Vincent Summers, Author at Quirky Science

26Aug 2018 by Vincent Summers 2 Comments

I Discover a 1935 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Benchmark

I travel the county quite a bit, meeting and talking with people. Since my conversation is varied, I naturally receive all kinds of responses. One day, a man who is a bit of a recluse drew my attention to an artifact at the edge of the property. He told me that if anyone was to dig it up, including himself, he would get into trouble with the Federal Government! Naturally, I was intrigued. What was this artifact? The Unobtrusive Artifact The man pointed to a small concrete-filled pipe, rusted on the outside, that stuck up from the ground only a very little distance. In the middle of the smoothed concrete top was a little disk, imprinted with words in a circular fashion, much like a large coin. The words read:…

25Aug 2018 by Vincent Summers No Comments

Tree Burls and Burl Wood: So Ugly They’re Beautiful

Biology, The Arts

[caption id="attachment_21404" align="alignright" width="440"] Image: Evelyn Simak CCA-SA2.0 License.[/caption] About 24 years ago, my 4th grade daughter advised us the next day her school science fair project was due. No big deal, ordinarily, we had not been told there was even going to be a science fair! I have a technical background and I hated to think my daughter would appear to be a failure at such an event, so, scratching my head, I figured I'd better come up with something we could accomplish as a father-daughter team, and in a hurry. My Wile E. Coyote (Supergenius) Idea At the time, we were living in a small house in beautiful, forested acres. Our trees included hickory, oak, cucumber magnolia, black gum, linden, tulip poplar, black locust, Paulownia, and (yes!) other…

22Aug 2018 by Vincent Summers 1 Comment

How Far Can Perfect Eyes See? An Ideal Earthly Scenario

Logic, Mathematics

[caption id="attachment_26540" align="alignright" width="480"] Image by Meg Learner[/caption]I once met a fellow in Virginia who said, 'The human eye is an amazing thing. Why, if there were no mountains in-between, we could see California!' Of course, he was referring to perfect eyes... Of course, that is just plain nuts. Nevertheless, it raised the question, "Just how far away could a person see an object if nothing interfered? Let's consider the answer to that question. Conditions First, we need to set conditions or ground rules. Earth is sufficiently round to call it a sphere, so we treat it as such. In fact, we assume it is perfectly smooth even to an ant. Further, we assume the atmosphere is perfectly clear, and the observer has perfect eyes. When we look out toward…

21Aug 2018 by Vincent Summers No Comments

What is Hydrogenation? How Does It Affect Vegetable Oils?

Food, Health

Hydrogenation is simply the addition of one or more molecules of hydrogen to a compound. When we speak of hydrogenation, we usually refer to the saturation (adding of hydrogen) of carbon-carbon double bonds to produce single bonds. Saturation / Unsaturation Organic compounds, most of the compounds containing carbon and hydrogen, can be saturated or unsaturated. In saturated compounds, all carbon atoms that are bonded to other carbon atoms are singly bonded, whereas in unsaturated compounds, some of these are double or even triple bonds. See the illustration for examples. But Why Hydrogenation? Whatever the actual motive(s) involved, the medical and commercial worlds decided butter should be replaced by a manmade product, initially called oleomargarine, and later margarine. In order to be "healthy" we are told it should be prepared from…

13Aug 2018 by Vincent Summers 1 Comment

Uranocene – The Trend Setting Aromatic Actinide Sandwich Compound

Chemistry, Technology

Uranocene, U(C₈H₈)₂, or biscyclooctatetraenyl uranium, is a most interesting aromatic organometallic sandwich compound.1 Notice its dumbbell-like shape. By no means is its shape uranocene's only claim to fame. But before we get into that, it would be helpful to explain terms. We can guess why it's an organometallic compound, just as we can guess why it's called a sandwich compound. Let us, however, discuss what we mean by the term aromatic. Aromaticity in a Nutshell An aromatic structure is a molecule or ion that is cyclic and flat and that incorporates 4n+2 conjugated (alternating) sp2 (double) bonds, where n is some small integer. It displays increased stability over non-aromatic structures. Despite possessing double bonds, aromatic structures tend to undergo substitution rather than addition reactions. It requires considerable energy to disrupt…

