Evolution

Evolution is one of the "big questions". What is evolution? It is the inherited traits to allow a certain species to be better coped with their environment. For instance, polar bears. Their were no such thing until one of the ice ages. The commonly known black bear, started to migrate. They got lost, and ended up somewhere very cold, and stayed. The offspring, over time of course, ended up with white fur, and a much higher tolerance to the cold. Polar bears now populate the colder regions of the world. Darwin conducted experiements on an island using birds. He found dead bird bodies, and noticed that the beaks were all different, but the bodies were more or less the same. He finally stated that the birds belonged to the same species, but had different beaks for different eating habits. Some beaks were used to be able to crack nuts. Some for reaching deep into a flower. Some for easy to access things. These beaks allowed the birds on the different islands to live on their specified island without going hungry. Evolution is only a belief today, but it is possible.

Durian and alcohol

The Durian, a fruit native to south-east Asia, is well known for it's pungent powerful smell that everyone hates, and it's wonderfully pleasing taste. The only problem is, for all you alcoholics, be careful when eating this wonderful fruit and drinking alcohol. It could prove fatal. There have been cases in which the victim did live, but with much pain and suffering. One instance states that the victim had chest pains, and stomach pains. He thought quickly, and drank a lot of water until he vommited. He passed out afterward, and woke up in the hospital. He was saved, either by the water, or the paramedics.

Global Warming

The world's own death. Global warming is not allowing much more of us. We are creating the death of our home, at least, so some say. I personally believe that we should be fine, at least in our lifetime, and for a few to come. Global warming is "melting the ice caps so polar bears won't be able to live". Polar bears have enough ice to suffice. It may be raising the water levels, but it won't be enough to cause much damage for a very long time.

Fire

Fire. It's mesmerizing. It's very beautiful, but have you ever truly thought about what it really is? It's confusing, deffinately that. Fire requires 3 things. Fuel, Oxygen, and heat. Technically it also requires a chemical reaction. Fire cannot exsist without any 1 of these three things. Extinguishing a fire invlolves the removal of one or more of the "helpers". The heat is what makes a fire hot (obviously). Burning is also a chemical reaction. When, for instance, skin is introduced to fire, or a hot enough surface, it will start to bubble and blister. The blistering is a part of the bodies healing process. Fire may be mesmerizing to see, but it is dangerous to the touch.

Diet soda

Diet soda. Made for people to believe that they are drinking a healthier drink. Diet drinks contain zero calories, zero sugar. Good? Yes. Alternatives? Of course. Are these alternatives good? No. Tests show that those who drink diet soda gain up to 30% more weight than those who drink normal soda. This is mostly because of the common artificial sweetner, asparatame. Asparatame can be found in almost everything. Asparatame is C14H18N2O5. Asparatame is an artificial sweetner that is genetically altered. Consuming foods that are genetically altered can be bad to us, as it can cause us to alter. So if you absolutely need soda, go with the real stuff. Not the diet. (Diet soda tastes terrible anyway)

pH and Health: how the two correlate

Acid and alkaline are very alike, yet very opposite. They both are on the pH scale, but are on opposite sides. They both can cause damage, but they do it so differently. The pH scale includes 0-14. 0-6.9 is acidic, and 7.1-14 being alkaline, 7 being neutral (a common reference for 7 being table salt). It is said that having a high acidic level in your blood can be costly, but having a high alkaline level is healthy. Some reasons that support this idea include:
Cancer and disease tend to live longer, healthier, and more active in an acidic environment. Once pH level hits 8.0, cancer can die within hours.
Acidic blood running through veins can burn your arterial walls, leading to internal bleeding, and costly results
Pains are easily caused by a high acidic level, such as: migraines and arthritis.
Properly following some strict diets, or more easily, some leniant diets can allow you to live happier and healthier. Some bad foods include:
Cola-about 2.5-2.6 acid level, this is one of the worst acidic foods/drinks to have. Can't you feel the acid working on your teeth? It's gross! If you've never felt it, try this at home experiement. Open up a nice refreshing coke, take a sip, and feel how odd your teeth feel. Bet that'll stop ya from having another "refreshing" coke. It may be "Ice cold" but it's also loaded with acid, and sugar.
Anything sugary. Another reason why the above cola is bad, as most cola's have at least 50 grams of sugar. Yuck!
So, yes acidity can cause harm to your body. So eat healthy, eat smart, and you won't have to deal with cancer, migianes, or arthritis. Stay away from soda, sugar, and you'll be good!

Thermal printer paper

Thermal paper is a different type of paper than your normal printer paper. It is printed on with heat, not ink. There are advantages to it, such as it’s economical benefit, it’s great reliability, flexibility of size, it comes in BPA free rolls (no toxins in the paper), it comes in 8 ½ x 11 (standard size), and no limit to sheets. The parts There are multiple parts to thermal printer paper. They are as follows. 1. Base paper a. This paper is what holds the chemicals, and is the sturdy structure of the paper. 2. The Under-coating a. This is to ensure a smooth look for the paper, and with which to hold the thermal coating. The smoother this coating is, the better quality the image. 3. The Thermal-coating a. This is the coating which, made of a vast amount of chemical compounds, creates an image when put under heat. How it works The thermal paper crosses over the thermal print head. The thermal coating turns black (or red if used with 2-toned printer and paper) in the heated areas. Two colors can be printed (see above). Each color that is available runs across the print head at a different temperature. Acetone on Thermal paper This video shows some cool effects with acetone on the thermal coating. Reading the comments will explain in brief detail the experiments people have done, and some of the chemistry involved.

Acetone

Acne is one of the leading causes of stress in a teenagers life. They will try many products such as Clearasil, Proactiv, Pronexin, Acnepril, Therapores, and others. All these teenagers need is chemistry. They need to know that acne is all oil based eruptions. To get rid of oil, you need something that breaks it down. Acetone will do the trick. C3H6O is the chemical formula. Acetone, also known as propanone, is an organic compound (that says it has carbon in it). Acetone will break down the oils in your skin (you can feel it working immediately) and will get rid of all that gross acne. If you're an acne sufferer, try this out. You will find it will probably work!

