memory and magic.

It is funny to me to have scientific studies of magic to prove that life is an illusion. I believe that Buddha has been saying the same thing for thousands of year. I veiw the world no differently because of this idea being proven or not proven. I am strong believer in we create our own reality.

To live is to know

If we look at it as being alive, having energy, constantly changing, is to have cognition, then I definitely agree. Santiago said it is how something interacts with it's environment. Living is knowing and living is not knowing, what we know. I choose to live outside of definitions , because it keeps the mystery alive.

mitosis vs. meiosis

I guess if I were to understand the whole process more I might be more able to appreciate these definitions more. The defintions on wikipedia helped me understand alittle bit. Now I know that mitosis comes before meiosis. I think it's through both of the processes that(the division of the cell) that life begins in an embyo? I am learning every day.

cell biology and TCM

The connections that I am making between my emerging practice in TCM and cell biology? I am seeing that no matter how we look at the body, no matter how big or small we are part of a bigger system of energy. I think of this whenver we are looking at the make up of a cell and we see all these tiny working parts that keep the cell alive and healthy, very much like the human body. Then if you go further out and look at the human race existing in this bigger system of the earth, we are just part of a bigger whole, and we are slowly learning that in order for us to remain on this womderful planet, we have to be in balance with it. In my Tcm pracice I see that there is a connection to everythign around us and I help my clients keep in balance with it.

spikes gallery

I took a look at his transparent photos and they are all so beautiful. I was especially mezmorized by the fossil diatoms from oamuru. Thank you Spike for taking these photos.

introduction to cell and virus structure

I took a look at a bunch of these sites and they were all very informative. I loved the brilliant drawings of the cells and their parts. I loved the graph with all the viruses and how they were all viewed. It is truly amazing all of the things that we have discovered that cannot be seen with the naked eye.I am grateful to be a part of this awesome microcosm.

Diversity within my home

I have lots of diversity of species in my home. There are three humans,2 cats, one fish, four house plants(one of which is a carnivorous plant),spiders,ants, fruit flies,and even some lovely fleas(luckily only on the cats).I have some seaweed that I collected,there's some algae in the fish tank, and who knows our cats may have some worms.We have observed some aphids on our carnivorous plant(which it might have eaten because we don't see them anymore).We recently had a caterpillar to watch it go into it's chrysalis,but our cat's ate it. Lot's of diversity and cycles of life existing in our home, it's just one big happy family.

week eight chem tutorial

I thought that this site was fun. Even though I am a novice chemist, I was able to understand a lot of what this site had to offer. I took a look at the weak acid, strong base titration stimulator. Not sure what titration means but the directions were easy to understand and you could easily punch in you information and get results. Good to know for when I decide to become a mad scientist.

week eight chembalancer review

I loved doing the element quiz. It was easy to use and I learned that I knew the answers to more questions than I thought I would. I guess that ginkgo balboa is working and I am retaining information.

Mole

what is a mole? A mole is Avogadros number. molecules are so small , yet we wanted to measure them. There was a scientist that came up wit a way to measure them. using the model of the carbon 12 isotope. Avogadro's number(mole) is 6.o221367x10^23.

alkali earth metal of the week

magnesium is the ninth most abundant element in the universe.
It's the 11th most abundant element by mass in the human body. It's ions are essential to all living cells. it help in RNA, ATP , and DNA production.
Its's used medicinally in laxatives.

Alchemy

Alchemy is a branch of knowledge that developed in western civilization and in eastern ones such as India and China. It is what we currently call chemistry. I would definitely consider it a science,and magic,and an art. science has helped us to better understand the world around us, as much as it has remained a mystery(which implies magic) and nature and it's naturally occurring elements, can be considered art.

halogen of the week

Iodine is a single isotope with 74 neutrons.
Chemically Iodine is the second least reactive of the halogens, and the second most electropositive halogen. The element does not occur in the free state in nature. As with all other halogens, when freed from it's compound iodine forms diatomic molecules(I2)
It is rare in the solar system and in the earths crust, however it's very soluble in water and so the element is concentrated in seawater.

