Euthanasia and Modern Society

Free Essays on Managing People With Aids

Managing People with AIDS Today, AIDS is the second leading cause of death among adults between the ages of 25 and 44. With more than half of the nation’s 126 million workers in this age group, managers cannot afford to ignore this deadly disease. As more effective drug therapies, such as protease inhibitors, are extending the lives of HIV positive people, an increased number are able to return to the workforce and stay productive. One in six large companies has had an employee with HIV/AIDS and one in 15 companies with 15 to 49 employees has had at least one worker with HIV/AIDS (according to the CDC in Atlanta). The World Health Organization estimates that by the year 2000, there will be 15 million new adult HIV infections, with six million people exhibiting symptoms of the disease. Since 25 % of new cases are in between the ages of 13 to 20 years old, this means that the teenagers of today who are HIV positive are the workers who will develop AIDS in 10 years. In order to be successful into the futu re, companies need to address HIV-infected workers and workers with AIDS. However, HIV and AIDS pose special challenges to employers. HOW AIDS IS TRANSMITTED HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is the retrovirus that causes AIDS, or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. While AIDS itself does not kill a person, the disease weakens the person’s immune system, allowing other diseases like Kaposi’s sarcoma invade the body. These opportunistic diseases eventually overwhelm the person’s body. The virus is found in blood and other body products like saliva, sweat, and tears, and can only be transmitted by the exchange of blood, body products, or by sexual contact. Once the HIV virus is exposed to air, it dies instantaneously. This means that someone cannot spread the virus through breathing the same air, or by casual contact such as shaking hands. A person can be infected if he/she has an open wound that comes into contact wit... Free Essays on Managing People With Aids Free Essays on Managing People With Aids Managing People with AIDS Today, AIDS is the second leading cause of death among adults between the ages of 25 and 44. With more than half of the nation’s 126 million workers in this age group, managers cannot afford to ignore this deadly disease. As more effective drug therapies, such as protease inhibitors, are extending the lives of HIV positive people, an increased number are able to return to the workforce and stay productive. One in six large companies has had an employee with HIV/AIDS and one in 15 companies with 15 to 49 employees has had at least one worker with HIV/AIDS (according to the CDC in Atlanta). The World Health Organization estimates that by the year 2000, there will be 15 million new adult HIV infections, with six million people exhibiting symptoms of the disease. Since 25 % of new cases are in between the ages of 13 to 20 years old, this means that the teenagers of today who are HIV positive are the workers who will develop AIDS in 10 years. In order to be successful into the futu re, companies need to address HIV-infected workers and workers with AIDS. However, HIV and AIDS pose special challenges to employers. HOW AIDS IS TRANSMITTED HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is the retrovirus that causes AIDS, or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. While AIDS itself does not kill a person, the disease weakens the person’s immune system, allowing other diseases like Kaposi’s sarcoma invade the body. These opportunistic diseases eventually overwhelm the person’s body. The virus is found in blood and other body products like saliva, sweat, and tears, and can only be transmitted by the exchange of blood, body products, or by sexual contact. Once the HIV virus is exposed to air, it dies instantaneously. This means that someone cannot spread the virus through breathing the same air, or by casual contact such as shaking hands. A person can be infected if he/she has an open wound that comes into contact wit... Free Essays on Managing People With Aids Managing People with AIDS Today, AIDS is the second leading cause of death among adults between the ages of 25 and 44. With more than half of the nation’s 126 million workers in this age group, managers cannot afford to ignore this deadly disease. As more effective drug therapies, such as protease inhibitors, are extending the lives of HIV positive people, an increased number are able to return to the workforce and stay productive. One in six large companies has had an employee with HIV/AIDS and one in 15 companies with 15 to 49 employees has had at least one worker with HIV/AIDS (according to the CDC in Atlanta). The World Health Organization estimates that by the year 2000, there will be 15 million new adult HIV infections, with six million people exhibiting symptoms of the disease. Since 25 % of new cases are in between the ages of 13 to 20 years old, this means that the teenagers of today who are HIV positive are the workers who will develop AIDS in 10 years. In order to be successful into the futu re, companies need to address HIV-infected workers and workers with AIDS. However, HIV and AIDS pose special challenges to employers. HOW AIDS IS TRANSMITTED HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is the retrovirus that causes AIDS, or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. While AIDS itself does not kill a person, the disease weakens the person’s immune system, allowing other diseases like Kaposi’s sarcoma invade the body. These opportunistic diseases eventually overwhelm the person’s body. The virus is found in blood and other body products like saliva, sweat, and tears, and can only be transmitted by the exchange of blood, body products, or by sexual contact. Once the HIV virus is exposed to air, it dies instantaneously. This means that someone cannot spread the virus through breathing the same air, or by casual contact such as shaking hands. A person can be infected if he/she has an open wound that comes into contact wit...

