe and identify zeolite minerals formed in weathered clay systems as a function of contact time with a synthetic tank waste leachate solution and also as a function of 133Cs and 87Sr initial concentrations in the synthetic leachate; b) resolve, characterize, and quantify the aluminum environments in select weathered samples; c) study the kinetics of precipitate formation; and d) evaluate the recalcitrance of mineral precipitates.
Journal Club Meets This Week
Journal Club meets this Thursday at noon in Mudd 171 to discuss a paper relating to this week’s seminar. Go to the following for information about what to read beforehand: http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/chem/events/?category=171005&no_search=1.