Cooking is an art as well as a necessity of our lives. It can bring great joy to both the cook, as well as those who partake of the well-prepared meal and it can also be a valuable and nutritious addition to our overall Health and well being. One might think that cooking and science have little in common, yet that is simply not true, as cooking offers a wide variety of opportunities to teach science to our young. By sharing quality time cooking with our children, they can learn valuable lessons not only in the ethic of work and responsibility but also in the area of science.

Experimenting In The Kitchen

Simple scientific experiments can be conducted within the comfortable confines of ones own kitchen and the end results can be edible! What an approach to science! Yet because the students are learning in a comforting and enjoyable atmosphere, it is not like the stifled book-learning approach to science. Cooking offers the child a hands on and tangible experience, while at the same time teaching them a life skill they can use daily. Children from kindergarten to college can gain practical applications and life-long knowledge by using this approach. Some example of fun experiments parents can incorporate include making candyfloss and ice cream. Making ice cream, for example, allows the exploration of the freezing point of matter. One can also talk about the role of temperature, whipping and foaming during the process. Children can learn a wide range of science concepts while they enjoy the learning process. What is more is that they get to enjoy a tasty treat at the end of the process.

Difficult chemistry concepts such as radiation, convection, conduction, energy and carbohydrate chemistry may seem overwhelming to many students, yet exploring and appreciating these science concepts during our food preparation can makes it a fun and exciting adventure. For a start, one can study the various forms of heat transfer and their different roles it play in the cooking process. With regard to specific foods, milk and dairy products can be discussed as you use them in your cooking, such as how the cows produce milk, what milk is made of, the nutrients within the milk and the difference between fermented and non-fermented products.

Plants can also be easily incorporated into our discussions. Cooking vegetables is a science itself. Even preseving them, such as kimchi, is an excellent introduction to food nutrition and preservation. By the way, talking about kimchi, in it lives a host of live organisms which one can conduct experiments on. Moreover, it also gives you an excellent opportunity to talk about Korean culture and food. Concepts such as osmosis, pH value, density of the food, as well as dissecting the vegetables to identify plant tissue and structure can be explored too.

With the wide variety of creative ideas for experimentation, the kitchen is a wonderful learning laboratory for people of all ages.

Kelvin Ho
http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/teaching-science-through-cooking-82660.html

I’m starting my search for graduate schools but I’m not sure if I should pick a concentration. I’m currently a chemistry major and planning on getting a PhD in Chemistry but I’m curious if I should pick a concentration. My ultimate plan is to go into medical research. Whats the best?

this isnt helping, but im still trying to figure out a concentration too… im a junior, undergrad, though, but im planning on going to grad school after i graduate. i want to work with toxicology or something forensic chemistry related, its frustrating

Many folks enjoy Science Fiction and recently a friend who is a vegetarian and has lived all over Europe expressed to me his years of reading Sci Fi and listed many of his favorite authors. These included authors like Robert Heinlein, Charles Sheckley, Larry Niven, Isaac Asimov, Ursula k. Leguin… older science fiction for the most part also a little of say William Gibson or newer Heinlein.

In fact he likes science fiction so much he is considering on writing his own science fiction book soon. I thought to myself; “wow!” that is one heck of a line-up of great authors so indeed, I bet whatever he writes will be inspired by some of the greatest science fiction writers of all time. Myself I like Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Ben Bova, Caleb Carr, Stephen Baxter, Jules Vern, Gene Roddenberry, HG Wells, and try to stay away from the Science Fiction Fantasy. Although, I must say I do rather enjoy such movies in the theatre. Since then space search has been a constant battle between the two countries with the astronauts of the USA and cosmonauts of Russia striving to explore more, to find more and to know more about space. In this conventional viewpoint, the wave, “wavicle”, for more details visit to www.auto-cons.com or particle separates from the source, moves through empty space, and then is absorbed by the sink, thereby becoming a part of the sink and fully divorced from the source. That way perhaps you won’t notice being pelted by friendly fire from casually discarded space junk, nor will you be aware of your vital organs expanding and bursting in the vacuum created by zero air pressure

Between the two of us, I’d say that those are very famous and interesting authors. So we discussed the future of propulsion technologies that we both believe to be forthcoming and decided we wouldn’t mind a long-term space mission for the benefit of exploration, truth, science and humanity. Energetic radiation/absorption along primary (oscillation along the line over time; can be modeled as a pair of points on the line, one on each side of the center, for more details visit to www.profit-pulling-niches.com moving with equivalent but varying spacing between each of them and the center point. “Yes, I too would have no problem with a year’s space flight, each way or even 5-years, if I had access to information to learn and study.” I told him.

