User talk:Wimvandorst/archive01

Zinc chloride synthesis

Wim,

Thanks for your contributions to the hydrochloric acid page, your expertise is greatly appreciated!

I noticed that you changed the zinc chloride page, saying that anhydrous zinc chloride can be made using hydrochloric acid. Is this practicable, bearing in mind the strongly hygroscopic nature of zinc chloride, and its strong tendency to hydrolyse? The original submission used anhydrous hydrogen chloride, a method which I lifted from one of the books I cited- and one would expect this to work well. I realise that hydrated zinc chloride can be made in this way, as both of us have probably done in the lab many times, but I would have thought that anhydrous ZnCl2 was another story. Thanks, Walkerma 05:09, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Wim, Thank you for your improvement to the page, it is much clearer now. It was a bit confusing before. All the best, Walkerma 20:42, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)

• Hello Walkerma, part of my working on the hydrochloric acid page is checking the links to it, and to its sister-page of hydrogen chloride. Many people don't know/care about the difference, but as it is an important difference, I'm reading all linked pages, and correcting where appropriate. The zinc chloride page was indeed a bit unclear, which lead to my mistake. It is now much clearer, although I hope that it is still true: is indeed zinc sulfide its ore, or is that zinc oxide? Wim van Dorst 21:31, 2005 Feb 27 (UTC)

Wim, Yes, ZnS (sphalerite) is indeed the major ore of zinc, at least according to Wikipedia! (Follow the link through zinc sulfide and you'll find the sphalerite page). I actually took that reaction from a book. Thanks Walkerma 21:50, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Alkali Act

Thanks, you saved me all the effort of researching this. Now, do you know if it was the first air pollution legislation?
-- ~ender 2005-03-12 07:30:MST

• Hi Ender, all I did was browse the Internet a bit (there wasn't any serious background information in Wikipedia) to gather enough information to produce a reasonable stub wikipage about the Alkali Act. Glad to be of service, but I still think that the page needs quite some work before it will reach Featured Article status.

I know it was 'easy'. But it still saved me from having to do it. Thus, am saying thanks.

• As a chemical scientist and not a historian, I don't know the answer to your question. But it would seem likely to me that there must have been kings, radjas or other country chieftains, who disliked some foul-smelling industry enough to establish some law against malodorous practice, much earlier (centuries?) than the Alkali Act's birth year.Wim van Dorst 15:52, 2005 Mar 13 (UTC)

But, I'm not sure there were any other large-scale industries previous to this. I know that at least one capital outlawed tanneries and the like, because of the smell - but they were just displacing the industry to another town near them. ie: NIMBYs of the pre-industrial sort.

I've not heard of any other state outlawing, or regulating a whole industry previous to this.

P.S. How about getting a personalized account? That makes it less anonymous, and therefore friendlier to communicate. Wim van Dorst 16:18, 2005 Mar 13 (UTC)

I hate accounts :)

My IP addy right now is fairly stable.

~ender 2005-05-02 18:32:MST

Hydrochloric acid on peer review

Hi, Wim, I noticed you seconded my plea for more PR time for Hydrochloric acid. I don't think you'll have any need to worry about it, as I've lately been the main PR housecleaner myself. In case somebody's really absentminded and archives the article anyway, I'll just fish it out of the archive and put it back (or please do it yourself if you should notice it first). Best, Bishonen | Talk 00:12, 19 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I responded to your question on April 4 on my User talk:H Padleckas page. H Padleckas 21:18, 4 Apr 2005 (UTC)

See my response to your response to above on my User talk:H Padleckas page.
H Padleckas 22:33, 4 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Templates etc.

Wim,

I'm please to see you joining the Wikiprojects, and I like the new template you've been working on. Can you give us a couple of examples of how the new one works? Many of my pages use the short form inorganic template- should I add your template to these pages?

By the way, I did a lot of upgrading on the ferric chloride page recently, including renaming it iron(III) chloride, but I've only used it a couple of times, so I'm sure you can add plenty more. However iron(II) chloride needs a lot of content- it's pretty much just the stub you wrote. Take a look at a discussion between H Padleckas and me about our plans on my talk page- perhaps you can add in your plans for work? I'm currently very busy at work, but I've started work on PBr3 and Suzuki reaction pages.

Thanks, and congrats on getting the HCl page Featured Article status. Walkerma 20:25, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Hi Martin, Thanks for the kind words. For explanation of the Chemistry template use, look at Talk:Iron(III)_chloride. My plans are limited by a lot of work, too, so I'll do the pragmatic approach. Wim van Dorst 21:04, 2005 Apr 9 (UTC).

Organization page on Chemicals wikiproject

Wim,

Just wanted to say, this is going to be a very useful page. I'd put off doing anything like that for a long time, but now there are more than two people participating in the Chemicals Wikiproject it is worth doing. Thanks for getting the ball rolling. Walkerma 17:13, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)

The wikislogan: Be bold ;-). Wim van Dorst 19:50, 2005 Apr 12 (UTC).