Glowy!

Have you ever seen a black light? Most people have, but probably don't know what it is. A black light is much different than your typical "normal" or white light. The human eye sees the range of the colors of the rainbow. Nothing more. White light is the light the sun gives off. Man-made white light is the brightest light bulb you've ever seen. The white light has the colors of the rainbow in it, the most often seen being red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Now black light, or essentially no light at all, doesn't have any of these colors. (Now you're probably looking up into space thinking, "There's no light up there, no colors, those aliens must not need to see!" but there is a wider range of light and color, in which cannot see. We probably see as much to the aliens as a black and white movie.) If you look at the keyboard in front of you, you see, whatever color the keyboard is. That is the color that white light reflects to your eyes, so it's essentially every color but that. Take a highlighter, and draw somewhere on your body. It doesn't matter where, but keep it appropiate. You can barely see it, right? That's because white light does not reflect much off of highlighter ink. (You may think it reflects well on paper, but just wait) Now highlight on a piece of paper. It's very bright, yes? Now take a black light and shine it on the highlighter on the paper and your skin. On your skin, you can see exactly what you wrote, quite clearly, correct? And on paper, it's very bright. This is because the highlighter reflects the darker light rays better than the white light rays. If you find a scorpion, shine the black light on it, but with caution. You'll notice it glows. This is because it's blood contains substances that reflect dark rays much better than white rays. Have fun coloring yourself with highlighter!

Electricity

Electricity. What a mysterious thing. It seems as though when you can't see something, you have no idea what it is. Which only powers the human's gift of curiosity. Electricity is the flow of charge from one point to another, usually - to +. There MUST be a complete circuit for the electricity to flow from point A to point B. No questions asked. Do you ever wonder what particle is required for electricity to flow? I give you one guess. That's right! The electron. (If you couldn't guess that, you may need help, being that the two words alone start with electr.)

Chemical Nomenclature

Chemical Nomenclature is the term given to the naming of compounds. Let's focus primarily on the forming of ionic compounds. Generally, and ionic compound forms when a metal and a non-metal are combined.

Liquid Nigrogen

Liquid nitrogen is nothing short of its name; the liquid state of the element nitrogen. The coumpound can be found in the atmosphere under temperatures of 63 K and 77.2 K (-346 F and 320.44 F). Below 63 K, nitrogen freezes into a solid; under 77.2 K, nitrogen becomes a gas.

It is normally obtained from the attmosphere thus making it inexpensive and therefore is rarely refrigerated. Liquid nitrogen is stored in containers known as Dewars and is left to boil away. Since it boils, Laboratories have liquid nitrogen that has been shown to have temperatures of 77.2 K. Liquid nitrogen looks like boiling water, but it is extremely cold; it can be very dangerous to a human when in direct contact but it can be very usefull in science.

Reference: http://education.jlab.org/qa/liquidnitrogen_01.html

How an Engine Works

· Different types of engines
o Diesel
o Gas turbine engines
o Internal combustion engines
§ Gas is burned on the inside
§ The main idea/theory
· If you put a high power fuel (gasoline) in a small confined space, massive energy will emit by expanding gas.
o If you can create a cycle of this hundreds of times a minute, you have the core of a car engine.
§ Almost all cars use the four stroke combustion cycle
· Think of a potato gun. Now, replace the potato with a piston.
o The piston is connected to the crankshaft by a connecting rod
§ As the crankshaft revolves, it has the effect of “resetting the cannon”
o Intake stroke
§ The piston starts at the top, the intake valve opens, and the piston drops
· This allows the engine to take in a cylinder full of air and gasoline.
· This is the Intake stroke
· Only a tiny amount of gasoline is needed
o Compression stroke
§ The piston moves back up to compress the air/fuel
· Compression makes the explosion more powerful
o Combustion stroke
§ The spark plug emits a spark, lighting the gasoline
· The gasoline charge explodes, driving the piston down
o Exhaust stroke
§ Once the piston hits the bottom, the exhaust valve opens and the exhaust leaves the tailpipe.
· Now the engine is ready for its next cycle, so it repeats over and over again.
§ Parts of the engine
· Cylinder
o The core of the engine is the cylinder
o Pistons move up and down inside
o The above is a single cylinder, common in a lawn mower
o Most cars are 4, 6, or 8 cylinder
§ The higher the cylinder, the better performance
o Types of cylinder formation
§ L (line) formed in a line
§ V (angled) Shaped like a V
· Spark plug
o Provides the spark in the air/fuel compression
o Must spark at just the right time for proper function
· Valves
o Open and close for the intake stroke and for exhaust excretion
· Piston
o The grey shapes in the above pictures.
o Move up and down in the cylinder
· Piston rings
o Provides a sliding seal between the piston and cylinder.
o Provides two major purposes
§ Prevent excretion of the fuel/air mixture during compression and combustion strokes
§ Keep oil out of the space in the cylinder
· Connecting Rod
o Connects the piston to the crankshaft
o Can rotate at both ends so that piston can move and the crankshaft can rotate
· Crankshaft
o Works like a Jack-in-the-box, only the clown is the piston
· Sump
o Surrounds the crankshaft, containing oil
§ Oil used to lubricate and minimize temperature of the entire cycle
o Steam engines
§ External combustion engine

Dipropylene Glycol

Sodium Stearate

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_stearate

What the heck is sodium stearate?? Well, it is obviously a chemical. It is the sodium salt of stearic acid. The appearance of this salt is a white solid. The melting point is around 240 to 255 C. It is soluble in water. The salt itself is made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and sodium. The molecular formula is specifically C18H35NaO2.