Introduction to the internet and e-business Assignment

Introduction to the internet and e-business - Assignment Example The transaction is completed when commission is divided between both estate agents because of being part of a transaction. Answer 2 Home Choice will benefit from having its own website because those customers, who could not travel and approach Home Choice at its offices, will directly log onto its website and submit their buying or selling bid. For instance, all parties and clients could be informed about available property units in different localities through automatic email generation process; thereby enhancing communication and business contacts with customers. Also, Home Choice will get a competitive edge because it could reduce by closing some money losing offices in expensive London city. Answer 3 An e-business is a business model that enables the organisations, end-users and governments to do business through leveraging technology and using the Internet and features of World Wide Web (the Web) to complete transactions (Roberts, 2004). Answer 4 Internet enables businesses and consumers in real time interaction and communication through email, videoconferencing, teleconferencing, chat etc. Indeed, these mentioned options are quite appropriate for transferring messages across the internet, thereby enabling communication at a very low cost. For instance, the use of Skype has further facilitated this message transfer from sender to recipient and feedback from recipient to sender. Answer 5 The main features of Hyper Text Markup Language include facilitation in multimedia objects, scripting, background colour, marquee, tags, style sheets, hyperlinks, tables and layout, forms and math etc. In other words, latest versions of HTML also include the new features that are still not completely explored. Answer 6 An internet is a network of networks through which end-users could connect to external world networks and people. Internet has, nevertheless, reduced boundaries among nations as people across USA could contact through a click to users 7,000 miles away in sub- continent. On the contrary, Intranet is an internal network that is used by organisations / institutions to enables its employees to transfer and share information within the premises. Whereas, extranet are also used by organisations to bridge gaps between / among their internal and external customers. For example, employees could share a company’s some (not all) internal information through extranet with their clients, suppliers, partners etc. Answer 7 First of all, Home Choice has to develop / design a website so that it could provide available buying and selling property units. Next, Home Choice has to implement an online purchase / sales system in which the admin will play the role of moderator. This would enable parties to communicate when they could approach company’s office for official visit to property unit and negotiations. Offers could also be submitted online in case face-to-face deal is not possible due to distance and time constraints. Answer 8 E-business is actually a different business model because it provides the luxury of online transactions without even travelling personally to shops, offices and showrooms. The model is proven successful when a company has established its brands and when it offers top quality brands at justified prices with excellent sales service. Circuit City, a US based supermarket which is now completely online based, is one of the major examples. However, the model does not proven successful if

Kuwait-Iraq War (The Gulf War) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Kuwait-Iraq War (The Gulf War) - Essay Example After the cease fire of Iraq-Iran war in 1988, Kuwait’s oil pricing policy was pushing Iraq into a bankrupt state. Iraq threatened Kuwait to change its oil prices and stop directional drilling in Iraq’s Rumaila Oil Field. The first phase of the conflict of Gulf War was diplomatic negotiation to convince Iraq to leave Kuwait. It started from August 1990 and ended in the Second phase that was air war between Allied Forces and Iraq started in January 1991. The third phase of the conflict was ground war which ended, in the end of February 1991, in cease fire and with drawl of Iraqi forces from Kuwait. The parties in this conflict were the Governments of Iraq, Kuwait, United States of America, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the United Nations. A lot of other countries provided their troops to support US attack on Iraq. Geneva Convention: Geneva Convention was named after the establishment of Red Cross in Geneva. It was formulated to reduce the damages of war by protecting civilians, war prisoners and wounded fighters. US forces reportedly violated Fourth Geneva Convention of protecting civilians by making attacks on residential areas of Iraq. On the last day of ground fighting, the last of the Iraqi troops were massacred, by US forces, by dropping fragmented bombs over them that could be avoided. The Third Geneva Convention was also violated by United States and Saudi Arabia by not registering their war prisoners. Iraqi government clearly did not bother to follow Geneva Convention through out the war. Iraqi troops were reportedly harassed, tortured and killed several civilians in Kuwait. Iraq also fired several SCUD missiles aimed into the non-military areas in Saudi Arabia and Israel, provided that Israel was not even a party to the conflict. Iraq also did not attempt to register war prisoners with the International Committee of Red Cross and several war prisoners were humiliated by showing

Immanuel Kant Essay Example for Free

Immanuel Kant Essay Introduction 1What does philosophy mean? -Everyone has a philosophy -We have ideas concerning things, people, the meaning of life, death, God, what is good and bad. -We may have certain attitudes to life, certain ways of looking at things. -For example: -I am an optimist. I can always see a positive side to most unhappy situations. -I don’t believe in worrying too much. I think about today. Tomorrow can take care of itself. -Although an individual claim this to be his philosophy and rightly so. But this is not philosophy as a discipline. It is too broad, vague, superficial, impersonal and unclear. It does not adequately describe the work of a philosopher. -We need to define philosophy more specifically. 2The word â€Å"philosophy†. -The Word â€Å"Philosophy†. -Philia (love) + Sophia (wisdom) = the love of wisdom. 3Definitions of philosophy a. The study of the nature and meaning of the universe and of human life Online Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. b. Philosophy is a rational attempt to look at the world as a whole. 