Periodic Table Assignments

I chose astatine as my halogen because I had never heard of it before. It's name comes from the Greek word "astatos," meaning "unstable." This highly radioactive halogen was synthesized in 1940 at U.C. by bombarding bismuth with alpha particles. The total amount of astatine present in the earth's crust is less than one ounce. According to the article I read at www.periodic.lanl.gov/elements/85, the "time of flight" mass spectrometer has been used to confirm that, chemically, astatine behaves much like iodine and probably accumulates in the thyroid gland. It differs from iodine in that it is more metallic.

I chose krypton as my inert gas because I wanted to see if I could figure out the secret of Superman's heroic feats. While I continue to investigate the secrets of Superman, I will share with you what I learned about krypton.

The name "krypton" comes from the Greek word "kryptos" meaning "hidden." Krypton was discovered on May 30, 1898 by Sir William Ramsay, a Scottish chemist, and Morris M. Travers, an English chemist, while they were studying liquified air. Small amounts of liquid krypton remained after more volatile components had boiled away. Krypton comprises 0.0001% of the earth's atmosphere.

Krypton is used in some types of flashes used in high speed photography. It is combined with argon in some types of fluorescent light bulbs and with other gases to make what we would refer to as "neon" signs.

I selected tellurium as my semiconductor because its name is similar to Telluride, which makes me think of skiing, and skiing is something that we might do during the winter trimester, if we were not in class.

Tellurium is silvery-white and, in its pure form, has a metallic lustre. It is brittle and easily crushed into a powder form. Tellurium ores exist, but tellurium is a byproduct of copper refining.

Tellurium is a "p-type" semiconductor. Its conductivity increases slightly when it is exposed to light. Besides its use as a semiconduct, tellurium is added to lead to prevent corrosion, and it is also used in ceramics and for tinting glass.

Interestingly, humans exposed to miniscule amount of tellurium develop "tellurium breath," which smells like garlic.

WEEK 11/12

How Cells Divide: Mitosis v. Meiosis

In all honestly, cell division is one of the few biology topics that does not fascinate me from a learner's perspective. Maybe I was traumatized by the memorization required on the topic by my junior high and high school teachers. The NOVA slides were great for visualization purposes, and I liked the breakdown of explanatory text with each slide. I just wish they could have used flourescent/microscopic pictures of the process like those that appear on the Wikipedia links.

Connections Between TCM and Cell Biology

Hmm. I don't have enough TCM study behind me to feel enlightened about these connections. TCM seems to focus on macrocellular levels - interrelationships between organs and systems within the body - not on the intricacies of cellular life cycles.

Week 10 addendum

Hmm. I wish that I had been in class last week to refresh my recollection of what constitutes a "species" (family, genus, species . . .). I know that my environment is teeming with microscopic organisms, but I don't remember if they are "species." Anyway, there are humans in my home. And, thanks to my husband, there are three living plants in my home, each of a different variety. We have a small backyard that is visited every night by raccoons and every morning by at least three varieties of birds. The soil in our garden contains some earthworms. Ants and spiders roam around outside. A mystery creature visits the garden and eats all of the vegetables and herbs, except the parsley.

WEEK 10

Cell Structures

I liked the depiction of the virus in a "Space Invader" style, different and threatening to the other cells. I also enjoyed reading about bacteria. The protective capsule that some of them have was news to me, and it helped me understand why some strains of bacteria seem to very resistant to the body's defenses.

The interactive cell was "cute" but not very informative; I preferred the long text and diagrams in the other sites.

Spike's Photos

It struck me that these little water organisms look like things I see up here on the land. The phantom larva reminded me of Jack in Nightmare Before Christmas - big head and eyes and wispy little body. The diatoms reminded me of my great grandmother's button collection. There were beautiful little bubble creatures. The daphnia looks like a graceful, multi-armed symphony conductor. The water flea looks like the cartoon version of a reindeer head. The first image looks just like a fish . . . clearly at home in his water habitat.