This article is good for basic finds of sodium stearate and it's uses. The real life applications of sodium stearate is from soaps to food additives. One of the most common uses of sodium stearate is in soap. THe salt has both hydrophili and hydrophobic parts. It provides a formation of micelles, it basically provides a lipophilic environment for hydrophobic compounds. It can also be used in the pharmaceutical industry as a surfactant to aid the sulubility of hydrophobic compounds in production of many mouth foams. One of the uses I found in looking into sodium stearate is in deodorant stick products. It takes it's role by cleaning off the oils on the body. Sodium stearate is a common ingredient in many cosmetic products and possibly even food.

Muscles

Do you want to be a muscle man? Buff, strong, attract the ladies ;) I'm sure you do. First, you have to know how to get it. You know that old myth that working out builds muscle? That's not entirely true. Working out technically reduces muscle mass. This is, on the alternative, helpful to gaining muscle. As long as you work out, and eat enough protein, your muscle mass will sky-rocket. If you eat at least as many grams of protein as you have body weight in pounds, you'll be set for that day. For instance, say you weigh 130 lbs. Eat 130 g of protein a day. Would you like to understand it? Here's how:
Protein is made up of amino acids. Amino acids are amino-carboxyl. Amino is NH(2) and Carboxyl is COOH. Amino-carboxyl is N2CO2H3. A protein molecule is about 1000 of these, so protein is a pretty big molecule, with no specific formula. Protein is then broken down in your body, and you excrete what is un-needed, and your muscles and fat content take the rest!

Soap

Do you like soap? I hope so! I don't want to stand next to someone who smells of B.O.! Yuck! "But soap is so expensive!" Well soap can be made! I've done it, and I can actually say, unlike all those mean narrators for the "dangerous" shows, please try this at home! (With proper care and knowledge, yes I do have to be sure you're safe.) Here's what you'll need:
7 oz. olive oil or lard, or something of the sort (fat or oil basically)
14 oz. water (there's really nothing like water, so don't use anything in place of water...)
7 oz. lye (No I don't mean lie to your enemies, or lye in bed, I mean the chemical lye.)

Now what you need to do, is mix the lye and the water. Be sure you pour the lye into the water, NOT the other way around. Be careful! This will immediately get hot! (That's chemistry for ya!) You see, the lye mixing with the water breaks up the molecules in lye. Lye is NaOH. Mixing water and lye turns the lye into Na- OH +! This will heat the mixture to approx. 215 degrees. Let it cool down to 110. Then, heat the oil/lard/something of the sort to 110 degrees too. Now you need to mix the two together. Don't shake, but mix it well! (shaking it would get it all over you, and you be burn up! Not a good idea!) Now, let it sit in a mold for a couple days. This lets it harden. Now, you cut it into the shapes and sizes YOU want it! That's right, you get to choose! Now, you have to wait...for 3-4 WEEKS!!! BOO!!! I know, it's a long time, but hey, it's well worth the wait! And now, you can smell nice and fresh! Next time, if you want artificial smell, you can add...well...artificial scent liquids! :) Enjoy your soap!

How to make cheese.

Cheese is

Ingredients:

1 gallon 2% milk

1/2 cup vinegar

1 tsp salts

1. heat the milk to 190F. You will need a thermometer.

2. Add the vinegar and allow the mixture to cool.

3. When cool, pour the mixture, (which now consists of curds and whey as in Miss Muffet food) into a colander and drain off the whey.

4. Pour the curds into a bowl and sprinkle on the salt and mix well. You may wish to use less salt or more. It is simply a matter of taste which is the next step. You can add a little cream for a silky texture.

Cheese is a major part of the dairy industry. Processed cheese may have the ability to make somebody sick but there is a way to make cheese in your own home. If it is done correctly, it can turn out to be a very fun and maybe tasty project.

home made nuclear reactor

source: http://www.thelocal.se/35306/20110802/

Well, some swede built a nuclear reactor. that's pretty much it. he called the cops asking if it was legal and they just came and said "NOPE!' and took it away.

as technology advances, more power can be accesed with less effort, and this may perhaps lead to terrorists getting their hands on nuclear weapons, which isn't fun for anybody. Although this also shows that with technology rapidly advancing, soon we could all have our own personal nuclear reactor in the basement. Yet still no sign of the hover board we were promised in back to the future part 2.

Deodorant Manufacturing Process

Resource: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Antiperspirant-Deodorant-Stick.html

The first step is called batching. All the ingredients are added into a large jacketed steel kettle which steam heat is added to. The temperature is carefully controlled to not scorch the waxy ingredients. It is then blended until it is uniform. The sticks are then put onto a conveyor belt where the molten product is poured in. The molten product goes in smoothly because it is right above it's congealing temperature. It then goes through finishing operations. Firstly, it is made sure it is smooth and free from trapped pockets of air. It usually involves heating the tops of the stick slightly. A probe is then inserted to let all air out, and it is remelted afterward. The deodorant is then put through a low temperature where the stick will solidify quickly. The deodorant is put through cleaning procedures and shipped.

I found this step by step telling of deodorant manufacturing very informative, but it didn't explain some key terms. It was an overall good source of information though. Deodorant is used daily in our lives, especially if you want all the women, or at least Axe says that. It helps to keep us from sweating and smelling like some kind of old cheese. I think the process in how it is made is important to the point that we know how to do it and effectively. By the way, Axe kicks butt. That would've rhymed.

methanol

METHANOL! It is cool sometimes and not cool other times. It is used for race car fuel. AWESOME! Race cars are fast, and going fast is cool, and methanol helps make race cars go so fast. Now to the not so fun part. Their flames are invisible, so if you catch fire do to methanol, this is pretty much what's going through your head: "O MY GOD IM ON FIRE!!! WAIT! THERE'S NOTHING THERE! HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!!" then someone comes over and they catch fire too and to some random person in the audience it looks like they all have dance fever and it's super contagious.

Really, the only effect this will have on the world is fast cars, which is AWESOME, and people who are on fire but the fire is invisible. What i dont get is why haven't the army looked into this for some weapons or something?

