Thread: My new possible experiment idea to test to see if Oxygen would combine with gamma-Aminobutyric acid

Hello everyone

Sorry everyone, I tried to upload a picture of the experiment i'm about to explain but it wouldn't allow it for some reason.

My idea is to put magnesium nitrate in a test tube, put the test tube in a test tube rack, put filter paper above the powder, compound a pure GABA tablet into powder, place a transparent piece of paper on a precise digital weighing scale, exclude the weight of transparent paper, pour GABA powder onto this paper surface, make a note of it's weight, then pour the weighed powder onto the filter paper above the magnesium nitrate, then burn the magnesium nitrate with a magnifying glass, this would then decompose making single Oxygen fly upwards, then after all this I would weigh the GABA powder again to see if it is heavier, and if it is, I would think that the Oxygen has combined with GABA.

I would like to know if there are any flaws in this experiment idea of mine, I came up with a previous one which involved water but that one was terrible and this forum saved me from it.

Originally Posted by Mark_Isaac_10

Hello everyone

Sorry everyone, I tried to upload a picture of the experiment i'm about to explain but it wouldn't allow it for some reason.

My idea is to put magnesium nitrate in a test tube, put the test tube in a test tube rack, put filter paper above the powder, compound a pure GABA tablet into powder, place a transparent piece of paper on a precise digital weighing scale, exclude the weight of transparent paper, pour GABA powder onto this paper surface, make a note of it's weight, then pour the weighed powder onto the filter paper above the magnesium nitrate, then burn the magnesium nitrate with a magnifying glass, this would then decompose making single Oxygen fly upwards, then after all this I would weigh the GABA powder again to see if it is heavier, and if it is, I would think that the Oxygen has combined with GABA.

I would like to know if there are any flaws in this experiment idea of mine, I came up with a previous one which involved water but that one was terrible and this forum saved me from it.

I honestly doubt if this will achieve very much. If you manage to decompose the MgNO3, it will evolve O2 and NO2. The atmosphere itself is 20% O2 and GABA does not react with it, so blowing a little more over it from your decomposing MgNO3 would not seem to me likely to make much difference. The other possibility is that NO2 might do something. This is conceivable, as NO2 is quite reactive, but I am sceptical that the little stream of NO2 passing through your filter paper is likely to be enough.

But I will defer to any practising organic chemist who can give a more authoritative opinion.

What are you trying to do with this experiment, anyway?

Ah I see, yes this is great, you have shown me that I have overlooked the state of the Oxygen decomposing from the magnesium nitrate, I thought it was O but now I look again it is in fact O2. I'm glad you managed to see the experiment, I was thinking it would be hard to imagine with out a visual aide.

The only matter I can think of right now which would give O in a non humidity state from thermal decomposition is Mercury Oxide.

I want to see if O can form some sort of temporary magnetic bond with GABA because I think it would help us understand how the Brain works. It would be a safe way to transport Oxygen around the Body with out raising air pressure, and so much more.

This is still nonsense for the reasons given in your last thread. What do you think has changed since your last thread on the subject?

Well, I now have a new experiment idea from studying the works of "Carl Wilhelm Scheele" the man who first discovered Oxygen, I have taken on board that involving water would cause humidity and give unstable results. Also the idea that the Hydrogen would be protonated is new tantalising evidence for me, as I do believe magnetism does play a big role in chemistry (things like covalent bonds and para-magnetic atoms).

The main thing is, is that I have (and I may be wrong here) no reason why O would not combine in any way with GABA temporarily.

Definitely not the way you propose. If you want to discuss chemistry I suggest you actually do some reading and learn some and stop making up rubbish. Until then I won't respond to any more of your posts as you are displaying crackpot tendencies and just repeating the same basic nonsense about "magnetism" which, as has already been explained to you in your previous thread, is a non-starter.

Well in truth I am fascinated by the Brain and I don't trust the Bohr Effect on how gas exchanges, I have this idea which I'm trying to prove right or wrong to my self that all cells have their own unique ways of getting Oxygen. And right now I am focusing on Neuron and Glion cells.

