Chemist Noham Weinberg to speak on molecular modeling in University Lecture Series

UFV chemistry instructor Noham Weinberg is next up in the Research Lecture Series at the University of the Fraser Valley. He will be speaking at 4 pm on Wed, Feb 6, in the Abbotsford campus lecture theatre (B101).

Weinberg’s topic is Molecular modeling and bizarre chemistry of high pressures.

Here is a summary of what he will be speaking about:

“It is well established and generally recognized that temperature has a profound effect on chemical reactions. Every Grade 12 chemistry student knows that reaction rates double, triple, or even quadruple with every 10 degrees increase in temperature; it does not require high school chemistry to know that food is safer if kept in coolers or refrigerators. Chemical effects of high pressures are far less known, even to professional chemists. However, although more subtle, these effects are no less profound than the effects of temperature. To people not familiar with them, some of these effects may appear quite weird and unusual. For example, exposed to very high pressures, typical non-metals, such as hydrogen or nitrogen, become metals, like iron or mercury.”

In the UFV Molecular Modeling Lab, Weinberg and his colleagues use methods of computational chemistry to predict chemical effects of high pressures and gauge them quantitatively.

Dr. Noham Weinberg received an MSc in physical chemistry from Moscow State University in 1976 and a PhD in theoretical chemistry from Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, in 1981. He joined the Chemistry department of the then University College of the Fraser Valley in 1994. The UFV Molecular Modeling Lab was established on his initiative in 2001. More than 50 UFV students received research training in this lab.

The UFV university lecture series presents several lectures highlighting faculty research each academic year.

Dr. Stan Manu will speak at the next lecture, on Mon, Mar 11 at 4 pm, on Roles of Language(s) in Bilingual Students’ Understanding of Mathematics

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