Kraft makes recall

In septemper 30 of 2011, the company of Kraft made a recall of three types of its Velveeta shells and cheese microwavable cups because they may have thin wire bristles might have been in the cup. A total of 137,000 products were said to have beenaffected and shipped as a result. the affected products include: (This next part was copyed and pasted since it would be too time consuming to write it all out) the 2.39 ounce Velveeta Shells & Cheese original microwaveable cups with a best-when-used-by date of May 16, 2012 and UPC(Universal Product Code) 2100002322; Velveeta Shells & Cheese original four-pack microwaveable 2.39-ounce cups that have best-when-used-by dates of April 24, 2012 to May 16, 2012 and a UPC of 2100002339; the 2.19-ounce Velveeta Shells & Cheese made with 2% milk microwaveable cups with best-when-used-by dates of March 25, 2012 to March 30, 2012 and UPC of 2100002323; Velveeta Shells & Cheese made with 2% milk four-pack 2.19-ounce microwaveable cups with best-when-used-by dates of March 29, 2012 to April 12, 2012 and UPC 2100002946; and 2.44-ounce Velveeta Rotini & Cheese Broccoli microwaveable cups with best-when-used-by dates of April 29, 2012 to May 14, 2012 and UPC of 2100002318.

Factorie recalls can be a major setback to a companies welfare, no injuries or complaints were recorded as this was made last year but it is still a major setback on their part.

reference: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9Q30HQG2.htm

Soda

We're always told that soda is terrible for you. But, when you take that first sip the taste is a bang of goodness (esp. root beer in my case). We know of most of the types of soda, and the bigger brands. Like A&W, Mug, and Barq's root beer; Dr. Pepper, Coca Cola, and Pepsi's cola drinks; Fanta's fruit drinks, the list goes on. Even though they all taste great, they are actually terrible for you. Considering the caffeine, sugar, and in sugar free drinks-the artificial sweetener. For instance, the nutrition facts on caffeinated Coca Cola: Serving size 1 can (think of how many coke's you drink in a day, or week, etc.). 140 Calories, 45 mg Sodium, 39 g carbs, and, prepare yourself, 39 g of sugar. That's the equivalent to 10 teaspoons of sugar, or 20 sugar cubes. Imagine eating 20 sugar cubes raw. For those of you thinking, "that's gross! Diet it is!" I'm telling you, DON'T DO IT!!! Diet soda is worse for your body than normal soda. It may have 0 calories and 0 sugars, but it has artificial sweeteners, which, at least, SCREW YOU UP. So, to sum it all up, soda may taste good, but would you rather happy taste buds, or happy body/stomach/you? The choice is ultimately yours.

APPLES:D -I like 'em(:

Reference: http://www.humantouchofchemistry.com/why-do-cut-apples-turn-brown.htm

You take out an apple to consume a nummy-yummy treat that is good for your health as well, then when you a) take a bite or b) cut it up, it turns brown! Your apple has done been rusting. :/ Well, considering we know that when a color change appears it means it is having a chemical reaction! However, we come to wonder, why does this happen?! I'm not everyone, but I prefer my apple an apple color and not an unappetizing brown.
Apples are filled with their buddy iron, it is in all their cells. Then you like to injure their cells by breaking them with your knife or teeth. After that, oxygen fills into the broken cells from the air and makes this thing called iron oxides. Clearly, it causes the brown colorization. There is an enzyme entitled polyphenol oxidase, which is present in the cells that get broken leading to the color reaction to be faster. When you cut the brown part of the apple in half once more, you will gather the fact that the inside of the second cut part is still the shade of white due to they were still intact and said no oxygen you are not allowed in.
This article is helpful because we can learn how to maintain our apples perfectly delicious white exterior beneath the skin (despite the fact the brown doesn't even affect the taste, it just looks flat out gross). You can slow or stop the oxidation color change process in six different ways. Making apple juice, yum<3. Cut and then place them under water, which will in turn block the air from reaching the iron. Rub some lemon juice on your apple!!!! That will look kinda' funny and stop the polyphenol oxidase from working. Want to make some pie?? What flavor? Apple. Yes, place your apple slices in boiling water for a few and you've blanched the apple making the browning enzyme to come to a halt. You could also place some salt that will stop the enzyme. You could also place them in an airtight jar.
Personally, I believe the article was well written and easy to understand. It released simple in-tell about the oxidation process of apples that turn it brown.

we found the millennium falcon.

source http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/28/world/europe/swedish-shipwreck-hunters/index.html

Okay, the title is a little misleading, but possible. Recently a group of treasure hunters found a object in the water. it is the size of a jumbo jet, and if it doesn't look like the millennium falcon to you, get your eyes checked. As you can see above, Han Solo found earth.

If this is infact some sort of alien ship, we could be able to do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs! I'm sorry, i couldn't resist. while this may not be a space ship, its the size of a jumbo jet; WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE?!

Teen Angst

We've all experienced it at one point or another in our lives, usually during the teen years. Teen angst. An epidemic caused by teen hormones, and stress for whatever reason. Some teens can have this angst more harsh than others. Those who do are very well known for commiting suicide. Angst doesn't have to be only among teens either. It is, not as commonly found but, still found, among adults, typically during the 40's. This is also known as the mid-life crisis.

Sugar

Sugar has some odd aspects to it. For instance, if you put a flame straight to it, it will not burn. however, dissolve it in water, burn off the water (through boiling), it will become elemental Carbon (very gross by the way). Why does it do this? Sugar, in cube form, will not light unless given enough heat. This is because of the density of the cube. Put ash on it, it will light very easily. The ash acts as a catalyst to the sugar. Powdered sugar however, is very easy to light, as it is much less dense. Sugar mixed with water is very sweet. Possibly too sweet for my tastes. The interesting thing, when you boil off that water, the sugar becomes Carbon. Why? This is because the hydrogen and oxygen atoms bond (creating water, which is being burned off) leaving carbon. When the water is burned off, you get a black, brittle substance, which is elemental carbon. I do not recommed eating it. It is not toxic at all, but it is really quite gross to taste.

