Today is 18 July 2010 -- Science students, scientists, engineers, doctors, nurses, geologists and business men or women are just some of people who need to write reports, essays and descriptions of things important in their lives.
Today, I will teach you to write a simple essay using chemical equilibrium as related to oxygenation of living tissue. In this way I link chemistry to biology!
First, think of three things relating equilibrium and oxygenation of tissue.
1. Forward rate equals reverse rate
2. Animal tissues need oxygen
3. Animal tissues need carbon dioxide removed
Second, write a sentence for each of the "things." These are called "topic sentences."
1. Chemical equilibrium is when the forward rate of a chemical reaction equals the reverse rate.
2. Animal tissues need oxygen for the survival of the organism.
3. Carbon dioxide is produced as the oxygen combines with carbon produced from foods.
Third, write sentences which support the topic sentence like this:
Chemical equilibrium is when the forward rate of a chemical reaction equals the reverse rate. The reactions occur at the same time. One reaction goes one direction; the other reaction goes the other direction. The reactions are the opposite of each other. The rates are in balance with each other.
Animal tissues need oxygen for the survival of the organism. They get the oxygen from the blood which transports it. The blood picks up the oxygen in the lungs of land animals, and from the gills of aquatic animals. Iron in the blood is what binds to the oxygen. It holds the oxygen until the blood moves to a place in the body where the concentration of oxygen is low. Then the oxygen is released to the tissue.
Carbon dioxide is produced as the oxygen combines with carbon produced from foods. This carbon dioxide needs to be removed from the body. It does so by exchanging with the oxygen. As the oxygen is released from the red blood cells, the carbon dioxide binds. This causes the concentration of carbon dioxide to be greater than the concentration in the air. When the blood circulates to the lungs, it is released because the oxygen from the air displaces it.
Fourth, write an introduction to this essay and a conclusion which wraps things up. Briefly cover the three points which you describe in the three paragraphs for the introduction and summarize or highlight them in the conclusion.
Here are some samples for you to use in preparing essays on other topics we have covered in my various courses (chemistry, biology, environmental science, integrated and coordinated science):
1. How is equilibrium involved in manufacturing chemical products (examples; Haber process, production of various salts)?
2. What are the differences between the three, basic types of rock?
3. Is global climate change caused by human activity?
4. Why are significant figures and scientific notation useful in scientific work
-- Jay L. Stern
Today is 2 January 2011 -- To understand the history of the earth, it is useful to express it in a way that is familiar to most of us. One way is to think of the age of the earth in terms of a road trip across the United States. Bertram Kraus gave us such a trip in his book, "The Basis of Human Evolution," quoted here in its entirety:
Today is 2 January 2011 -- To understand the history of the earth, it is useful to express it in a way that is familiar to most of us. One way is to think of the age of the earth in terms of a road trip across the United States. Bertram Kraus gave us such a trip in his book, "The Basis of Human Evolution," quoted here in its entirety:
THE BASIS OF HUMAN EVOLUTION
BERTRAM S. KRAUS, 1964, HARPER AND ROWE, PUBLISHERS
"THE TIME PERSPECTIVE" (Pages 38 - 40)
"In order to gain a proper perspective of time it is necessary to convert years to some scale that is familiar to all of us. Many people have crossed the United States either by car, train, or plane, and those who have not have at least become familiar with the mileage and geography through study of a map. Let us therefore open an atlas to a map of the United States and draw a straight line from San Francisco to New York City. If a superhighway were built along this line it would extend about 2460 miles from Union Square in San Francisco to the very entrance to Grand Central station in New York City. Let this highway represent the passage of time from the beginning of the formation of the earth (in San Francisco) to the present moment (at Grand Central station). In other words, these 2460 miles represent about 5 billion years, so that each mile we traverse will be equivalent to the passage of almost 2,000,000 years. As we leave Union Square on our journey across the United States we shall depict important events in the history of the earth and of life itself in terms of cities, towns, and geographical features.
"As we leave Union Square the earth is just beginning to form its molten inner core. We travel eastward at a steady rate through Yosemite National Park and into Nevada. Continuing through Nevada we pass through the town of Ely and thence into Utah. Without stopping we traverse the entire state of Utah, entering Dinosaur National Monument on its northeastern border. As we leave the Monument in northwestern Colorado we pause briefly to note that there is no sign of life in any form but that the earth itself exhibits many active volcanoes. We continue through northern Colorado, cross the southeast tip of Wyoming near Cheyenne and then enter Nebraska. Without pausing we cross central Nebraska and enter Iowa, making our second stop of the trip at Ames, a town about 40 miles north of Des Moines. Here, for the first time, we can distinguish tiny single-cell marine animals, algae, and fungi.