4What does philosophy seek to do? -Philosophy seeks to examine fundamental questions about the universe and about ourselves with the hope of coming up with consistent principles by which we can understand and live. 5Human beings have always sought answers to certain fundamental questions What are these fundamental questions? -What makes an action write or wrong? -What is my purpose in the world? -What is truth? -What makes a good life? -Is God important in our lives? -Where does knowledge come from and how do we know that our knowledge is true. -What is the relationship between mind and body? 6Why do we need philosophy? Why do we need philosophy when we have science and technology? -We have advanced so much in science and technology -We live in cities, we have conquered the air and have ventured into space? -Communication is so developed that distance no longer matters -We have immense power over nature -We are able to produce more goods and services than ever before -So, why do we still need philosophy? 7Yet all these advances cause us to be disturbed and anxious -There is a danger that the very technology we have developed could destroy us. -For example nuclear technology. -We seem to be unable to deal with the problems of war, famine, terror, distribution of wealth, pollution, the threatened extinction of wildlife, exploitation and oppression of the weak . -Knowledge and values appear to be divorced. -This is where philosophy comes in. It helps us to examine our lives as individuals and groups. -Philosophy may not be able to provide solutions to all the world’s problems. But it helps to examine issues clearly, consider options and help us to make informed decisions. -With poor, incomplete and shallow reasoning we cannot build an enlightened society -If we are unable to distinguish between valid and invalid reasoning, then we become victims of persuasive orators, cult leaders and unscrupulous political leaders. -Philosophy helps us to see more deeply and clearly into an issue. It helps us to question traditional and outdate beliefs so that we can make informed choices -Knowledge of ethical systems help us to live ethical lives at the personal and communitarian level. -Knowledge of what constitutes beauty helps us to appreciate and respect differences in individual and cultural concepts of beauty and art. -Being able to think critically will help us to be aware of any irrational and oppressive beliefs in religion. 8The traditional divisions of philosophy. a. Logic b. Metaphysics c. Epistemology d. Value Theory LOGIC aLogic. -The systematic study of rules to distinguish or recognize good arguments from bad. -In an argument, groups will give opposing views. -How do we know which argument is good and which is not good. -Logic helps us to do so by providing rules to recognize right argument from wrong argument. -It is concerned with tests to find out which arguments are valid. -Logic runs through all the other branches of philosophy. METAPHYSICS -bMetaphysics The study of the nature of being and of the world. -It is concerned with the fundamental nature of all reality, both visible and invisible. -It asks what reality is, why it is, and how we can understand it. Ontology That part of metaphysics that studies being or existence. EPISTEMOLOGY cEpistemology The study of the sources, nature and validity of knowledge. -It deals with issues like: -What are the sources of knowledge? (Origin of knowledge) -Where does genuine knowledge come from? -How do we know? -What is the nature of knowledge? (Appearance and reality) -Is there a real world outside the mind? -If so, can we know it? -Is our knowledge valid? (Truth/Verification) -How do we distinguish truth from error? Two traditional schools of thought have sought to answer the questions above: -Rationalism -Human reason alone can discover the basic principles of the universe -Empiricism -All knowledge ultimately comes from sense experience, and therefore our knowledge is limited to what can be experienced. There is a relationship between metaphysics and epistemology. Our understanding of reality (metaphysics) depends on our understanding of what can be known (epistemology). Our theory of knowledge (epistemology) depends on how we understand ourselves in relation to the whole of reality (metaphysics). VALUE THEORY dValue Theory The branch of philosophy that studies values. -It can be subdivided into ethics, aesthetics, and social and political philosophy. iethics: is concerned with morality; right or wrong behavior. -the three areas of ethics are : descriptive, normative and metaethics. -descriptive ethics (what is ) identifies motives, desire and intentions of human conduct and acts. It describes moral actions. -normative ethics (what ought to be) proposes the principles by which people ought to act and live. These are called ethical theories. -Meta-ethics(analysis) on how we understand, know about, and what we mean when we talk about what is right and what is wrong. It deals with the meaning of key concepts, techniques of reasoning and analysis, and linguistic conventions It deals with matters like what do moral terms mean? What sort of mental state is involved in accepting a moral claim – a belief, an emotion? Is there any sort of moral reality or facts? Is ethical knowledge attainable? If so, how? In fact, drawing the conceptual distinction between Metaethics, Normative Ethics, and Applied Ethics is itself a metaethical analysis. ii. Aestheticsis concerned with the theory of art and beauty. -Many philosophical problems in aesthetics involve critical judgements.? -It deals with concepts of concepts of beauty. Is beauty subjective or objective? iii. Social and political philosophyisconcerned with value judgments concerning society, the state and the individual’s relation to these institutions -It deals with issues like -Why should individuals live in society? -What should be the social ideals of liberty, rights, justice, equality and responsibility -Why should anyone obey any government? -Why should some individuals or groups have political power over others -Who should have political power over others? -What should the scope of political power be? -What are the goals of government? Glossary 1philosophyphilia (love) + Sophia (wisdom) = the love of wisdom 2logicThe systematic study of rules to distinguish or recognize good arguments from bad 3metaphysicsThe study of the nature of being and of the world 4epistemologyThe study of the sources, nature and validity of knowledge 5value theoryThe branch of philosophy that studies values. It can be subdivided into ethics, aesthetics, and social and political philosophy. 6rationalismHuman reason alone can discover the basic principles of the universe 7empiricismAll knowledge ultimately comes from sense experience, and therefore our knowledge is limited to what can be experienced 8aesthetics Is concerned with the theory of art and beauty.