Home-made volcano!

Everyone should know how to make a home-made volcano. But, if you don't, here's how. Get a funnel, put some baking powder in it, and then some vinegar. Whooosh! (Be sure you have cleaning supplies ready, because it will make a mess) Now to the boring part. How it works! Baking soda's chemical formula is NaHCO3, and vinegar's chemical formula is CH3COOH. What happens, is the CO2, H2O and carbonic acid are left behind. The CO2 comes up in air form, the H2O comes up in water form, and the carbonic acid is left there.

Metals and Metallic Bonds

Resource: http://dl.clackamas.cc.or.us/ch104-08/metallic.htm

We all interact with metals everyday. Metals are a majority of the elements found on the periodic table. Metals are useful for the industrial part of our lives. Also, they make up most of our building foundations and to even our food utensils. Thee properties of metals are usually ductile and malleable. They are also very good at conducting heat and electricity. Metals can be made to alloys as well. With all these things metals can do, how can they really do them? The bonds that hold them together is a great benefactor to this. The electrons are loosely held together which make it almost an ocean of electrons. The heat and electricity pass through metals fairly easy because of their ocean like structure. Also, the hold between the atoms are loose but capable of staying together. This explains the ductile and malleable capabilities of metals. Alloys are a combination of a metal and some other element or elements. One of the ways the alloy is made up is a substitution alloy. It substitutes the other element for places in the original metal, but it will stay about the same structure. Another type is called interstitial alloy. It is when the atoms other than the metal is much smaller and fit in between the holes of the structure of the metal.

Metals are important to human life on earth. We use our metals for most things industrial and others for our common use. Some of the first presumed elements to be found by man were metals. The more we learn about our necessary element, it will help us create new alloys in the future, and it will benefit mankind for the better.

Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis. You may be thinking, "ugh, big words...really?" But photosynthesis (PS for short, as it is truly a big word) is actually a very interesting topic. Did you know that trees and plants give off oxygen? This is because of PS. 6CO2+12H2O + light = C6H12O6 + 6O2 + 6H2O That's photosynthesis. The 6CO2 is Carbon dioxide (obtained through the air by humans who breathe out CO2). You all know what H2O is (water if you really dont). What's left is sugar (C6H12O6), Oxygen (6O2) and water. So without plants, we wouldn't exist, and vice versa.

Alcohol

Ever wonder why alcohol is flammable? The thought emerged in my mind today during our experiment. Alcohol's chemical formula is C2H6O. Part of this is hydrocarbons, which, when broken off due to an outer source (fire), creates heat. Heat is put off because energy is excreted. When energy is excreted, any extra energy takes the form of heat.

space wine

source http://www.g4tv.com/videos/57063/the-daily-feed-with-sara-underwood-12512/

the new chilean wine "meteorita" is fermented with a 4.5 billion year old south american meteorite. sounds expensive. very, very expensive. the meteorite is supposed to give the wine a "livelier taste." Honestly i think they're just doing it to get ALOT of money.

this doesn't really affect the world in any way other than letting rich people have another way to show off. Sofar there is no news on a price, but i bet its expensive. personally, I'd rather have a car. a nice car. probobly an italian car. or maybe german.

Solar Thermal

Resource: http://www.solardev.com/SEIA-makingelec.php

Solar energy is using the sun's energy to create electricity to power our electronics. Solar thermal energy is one type of using the sun for energy. This type of energy is revolved around redirecting the sun's heat to boil water. It then creates steam that will spin or push some kind of mechanism such as a turbine. The great thing about this type of energy plant is it can store the energy that the sun gives. This means it can generate power during any time of the day such as day, night, cloudy, or even raining. There are some different ways that the sun's energy is redirected. One of the mechanisms is a "power tower" which follows the sun and has mirrors that capture the sun's rays to boil water. Another type is like a pipe that is used to capture the sun's energy and it is picked up by circulating oil through the pipe.

Solar energy may be the next type of energy humans rely on. Our fossil fuels are hurting our earth faster and faster. Solar thermal energy has gotten a better chance for taking over. Molten salts which retains a large amount of heat can help store the heat for anytime. It can be held even throughout the night and it can help assist circulating the energy when needed. This may be the start of a new frontier of energy.

"WE'RE GOING TO MARS!"

source http://www.g4tv.com/videos/57082/the-daily-feed-with-sara-underwood-12612/

while previously an organic life form, such as yourself, could view mars using google EARTH, a computer program allowing people to view earth (obviously), the moon, and mars; But now NASA is allowing us normal squishy human beings who dont have high paying jobs at NASA to view the surface of mars in more detail than ever before. you can explore areas also explored by rovers in great detail.

This is cool because by the time people are going to mars, you will be a wrinkly old person who watches tv all day and cant be bothered to get up and go to the toilet when nature calls. with this you can explore mars from the comfort of your bathroom, which you can still get to without the help of a young whipper snapper.

Colloidal Silver

Colloidal Silver is a liquid that has many medical uses. It helps boost your immune system, fights bacteria, viruses, fungus, and even acne! Back in ancient Greece, the Greeks noticed that silver helped with many things, so they used it...a lot. They coated their food and drink ware with it, they would even put it in their milk to help keep it "good" without refrigeration. Did you ever wonder why silverware was made from silver? Well, now you know! Colloidal Silver is made by putting a silver rod in water, and electrifying the rod. Odd isn't it?

LEGOs in SSSSSSSSSSSPPPPPPPPPPPPPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

source http://www.g4tv.com/videos/57115/the-daily-feed-with-sara-underwood-13012/

recently some canadians (eh) have sent a LEGO into SSSSSSSSSSSSSPPPPPPPPPPPPPPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEEE! and to quote the lovely Sara Jean Underwood, "they sent up a balloon and got publicity without faking a child being in it!" Unfortunatley the facts portion of the blog will be short because there isn't much to say other than "recently some canadians (eh) have sent a LEGO into SSSSSSSSSSSSSPPPPPPPPPPPPPPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEEE!" either way though, it's still awesome.