Wim, I notice that you added four people to the Chemicals Wikiproject as participants. I'm still getting used to the protocols for such things, but I had thought that you could only enrol yourself, not other people- is that correct? I appreciate that these people were at one time very actively working on writing tables etc for chemical compounds before the Chemicals Wikiproject, but all of them signed up for the chemistry project, not the chemicals project. I noticed Tim Starling had put together much of the original table format, and so in December I left him a message on his talk page at User_talk:Tim_Starling#Inorganic_chemical_substances asking him to join the Chemicals Wikiproject. (we only had two people then). He chose not to do so, and I suspect from his talk page it's because he has been so busy with Wikipedia he is feeling rather burned out. Therefore I'm not so sure we should "volunteer" him without his active agreement! Cheers, Walkerma 03:32, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)

In the comment to the change that I made, including those four names, I explicitly stated that I moved their names from another participation list on the worklist of the Chemicals project. That is the reason why I moved it to the Chemicals wikiproject page. We can always notify them of the change on their user talk page. Wim van Dorst 08:12, 2005 Apr 13 (UTC). Good suggestion, so I just did. Wim van Dorst 08:32, 2005 Apr 13 (UTC).

Image:Leathershoes.jpg

Image deletion warning

The image Image:Leathershoes.jpg has been listed at Wikipedia:Possibly unfree images. If the image's copyright status cannot be verified, it will be deleted. If you have any information on the source or licensing of this image, please go there to provide the necessary information.

Burgundavia 16:28, Apr 25, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing this out. I included the relevant information. Wim van Dorst 20:15, 2005 Apr 25 (UTC).

I have inserted this lady's shoes pic into the Wikipedia article Shoe, and into Wiktionary under "Shoe". H Padleckas 01:42, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Image:Gelatindessert.gif

Image deletion warning

The image Image:Gelatindessert.gif has been listed at Wikipedia:Possibly unfree images. If the image's copyright status cannot be verified, it will be deleted. If you have any information on the source or licensing of this image, please go there to provide the necessary information.

Burgundavia 16:28, Apr 25, 2005 (UTC)

I tried the whole evening to re-trace the source, but failed. Nonetheless, it is Fair Use, as I paid much attention to it when searching. I'll add the info to the page. Wim van Dorst 21:15, 2005 Apr 25 (UTC).

Dimethyl ether

Wim, since you're working on this, be aware that for many organic chemists DME refers not to MeOMe, but rather to dimethoxyethane (MeOCH2CH2OMe). Since MeOMe is a gas people don't usually use it as a solvent, whereas dimethoxyethane is commonly used for that purpose. For example, when a patent such as this one refers to DME, they are assuming dimethoxyethane, not MeOMe. Fortunately our dab page for DME mentions both, but please be aware of this. Should we have the dimethoxyethane listed as our solvent in our 30 solvents rather than dimethyl ether? I've never used MeOMe myself, and most listings of DME as solvent I suspect refer to dimethoxyethane, even if it seems otherwise- see for example the "synonym" here! Keep up the good work, Walkerma 21:45, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

• Yo, Martin, (ps are you sure you're on holiday? You're more active than in your working time. ;-). Thanks for pointing this out: as someone interested in bulk chemicals, I indeed know of the differences in DME and DME. The propellant DME is what I'm making this chembox about. I agree that the solvent DME would be very good in the Solvents lists, so I added that just now. And I thought it appropriate to move the propellant to Other as many other propellants are included there (CFC/HFC, etc). Wim van Dorst 22:07, 18 July 2005 (UTC).

Thanks, that sounds good. I am actually teaching at the moment, but I had a window of a few days before the work arrived so I used it to get some Wiki work done on things I've wanted to do for weeks or months. Also I have no family and no TV to distract me, I have a superfast internet connection in my room (nothing at home!), and use of one of the best chemistry libraries in Boston- I may as well make use of all this! As of today I just got 30 quizzes and 30 long homeworks to mark, and summer school gets very hectic, so expect my output to taper off - but I will still occasionally want to make a cup of Keemun tea and take a break by writing a few lines. Walkerma 23:29, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

Thanks

Wim,

I just wanted to thank you for helping to get some chemistry on to the main page earlier this week. I know it was a team effort, but a lot of the work did fall to you. Thanks for getting the ball rolling for Featured Article status, and for pushing it all the way to the front page. I would never have believed we could get a chemistry article as the lead story! Cheers, Walkerma 14:22, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)

WP Chemical assessment

Reply to comment on User talk:Physchim62: No, I didn't set out to be harsher to the "Other important compounds" articles, maybe I'm just in a bad mood today! I'm currently preparing a summary of my assessment activity to highlight the issues that have struck me: in the meantime, if you feel that my assessment of any article is unjustified, BE BOLD and change it! :) Physchim62 16:48, 29 May 2005 (UTC)

Inorganic compounds by element

Wim,

I was puzzled why you removed the link to this list from the Chemical infobox page- is there a particular reason? Although the list only goes to carbon currently, so it's only about 20% complete, it is in fact the most complete listing of compounds of those first 13 elements. I see it developing into a very important list once it becomes complete. Cheers, Walkerma 22:36, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)

• Hi, Martin, you're back at work I see. Good progress. While adapting the various chemistry wikiprojects (chemistry, chemicals, chem infobox), I noticed a lot of double referring. The chem infobox is about the chem infobox alone, and therefore doesn't actually need references to various lists. So, no special reason, but intentionally I reduced it to the three main lists (after the split).
• But while doing all the editing I noticed that that we could do with yet another activity for the chemicals wikiproject. Let's discuss it there. Wim van Dorst 23:06, 2005 Jun 1 (UTC).