Work Absenteeism In Health Care Facilities Social Work Essay

Work Absenteeism In Health Care Facilities Social Work Essay Work absenteeism is one of the biggest challenges which face service provision in health care facilities. There has been an increase in the number of staff or health care practitioners who are absent from work and this affects health care delivery in such facilities. Work absenteeism may occur due to legitimate reasons or illegitimate reasons. Legitimate reason for work absenteeism include sickness, family issues and baby sitting while illegitimate reasons include missing work due to false pretences (Beach, 2007). In health care facilities, work absenteeism is a very serious issue since it adversely affects health care provision. Health care provision is a sensitive issue since it may lead to fatality of patients or deterioration of patients health if enough health care staff is not present to cater to their needs. It is therefore important to assess the issue of work absenteeism in the health care industry in more detail. This paper will assess work absenteeism in health care and will specifically focus on hospital and nursing home settings. The various causes of work absenteeism and adverse effects to health care institutions will be discussed in detail. The solutions to work absenteeism in the health care industry will also be given. The discussed issues will be summarized at the end. Causes of work absenteeism There are various causes of work absenteeism in the health care industry. These will be discussed below; Sickness This is one of the most common causes of work absenteeism in the health care industry. Many employees who call in sick are genuinely unwell and unable to discharge their duties effectively. This causal factor can be linked to the high cost of health care delivery in the United States and the world in general. The increase in health care costs and insurance has made many people be unable to afford health care services (Kotlikoff, 2007). Such people seek low quality health care service providers, home solutions or Internet remedies for diseases. These are ineffective in dealing with illnesses and health care employees who seek these solutions due to the inability to access health care services are likely to be absent from work for longer periods than those who seek effective treatment interventions. It is important to offer affordable and high quality health care services to both health care employees and the public in general in order to reduce the problem of work absenteeism. Family issues There are various family issues which may make employees in the health care industry be away from work. These family issues include domestic violence, divorce proceedings, family conflicts and others. Family issues are important to address and this is the reason that many health care employees who face these issues are likely to be absent from work in order to deal with them. It is difficult for any employee to be productive at the workplace when dealing with unresolved family issues. Many employees opt to deal with such issues before resuming work in order to be productive. Employers should give employees sufficient time to deal with family issues since such issues are likely to lower employee motivation if not dealt with in a timely manner. Babysitting Due to the effects of the global economic crunch, many families have had their disposable income lowered. Such families are struggling to pay their bills and expenses with the little income earned. As a result, many families are unable to pay for babysitters for their babies especially due to the hard economic times. In such circumstances, some employees in health care institutions may be forced to stay away from work as they baby sit their babies. This on the other hand adversely affects health care service provision since there may be inadequate staff to deal with patients. It is thus important to find a solution to this issue. Low employee motivation Employee motivation is very important for organizations in any industry. Employees are the most valuable resource and it is important to motivate them and increase their output in order for organizations to achieve their objectives (Mugisho, 2007). Employee motivation enables employees to look forward to going to their places of work, in this case hospitals and other health care facilities. However, when employees have low motivation levels, most prefer missing work and undertaking other activities which may be more rewarding to them. Low employee motivation is arguably the major reason that employees are absent from work in cases of illegitimate reasons. It is important to address the issue of employee motivation if cases of workplace absenteeism are to be reduced in health care institutions. Stress related issues Stress is a major causality of low employee productivity and work absenteeism in health care facilities. Employees in health care facilities are exposed to working under pressure in order to meet the targets set. Such employees see injuries and fatalities almost on a daily basis and this would cause psychological effects to any human being. Student interns are exposed to working for very long hours with little rest and this is stressful to them. When such employees are not provided for with an effective mechanism to deal with such stress, they are likely to be absent from work as a result of stress effects. This in turn adversely affects service provision in health care facilities. Employees should be provided for with mechanisms for dealing with stress if they are to reduce cases of absenteeism from the workplace. Nurse staffing ratio There is a major problem in many health care service facilities due to the inadequate number of health care professionals, especially nurses. There is an inadequate number of nurses in these facilities and this exerts pressure on nurses to work harder and for longer hours in order to meet the needs of patients (Phelps, 2002). This causes a strain to them as they are forced to work under tremendous pressure. In most cases, the increased workload does not translate into higher pay and this further frustrates them. In such working environments, nurses lose motivation to work and they begin being absent from work for illegitimate reasons. The problem of nurse staffing ration should therefore be addressed to reduce cases of work absenteeism. Disadvantages of work absenteeism There are various adverse effects which are associated with work absenteeism in health care facilities. These will be discussed below; Quality of health care service provision Work absenteeism in health care service delivery facilities adversely affects health care provision amongst patients. When health care professionals are absent from work, there may be inadequate health care professionals to deal with the needs of patients. This may affect the quality of health care received by patients. It may also lead to further complications for patients or even fatalities due to inadequate care given to patients. This is very dangerous for the nation at large since the health of the population may be