This event, in my opinion, is pretty awesome. I am now considering doing it myself. This event will help aspiring young astronauts to learn about the atmosphere, and the troubles faced when trying to pass it.

Nervous system

Do you know how your friend pinches you and you get that sharp pain up your arm? Or how your wife rubs your back and that tingling makes it's way around? None of that would be possible without nerves. Nerves are those things you hear about that send impulses to your brain, and your brain sends back feeling. How does the impulse get to your brain? How does your brain send the feeling back? What is the impulse and feeling? All very valid questions. An impulse takes the form of a type of electricity, which travels up through the nerves and to your brain. Your brain interprets the impulse very quickly, and sends back chemicals, which travel inside of your nerves, and back to the location of the impulse start. In order for the chemicals to get there, you need nerve synapses. These are little tiny gaps between your nerves that contain the "guns" and "receivers" of the chemicals. Nerves also have a sheath covering them. Think of it as a cord. A cord is a bunch of metals wires wrapped in a rubber, or plastic, or whatever material sheath. This speeds up the process of the signal or impulse getting from point A to point B.

Covalent Bonds

Resource: http://misterguch.brinkster.net/covalentcompounds.html

Covalent bonds are one of the types of bonds found between elements. Its different from ionic bonds because these elements don't take electrons. Why would this bond not take electrons tho? It is a good question and the reason is the electronegativity. First of all, all elements want to reach eight valence electrons, and it becomes unusually stable such as the noble gases. The element's electronegativity is the pull it has on other electrons to fulfill the octet rule. Covalent bonds are different because it shares electrons. Two nonmetals will usually be the two elements combing with each other. Electronegativity takes it affect because if both have roughly the same amount of it, then the two elements must share than steal because neither can steal from one another. A property that can differ from ionic bonds are a much lower melting and boiling point. This is because ionic bonds need to be melted all the way because of their negative and positive charges, but covalent bonds are not that tightly packed and requires much less energy to make physical changes. Another property is covalent bonds are more flammable. It is because of the specific bondings of carbon and hydrogen atoms. These two properties are usually true for covalent bonds, but there can be exceptions to these rules.

I found this web page rather interesting especially for covalent bonds. It was very informative and told me the important parts of any kind of information. If anyone were curious in covalent bonds, this would be the first place I'd tell them to look. The different bonds are important to know because our industries help create useful materials from making bonds of different elements. This knowledge is another tool for a productive use in our everyday lives.

Heat and Cold

Have you ever touched a hot surface? It burns. You learned that when you touched the stove, jerked back, and screamed, "OUCH!" At which point, your mother replied, "bet you won't do that again will ya?" Or have you ever gotten ice stuck to your lip or tongue and it starts to "burn?" That hurts too! But the question is: what makes things hot or cold? It's all relative to the atoms, and how fast they're moving, and how close together they are. The faster they move and the farther apart they get, that's hot! The slower they move, and the closer they are, that's cold. Everything has a melting point and freezing point. Take water for example. Water, as we all know, freezes at 32 degrees F, or 0 degrees C, and 273 degrees K. The boiling point of water is 212 degrees F, 100 degrees C, or 373 degrees K. F stands for fereinheit, C stands for Celsius, and K stands for Kelvin. K is used to determine absolute zero. 0 K is when all atoms stop moving. That's at -460 degrees F! Wow, that's cold! Do you realize how the hoter something gets, the less dense it gets? That's due to the loosness of the atoms. It's like a snowball. When you just have snow, it will fall between your fingers. When you mash it together, it becomes hard, and enjoyable to through at people. Look at water. The more dense and cold it is, it's ice. The less dense it becomes, it turns into liquid water, and then water vapor. The same thing can happen to your blood, so don't go getting stuck in a blizzard!

Chemistry of Humor

"Ahahaha!" Humor, how hilarious! What an odd noise-laughter. Humor, where does it come from? It comes from our brain, and the hormones of humor. Humor is a very unknown topic. Theories do exist though. Theories derived from psychology, which usually state humor as a healthy thing. Spiritual theories, which say humor is a "gift from god" and other theories that believe humor is a mystery, saying that humor is a "mystical happening." What has been made certain, based on past experiences, which you may have noticed yourself, include: surprise, timing, contradiction/paradox, etc. This can also include exaggeration. It is often said by studys "to make one laugh easily, you may exaggerate the topic to absurdity, and unthinkable lengths." Theories exist, but again, humor is a very unknown topic. But, have a good hardy laugh. It's fun!

maple syrup

Mmmm! Maple syrup! Well, I don't like it, but a lot of you out there probably do! Maple syrup is made from the xylem sap from sugar maple, red maple, or black maple trees. These trees carry starch (C6H10O5) which turns into glucose sugar (C6H12O6). This sugar rises in the sap, but sap can also be accessed by boring a hole through the trunk and excreting the sap through that hole. And that's how maple syrup is made. But, did you know that their is such thing as healthy maple syrup? There are different grades of maple syrup. The US uses a grade system that includes grade A and grade B. Grade B is a darker, less refined, and healthier syrup. It doesn't taste as sweet, but it definitely holds the maple flavor as said by many. It is also used in what is called the "lemonade diet" This diet is solely a liquid diet, in which you can only drink "lemonade". This lemonade consists of water, lemon juice, grade B maple syrup, and kayan pepper.

Magnetic Soap!