In the future Virtual Reality might help entertain space travelers from going stir crazy? Soon mankind will depart from this home planet in search of our future destiny and all that awaits. Amazingly, enough it won’t be long now.

guru
http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/do-you-like-science-fiction-733101.html

Also, I’ve read that Chemistry students tend to specialize in a type of Chemistry in Grad School, are there any students who specialize or gain further degrees in the Chemistry of Explosives? Similar to what Alfred Nobel did.

Chemistry students are taught about the fundamentals of matter, atoms, molecules, elements etc. How to make molecules, how to analyse them using spectroscopy/spectrometry/crystallography, how to predict properties of compounds based on the structure, all kinds of things really.

There is analytical chemistry (snore), computational (even bigger snore), inorganic (aka crystal growing), organic, biological (aka pipetting), organometallic, supramolecular.. just to name a few.

In Grad school you do specialise, in fact you become so very focused on a particular topic that you end up writing a book about it, and you hand it in and hope that you will never have to look at the book again for as long as you live.

If you want to get into explosives you would probably be aiming for employment within a government organisation, research in explosives is no longer a huge priority for academic institutions, unsure of whether the private industry does much. I do hope you have low blood pressure cos a career in making things that might (at any moment) go bang and take your hand off is not for the faint hearted.

Children, being curious by nature, are always fascinated by Science. In order to keep kids interested, there are several scientific methods you can expose them with.

Children wonder about lots of things. They are naturally curious. In one of the programs at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, they see the various levels of children’s curiosity. Generally, kids want to know the answer on some questions like:

-How big is a polar bear?
-How deep is the ocean?
-If whale and shark will engage in fighting, which will win?

Although these questions have been answered many years ago, we also want to do better and teach kids to answer these questions themselves. We can do this through the wonders of Science.

Science must not be complicated, especially for children in the elementary level. In certain activities, we need to emphasize that science is a process. It is fairly straightforward. We can even define Science according to Richard Feynman, “a special method of discovering things as very tough but really simple”.

In fact, there are variations in the so called “Scientific Method”. Scientists do things in different ways. This includes:

-emphasize experimental tests
-observe
-studies complex mathematical models

Although they differ in some aspects, they still follow the fundamental steps in the scientific process. Those integral steps are:

•observing, wondering
•hypothesizing or predicting
•experimenting
•analyzing
•concluding

All the activities used in teaching students how to do science follows the components of the Scientific Method. This would be:

•observation of nature
•Wondering Why?
•Forming hypotheses in an “If” format
•Collecting data that includes defining dependent vs. independent variables. By using appropriate experimental controls and repeated trials.
•Analyzing data
•Deriving to conclusions
•Asking the next questions

Using the scientific method in a variety of activities will help teachers and students find it enjoyable. It is also a useful method to learn about nature and how things work.

Here are suggested workshops that use “comparing and classifying”. Students will work in groups of four for this type of ands-on experiment. It focuses on:

-planets
-atmospheres
-soils and
-classifications of objects

TERMINOLOGY

Process related

•observation
•hypothesis
•comparison
•classification
•prediction
•dependent variable
•independent variable
•inference
•data

Content Related

•asteroid
•astronomer
•astrobiologist
•atmosphere
•fossil
•infiltration
•landforms
•gas
•meteorite
•nanobacteria
•particle size
•percolation
•soil moisture
•soil profile
•soil texture
•soil types
•solar systems

ACTIVITY OUTLINE:

-The first 50 minutes of the workshop consists of the following:

•Slides
•Demonstrations about object classification
•A discussion on the search of life on Mars, which will be conducted using fossil evidence of Martian meteorites.
•Students will work in groups of four to examine soil components like:

-sands
-clay
-pebbles
-organic matter

•Each student will examine three vials of soil particles.
•They will use their senses in order to record data on certain particles.

-size
-texture
-smell
-color

•The group will combine their samples and decide how they will classify this soil. This will be based on various soil characteristics.