compromised as a result of work absenteeism by health care workers. It is thus important to address this issue immediately to preserve the lives of patients. Poor performance by health care facilities Many health care facilities, especially those set up by the private sector are usually developed with profit making objective as a major goal. Although helping the sick is a major objective of many hospitals, many are formed to make profit out of charging for health care services provided. When employees are absent from work, just like in any other organization, productivity reduces. Reduction in productivity over time may lead to losses by the health care institutions. It may also lead to the inability to attain the set organizational goals. It is therefore necessary to ensure that employees in health care facilities are not absent from work since this may be an obstacle to the attaining of organizational objectives. Solution to problems There are several solutions which should be implemented in order to deal with the problems which were earlier discussed in the paper. These solutions will be discussed on the basis of the individual problems discussed earlier. Sickness It has been discussed that sickness is one of the major problems which contribute to work absenteeism. When employees are sick, they are unable to discharge their duties effectively. Employees who seek low quality health care services are more likely to be absent for longer periods than those who seek high quality services. In order to deal with this issue, the government and health care providers should take immediate steps. The government should reduce the costs of health care services and insurance through allocating more funds to cater for the same. Health care facilities should offer health care cover to all employees in order to ensure that they have access to high quality health care services. This will reduce the number of hours employees are absent due to sickness or other health complications. Family issues There are various family issues which health care professionals experience, as is experienced with the rest of society. It is important to develop mechanisms which can enable health care professionals deal with family issues without affecting their workplace objectives. Employees in health care facilities should have access to counselors who will enable them solve family issues which they face. This will prevent such issues from affecting their work environment and causing work absenteeism in health care facilities. Babysitting It has been discussed that babysitting is a causal factor of work absenteeism since many employees are unable to afford babysitters due to harsh economic times. It is important to empower employees, especially those with babies, to be financially stable and to be in a position to cater for all the babys needs. Health care service institutions should take two steps to resolve this problem. The first is to increase employee remuneration in order to ensure that employees, especially those with children, are able to access salaries and benefits which are adequate in catering for the childrens welfare. The second step is creating a nursery within the health care facility and allowing parents to bring their young ones in such environments. This strategy has proven to be very effective in increasing the productivity of working mother since they have peace of mind whenever they work in environments where their children are within reach. These two strategies should be implemented depending on the policies of the organization in order to ensure that work absenteeism is minimized. Low employee motivation Low employee motivation is caused by several factors including poor leadership, organizational culture, low remuneration and others. Low motivation reduces employee productivity and it is likely to cause work absenteeism due to lack of morale by employees. In order to improve employee motivation, several factors should be taken into account by the management. The management should employ the democratic leadership style which allows employees to participate in decision making (Bratton et. al., 2004). The management should also ensure that there is a conducive organizational culture which features communication, teamwork, conflict resolution mechanisms and participative decision making. In addition, the management should use both financial and non-financial motivation forms when remunerating employees. This will lead to an increase in employee productivity, organizational performance and lower cases of work absenteeism. Stress related issues As previously discussed, nurses are prone to stress due to the nature of the environment they work in. Nurses work in an environment where they experience injuries and fatalities by patients every day. Some patients come with serious injuries and they may survive or not. Nurses care for such patients and in cases where patients succumb to injuries, nurses suffer psychological trauma. Nurses also work under tremendous pressure and this may make them experience stress. In order to deal with stress, the management should ensure that nurses have access to counselors and therapies needed to enable them overcome workplace stress. This will enable them to work more effectively and will reduce cases where nurses are absent from work due to stress. Nurse staffing ratio Nursing staff ratio is a major cause of work absenteeism in health care institutions due to the pressure exerted on nurses. The inadequate number of nurses forces them to work harder and for longer time durations. This de-motivates them and makes some opt to be absent from work. In order to deal with this issue, the government and health care providers have a responsibility to ensure that there are adequate nurses in every health care facility. This can be achieved through dialog between all health care stakeholders and development of strategies which will ensure that adequate nurses are trained and posted to health care institutions around the country (Murray, 2005). This will reduce the burden to nurses and ensure that they work with relative ease. Such an action will reduce the number of nurses who are absent from work. Summary and conclusion Various issues which relate to work absenteeism in health care facilities have been discussed in detail. Employees have been seen to abstain from work for a variety of reasons and these include low morale, family issues, stress, sickness, nurse staffing ratio and babysitting among other causes. This has been seen to adversely affect health care service delivery to patients. It has also been seen to lower the performance of health care providers. In order to deal with these issues, a number of recommendations have been made and these include allowing children to work, ensuring employees are adequately remunerated, ensuring employees have access to counselors, increasing nurse staffing ratio and improving health care services to employees who work for hospitals and nursing homes. This will reduce instances where employees are absent from work and it will ensure that all objectives of health care organization are met.