Scientists from Bristol University have made a different kind of soap. Not the one you would generally use in the bath tub or the shower, but maybe for oil spills. It could also revolutionize cleaning products we use in everyday to clean our house. Ever since oil spills have been occurring, scientists have been trying to find a soap that could attract oils. Bristol University has been handling with the science of soap for some time now. They have made experiments where the soap is sensitive to light, carbon dioxide, pH levels, temperature, and more. These magnetic soaps are composed of iron rich soaps that when in contact with a water solution make a magnetic field around its area.

aliens

sourcehttp://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/will-the-aliens-be-nice-dont-bet-on-it/?scp=2&sq=aliens&st=cse

aliens. some of the world thinks that they dont exist, some think they're going to help us, and hollywood thinks they will use us for after 8 mints. the... study states hollywood maybe be right on this one. remember what happened to the aztecs? the reason i put 3 dots before "study" is because im reluctant to call this a study, because this isn't really a thing you can study. anyway...

through out human history, we can see that humans are jerks. we travel, find a less advanced tribe and/or species and we either wipe them out, enslave them, or eat them. while the aliens may see us as a invredibly varied species and befriend some of us who aren't jerks, such as the people from top gear, and do the other things listed above to those who are, such as the people from jersey shore. honestly, in my opinion, that would be the best outcome.

throwing cats out of planes

sourcehttp://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/22/science/on-landing-like-a-cat-it-is-a-fact.html?scp=1&sq=cats%20falling&st=cse

cats are often known for always landing on their feet, and being really good at climbing. but did you know that you could throw a cat out of a plane and it would survive? while no, there aren't really messed up and emotionally dead researchers somewhere out there throwing cats out of planes, studies have shown that cats can survive a terminal velocity fall, AKA a fall out of a plane... or even a satalite. the cat is able to do this by opening up it's skin flap things in order to glide like a flying squirell. or like this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttz5oPpF1Js

this is, in my opinion, fairly awesome. If I could do this i would do it ALOT. infact as soon as i am old enough to do that I WILL. anyway... i dont really see this impacting most of society except people who live in high rise apartments looking for pets.

Chocolate

Chocolate is a widely known and loved sweet. This is for a specific reason too. Chocolate contains tryptophan. Tryptophan is not only in chocolate, but it is released in our brain during, let's just say, pleasurful moments. Tryptophan is the "chemical of sex". Many people will say, and you've probably heard, "chocolate is better than sex!" What they mean, revolving chemistry, is, "chocolate has tryptophan, and that's associated with sex, so I LIKE IT!" After-all, men do get women chocolates now and then. Is this just their scheme? Or is it coinsidence? Or maybe, they just know how much women like it. Tryptophan my friends, is in chocolate, so chocolate is an amazing wingman!

The effects of music

Almost everyone loves music. It can be relaxing, it can wake you up. It can be stimulating, or it can be soothing. No matter how you like music, or what genre, it plays a part on your own brain. Bet you didn't know that, did you? Music is a very powerful tool on your brain. The chemistry of your brain involves hormones, endorphans, chemicals, etc. Music can actually stimulate or sooth these aspects. The next time you listen to music, listen for the calming, music that will put you to sleep, or the up-beat, music that will wake you up. You never know what might make your day.

Stainless steel

stainless steel an alloy that is a material made from two or more separate elements alloyed or "melted" together.

uses.
In the home:

· Cutlery, dishes and other tableware

· Kitchen sinks

· Pans and cookware

· Ovens and barbeques

· Garden equipment and furniture


In the town:

· Bus shelters, telephone booths and other street furniture

· Building facades

· Lifts and escalators

· Subway trains and station infrastructure


In industry:

· Equipment for the manufacture of food products and pharmaceuticals

· Plant for the treatment of potable and waste water

· Chemical and petro-chemical plant

· Components for automotive and aero engines

· Fuel and chemical tankers

Stianless steel is a major part of modern life and is an essential part of industry and American life.

Reference: http://www.worldstainless.org/About+stainless/What+is/Intro/

Magnetite

Magnetite is an oxide of iron. When you see sparks from welding operations or from iron striking a hard surface, rapid oxidation of iron particles turns it into Magnetite. Magnetite is a natural magnet that was first discovered by a Greek sheapard nmed Magnes who saw his shoe nails stuck to a rock containing magnetite.

•Color is black.
•Luster is metallic to dull.
•Transparency: Crystals are opaque.
•Crystal System is isometric; 4/m bar 3 2/m
•Crystal Habits are typically octahedrons but rarely rhombododecahedron and other isometric forms, most commonly found massive or granular. Twinning of octahedrons into spinel law twins is seen occasionally.
•Cleavage is absent although octahedral parting can be seen on some specimens.
•Fracture is conchoidal.
•Hardness is 5.5 - 6.5
•Specific Gravity is 5.1+ (average for metallic minerals)
•Streak is black.
•Associated Minerals are talc and chlorite (schists), pyrite and hematite.
•Other Characteristics: Magnetism stronger in massive examples than in crystals, striations on crystal faces (not always seen).
•Notable Occurrences include South Africa, Germany, Russia and many localities in the USA.
•Best Field Indicators are magnetism, crystal habit and streak.

Reference:http://www.galleries.com/Magnetite

new elements

source:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/science/earth/09elements.html?_r=1&ref=chemistry

recently the periodic table of elements got 2 more elements. known with the very creative names of "element 116" and "element 114" the two new elements were created in labs. and people say alchemy is dead. what i dont get is if in a lab they dont know what they're going to get and they get it, but if they're going for something specific, say gold, they cant get it. as Bill O'Rielly once said "you cant explain that!"

in my opinion unless the element can be sustained outside the lab, it wont really change anything. now if we can get it out of the lab and use it for something then it would be worth some attention but for now it's a lost cause.

Carbon planet

source:http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/25/us-planet-diamond-idUSTRE77O69A20110825

Recently, astronomers have found a planet made entirely out of condensed carbon. For those of you who dont know why that is significant, condensed carbon is more commonly known as diamond. FLIPPIN' DIAMOND!