Fine. It seemed a bit arbitrary to just remove that one, but now I see where you're coming from. Walkerma 05:19, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Testosterone pic

Wim,

The new picture looks great! Did you do it in ChemDraw? I can't wait to see what you have for the Oestrone page! Walkerma 14:26, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Ammonia and Ammonium

I see that you've been working on Ammonia and Ammonium. Please see my newset edits in these two articles and my newest remarks at the bottoms of their respective Talk:Pages. If you have any remarks on these topics, let me know. H Padleckas 01:48, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

WP:TS

Hi. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by your reversion of my edit to WP:TS, but I've undone it. The discussions have only started today, and I think you must be confused about what the sentence meant. violet/riga (t) 28 June 2005 21:10 (UTC)

I'm sorry if you think it is unclear, but I believe it is rather obvious considering that the existing policy is only about talk page templates, not article templates. It should appear on the policy page because it will end up being merged in there, and it highlights the fact that there is currently a gap in what WP:TS covers. violet/riga (t) 28 June 2005 22:12 (UTC)

Corosive NFPA

Hi Wim, the "COR" label isn't recognized by the NFPA, so that's why I didn't make it. Other symbols like COR, ACID, and the radioactive sign are actually covered in the health rating. Thanks... Addaone July 2, 2005 16:23 (UTC)

Folic acid

My old CRC Handbook (1977-8) states that folic acid is soluble in ethanol, but only slightly soluble in water. Your data seem to conflict with this- can you check them? Are you data much older than mine, or much newer? Are your data for the dihydrate or the anhydrous form? BTW I removed things like flash point (non flammable!), boiling point (decomp. at MP), and other stuff that seemed irrelevant for a complex organic molecule, and I narrowed the table. Walkerma 8 July 2005 04:18 (UTC)

Enjoy Devon

Wim,

I hope you enjoy visiting beautiful England! I'm glad you're going to a remote corner- you should be quite safe in Devon, unless the suicide bombers are trying to target innocent Dartmoor ponies. Have fun, Walkerma 16:04, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

• Thanks, Martin. Have a good time without me! Wim van Dorst 20:20, 28 July 2005 (UTC).
  • I'm back, but as I still have vacation, I'll take it easy. Met vriendelijke groeten, Wim van Dorst 15:00, 24 August 2005 (UTC).

Comics Collaboration of the Fortnight

As a member of WikiProject Comics, I thought you might be interested in the Comics Collaboration of the Fortnight we have set up. Please feel free to vote on the articles listed, although bear in mind that a vote for a particular article means you are pledging to help improve the article. The goal of the collaboration is to improve articles to Featured Article status, as we feel Comics is under-represented in that area. Thanks for your help. Steve block talk 16:01, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Happy Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

HAVING FUN!

Wim- Happy Birthday to you (etc)! Hope you enjoyed your weekend. Don't spend your birthday compiling WP:Chem statistics! All the best, Walkerma 22:46, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

Acetic acid

Here is a pic of a Winchester of acetic acid, Image:Acetic acid winchester.JPG, I'll see if I can make some crystals this week.--nixie 10:31, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

Theodor Curtius

Sorry, there is nothing on Talk:Theodor Curtius. It is a simple copy-and-paste from the URL given. The Royal Chemistry Society claims copyright on all materials on its web site. You are, however, free to rewrite/expand it so that their copyright is no longer infringed upon. Regards, --howcheng [ talk • contribs • web ] 21:50, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

Glad I could help

Anytime :-) I will keep it on my watchlist for a while. --HappyCamper 23:21, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

Sorry about the image

I am sorry about the accidental deletion of Image:Harold-Wilberforce-Clifton.gif. I'm really pleased that you still had it available, and were willing to reupload it. I did not contact you before deleting it, as there were 5000+ images in the category, and, multiple warnings of such deletion had been made in general. (although, not apparently in the case of this exact image, for which I do applogize.) If you wish to contact the person who tagged the image as unsourced, according to the history it was User:Magnus Manske at 17:45, 5 June 2005. As regards the specifics of this particular image, I am not personally versed in the conclusions of the people involved with comics fair use on Wikipedia, but the sourcing you have now provided looks excellent to me. Thanks for (re)uploading the picture, and I again appologize for it's accidental deletion. Your work is appreicated. JesseW, the juggling janitor 20:51, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

Hi! I didn't want this image deleted, I merely tagged it as having no information added as to the source or the creator. This was during an "image tagging spree" some of us went on, IIRC. The idea was to tag potential copyright violations, then go through that list one by one. As I read above, it was deleted without asking the uploader (you) about its source first, which was not the intention. --Magnus Manske 09:44, 12 December 2005 (UTC)