Vincent Summers, Author at Quirky Science

17Apr 2019 by Vincent Summers 2 Comments

Is Eating Beef Liver Bad for You? Or is That an “Old Scientist’s” Tale?

Food, Health

[caption id="attachment_23806" align="alignright" width="480"] Fried beef liver. Image courtesy of Lani Cooks, all rights reserved, used with permission.[/caption] “And in this corner…” so starts the boxing match. But, what does that have to do with liver? It illustrates people’s feelings about fried liver. They migrate to one corner or the other in a food boxing match. They love it or they hate it. What’s the chemistry of liver – and how does it impact your health? For liver to have any effect at all, you have to actually take a bite – so let’s first consider some of the typical statements people make about this food. First, let's consider those people who stick up their nose at the mere mention of fried beef liver. Those Who Stick Up Their Nose…

17Apr 2019 by Vincent Summers 3 Comments

How Many Different Kinds of Water – Water Isotopes – are In Your Glass?

Food, Health

[caption id="attachment_23779" align="alignright" width="480"] Water. Just water. Image by Rollingroscoe.[/caption] The woman of the house comes out of her garden. Having worked for hours, she has a “powerful” thirst that only a glass of water can quench. She opens the freezer door, clinks a few cubes of ice into her glass, and then turns to the sink and fills the voids between the cubes with pure water from the tap. Water consists of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom – H2O. At first thought, it would seem there should only be one kind of water. This is not accurate, however. That is so because there are isotopes of both hydrogen and oxygen. To understand what an isotope is, it is important to realize that the number of protons in…

16Apr 2019 by Vincent Summers 2 Comments

Which are Stronger? Covalent or Ionic Bonds?

Chemistry, Physics

Almost all the atoms found in nature, left alone to themselves, are stable structures. If they always remained such, there would be no need of chemists. Fortunately, when in close contact, atoms can react in a number of ways. Often they link to each other in various combinations through bonding, forming molecules called compounds. Such interaction requires explanation, and so provides employment to humans educated in this field: The field called chemistry. Chemical Bonds: Ionic and Covalent There are a variety of ways atoms bond to one another. Some bonds are weaker, and some are stronger. Two of the strongest forms of chemical bond are the ionic and the covalent bonds. Chemical bonds form between two atoms, each with its own electron environment. If each of the two atoms shares…

16Apr 2019 by Vincent Summers No Comments

The Improbable Making and Chemistry of Chocolate

Chemistry, Food

[caption id="attachment_23742" align="alignright" width="480"] Cacao pods contain the makings of chocolate, but the contents must first go through a fermentation and drying process. Image by Medicaster.[/caption] Some years ago, some made the claim that genuine chocolate isn’t ‘good for you’. They made the claim that artificial chocolate made from carob beans is superior. Curiously, so-called dog chocolate was already made from carob... Thank goodness, science now concedes that chocolate is not all that bad; most of us can eat and enjoy at least some chocolate. And now that we know it’s OK to eat chocolate – and it may even be good for us – did you ever wonder: How do we make cocoa from cacao, and what is the chemistry behind this treat? Chocolate Chemistry: The Cacao Bean The…

16Apr 2019 by Vincent Summers No Comments

Ions are Stabilized by Spreading the Electric Charge

Chemistry, Physics

[caption id="attachment_23719" align="alignright" width="440"] This image depicts the spreading charge of a nitrate ion. Image by elpot[/caption] Ions are charged atoms or molecules. They may have a plus charge, a minus charge or – rarely – both. Examples of each are the positive sodium ion (Na+1), the negative bisulfate ion (HSO4-1) and the glycine zwitterion (or dipolar ion) (H3N+1‐CH2‐C(O)2-1). Spreading the electric charge will stabilize both positively and negatively-charged ions – but how does this work? Charge and Nature Even as “nature abhors a vacuum,” it likewise abhors a concentrated electric charge – lightning well illustrates this point. Although ordinary table salt exists in water solution as charged ions, those ions are not isolated as the above shorthand symbols would indicate. The ions are stable in water because the charge…

15Apr 2019 by Vincent Summers 3 Comments

Blood Sucking Bed Bug: A Vector of Disease?