The Fieldtrip

The fieldtrip was fantastic . . . although, I would not have been disappointed if I had missed the pit of stinky garbage on which the birds were feasting. The sculpture garden was terrific. It's a marvelous contrast to the junk on the property, and I was happy to learn that talented gardeners can resurrect plants that have been given up for dead. I was surprised to learn that plastic is not as recyclable as glass -- it can never be completely reduced to its original form and reconstructed . . . yet another change for me to make in my consumer choices. Of course, my daughter and I enjoyed the art, particularly the interactive pieces. I found the lecture engaging and interesting, although my daughter did not . . . perhaps it's just the superior knowledge of a younger generation.

Alkali Earth Metal of the Week: Barium

For my own reference, alkali earth metals make up the second family of the perodic table. Alkali earth metals usually give up two electrons in a chemical compound. They are too reactive to be found in their pure state in nature, and they are denser and not as soft as alkali metals.

The following site had lots of interesting trivia about alkali earth metals, and I got carried away reading about all of the earth metals, instead of focusing on barium, my alkali earth metal of the week: http://www.theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/Elements/056/index.s7.html#sample3

Barium caught my attention because I remember that in connection with radiation cancer treatments in the 1970s, my great grandmother had to have barium enemas. I thought that I remembered her drinking a barium concoction that she found revolting, but after doing some research, I'm not so sure that my recollection of 30 years ago is accurate. I did learn that a barium solution is injected into the colon for a lower gastrointestinal x-rays to "illuminate" the colon and reveal polyps or other abnormalities on the x-ray image.

I came across an interesting study in which the author suggested that there is a link between higher concentrations of barium in the the soil and increased incidence of multiple sclerosis and other deriorative neurlogical diseases. The article is at http://www.wnho.net/BariumPoisoningStudy.pdf.

Week 5 Assignments

What Colors Are in My Kitchen?

Red: lots of tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, and canned tomatoes of all varieties, steak, ruby red grapefruit, raspberry jam, frozen rasperries, fuji apples, salsa, chicken, pork
Green: Romaine lettuce, celery, pickles, jalapenos, frozen peas, broccoli, cabbage
Yellow: Bananas, a lemon (does mustard count?)
Brown: Blue Moon and Amstel Light beer, steelcut oats, brown rice, bulgur, lentils, whole wheat pasta, peanut butter, honey, brown sugar, almonds
Purple: Red Wine, black beans, dried anti-oxidant fruit blend (cherries, plums, etc.), raisins
White: Garlic, onions, milk, coconut milk
Orange: mandarin orange-flavored chicken :) [a clear deficit in the orange category]
Beige: Lots of dairy products: nonfat milk, parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, cream cheese, American cheese, processed cheese spreads; lots of white bread stuff (i.e., sandwich bread, hot dog buns, bagels); white rice, russet potatoes, ramen noodles, Kelloggs' frozen waffles, Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, Fruity Pebbles cereal, turkey jerky, Sun Chips, Doritos, Veggie Chips (carrot, tomato and spinach), Cheetos

Links to websites:

After reviewing the websites this week, the subject that intrigues me most is bioluminescence. I love to scuba dive and enjoy night diving because of the marine version of fireflies. There are all sorts of bioluminescent creatures in the ocean. I went on a night dive in Kona last June, and we created a zone of light which attracted plankton that manta rays like to eat. I need to go back and read about all of the types of luminescence to see if something other than bioluminescence was at play.

Catalyst of the Week - Vanadium

I have to admit that I'm a little lost on the catalysts. In my research, I kept finding transition elements as catalysts. I did not find references to other elements as catalysts. What am I missing?

Vanadium oxide is the transition element-compound [what is the difference between and element and an "element-compound?] that catalyses sulphur dioxide to sulphur trioxide in the contact process for the manufacture of sulphuric acid.

I found many references to "contact process" in my research. What is the "contact process" and how does it relate to catalysts?