"Continuing eastward through Iowa, northern Illinois and Indiana, we enter Ohio and stop briefly in Cleveland, where we see, in addition to the marine protozoans, some molluscs and simple marine invertebrates. These are the only signs of life until we cross into Pennsylvania north of the town of Sharon and make our next stop at the line separating Forest from Elk county. Here we see an abundance of such arthropods as trilobites, branchiopods, and eurypterids as well as brachiopods (bryozoans). We proceed another 39 miles to Benezett where the first fishes and land plants appear. For the next 32 miles we continue to observe these primitive fishes and plants until we reach South Renovo, Pennsylvania, where we find wingless insects crawling about the ground. After a short drive of 17 miles we halt at a place about five miles east of Glen Union where we see the first forests, amphibians, and many sharks. Twenty-two more miles takes us to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where reptiles make their first appearance. There are increasing numbers of amphibians and sharks. A short 25-mile drive brings us to the town of Millville where we get our first glimpse of mammal-like reptiles and modern-type insects. In 12 more miles, at Beach Haven, Pennsylvania, the primitive amphibians, once so numerous, have disappeared and the first egg-laying mammals and dinosaurs may be viewed. When we proceed another 19 miles to the little town of Whitehaven, we see larger and larger dinosaurs, birds with teeth, and insect-eating marsupials. In 15 more miles we reach the Monroe County line and find the giant dinosaurs ruling the earth, but modern-type birds have replaced the toothed birds. The dominance of the dinosaurs is brief, however, and by the time we cross into New Jersey they have disappeared.
"As we pull into Great Meadows, New Jersey, we find some animals that begin to look familiar--carnivores, hoofed animals and such prosimians as lemurs and tarsiers. A short 18-mile drive takes us to the Passaic River where more and more modern-type mammals appear. Monkeys and apes are becoming numerous and diversified. As we enter Newark, New Jersey, we see an abundance of elephants, camels, and horses, and glimpse ape-like creatures that are not quite apes nor quite like Man as know him. But as we leave Newark and cross the Hudson River this ape-like creature begins to walk erect and we see him crouched before a campfire in front of a rock shelter. When we enter Manhattan and reach Broadway and 42nd Street we find a succession of glaciers descending over the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and North America, and we see little bands of men and women, clad in the furry skins of animals huddled before fires in caves, or, in the periods between glaciations, camped in the open around fires roasting meat or chipping pebbles to form knife blades or projectile points. As we proceed across 42nd Street toward Grand Central Station we observe numbers of these people making drawings on the walls of caves. Some 40 or 50 feet from the Station we see men planting or harvesting such crops as millet, rice, and corn. At five feet and one inch from the entrance to the Station we witness the birth of Christ and only six inches from the entrance we see a group of men signing the Declaration of Independence. At slightly more than two inches from the entrance we witness the birth of a man who, at this very moment, is 70 years of age.
"Compared with the age of the earth our own lifetime is as two inches of the distance from San Francisco to New York City! Man himself, as a producer of culture, is merely the final half-mile of this journey. Truly the lifetime of each of us is but the duration of a snap of the fingers when viewed against the vast expanse of time during which life itself has existed on earth."
Today is 15 November 2008 --- Math is the language of science
Until you speak "Math," you will have great trouble in understanding science. And, you need science to graduate from high school, not to mention how useful it is in everything that matters to you in your world.
We covered simple fractions, percentages, decimal fractions and how to rearrange equations to solve for unknown variables. I have even listed a You-Tube link that shows how to rearrange equations. I urge you to go to this link (below) and watch the video.
Here are some simple steps to rearranging an equation to solve for an unknown.
1. Collect similar terms (i.e. -- all the known values on one side; the unknown that you are trying to solve for is on the other side of the equal sign.)
2. What you do to one side of the equation, you do to the other side.
3. If you are adding, then you subtract the term from both sides; if you are multiplying, then you divide, and so on.
Look at this example:
P1x V1 / T1 = P2x V2 / T2
This is the "combined gas law." It tells you that the pressure times the volume of a gas divided by the temperature is always equal to a constant value. The pressure times the volume divided by the temperature for the same gas at a different set of conditions must also equal the constant. Therefore, the two conditions can be set equal to each other. If the temperature has not changed, then T1 = T2 and they cancel out. That leaves P1 x V1 = P2 x V2. Let us say you know the initial pressure, P1, the initial volume V1, and the final pressure P2. Then we need to rearrange to solve for the new volume, V2. Let's see how:
P1 x V1 = P2 x V2
(P1 x V1 )/ P2 = (P2 x V2)/ P2
Since we are multiplying P2, we divide it to enable us to move it to the other side of the equation. The P2 in the numerator cancels with the P2 in the denominator on the right side. Rewriting:
P1 x V1 / P2 = V2
In words, "P1 times V1 divided by P2 equals V2."
If you knew the initial volume, the initial pressure and the final pressure, and you needed to find the final volume, you would rearrange the equation to find V2. Practice these relationships for a while and you will see how easy this becomes.
Today is 11 February 2008 -- Please use the hyperlink to read the editorial by Gerald F. Wheeler, Executive Director of the National Science Teachers Association
Mr. Wheeler's editorial mirrors my thoughts on science education. Please read the editorial and let your parents read it. Education today is too important NOT to have full participation by all people involved. That means you, the student; me, the educatior; the administrators and -- very, very important -- your parents. One thing you can do after you have read the editorial is to send me your thoughts on how I can best teach you the science that you need to compete in this world.
Today is 28 September 2007 -- PRESS ON!
Students, I rarely ask you to memorize anything word-for-word. "Press On!" is one of those rare times. Calvin Coolidge, known as "Silent Cal," the 30th president of the United States (1872 - 1933) was known as a man of few words. The story is told how at a diplomatic reception, a young woman said to him that she bet her friend that she could get Mr. Coolidge to say more than three words. The president is reputed to have replied, "You lose." But when he DID speak, his words are worth noting. Please memorize "Press On!" completely. I will ask you to write it out from memory on an upcoming quiz:
"Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."