Originally Posted by Mark_Isaac_10

Well in truth I am fascinated by the Brain and I don't trust the Bohr Effect on how gas exchanges, I have this idea which I'm trying to prove right or wrong to my self that all cells have their own unique ways of getting Oxygen. And right now I am focusing on Neuron and Glion cells.

Look, I hate to be a wet blanket, but do you really suppose you have a good chance of developing and testing a new biochemical theory, if you are not yet competent in basic chemistry?

For the nth time, magnetism does not play an important role in chemical bonding. Chemical bonding is electrostatic in nature. Electrons certainly do possess a magnetic moment, and thus unpaired electrons can give rise to a net magnetic moment in atoms and molecules. Interesting magnetic properties can also arise in other ways, if there is what amounts to a "flow" of electrons wthin molecular orbitals, e.g. "ring currents" in conjugated sp2- hybridised carbon ring systems. But none of this is called on to account for either ionic or covalent bonding. It is no good just electing to "believe" that it does. That is not how science works, I'm afraid.

Please do some reading on chemical bonding, or by all means let's talk about it here.

Originally Posted by Mark_Isaac_10

Ah I see, yes this is great, you have shown me that I have overlooked the state of the Oxygen decomposing from the magnesium nitrate, I thought it was O but now I look again it is in fact O2. I'm glad you managed to see the experiment, I was thinking it would be hard to imagine with out a visual aide.

The only matter I can think of right now which would give O in a non humidity state from thermal decomposition is Mercury Oxide.

I want to see if O can form some sort of temporary magnetic bond with GABA because I think it would help us understand how the Brain works. It would be a safe way to transport Oxygen around the Body with out raising air pressure, and so much more.

Regarding the transport of oxygen around the body, do you think the current model - of transport by haemoglobin and then diffusion across cell membranes - is somehow inadequate? Do you understand how it works?

Magnets?

Originally Posted by PhDemon

Magnets?

Yup, magnets. Again. But at least there is no perpetual motion here. And no "energy", or "vibrations". I don't think we have a case of woo on our hands, probably just someone interested but who needs to study more - hence someone to encourage rather than put off (he says optimistically).

I do wonder if the unique fascination of magnetism for so many people is somehow related to the fact that it is in origin a relativistic phenomenon, i.e. unintuitive in a fairly intrinsic sense. But I speculate…...

Originally Posted by exchemist

Originally Posted by PhDemon

Magnets?

Yup, magnets. Again. But at least there is no perpetual motion here. And no "energy", or "vibrations". I don't think we have a case of woo on our hands, probably just someone interested but who needs to study more - hence someone to encourage rather than put off (he says optimistically).

It's not complete woo, but his tendency to stick with his random idea (not necessarily a bad one, just an ignorant one) despite being told by people who know what they are talking about (repeatedly) that it doesn't work is indicative of crankery, so unless he asks a sensible question or indicates he is willing to learn I'm leaving him to it.

Originally Posted by PhDemon

Originally Posted by exchemist

Originally Posted by PhDemon

Magnets?

Yup, magnets. Again. But at least there is no perpetual motion here. And no "energy", or "vibrations". I don't think we have a case of woo on our hands, probably just someone interested but who needs to study more - hence someone to encourage rather than put off (he says optimistically).

It's not complete woo, but his tendency to stick with his random idea (not necessarily a bad one, just an ignorant one) despite being told by people who know what they are talking about (repeatedly) that it doesn't work is indicative of crankery, so unless he asks a sensible question or indicates he is willing to learn I'm leaving him to it.

Fair enough. I'll give it one more go and then see…..

(P.S. I'm hoping to see RPW this summer - some of us who were his ChCh pupils in the 1972 matric. are exercising our college dining rights as a means of having a bit of reunion. He seemed physically v. ancient last year, but the mind is still sharp, evidently.)

I last saw him in 2010 (he seems to have stopped attending conferences and meetings a few years before that) at the launch of his latest atmospheric chemistry book at Burlington House. (He signed it "To a former partner in crime..."). He seemed on good form then (but was very careful about his alcohol consumption which was very unlike him!)