Melting Point and Recrystallization

Recrystallization and Melting Point of Benzoic Acid Organic Chemistry 1 10/4/12 Abstract Recrystallization was done to remove impurities from the sample. The percent recovery of benzoic acid during recrystallization is 23. 02%. The difference between the pure and impure samples was observed by comparison of melting points. It was found that impure sample had a lower and wider melting point range of 120. 1-122. 2 (C). The pure sample melting point range was 121. 3-122. 5 (C). These ranges helped determine purity by comparing the known melting point of pure benzoic acid.Introduction Most of the organic substances recovered from organic reactions are impure and require purification to obtain the desired pure product. The extracted benzoic acid still had impurities which can be removed through the process of recrystallization. Recrystallization is a purification technique that relies on the differing solubility of compounds within a mixture separating to form a pure crystalline solid of the desired product. Often the desired compound is present in a larger quantity within the solution.Therefore, a pure sample of this compound can be crystallized from the solution while leaving the impurities dissolved within the solvent. Recrystallization is highly dependent upon the solubility of the two mixed compounds. Solubility is the property of how well a solute dissolves in a solvent. Solubility increases with an increase in energy within the system. This is due to the increased kinetic energy of the molecules leading to more collisions of the solvent with the solute. This process is called dissociation since the molecules of the solute become separated and surrounded by molecules of solvent.Solvation occurs once the lattice has completely dissociated within the solution and no traces of solid compound remain. These steps can be explained by Gibb’s Free Energy (? G) equation where a negative ? G indicates a spontaneous reaction. The solvation of the lattice structure is a spontaneous reaction since the entropy and temperature increase within the system as the enthalpy becomes more negative (more exothermic). Hot water was used to dissolve the crude benzoic acid in these stages of solubility. For the recrystallization to occur properly a good solvent must be chosen. Feature Article –  Free-Radical BrominationThe solute must be relatively insoluble in the solvent at room temperature but much more soluble in the solvent at higher temperature. At the same time, impurities that are present must either be soluble in the solvent at room temperature or insoluble in the solvent at a high temperature. For example, if you wanted to purify a sample of Compound X which is contaminated by a small amount of Compound Y, an appropriate solvent would be one in which all of Compound Y dissolved at room temperature because the impurities will stay in solution and pass through filter paper, leaving only pure crystals behind.Also appropriate would be a solvent in which the impurities are insoluble at a high temperature because they will remain solid in the boiling solvent and can then be filtered out. When purifying a substance with this method, the solubility of the solvent must be taken into careful consideration. It is necessary that a solvent is a poor solvent at room temperature and a very good solvent at high temperatures. As a result, polarity, the uneven distribution of electron density, must be taken into consideration. The polarity of the solvent should relatively be the opposite of the compound being dissolved.This creates a high temperature coefficient with the compound only being slightly soluble at room temperature and highly soluble at high temperatures. This allows the substance to later crystallize from the solution as it cools. The solvent also cannot be highly reactive with the solute. This will entirely defeat the purpose of dissolution since products will be created that are not the intended crystals. Additionally, the solvent should be able to dissolve either the impurity or the product so the compounds can be separated through other methods.The solvent also cannot have a boiling point higher than the melting point of the solute. If the solute melts prior to the boiling of the solvent, recrystallization will not be able to occur. For example, if you wanted to purify a sample of Compound X which is contaminated by a small amount of Compound Y, an appropriate solvent would be one in which all of Compound Y dissolved at room temperature because the impurities will stay in solution and pass through filter paper, leaving only pure crystals behind. Also appropriate would be a solvent in which the mpurities are insoluble at a high temperature because they will remain solid in the boiling solvent and can then be filtered out. Finally, the solvent should be volatile enough as to evaporate from the surface of the compound and be of low financial cost. Impurities can be removed by adding charcoal to the solution and hot gravity filtration. Adding charcoal provides a charged surface that is able to absorb impurities. The impurities that were absorbed by the charcoal were trapped in the filter paper during hot gravity filtration.Hot gravity filtration is the process by which the solution is filtered whi le on top of a heat source, such as a steam bath. This will remove any insoluble impurities (like charcoal used to remove the methyl orange) from the solution while maintaining the high temperature and high solubility coefficient of the solution. This prevents the solid from crystallizing from the solution while within the filtering apparatus. Fluted filter paper is also utilized to minimize the surface contact with the cooler funnel and to maximize the surface area over which the solution is filtered.The recrystallization process is entropically disfavored because the overall order of the system