Friday 27 May 2011

~Of a greenhouse gas..~

Hehe, in this post let's go into physics/chemistry ;) .. NO! Don't go away you Arts & Humanities Major (or History *cough*), just keep reading on it won't be that bad. =D
Although be warned that there are quite a number of references to Chemical Engineering here and there (but of course, explanations are given).
Let's call it tadabbur Chemical Engineering eh? :D

What would you answer when I ask you: what are the three states of matter?

Three? Well yeah of course: solid, liquid and gas.

Some of you guyz who has extra scientific knowledge (or maybe a wiki addict) might also answer Four; including plasma. No not blood plasma (atau plasma darah in Malay), I mean: "Plasma is a state of matter similar to gas in which a certain portion of the particles are ionized." (Wiki P. ed ia, 2011).

Ok I don't want to go into plasma, that is not the main point of this post.

But do you know there's another "phase" of matter? Call it the 2.5th state of matter if you want (although technically it's not). At this phase, a matter is neither a liquid nor a gas, there's no specific distinction between the phases. Or in thermodynamic terms (ok you Arts major can skip this if you want ;D) the enthalpy of evaporation ΔHvap equals zero.
When a fluid reaches this phase, it is called a "Supercritical Fluid".

So what's so great about this supercritical fluid? Let's look at carbon dioxide. In its supercritical state, it has many useful purposes. Since it is neither a gas nor a liquid it can effuse (i.e. individual molecules going through holes without collision with other molecules; or in simple terms, menembusi. You know how balloons left alone will shrink even when it has no visible holes? That's effusion) like a gas AND has solvent abilities of liquids.

This highly dissolving attribute of supercritical carbon dioxide is very useful in the extraction of chemical components, such as caffeine from coffee and even dry cleaning (which uses chemicals as solvents). It is also used in removing toxic residues, soot and odours of fire. In other words, it is used as a "cleaning" agent and what's more, it has very low impact on the environment (almost 100% non-toxic). So by becoming a supercritical fluid this common gas becomes a valuable and useful commodity.

So... what's my point in bringing up this... fluid, supercritical thingy thing. Chill, mestilah ada point dia =P

Actually what I said above relates quite closely with life and us, human beings as khalifah on this earth.

Our life is just like carbon dioxide (yeah, sorry for the analogy but I am a Chem Engineer see?). If we are released into the atmosphere, being allowed to roam freely in the environment without any restrictions, we will only be pollutants on this earth. We will only gather up in the atmosphere, increasing the temperature of the earth, causing forest fires; basically destroying the earth, making it a living hell. We might even mix with clouds, form carbonic acid and drop down as acid rain, killing trees, fish and deforming structures. In other words we will only kill and cause destruction on this earth.



"Dan (ingatlah) ketika Tuhanmu berfirman kepada para malaikat, "Aku hendak menjadikan khalifah di bumi." Mereka berkata "Apakah Engkau hendak menjadikan orang yang merosak dan menumpahkan darah di sana, sedangkan kami tasbih memuji-Mu dan menyucikan nama-Mu?" Dia berfirmanm "Sesungguhnya Aku mengetahui apa yang tidak kamu ketahui"
(Al Baqarah: 30)


Believe it or not, that is the nature of human being if they are left freely.
But then what are we supposed to do with our life? That carbon dioxide. Are we just pollutants? Well, as polluting carbon dioxide can be, it can become a form which is very useful.

We must be supercritical fluids.

Instead of just being free in gas phase, we should be controlled as supercritical fluids, then we can become the cleaning agents of this earth, removing impurities and nasty odours; purifying this earth. (which kinda coincides with one of our jobs as khalifahs kan?)

But do you know what causes substance in their gas phase to change into supercritical fluids?

The answer is Extreme Pressure.

(Below is a special warning to a certain person I know of who reads this blog)

Warning: Numbers below!

Trivia: The critical point of carbon dioxide (i.e. the point at which if the temperature and pressure go above that point, the substance will become a supercritical fluid) is 7.38 MPa (Mega Pascals) at 31.1°C. That is about 73 times the pressure the atmosphere is exerting on us.

(Ok, dah habis nombor)

So what does it mean? What makes us supercritical fluids? Challenges.
If we take challenges that we face on this earth as forces, then after taking a lot of it naturally our pressure level increases, and we'll get closer and closer to being a supercritical fluid.

This pretty much sums up the role of challenges in our life: shape us into better people to suit our job on this earth as the khalifah of Allah.

...

So is that it?

Well not really, that's just the whole concept, but there are other things that we need to do in order to prepare our lives to be pressurised into useful fluids.

