Chemistry | Linus Pauling

Getting Some All Imporant Vitamin B

February 23, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

The human body requires vitamins for a variety of reasons. Vitamin B is considered a complex vitamin as it is comprised of eight different vitamins. This vitamin has enormous health benefits including helping your body to process food faster, keeping your skin looking young and shiny and helping to keep you healthy by providing A boost to your immune system. Here is what you need to know about vitamin B.

1.) Where to find Vitamin B- In addition to daily supplements which can provide you with a healthy dose of vitamin B, it can also be found in a variety of foods. In order to get your vitamin B fill be sure to eat plenty of eggs and green vegetables. These foods are rich in thiamine, a key component of vitamin B. Also, vitamin B can be found in nuts and berries as well as cereals containing wheat.

2.) What happens if you don’t get enough vitamin B?- Unfortunately there can be consequences to being vitamin B deprived. For instance, the effect it can have on your skin is decreased resistance to the sun, leaving you open to getting sunburned or even worse, developing skin cancer. It can also have quite a damaging effect on your stomach by causing indigestion, diarrhea, as well as general stomach irritability. The absence of B12 in particular can have quite a damaging effect. Indeed, a lack of this important vitamin B element include disruption of your nervous system as well as an inability to produce the right amount of red blood cells.

Many of our favorite foods will keep you rich in vitamin B. be sure to stock up on lean meats, as well as standard health fare milk and eggs. Generally, a diet rich in red meats, fast foods and other complex carbohydrates leave you running the risk of poor health. As a quick fix, consider taking a daily vitamin supplement. They generally provide twice the amount of dosage required to meet your health needs.

Filed Under: Chemistry, Vitamins Tagged With: Health, Vitamin, Vitamin B

Steroids In Major League Baseball

February 16, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

By now, most people know that baseball players were taking more than vitamins during from at least the 1980′s until about 2002. As the 1970′s turned into the early 1980′s, the prototypical baseball player was still lean, usually sporting a mustache for facial hair. As the decade went on, baseball players started to resemble professional wrestlers will large bloated biceps and tree trunk like legs. The homeruns started flying out of ball fields reaching distances never before accomplished in baseball history. Players like Joe Canseco and Mark McGwire were ushering in a new brand of baseball. An artificial era of sorts that resulting in feats challenging the all-time records in baseball history.

In 1998, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa engaged in a homerun chase for the ages. The giant sluggers chased each other all summer trading homer for homer. It seemed the entire country was swept up in the magic of the chase and it as partly responsibl for revitalizing baseball after a lockout had turned many fans away. However, the old saying if its too good to be true then it probably is held true in hindsight. Both players were accused of taking steroids and the entire race is held as somewhat of a farce.

Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were the final nail in the coffin for MLB steroid use. Regarded as two of the greatest players in the history of the game, both men have been accused of taking steroids for at least a portion of their career. The allegations damaged the credibility of the game and each player is due to stand trial on perjury charges. The worst part for these players is it is very likely they played a majority of their hall of fame careers while not on steroids. However, their decision to conclude their careers with performance enhancing drugs has likely tarnished their legacies forever.

It is likely that none of these players will enter the hall of fame as a result of their steroid use and the bias against users by baseball writers.

Filed Under: Chemistry, General Tagged With: Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa

The Importance of Vitamin C

February 10, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

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There are some vitamins that the body is capable of creating on its own. Vitamin C however is no such vitamin. In order to get vitamin C you need to consume it. Vitamin C is essential for your body and a lack of it could cause your teeth to fall out if Scurvy results. The effects of a lack of vitamin C far outweigh the results of taking too much. If you take too much, it will likely come through in your urine but too little could result in easy bruising for your body as well as other effects.

Where to find vitamin C? The mot common source of vitamin C for most people is in oranges and orange juice. In fact, there are many vegetables and fruits that can be consumed for a boost in the vitamin. Great sources of vitamin C include cauliflower, broccoli and red peppers. You’ll want to make sure to eat these vegetables raw so as not to lose any essential vitamins. Lemons, grapefruit, and kiwi are also a terrific source of vitamin C.