increases with the formation of a solid product. This process involves an increase in temperature within the system, which thereby causes (? G) to become negative. The increase in temperature allows the process to occur spontaneously. Nucleation is the start of the crystallization process where one crystal precipitates out of the solution first and thereby provides a lattice structure upon which molecules of the same compound can connect.This is all encompassed by the crystal lattice theory. The crystal lattice theory states that a growing solid will select similar molecules into its growing lattice. Sometimes, this does not happen spontaneously due to the solution not being sufficiently supersaturated. This is treated by â€Å"seeding† the solution with a small crystal of pure compound. This acts as a starting point for nucleation to occur. Additionally, the glass of the flask can be scratched with a glass rod. This provides a sharp edge upon which developing crystals can adhere and begin the nucleation process.Once nucleation occurs, the solution must be cooled slowly. This allows the development of crystals to exclude any impurities from the lattice and create a pure compound. The melting point of a substance is an intensive property of a compound. This kind of property does not depend upon the amount of substance present (i. e. molecular weight, density), u nlike an extensive property (i. e. mass, volume dependent upon amount present). Melting is defined as a phase change in which a solid substance becomes a liquid substance without changing its identity or chemical formula.The melting point of a substance is defined as a range between the lower and upper melting points. The lower melting point is the temperature at which the substance’s structure becomes obviously distorted. The upper melting point is the point at which the substance has become a liquid. This phase change can be observed and measured in a Melt Temp device. The melting point range therefore is the range between the lower and upper melting points observed. Pure substances tend to have a smaller melting point range at a higher temperature than impure substances. Table 1: Reagent Table (2)Chemical Name| Chemical Formula| Molar Mass (g/mol)| Density (g/ml)| BP/MP (C)| Amount Used (mL)| Concentration (mol/L)| Benzoic Acid| C6H5COOH| 122. 12| 1. 27| 249. 2/122. 41| -| -| Methyl Orange| C14H14N3NaO3S| 327. 33| 1. 28| -/>300| -| -| Charcoal| -| -| -| -| -| -| Water| H2O| 18. 0153| 1| 100/0| -| -| Experimental Prior to beginning the recrystallization experiment, the dry benzoic acid and watch glass were weighed and small portion of the crude benzoic acid was set aside for analysis in the melting point experiment. The remaining benzoic acid was placed in a 250mL Erlenmeyer flask. 00mL of water in a 250mL boiling flask containing a few boiling stones was brought to a boil using a heating mantle. The heating mantle was situated on top of a raised lab jack and the boiling flask was clamped to monkey bars. Gloves were used whenever handling the heating mantle or boiling flask. Minimum amount of boiling water was slowly added to the crude crystals. The solution was kept at or near boiling point. A very small amount activated carbon (charcoal) was added to the solution. After this, hot gravity filtration was performed over a steam bath. The fluted filter paper was wet with some boiling water prior to filtration.The solution was then carefully poured into the funnel. The filtrate was then removed from the steam bath and allowed to cool slowly at room temperature. These crystals were then collected by vacuum filtration, placed on a watch glass, and allowed to dry over a one week period. Prior to conducting the melting point experiment, the purified crystals were massed. The melting point experiment was performed by loading two capillary tubes: one with the impure benzoic acid set aside prior to the recrystallization experiment and the other with the pure benzoic acid obtained by recrystallization.The samples were obtained by tapping the open end of the capillary tube on top of the desired compound. The tube was then repeatedly bounced (open end up) inside of an inverted funnel. The two tubes containing crude and pure crystals were then placed inside of the Melt Temp device. The heat was increased and the tubes were observed through a viewing port outside of the apparatus. The melting point range was recorded. Results Table 2: Data and Calculations Data| Mass (g)| Crude Benzoic Acid| 4. 04| Watch glass| 40. 23| Watch glass with pure benzoic acid crystals| 41. 6| Pure benzoic acid crystals| . 93| Percent recovery of benzoic acid | 23. 02% | gBenzoic AcidgCrude Mix ? 100 =% Recovery of Benzoic Acid Figure 1: % Recovery Table 3: Melting Point Ranges Sample Type| Lower Melting Point ( °C)| Upper Melting Point ( °C)| Melting Point Range ( °C)| Crude Sample| 120. 1| 122. 2| 120. 1-122. 2| Pure Sample| 121. 3| 122. 5| 121. 3-122. 5| Observations * Benzoic Acid dissolved in hot water * Solution was a pink color * Addition of charcoal caused solution to turn a cloudy grayish color * Crystals formed early in filter paper Solution would no longer filter through paper properly * New filter paper resumed proper filtering * Filtrate was clear * Web-like white crystals began to form immediately after removed from the heat * Crude crystals started melting * Crude crystals appeared creamy white and distorted * Pure crystals lost their defined shape at lower melting point * Both crystals were liquefied Discussion As a slightly polar compound, benzoic acid was able to dissolve in water at a high temperature since the overall kinetic energy of the system increased to allow more collisions to occur within the solution.Since it is only slightly soluble in water due to water’s high temperature coefficient, the benzoic acid solution was consistently kept over a steam bath to prevent