(the following is explained in the form of Chemical Engineering [again.], but please bear with me k? =P)

The first step is to have a direction/purpose for our lives. If the carbon dioxide is meant as waste, then it will be waste. But if you direct it into proper pipings you can control and manage it better.
So what's the purpose of our lives? Refer to the first two lines of verse (2:30) given above, and (51:56) below:

"Aku tidak menciptakan jin dan manusia MELAINKAN agar mereka BERIBADAH kepadaKu."
(Az-Dzariyat: 56)

What's next? The gas needs to be channelled and stored in a proper containment; a pressure vessel (a container handling substance of high pressure. Aerosol cans are examples).
In other words, we need a confinement, the rules of Allah, the walls/barriers that is Syariah.

The walls however needs to be very strong and thick to withstand the high pressure that would be exerted on it, welded with one another properly and strongly or else the container will explode (heee explosions. now that's Chem Eng ;D) causing even more damage to the surrounding and to yourself. The walls should also be complete, without any holes. Allowing holes of course can release some of the pressure in your container, giving freedom to some of your carbon dioxide, but that would only lower down your value (since the amount of pressure you accumulate is what brings you closer to supercritical point), and at very high pressures, it could propagate into a crack and failure of the whole container. So always make maintenance to your walls everytime an external factor tries to damage it. ^^

Now you have your container, you are in Islam, you want to claim to be in Iman. Now as more carbon dioxide gets into the container, pressure will accumulate, and Allah will also provide additional sources to exert more pressure. Isn't this what Allah promised us?

"Apakah manusia mengira bahawa mereka akan dibiarkan hanya dengan mengatakan, 'Kami telah beriman,' dan mereka tidak diUJI?"
(Al-Ankabuut: 2)


Allah will not just let you be, He will test you with challenges and increasing your pressure value.

However the rules of thermodynamics (this is a simple one. believe me) state that increasing pressure will also increase temperature proportionately.
We are but mere humans, with challenges comes Stress. Our temperature will increase with pressure, and at high temperatures, wall materials start to get weak. It's Sunnatullah.
This is when you will need coolants to reduce the temperature of your pressure vessel. So what is it that will cool us down? Do'a, zikrullah, ibadah, patience.

".. Ingatlah, hanya dengan zikrullah (mengingati Allah) hati menjadi tenteram."
(Ar-Ra'd: 28)


Reading the Qur'an also helps, since Allah often reminds us in the Qur'an with verses such as this one below so that we will be calm and cool:

"Sesungguhnya orang-orang yang berkata, 'Tuhan kami adalah Allah' kemudian mereka meneguhkan pendirian mereka, maka malaikat-malaikat akan turun kepada mereka (dengan berkata), 'Janganlah kamu berasa takut dan janganlah kamu bersedih hati; dan bergembiralah kamu dengan (memperoleh) syurga yang telah dijanjikan kepadamu.' "
(Fussilat: 30)


Masha Allah =)
Tak cukup best ke?

And as time goes by, inshaAllah we'll become successful cleaning agents of this world.

Akhir kata: Life teaches us a lot doesn't it? Whatever we face are lessons to us. Ponder around life and our surroundings and they can provide lessons and become reminders to us. =)

Jom kita berusaha untuk menjadi khalifah di muka bumi Allah ini inshaAllah!!

7 comments:

  1. Like.

    and thanks for refreshing my memory about ChemEng stuff.I am more becoming a chemist+EE- Enger+Designer+Public Relation officer nowadays.and a bit linguistic.

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  2. You sound like one of those Discovery Channel shows, but anyway, masha Allah, that's a very thorough analogy. And subhanAllah, memang Allah bagi each of us different ways of understanding his Words and Signs! I myself am one of those people who get meanings (of Qur'anic verses) by listening to the various inflections and undercurrents of the actual words and their rhythms when I recite them, or when I listen to someone else reciting the. And one of the Qur'an's mu'jizat is that every single time you read it, the words take on a deeper meaning, so you never get bored.

    So now I know (a bit) how Chem Eng-obsessed people think. Like, supercritical fluids? *shakes head*

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  3. Kak mala: Hehe, that's just how working life is. Tapi ok ape, it's called inter-disciplinary =P
    And anyway, as what our (beloved) lecturer once said, we'll only use less than 30 (ke 10) percent of what we learnt in uni when we work.

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  4. Cik Nab: Yeap that is so true. Oh this is the first time I hear about that mu'jizat, thanks for the info =D

    Can't tell you how much I envy you to be able to do that, rather than having to read translations which might miss out on the actual meaning of words.

    Hehehe, but aren't they interesting?? (yeah, squirm to the fact that I am not joking)

    P.S. Oh yeah, happy getting-older-than-me-by-a-year. I remembered ok, just x tau nk wish where and how =P

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  5. Oh hey but you can actually get concepts through your understanding of chemistry (of all things). I (and many others) can't do that. You get this I get that, huh.

    P.S.: You don't have to remember or express that remembrance (no one has to), but thank you all the same :D! Look who's older now! Hahaha. What's a couple of months anyway, pfft.

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  6. Yeah. Maybe I should call you kak nab huh? Especially when you thought you're a year older than now before someone had to remind you. ;p

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