What are the benefits of vitamin C? For anyone who has had a vicious cold, you no doubt wish you had taken a heavy dose of vitamin c before you contracted the cold. Indeed, numerous vitamin C products are purchased every day so that people can prevent the onset of a cold and get their defenses up to maximum potential. Vitamin C also has a very positive effect on your body’s cholesterol level. In addition, you will be strengthening your heart by regularly taking vitamin C and also have a positive impact in preventing heart problems.

Vitamin C is simple to find and you are likely getting your share if you take your recommended doses of fruits and vegetables everyday. If you’re not a fruit or vegetable eater, then you better get yourself some one a day vitamins where you should get all the vitamin C you need.

Filed Under: Chemistry, Vitamins Tagged With: Health, Vitamin, Vitamin C

Breaking Bad Has Chemistry

February 8, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

One of the best shows on television has a lot of chemistry. Not only between the co-stars of the show but chemistry is the very foundation of the shows plot. Breaking Bad is an AMC breakout hit about a high school chemistry and his former student.

Walter White- Walter White is a chemistry teacher who find out he’s been stricken with terminal lung disease. This comes as quite a shock to Walter as he is a non smoker and is not exposed to an environment rich in asbestos. While resigning himself to his own death, he comes up with a plan to make money for his family so that he does not leave them in a pool of debt. Indeed, Walter White decides to use his expertise in chemistry to manufacture crystal meth.

Jesse Pinkman- Jesse is a former student of Mr. White and a drug dealer. We are first introduced to his character during a dug bust and shortly thereafter is recruited by Mr. White to help him sell his product. Jesse is more wise than Walter in how to sell the drugs and who to sell them too and the pair quickly become partners in the drug trade. Jesse struggles with his own crystal meth. addiction and his battle to stay sober is a recurring theme throughout the show.

The true beauty of the show is in the chemistry between these two characters. They are very different, but develop a close kinship that keeps audiences rooting for them despite the fact they are peddling harmful drugs. Breaking Bad enters its fourth season on AMC starting in the summer of 2011.

Filed Under: Chemistry, Health Tagged With: AMC, Breaking Bad, Chemistry

How Not to Fail High School Chemistry

February 3, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

High school is an intimidating time in the lives of many and chemistry is an intimidating subject. Many chemistry and other science classes like biology will begin with a professor telling you just how unsuccessful many of the students will be. The complexity of the course material couple with the natural tendency of some students to coast through courses can result in a good majority of a class doing poorly. This doesn’t have to be the case however if you can follow a few simple tips.

1.) Stay ahead of the class- Most of your classmates will procrastinate when it comes to a class like chemistry. They don’t neccesarily want to be in the class or study for a test so they will put it off. Do not let this be you. The vest way to be successful in chemistry is to learn as you go. Even if it isn’t fun, review your days lesson in the evening or ask your teacher if there is something you don’t understand. It’s generally those who save it all for a cram session that end up doing poorly on exams.

2.) Seek alternate forms of the same information- It’s no secret that the text of a chemistry book can be very dry and bland. Indeed, you might read the same thing four or five times and still have no idea what you read. The best thing to do in this case is to read about the same topic over a couple of different sources. It is often a simple rephrasing of a term or sentence that allows people to grasp material they previously could not.

Filed Under: Chemistry, Health Tagged With: Chemistry, Education, Personal and Class Pages

Linus Pauling’s Five Rules

December 27, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

Crystals are amazing. They seem to magically grow, creating beautiful shapes and colors. Societies have been fascinated with crystals for centuries; this is why there are so many child’s “Grow Your Own Crystal!” sets on the market. Linus Pauling shared that same fascination, so much that he dedicated years of his life to studying and teaching about crystal formation.

