About this blog's title
... or, 'adventures in entrenched errors'.
Okay, folk keep asking me about this. Seeing as it's been a year since I set this thing up, and I'm still doing it, I guess it's time I explained.
C8H10N4HO2O2 is an entrenched error. I'd meant to register the molecular formula for caffeine, did a search on 'caffeine formula' at Google, and this page, from Ellingwood's The American Materia Medica (1919) was the first one up. Which, as you can see, gives C8H10N4HO2O2 for that molecule.
I registered the blog, got writing. Didn't look too closely at the formula. It looked right, on casual inspection (I do have a few years of organic chemistry; my degree's in biology), and really, the blog was just a whim at the time. I'm a pretty serious web guy, among other things, been running sites since about 1995 (and currently run four, in total, including the blog, one of my own outside the blog, one I get paid to do, and one I do on a volunteer basis), just kinda figured it'd be interesting to see what the 'push-button publishing' stuff I'd been hearing about was like. Never really expected to keep at it too long.
Thing is, as you might just know, the usual formula given for caffeine is C8H10N4O2. I noticed that when I got 'round to building the ray-traced model currently in the background of the top of the page. But by then, I had a fair bit of material up, and migrating's a bit of a pain. I keep telling myself I will eventually move to a Movable Type system, move the content over, but I never seem to get 'round to it; it's still on the to do list. So that formula's still up there. I suppose it's also possible there's some sense in which it's actually right; still wondering why the Ellingwood book reports it this way. Some complex the molecule forms in aqueous solution? Maybe? Should probably ask a real chemist someday.
As to why that title: yes, I'm pretty heavily into caffeine. My delivery system of choice is coffee—usually espresso, sometimes in various latte/capuccino type things, sometimes all on its own—and strong, light roasts in a French press are also fun. There are, in my home, as of this posting, two pump-driven espresso machines (with steam wands for capuccinos et al), a stove top/campfire top portable espresso pot, two drip coffee machines, a french press, and three (count 'em, three) grinders. I keep them pretty busy.
Okay, folk keep asking me about this. Seeing as it's been a year since I set this thing up, and I'm still doing it, I guess it's time I explained.
C8H10N4HO2O2 is an entrenched error. I'd meant to register the molecular formula for caffeine, did a search on 'caffeine formula' at Google, and this page, from Ellingwood's The American Materia Medica (1919) was the first one up. Which, as you can see, gives C8H10N4HO2O2 for that molecule.
I registered the blog, got writing. Didn't look too closely at the formula. It looked right, on casual inspection (I do have a few years of organic chemistry; my degree's in biology), and really, the blog was just a whim at the time. I'm a pretty serious web guy, among other things, been running sites since about 1995 (and currently run four, in total, including the blog, one of my own outside the blog, one I get paid to do, and one I do on a volunteer basis), just kinda figured it'd be interesting to see what the 'push-button publishing' stuff I'd been hearing about was like. Never really expected to keep at it too long.
Thing is, as you might just know, the usual formula given for caffeine is C8H10N4O2. I noticed that when I got 'round to building the ray-traced model currently in the background of the top of the page. But by then, I had a fair bit of material up, and migrating's a bit of a pain. I keep telling myself I will eventually move to a Movable Type system, move the content over, but I never seem to get 'round to it; it's still on the to do list. So that formula's still up there. I suppose it's also possible there's some sense in which it's actually right; still wondering why the Ellingwood book reports it this way. Some complex the molecule forms in aqueous solution? Maybe? Should probably ask a real chemist someday.
As to why that title: yes, I'm pretty heavily into caffeine. My delivery system of choice is coffee—usually espresso, sometimes in various latte/capuccino type things, sometimes all on its own—and strong, light roasts in a French press are also fun. There are, in my home, as of this posting, two pump-driven espresso machines (with steam wands for capuccinos et al), a stove top/campfire top portable espresso pot, two drip coffee machines, a french press, and three (count 'em, three) grinders. I keep them pretty busy.
posted by AJM at 6:26 a.m. (Permanent Link)