In my opinion, this is really awesome. If for some reason we are in high demand for diamond by the time we have the technology to get there, I think that problem will no longer be a problem. There is also oxygen on the planet so maybe, a future celeb and/or president vacation spot?

Iron

Resource: http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele026.html

Iron has been around for as long as ancient men can remember. If there's something we understand about the periodic table, it's iron. For starters, iron's chemical symbol comes from the Anglo Saxon name of iron, ferrum. The atomic number for iron is 26, and it has an atomic weight of 55.845. As we know it is solid at room temperature, and it is classified as a metal. Iron is very abundant and very cheap. The melting point of iron is 2800 F, and it's boiling point is 5182 F. As with most metals, iron conducts electricity and heat well. Also, the electron configuration goes all the way to 4s2.

Iron has been around for quite a while. Humans have used, and it was on of the first elements to be used. Iron is basically used today to create steel. Steel is an alloy of carbon and iron. The amount of Carbon put into steel is about .3% to 1.5% depending on what the desired traits are. Also, adding other elements will give useful properties for the right job. Sometimes chromium is added for better durability and corrosive resistance. This is called stainless steel. Iron has it's place in modern days and I see that we as humans will be using it for years to come.

Ionic vs Covalent Bonds

Resource: http://www.diffen.com/difference/Covalent_Bonds_vs_Ionic_Bonds

There are different types of bonds. Specifically there are three, but that's for another blog. The two types that will be spoken about are Ionic and Covalent bonds. Covalent bonds consist of pairs of electrons shared by two atoms and they are bonded in a fixed orientation. Ionic bonds steal or gain electrons to make a bond which creates a cation or an anion. To compare the two, first of all, covalent bonds have a low polarity and ionic bonds have a high polarity. Also, covalent bonds are formed by chemically bonding between two non metallic atoms which share each other's electrons while ionic bonding takes usually a metallic and non metallic atom which will either remove electrons or gain them. Covalent bonds will always have a definite shape while the ionic bond takes no real shape at all. They're melting points also differ with the covalent being a low melting point compared to the ionic bonding's high boiling point.

These two little bonds help make regular everyday things we may use such as table salt. These bonds make up a majority of how many elements will stick together. It allows us to merge things and learn more about compounds. It can be helpful in making some kind of useful medicine to something we put on our food. No matter you look at it, they are important to the science community and to the general population.

Aluminum

Resource: http://chemistry.about.com/od/elementfacts/a/aluminum.htm

Aluminum is one of the most used elements in the world. We can even find it as aluminum foil in our household, and it can even be that can of ground up coffee. The atomic number is 13 and symbol is Al. It was discovered in 1825 and even found early use by the Greek which is a date much farther into the past. The atomic weight of Aluminum is about 27. Aluminum has a melting point of about 660 degrees Celsius, and a boiling point of 2467 Celsius. Pure aluminum is a silvery white metal. It is soft, light, relatively nontoxic, and high thermal conductivity. It is even highly corrosive resistance. It is also easy to form shapes which makes it good for production for some of our everyday tools. It is also the 8th most abundant element in the earth's crust, but we must make it into use by using the ore and doing a specific process.

Without Aluminum we wouldn't have some of the easy tools we have in our everyday lives. It can be found in industrial applications, but we can even see it as utensils, exterior designs, and even the construction of aircraft. The use of aluminum is important and we should appreciate that it makes up some of our most daily uses and some of our most important uses.

Molten Salts

Reference: http://home.earthlink.net/~bhoglund/whatsMoltenSal.html

What are Molten Salts? Do they even matter? Yes, yes they do. To answer my first question, the name is basically self explanatory. It is melted salts or fused salts. To reach this liquidated state, it must be heated to the point it is red hot where it will proceed to melt. The liquid is stable and will flow much like water will. The real differences between water and molten salts is molten will have a much higher capacity to hold heat and it will contract when frozen instead of water expanding. Some of the advantages of molten salts is it is capable of conducting electricity. This capability allows for use for possible energy projects. Not only for energy projects can be included, but it can be functioned as solvents, carry large heat capacity, move like a liquid, and some molten salts can have a chemical catalytic properties.

The knowledge of molten salts may help chances with use of solar energy. The article was very informative in the multiple applications that it can used for and its major properties. I found it very informative and I was able to understand much of what was written. The major thought I had with molten salts is the use of solar power. If it can store the energy even after sun has dropped, and continue giving, it may increase the productivity of solar energy plants. It truly can be a ground breaking material for the future.

The Northern lights revealed.

NASA reseaechers have found the cause for the northern lights while trying to understand the magnetic field and charged particles of the sun. Storms on the sun normally generate colorful light shows, but in quieter times events known as sub-storms can make the shows. Sub-storms have a tendency to generate a one-two million amp current, the equivalent of a 5-6 magnitude earthquake. For thirty years, scientists believed the disruption of charged particles was responsible. Others believed it was a snapping of magnetic field lines farther out. The snapping of magnetic fields occurred first, followed by a burst of auroras. Surprisingly, the disruption in the charged particle current occurred after the aurora.

Things such as this really take a toll on scientists as it chalenges the old beliefes and causes them to search for new answers which may not be easy.

reference:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/science/space/25aurora.html?ref=magnetsandmagnetism.

New Chemistry Discovery Techniques

Researchers at the Princeton University have developed a new way to speed up the chances of a chemical discovery. Instead of us doing all the chemical reactions, why not have someone else do them, or better yet, something. These things are robots, which can do up to one-thousand chemical reactions a day. The University professor of Princeton says that this Invention will help find unheard of chemicals without the years of commitment towards the research. "Usually, one takes molecules that one thinks will react and tries to figure out the best way to achieve that reaction," he said. "This team took molecules for which there was no obvious reaction between them and looked for 'accidental' reactivity. This approach could be useful for any field that requires new types of matter or a more efficient means of synthesizing known compounds." This creation will help the chemical and scientific world around us, faster. I believe that once our world is more developed around us and we get better tools and short cuts that good things will end in result.