As a chemistry professor at Caltech University, Pauling spent much of his time doing research on crystals. He authored over 50 research papers during that time, the basis of which later morphed into five key rules regarding crystal formation. While crystal formation may seem unimportant in the scheme of science, Pauling’s Five Rules are important in the field because they laid a foundation for future scientists.

Here are Pauling’s Five Rules, in almost layman’s terms:

1. Using a mathematical formula outlined by Pauling, it is possible to determine the distance between the positively charged ion (cation) and the negatively charged ion (anion) in crystals.

2. As long as the electrostatic bonds of a ionic chemical bond (when all added together) equal the charge of that anion, then it will be a stable chemical structure.

3. In crystals, when two polyhedra share edges or faces (but interestingly, not corners), the stability of the crystal goes down.

4. When crystals have a number of different positively charged ions, then the ones with lots of chemical bonds and few neighbors will often appear as different polyhedron types (octahedron or tetrahedron, for example).

5. A crystal has only a handful of different elements; thus, repetition is common, which is why crystals look the way they do.

While scientists today have suggested updates or revisions to the Five Rules, they largely remain proven and are accepted by the scientific community. Linus Pauling’s painstaking crystal research put him far ahead of his time.

Filed Under: Chemistry, Health, Linus Pauling Tagged With: California Institute of Technology, Crystal, Linus Pauling, Pauling's rules

How to Lead a Healthier Lifestyle

October 18, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

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The word healthy can intimidate you even if you have a free prescription discount card. In addition to a proper healthcare plan, you can use several disease prevention methods. There are simple steps that you can take to be healthier and add this aspect into your family’s life. This can be a big adjustment at first, but it can also turn into a habit that will positively affect your health.

Find exercise that you enjoy. This could be a video game designed around keeping the players active. You can also go on walks or just use a trampoline. Exercise doesn’t have to be something that you dread. You can get the whole family into an exercise routine to promote good health.

Get all of the vitamins that you need. This is part of a balanced diet and can help prevent disease. Really examine the foods that you regularly eat to find out about the vitamins that you might be lacking. You can get a lot of these items by eating more fruits and vegetables or taking supplements.

Set goals to eliminate habits. This could be to stop smoking or lose weight. Really analyze what has stopped your success in the past and develop a plan to break through it. You can lose weight at a steady pace instead of trying to lose drastic amounts at once.

Change the way that you cook. Your kids might whine about this at first but you can still eat a lot of the foods that your family loves. Just substitute lower fat cheeses or use honey instead of sugar. Experiment with vegetable dishes beyond a basic salad to make meal time interesting. Get your kids to help with planning meals. You can even start a vegetable garden to teach your kids about eating healthy.

Filed Under: Chemistry, General, Linus Pauling Tagged With: Diets, Eating, Health, Physical exercise, Shopping, Support Groups, Vitamin, Weight loss

Exciting Experiments

September 19, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

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Looking for fun, creative, and inexpensive ways to entertain your children? Science experiments just may do the trick. Science experiments come in all shapes and sizes. Best of all, they can be created with simple, every day items found in your home.

Let’s take a look at some of the more popular topics and projects you can do with your kids.

Magnetic Attraction: All magnets have two poles (North and South). If you put the poles of two magnets together they will either push apart or pull together. Take an item that is made of metal or steel, a paper clip for example. As you hold it close to the magnet, you will feel the magnet pulling on the paper clip with an invisible force. This is called magnetism. Conducting experiments with magnets will help you understand more about the way magnetism works.

Gravity: There is an invisible force that we are all affected by. It is the force of gravity. When you lift something up, you have to lift against gravity. If you drop a ball, for instance, gravity pulls it to the Earth. Take a pencil and place it on your index finger. If it is placed perfectly in the center, gravity will pull down equally on both side and it will balance in the air. However if the pencil is set off balance, it will fall to one side or the other.

Human Senses: A good observer uses all five senses. Observing your surroundings is an important skill that helps you to be a successful scientist. Children are naturally curious about the world and their surroundings. Try having them close their eyes and placing their hand into a bowl of something like cold spaghetti noodles. Have them describe what they feel. There are many simple activities that you can do to explore your senses.

