Knowledge of Physical States and Properties of Matter

As emergency responders, understanding physical states and properties of matter is very important.  Why would this be important?  Well, when dealing with different substances, whether they be solid, liquid or gas, knowing the properties of matter can help tremendously helpful in an emergency situation.  For example, not every fire can be extinguished with water, which many people may not be aware of.  According to the site https://fire9prevention.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/water-as-an-extinguishing-agent-it-doesnt-always-work/ , there are many different classes of fires.  Class A fires are fires from ordinary combustibles, such as cardboard, or wood.  Class B fires involve flammable liquids, like alcohol and gasoline.  Class C fires are electrical fires and Class D fires are fires that occur from combustible metals.  This site describes that class B fires involve flammable liquids.  These liquids aren't the flammable element, it is the vapors that they give off.  A lot of people may not know that.  Knowing and understanding the physical properties of substances is very important because if there is a gasoline fire, many people may look straight to water to put it out because that is what is thought to put out all fires.  Well, knowing the physical properties of gasoline, according to the site http://www.air-n-water.com/fire-types.htm , you would know that gasoline and water do not mix.  So, adding water to the gasoline or oil fires only increases the surface area of the fire and makes it bigger.  This obviously creates a more dangerous situation and causes a bigger emergency than there originally was.  Knowing that water conducts electricity is also a good example as well, so you cant put out a class C fire with water either.  These simple examples can be related to chemicals in a lab.  Maybe there is a chemical that cannot be stored in an environment that has a temperature above a certain point or else it might combust.  This is very important to know for all types of matter, because different states of matter of a substance may react differently than another, or possibly even itself in a different state.  A term you may hear when discussing this subject is flashpoint.  What is it?  Well, according to the site http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/flash-point.html , flashpoint is only associated with liquids, and it is the temperature that is reached where a liquid will release or give off vapors that when mixed with air have the capability of being ignited.  This is important when dealing with liquids in a lab or when storing them because not understanding the physical properties could possibly lead to being unaware of a safety hazard that may arise from the incorrect use or storage of a substance.  That is why it is very important as emergency responders to understand the physical and chemical properties of matter.  It could be the difference in creating or not creating a hazard as well as possibly making the emergency worse or better.  I hope this article was helpful in providing information about why understanding the physical properties of matter is so important and how helpful it can be.

Ethics

What are ethics?  You may have heard this word used before but may not have fully understood what it meant.  Well, according to the site http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ethics , ethics are "a system of moral principles".  Basically, ethics are the set of values that differentiate right from wrong when you think about the outcomes of an action.  So, now that we know what ethics are, when are they used?  Well, after class discussion about the article, we came up with six different areas of where ethics can be applied.  We decided that one area was ethics in government.  We actually discovered three areas within government that ethics can be applied.  These three areas are federal, state and corporate.  The next three areas where we discussed ethics are personal ethics, community ethics, and professional ethics.  In this blog, I will only be going into detail about one of these areas as it relates to the article we read.  The area of ethics that I will be discussing in this blog is the area of professional ethics.  In the article, the farmer was noticing that his cows were acting strange and were showing signs of being sick.  Some were even dying.  The farmer believed that the DuPont factory waste was the cause of the weird behavior and sickness of his cattle.  The local veterinarians of the town came to check the farmers cattle, however, said that the waste was not causing this sickness to his cattle and even though he had been taking care of cattle his whole life, they said that he was mistreating them and not taking good enough care of them.  Now, these veterinarians were paid off by DuPont.  The company brings in almost all the money that the towns receives.  To keep getting paid, the veterinarians made the choice to lie to the farmer about the health of his cattle in order to cover up the hazardous waste that DuPont was sending out.  The veterinarians also made this decision because if they went against DuPont for any reason, the entire town would ignore them and not speak to them.  The people of the town do that to anyone who goes against DuPont because they rely on it so much.  This act by the veterinarians has a lot to do with professional ethics.  From an ethics standpoint, you have to stop and wonder if the vets did the right thing here, by giving false information about animals when it is their job to take care of them.  They become vets to help and save animals, yet in this case to get more money, they are actually doing the opposite of what their job really is to help DuPont cover up their mess.  The farmer also lost friends he had known forever because they wanted nothing to do with the fight against DuPont.  Nobody would pump his gas, doctors refused to treat him, and he even had to change churches multiple times.  Those are also major examples of how professional ethics was involved in this case.  The doctors would not even discuss anything with him.  Isn't that what doctors are suppose to do?  Talk to people about their health?  This is a great example of how ethics can play a huge role in someone's profession.  In this case, the doctors are refusing to help someone who is seeking help that they need.  Ethics can make people do many things, and I hope this blog provided examples of how ethics can have a huge effect when dealing with someone's profession.  When working for an organization like the AIHA, there is a strong code of ethics that must be followed.  You must provide accurate information and report any violations, avoid any conflict of interest that may arise from a client, follow appropriate health and safety measures at all times, etc.  Fore a full list, click here.