Ex. Students will be assigned occupations like:

-farmer
-builder
-artist

They will then decide on how to categorize the soils. This is in accordance with which properties would be most important to people, especially those with different occupations.

Thus, as you go along, children will realize what it means to do science. Kids will realize that doing science is to learn its methods. Learning its methods means they need to:

-observe
-question
-hypothesize
-gather data
-analyze data and
-conclude

Jayesh Bagde
http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/kids-do-science-553747.html

I want to have some early understanding in chemistry before I take all my college chemistry courses. What books are out there that helps you with the main topics of organic, physical, physics etc? By me studying early I should have some comfortable understand, and be ahead of all my science classes. My ambition is to become MD. So I really want to be on top of my science.

I think

Chemistry by Steven S. Zumdahl and Susan A. Zumdahl

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_0_5?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=zumdahl&x=0&y=0&sprefix=zimda

I understand that a broad and intricate knowledge of the basics are important, but I’m not at all sure what basics I should start with. My idea was to read through a general chemistry textbook, but it’s turning out to be somewhat overwhelming. I’m looking to pursue a career in organic chemistry (organic chemistry textbooks are too specific and don’t really allow for a broad understanding of the subject matter).

I’m already taking chemistry courses at a university; the aim of this question, to restate, is to help me figure out where I should be concentrating in my spare time.

I am an inorganic chemist. I have a colleague who is a biological chemist. I once asked him, "What, besides biological chemistry, do you think is most important for your students to understand?" His answer? Physical chemistry. Besides inorganic chemistry, that’s my answer too.

Thermodynamics, kinetics, bonding. Not so much at the level of being able to derive thermodynamic relationships with partial derivatives, but having a sort of honors-level freshman chemistry understanding.

Know order-of-magnitude numbers! How strong are typical bonds? How much energy is kT (or RT on a per mole basis). What is the energy range of visible light? Infrared radiation? NMR frequencies? What are typical bond lengths? etc…

You’d be amazed at how important these kinds of things are to chemists of all kinds – organic, inorganic, or analytical.

In recent years, science fiction movies have made a big comeback in Hollywood and I, for one, consider that a very good thing.

I like to be surprised when I go to the movies. I like to see things that I’ve never seen before and I like to be confronted by virtual realities that I did not even think possible. That’s why science fiction movies are my cup of tea.

They traditionally cover a wide range of subjects and themes, including several that are uniquely their own. Today’s trend in science fiction puts a premium on special effects, backed by today’s cutting-edge technology that can make even the most bizarre scenes seem realistic, such as alien life forms, spectacular battles in outer space, time travel or traveling to other worlds at the speed of light.

Often, science fiction films are purely speculative in nature and are peppered with recurring themes involving science and technology. Other prevalent themes in sci-fi movies are mysticism, magic, the occult and the supernatural, which are also key elements of fantasy or occult/religious movies. In fact, quite a number of films blur the line between these genre, such as Forbidden Planet, Chronicles of Riddick, and the Star Wars series.

It’s hard to define precisely what makes a science fiction film because the genre has no universally accepted definition. In fact, science fiction may vary from viewer to viewer in that what is sci-fi to me may be fantasy or horror to you.

If you’ve been a long-time fan of Hollywood, then you know that science fiction has come a long way. There was a time when special effects meant putting a toy spaceship at the end of a string and waving it in front of a camera or having someone dress up as an orangutan and terrorizing an entire city. Certainly, the special effects in science fiction movies have evolved from the downright laughable to today’s breath-taking and awe-inspiring treatments that seem truly realistic. Some of the great milestones in this regard are marked by films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Star Wars films, Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Matrix.

Of course, science fiction films just seem to be getting better by the year, as evidenced by such recent hits as “Lord of the Rings”, “I, Robot” and “Superman Returns.”

Kadence Buchanan
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/science-fiction-movies-65107.html

-There are 355ml in a 12 ounce soda. How many ounces are in a two-liter bottle?

and….

- If a life-size gold statue of a man has a volume of 9.08 x 10 (to the 4th) ml how many pounds would it weigh?

Density of gold is 14.5 g/ml and 1 kg = 2.2 lbs

Please tell me how to do these!

2 L x 1000 mL / L = 2000 mL
2000 mL x 12 oz / 355 mL = 68 oz

9.08 E+04 mL x 14.5 g / mL x 1 kg / 1000 g x 2.2 lb / kg = 2900 lbs