In addition to having fun, you can help teach your children and answer many of the questions that they may ask throughout their day. Science experiments foster an atmosphere of excitement and learning, and as parents don’t we all want to encourage more of that?

Filed Under: Chemistry, Research Tagged With: Experiment, Gravitation, Magnet, Magnetism

Linus Pauling and Electronegativity

April 13, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

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In 1930, Linus Pauling took a trip to Europe where he studied electron diffraction, similar to studies he had performed on x-ray diffraction earlier in his career. This trip motivated Pauling to study the subject further, and when he returned to Caltech he built an electron diffraction instrument which he used to study a wide range of chemical substances in order to understand their molecular structures better.

Through the electron diffraction instrument, Pauling was able to shoot electrons at a sample compound and observe the results that arose as the electrons interfered with the compound and displayed a diffraction pattern. This method uses a principle known as wave-particle duality, which states that molecules can be described by their behavior as waves

These studies led Pauling, in 1932, to create the concept of electronegativity. The concept of electronegativity is a way to describe the chemical properties of an atom in terms of the way an atom attracts electrons to itself. Pauling found that an atom’s electronegativity was influenced by its atomic weight (the ratio of an element’s atomic mass to 1/12 of the mass of another atom) and by the distance of its valence electrons from the center point of the atom, or the nucleus. The principle of electronegativity is that the more an element attracts electrons, the higher electronegativity number it will have.

However, electronegativity cannot simply be measured by counting electrons. Determining electronegativity can only be determined by calculations based on other molecular properties of an atom. There are a number of ways to calculate an atom’s electronegativity, but no matter how it’s calculated, the electronegativity trends are relatively consistent between all elements.

One of the most widely used methods of determining an element’s electronegativity is through the Pauling Scale. The Pauling Scale gives the element a dimensionless quality on a relative scale from 0.7 to 3.98. Calculations have shown that the same element may not have the same electronegativity in all situations and is influenced by its current chemical environment. The opposite of electronegativity is electropositivity, or the ability of an atom to lose, or give away, electrons.

Filed Under: Chemistry, Research Tagged With: Chemistry, Electronegativity, X-ray scattering techniques

Linus Pauling and the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists

April 5, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

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Linus Pauling, although known primarily for his contributions to science through quantum chemistry, was also an advocate for world peace and spent much of his life fighting and petitioning against the use of nuclear weapons. For his work, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1954. And although he worked on numerous projects and was associated with a number of committees that worked for world peace throughout his lifetime, one of the most famous and prominent of these affiliations was with the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists.

Early in his career, Pauling had worked on a number of projects with military application, but had not had much direct contact with the US military, even though he earned a Presidential Medal of Merit for his work. At one point he was asked to join the Manhattan Project by Robert Oppenheimer colleague from his days at Caltech but turned the offer down, fearing an emotional strain on his family.

However, during WWII, Pauling witnessed the destructive power of the atomic bomb and was influenced by his wife to work against its use ever again. As a result, Pauling joined the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists.

The committee was formed in 1946 by Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard. Both Einstein and Szilard found the power of the atomic bomb horrific and founded the committee in order to educate people worldwide about the effects of nuclear weapons and encourage governments to pursue peaceful development of clean nuclear power. However, they knew convincing governments to give up nuclear weapons would be useless as long as armed conflict still existed. Therefore, the committee’s ultimate goal was world peace. In a world without war, no nuclear weapons would exist.

A number of prominent scientists were members of the committee, including those already mentioned as well as Harold Urey, T.R. Hogness, Philip Morse, and Victor Weisskop many of whom had worked directly on or served as consultants to the Manhattan Project.

Although Pauling did not achieve his goal of world peace through the project, his membership was key to the promotion and dissemination of its ideals.

Filed Under: Chemistry, Linus Pauling Tagged With: Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists, Nuclear power