Spacechem more than machine12/9/2023 ![]() ![]() Reactions that release chemical energy to the environment are called exothermic, the opposite ones are endothermic. You have seen examples of chemical energy being released or taken up when I talked about reaction energy. Energy comes in many forms such as heat, radiation, mechanical energy and chemical energy. Its useful to take a quick look at energy first. I will probably fail at the latter part, so dont feel bad about skipping this section (you can jump to the ∜hemistry subsection if you like, it gets simpler from there). Ill try to explain entropy from a chemists perspective while not making things too difficult. Entropy is one of those things that are easy to understand in a general way, but hard to master. It might even be more important in chemistry than in physics, but you should ask a physicist about that. Entropy is a concept from physics thats used a lot in chemistry. Well, in case you get tired from solving the puzzles or reading my text, feel free to play a relaxing game of First Person Tetris. The article is open-access so check it out if youre interested. I think it is quite incredible how much of the actual chemistry subject you can explain/predict by just using these simple tetris blocks. Interestingly, the blocks naturally formed some quite interesting patterns. They took out most variables, so the distribution of the tetrominoes was driven by entropy, which is a subject I will talk about for the next puzzle. Their simplification was to use Tetris pieces instead of actual molecules. They wanted to simulate adsorption (sticking to a surface) of complex molecules. In 2009, the researchers Barnes, Siderius and Gelb did just that. It is very difficult to simulate large amounts of complex molecules, theres so many variables and things we just dont know, and the math is so difficult that computers just fail. Remember when I said Tetris has nothing to do with chemistry? Well, I kinda lied. If youd like to know more about Tetris home country while listening to Tetris Music A please check this video. It tells of a meeting between a peddler and a girl, in which they haggle over the price of goods in a veiled metaphor for courtship. It is actually part of the melody of a 19th century Russian folk song called Коробейники (Korobeiniki). The different versions featured quite the variety of music, but Music A from the Gameboy version is probably the best known one. Tetris is available in some shape of form for nearly every game console, operating system, and also for many other devices. In that year, he and Henk Rogers, a Dutch man who had negotiated with the Russian government about getting Nintendo a license for Tetris, founded The Tetris Company, which owns the Tetris trademark till this day. ![]() Pajitnov didnt get any royalties until 1996, when the license ownership reverted from the government back to himself. The game kept spreading like wildfire, and the best known version was probably the one that came bundled with every Nintendo Gameboy. In 1988, the Russian government started claiming the rights to the game, after Pajitnov had granted it to them. But the game was out in the west and wouldnt be stopped. They failed to do so, I guess that at those cold war times there were a lot of political barriers to overcome. They brought it to the west around 1987 while trying to make a licensing deal with Pajitnov. It quickly gained popularity in the Soviet Union, and at some point it ended up in Budapest, where it was discovered by some British folks. The game was made by Alexey Pajitnov and released in 1984 in the Soviet Union. What does this have to do with chemistry, you ask? Nothing at all! ![]() Part 36: Closed Tournament - Round 3 - The Chem The Chem in SpaceChem, Closed Tournament Round 3 ![]()
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