Health, Medicine

[caption id="attachment_23698" align="alignright" width="480"] Bedbug mouthparts - Image by Janice Haney Carr, courtesy of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention[/caption] Everyone hates the buzzing mosquito. Then too, people fuss when they find a tick burrowed in their skin. What about itching? Chiggers are the King of Itch. Worse, however, than any of the aforementioned is an infestation of Cimex lectularius, the bed bug most common to North America. This blood-sucking varmint is very difficult to control and even harder to eradicate. Pests as Vectors of Disease Beyond being simply annoying, some blood-feeding insects can pose serious human health risks. So how do these four pests compare when it comes to transmitting disease-causing organisms? Both mosquitoes and ticks are legendary vectors for disease. Mosquitoes, for example, spread some serious,…

15Apr 2019 by Vincent Summers No Comments

Is Gravity in Atoms Significant? No. Prove It!

Mathematics, Physics

[caption id="attachment_23683" align="alignright" width="480"] Is there gravity in the atom?[/caption] Theories of the microscopic never seem to include reference to gravity in the atom. Should they? What do you think? Numbers don’t lie: The reality is, gravity inside the atom is pretty insignificant. Let’s look at this in terms of scale, and then examine the equations for determining gravitational pull. Atoms and our Scale of Reference It is the human tendency to draw conclusions – with reference to the extremely large and the extremely small – on the basis of what we experience in our scale of reference. In fact, much good science has been realized using such assumptions. But only much good science – by no means all. In fact, many of the most incredible discoveries have not been…

15Apr 2019 by Vincent Summers No Comments

Do the Acids in Coffee Bother You? Chlorogenic Acid and Derivatives

Chemistry, Food

Although there are a host of organic acids found in coffee, and a variety of factors, such as brew temperature and grind size, affect these acids, the chlorogenic acids and their roasting derivatives, the caffeic and quinic acids, stand out. What are these acids, and how do they play a definitive role in the coffee we drink? Coffee Chemistry: Chlorogenic Acid Chlorogenic acid (CGA) is a combination ester and acid derived from two acids: caffeic acid and quinic acid. These two acids each contain not only an acid group, but alcohol groups as well. A carbon atom plus two oxygen atoms and a hydrogen atom makes up the carboxylic acid group – we often write this as –COOH or –CO₂H. An alcohol group consists of an oxygen and a hydrogen…

15Apr 2019 by Vincent Summers 19 Comments

Rare Earth Metals – 17 Special Elements

Chemistry, Technology

[caption id="attachment_23646" align="alignright" width="480"] Rare Earths. Photo ARS-USDA by Peggy Grubb.[/caption] Most of us are familiar with elements – the building blocks of matter. Most of us know about elements such as oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, sulfur, sodium, and helium. Yet, there are other elements few have even heard of, despite their immense technological and medical importance. Are you familiar with the rare earth metals? Allow me to introduce them: what are they good for, and where do they come from? Rare Earth Metals Among the less commonly known elements are the rare earth metals. These elements have many important uses, such as: Rare earth metals are used in heat-resistant, powerful, permanent magnets. They are employed in superconductors for cryogenics applications. They are used in pyrophoric alloys for initiating combustion. And…

14Apr 2019 by Vincent Summers 1 Comment

Crown Ether Donut Holes Serve Special Purposes

Chemistry

[caption id="attachment_23625" align="alignright" width="480"] Assorted Crown Ethers[/caption] Crown ethers are designer molecules – ring structures intended to serve specialized purposes. Each ring contains a number of ether linkages (-C-O-C-) that, based upon their structural formulas as they are drawn on paper, give the appearance of a royal crown. The “crowns” have different “sizes.” The most common crown ethers sport ethyleneoxy groups (-CH2-CH2-O-) joined end-to-end (making these structures oligomers), which are closed like a necklace. Ring properties and rigidity may be modified by means of appendages on the ring or other hetero atoms along the ring. Simple crown ether rings such as those shown in the figure lack rigidity because every bond is single. There are no multiple bonds reducing flexibility. Crown Ether Nomenclature For the most common crown ethers, there…