10Aug 2018 by Vincent Summers No Comments

Super Health Foods Most Health Food Nuts Don’t Eat

Food, Health

Everyone living eats. Some love "junk food". Some are more judicious. We will discuss some super health foods even most health food nuts won't eat. Purpose of Eating Food. There are many reasons for eating food. For one thing, it stokes the furnace, that is it provides the needed calories to keep us going. It also contains sufficient nutrients to rebuild our bodies. And, it just plain tastes good. Well, most of it does. There are foods some of us avoid because we have to. There are foods some of us avoid because we want to. We could talk for hours about delicious junk food. But we're going to discuss the other kind. Health Food The shifting health/medical perspectives result in an ever-changing list of food identified as healthy-eating or…

06Aug 2018 by Vincent Summers 1 Comment

Cane Syrup, Regular and Blackstrap Molasses

Food, Health

Although there are a host of sweet syrups produced in the U.S. and other countries, molasses that finds its way to the table is derived made from the sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum. Curiously, sugarcane is considered a true grass! The juice of the sugarcane is extracted from the pulp in various ways. It is concentrated by boiling. Cooling yields an abundance of sugar crystals, sucrose. The remaining fluid is popularly called cane syrup. It is still quite sweet and was once popular in cooking. Another boiling and cooking yields additional sugar crystals. The remaining liquid is molasses. Upon removal and yet another boiling, a thick, dark, slow-pouring, not-so-sweet syrup results, called (you guessed it) blackstrap molasses. Nutrition in Blackstrap Molasses As is true of many other food items used in industrialized…

28Jul 2018 by Vincent Summers 1 Comment

What’s the Difference Between Turnips and Rutabagas?

Food, Health

[caption id="attachment_20643" align="alignright" width="440"] Turnips - Image CCA 2.0 Generic License by thebittenword.com[/caption] There are two vegetables I'd always see at the grocery store as a child, though now I see them on a less regular basis -- turnips and rutabagas. They look a lot alike. Yet, they are different. How so? What's in a Name? The official or Latin names of the turnip and rutabaga are (you really do want to know, right?), Turnip: Brassica rapa var. rapa Rutabaga: Brassica napobrassica That doesn't tell us much, at least most of us. The first word is the same, Brassica. This word refers is the genus of a large group of plants, plants in the mustard family. They are sometimes referred to as cruciferous vegetables. In addition to turnips and rutabagas,…

07Jul 2018 by Vincent Summers 1 Comment

Fireworks Chemistry – Start With a Bang, Add Some Color

Chemistry, Entertainment

Pyrotechnics, often called fireworks, has a long history dating back to the days of gunpowder (black powder), developed in 9th-century China. Whether it is a sizzle, an explosion, or a showy display of colorful lights and sounds, the chemical reactions involve oxidation/reduction (REDOX) chemistry. What Is Oxidation? Oxidation is essentially the removal of electrons. Consider a very simple example. An uncharged sodium atom (symbol: Na) has 11 negatively-charged electrons. The atom has no net charge, however, because in its center part or nucleus, there are 11 positively-charged protons. Sodium can lose one electron to form a positively-charged ion called a cation. Now we can look at this process as if it were a mathematical equation. If we have the number 4 and we wind up with the numbers 3 and…

16Jun 2018 by Vincent Summers No Comments

What Is Asparagusic Acid? Its Metabolites? A Funny Story

Chemistry, People

Many enjoy hot asparagus, whether as a cream soup, or a simple steamed, sautéed, or even raw vegetable. Since I am a chemist, I find it of interest from that perspective as well. Yes, I realize the reader almost certainly has already deduced asparagusic acid is named for this grass-related vegetable. Background But let me give a little background before I get into asparagus and asparagusic acid, and why I write concerning them. When I was the age for it, I attended Drexel Institute of Technology1 in Philadelphia, PA. Drexel offered the benefit of a cooperative work assignment each year to provide job-related experience plus a small income to help cover the cost of college. My first assignment provided an additional perquisite: a government car for transportation to Trenton, NJ.…