Krypton(noble gas)

Krypton, is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, noble gas, krypton occurs in trace, amounts in the atmosphere, is isolated fractionally distilling liquified air, and is often used with other rare gases in fluorescent lamps.
Kryptons, high output in plasmas allows it to play an important role in many high powered gas lasers, which pick out one of the many spectral lines to amplify. there is also specific krypton flouride lasers.
electron configuration [Ar] 3ds4s24p6

spectral of light

Luminescence,it was nice to get definitions of different types of light, It was also interesting to see the chemical make up of different minerals and a bit about how they are used and often even some history of their name. I liked seeing the light spectral of the minerals, it was very pretty.

colors in my kitchen

I have a very wide variety of colors. I have delicious red cherries, some reddish orange nectarines,I have yellow polenta, green asparagus,,frozen blueberries,some deep red-purple frozen raspberrys, some dark brown chocolate chips, some dark green seaweed,I would say it is a wide variety of good yummy food. I think all the colors are represented.yeh!!!

Atom economy

I went on the site for atom economy and to me it seemed that alot of the links it sent you to were sites with the key words in them, but most of the sites were unrelated to atom economy. they were sites that were selling me products.
I did however find the site on green innovation much more to my liking. Heres a quote from it that I liked.
"fundamentally things that need to be changed will be changed- without threatening the things that need to be sustained."

Green chemistry as a social movement

I think that as we all realize the importance of the health of our planet, green chemistry will make more and more sense to everyone. It is a social movement because we are socially responsible to clean up our messes. That is certainly a lesson that I am instilling in my children, as individuals and as humans on this planet. Green chemistry helps industries have guidelines to follow that will in the future leave us with only self contained products. The idea that we use up all atoms so there are no by products left over, sounds like a tough act to follow, but certainly a wonderful goal. If we look at our lives often we try to this with our food. When I buy groceries I am conscious to get just the things I will use in the week being sure to get things that spoil quickly in small quantities and if for some reason I over buy, i make bannana bread, or pumpkin muffins. Trying to use every atom....

Catalyst of the week

Palladium
Atomic number 46. Palladium is a rare and lustrous silvery white metal that was discovered in 1803 by William Wollaston, who named it after the asteroid Pallas.
Over half the supply of palladium and it's sister metal platinum goes into catalytic converters,which convert up to 90% of harmful gases from auto exhaust(hydrocarbons,carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxide) into less harmful substances(nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor)
Electron configuration[Kr]4d10

Water concepts

I loved this site. It was so enlightening to see everything in 3d. I loved how it asked questions and then shortly after gave the answer with a picture. I was able to see how the water molecule reacts under different temperature conditions. this is my kind of science.

Transition metal of the week

Zinc is similar to magnesium because it's ion is of similar size and it's only common oxidation state is 2. Zinc is the 24th most abundant elements in the earths crust and has five stable isotopes. The element was probably named by the alchemist Paracelsus after the German word Zinke. Corrosion- resistant zinc plating of steel is the major application of zinc.
Electron configuration of [Ar]3d10 4s2

my review of links on atomic structures.

I am so excited I finally get electron configuration....! It was after taking a look at the first link atomic properties ,that it all started to sink in. I took a look at covalent bonding, that looks fascinating too, symbiotic bonding, what a way to keep the elements balanced. I am eager to continue learning and using these sights as compliments to the class.

Element of the week:Titanium

Titanium.....
A metal element,that's recognized for its high strength to weight ratio.
Commercial grades of titanium have the same strength as low grade steel alloys but are 45% lighter.It's also corrosion resistant(including, sea water,aqua regia, and chlorine)
Titanium can be alloyed with iron,aluminum, among other elements to produce strong lightweight alloys for aero space. It's electron configuration is (Ar) 4s(2)3d(2)

Periodic tables...

I took a look at the spiral periodic table, that was confusing, then I tried the quiz ,but that was too difficult to understand, then I finally found the game...I love the game because for a novice like me I can feel like I actually retained some knowledge from high school. I also found it useful because as I am playing the game I am learning.

my quiz results

I found the quiz a bit disconcerting, having very little memory of chemistry. On question one I thought dissolving sugar was a chemical process, and in question two I thought milk was pure.