it from crystallizing out of the solution early. The pink color of the solution indicated that methyl orange was still present within the dried crude benzoic acid. Methyl orange is an acid indicator that turns pink in a solution of specific pH. The pink color of the solution was indicative of the fact that the benzoic acid solution was slightly acidic.Charcoal (activated carbon) was added to this solution to remove this co loration. This was made possible by the process of adsorption in which the large nonpolar portions of the methyl orange molecule adhered to the large surface area of the nonpolar carbon molecules. Only a small amount of charcoal was needed to be used in order to remove the coloring of the solution. In this experiment, however, too much charcoal was added and therefore caused the solution to turn a cloudy gray color. This charcoal overload therefore created other problems later in the experiment.Hot gravity filtration was carried out to remove any insoluble impurities still remaining in the solution. The temperature was kept high to keep the solubility coefficient increased so as to prevent premature crystallization from the solution. Fluted filter paper maximized the surface area over which the solution could be filtered and also minimized the contact the solution would have with the cooler funnel. This temperature difference could have also caused premature crystallization within t he filter paper. The percent recovery for the benzoic acid was 23. 02%.This low recovery rate was primarily due to the fact of premature crystallization occurring within the filter paper during the hot filtration portion of the experiment. This was caused by the over-abundance of charcoal present within the solution. The charcoal provided a surface upon which the crystals could form as the solution became briefly highly concentrated within the filter paper. As a result, a significant amount of product was lost. The filter paper also had to be changed because the formation of crystals prevented the rest of the solution from being properly filtered into the flask.This caused a significant loss in solution also containing the benzoic acid that could have crystallized within the flask. The exact amount of product lost was unable to be determined due to the presence of charcoal within the crystals, saturation of the filter paper, and the crystal’s adherence to the filter paper. Ho wever, the weight of the filter paper, crystals, and other impurities was 7. 63g, of which a substantial amount of the weight could be contributed to the saturated filter paper. Another source of error could have been that not all benzoic acid within the filtrate crystallized from the solution.Even though the solution was cooled slowly and benzoic acid is only slightly soluble in water, the solubility of the benzoic acid still was enough to allow it to stay within the solution. Another source of error could be from a Eutectic reaction. This reaction forms a eutectic mixture, which is a mixture that behaves like a compound. The behavior of this mixture could skew conclusions by providing a sharp melting range, similar to pure compounds. Additionally, not enough boiling water could have been added which would prevent some benzoic acid from completely dissolving within the solution.This remaining crystalline benzoic acid would then be lost during the filtration process. The filtrate th at made it into the flask was clear and began forming crystals almost immediately after being removed from the heat. This was due to the fact that as temperature decreased, the solubility of the solvent decreased, creating a supersaturated solution. This therefore forced the less soluble component of the mixture (benzoic acid) to crystallize from the solution. The solution was cooled slowly to prevent any impurities from adhering to the benzoic acid crystal lattice and thereby affecting the purity of the compound.Once a few crystals formed, others began to form the crystal lattice with them in a process called nucleation. Melting points are a range between the lower melting point (where the crystals first become distorted) and the higher melting point (where the crystals are completely liquefied) of a substance. This range was identified using the Melt Temp apparatus which magnified the view of the sample capillary tubes to allow easy observation of the state of the crystals in rela tion to the temperature of the device, which was measured using a thermometer.The melting point range for the crude benzoic acid was 120. 1 °C – 122. 2 °C, and the range for the pure crystals was 121. 3 °C – 122. 5 °C. The range for the crude benzoic acid was slightly larger at a 2. 1 °C difference because of the presence of impurities can decrease the lower range of the melting point and increase the upper range of the melting point. Both values for the crude and pure benzoic acid fell very close to the literature value of 122. 38 °C which therefore indicates that they were relatively pure.However, the crude benzoic acid’s range of 2. 1 °C was larger than the pure benzoic acid’s range of 1. 2 °C. The fact that the crude benzoic acid range is wider than the pure range indicates that there are impurities within the crystals. A possible source of error for this portion of the experiment could have been human error in the interpretation of th e thermometer or the delayed reaction between witnessing the lower and upper melting points and looking at the thermometer to record the temperature.References 1. Methyl Orange MSDS; CAS#: 547-58-0 2, Benzoic Acid MSDS; CAS# 65-85-0 [Online]; Sciencelab. com, Inc. : Houston, Texas, June 9, 2012. http://www. sciencelab. com/msds. phpmsdsld=9927096 (Accessed September 11, 2012) 2. Padias, A. (2011). Making the Connections2 A How-To Guide for Organic Chemistry Lab Techniques. 2ed. The University of Arizona. Plymouth: Hayden-McNeil Publishing, LLC.