Vincent Summers, Author at Quirky Science

10Feb 2018 by Vincent Summers 9 Comments

Shampoo – Is It Soap, Is It Detergent, or What?

Shampoos are hair-care products meant to clean hair while allowing it to remain manageable. Is shampoo soap, detergent, or what? Individual shampoo products may contain many different ingredients to impart additional characteristics, but largely mainstream shampoos consist of two combined surfactants. Sodium laureth sulfate or sodium lauryl sulfate is the main surfactant. Cocamidopropyl betaine is the secondary surfactant. We will consider these two ingredients in answering the title question. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate Sodium lauryl sulfate (also called sodium dodecyl sulfate) is an anionic surfactant. One online definition of a surfactant reads: "a substance that tends to reduce the surface tension of a liquid in which it is dissolved". For the purposes of our discussion, we identify sodium lauryl sulfate as a detergent, rather than a soap. Detergents do not fail…

09Feb 2018 by Vincent Summers No Comments

Capillary Action from the Forces of Adhesion and Cohesion

Chemistry, Plants

What is capillary action? The easiest way to define it is to give the simplest example of it at work. A capillary is a tube with a fine bore, typically less than a millimeter. For the purpose of our discussion, we will use a scientist's glass capillary tube, which is both straight and clear. The liquids we will discuss as examples are water and mercury. Not All Liquids Exhibit Capillary Action Take note of Figure 1. Two capillary tubes (not drawn to scale) are immersed in liquid – the left tube in water, the right in mercury. The water rises up its tube and forms a concave meniscus at top. The mercury does not rise up its tube. It forms what looks like the upper portion of a sphere –…

03Feb 2018 by Vincent Summers 5 Comments

Eye Color and Genetic Inheritance: Dominant -vs.- Recessive

Biology, Genealogy

[caption id="attachment_18792" align="alignright" width="440"] Brown eyes, blue eyes.[/caption] Upon dying, a parent may leave his or her child a pecuniary inheritance. Yet, this is not the first one. Even during life, a parent provides his child with more than one genetic inheritance. One such inheritance involves eye color. Each parent contributes one eye color gene to his child. This means there are two different genes that determine the color of a child's eyes. But if the two genes represent different colors, what color will his eyes be? Observe, Note, Predict During the mid-1800s, an observant man, Gregor Mendel raised pea plants. He noted different plants produced peas with predictable variances. Using deductive reasoning, he uncovered the principle of dominant and recessive genes. After his death, his findings were applied not…

29Jan 2018 by Vincent Summers 1 Comment

Converting Gas Temperature to Particle Velocity

Chemistry, Physics

[caption id="attachment_18761" align="alignright" width="440"] Atoms or Molecules of Gas[/caption] Unlike liquids or solids, whose atoms or molecules have greater correlation with each other, gas atoms and molecules move somewhat independently of each other. This is to be expected. A gas occupies a much greater volume than a corresponding liquid. This independent behavior allows us to calculate the root-mean-square velocity of gas particles directly from temperature. Tweaking the Ideal Gas Law We derive this equation from another well-known equation, the Ideal Gas Law equation. Algebraically, that equation is written: PV = nRT where P is pressure, V is volume (not velocity), n is the number of moles of gas, R is the ideal gas constant and T is the temperature. By combining the above equation with derivatives of Boltzmann's equation, we…

22Jan 2018 by Vincent Summers No Comments

Deriving Basic (Circular) Trigonometric Functions

Mathematics, Physics

[caption id="attachment_18674" align="alignright" width="401"] Figure 1[/caption] Draw two intersecting lines in space, illustrated below. The mathematician will not want to leave this simple drawing without completely pointing out its features and labeling those features. We do so to begin our understanding of basic (circular) trigonometric functions. [caption id="attachment_18675" align="alignleft" width="387"] Figure 2[/caption] We label the point of intersection of course – P will do. But the intersection produces what looks like slices in a pie. The size of those slices of pie were determined by how the two lines intersected, how "wide apart" the lines are. We label these as angles α (alpha) and β (beta). Superimposing a Circle [caption id="attachment_18676" align="alignright" width="387"] Figure 3[/caption] The title of this paper is understanding basic circular trigonometric functions. So at this stage,…

17Jan 2018 by Vincent Summers 3 Comments

What Went Wrong? Preparing an Alkyl Halide

Chemistry, Entertainment

[caption id="attachment_18523" align="alignright" width="440"] Reflux and distillation apparatus.[/caption] Preparing an alkyl halide was one of the earliest of my home lab experiences. First, allow me to give you a little background. In the 8th grade, we were instructed by our English teacher, Mrs. Best, to write a career report about our intended future employment. My guess is most of us had not thought about that. At least I hadn't. So I chose astronomy. I mentioned this to Mom. "No," she said, "you will not become an astronomer. Astronomers don't make any money." I tried to talk her out of it, but eventually I gave up. "Chemistry," I said. Mom agreed that was acceptable. One of her friends had a chemistry background. So in the '70s I obtained my BS in…

02Jan 2018 by Vincent Summers 6 Comments

What Is It Good For? Poison Ivy and Other Toxicodendron Species

philosophy, Plants

[caption id="attachment_18375" align="alignright" width="460"] Poison Ivy Leaves[/caption] Toxicodendron radicans is the Latin name for poison ivy. Images of various aspects of the weed are included in this article. An attempt at providing a thorough physical description of it can be found elsewhere at the reader's convenience. We wish to discuss whether there is at least one useful purpose for the presence of this apparently noxious weed on this "good earth". In discussing it, we encompass poison oak, poison sumac, and other plants. A Kind of Mission Statement In discussing T. radicans, we will consider all of its component parts. No, we will not give an encyclopedic description, as is commonly found in comprehensive articles. Instead, we will demonstrate the plant's better aspects. Personal Contact Most of us steer clear of…

30Dec 2017 by Vincent Summers 1 Comment

What Is It Good For? The Blood Sucking Mosquito

Biology, Medicine

[caption id="attachment_18353" align="alignright" width="480"] Gorged with blood[/caption] It's night time. You nuzzle up to your pillow, leaving one ear exposed. Suddenly, disrupting the silence, you hear the kind of music you don't want to hear! The music of the blood-sucking mosquito. Although we continue to grow in knowledge with the passage of time, do we know enough to say the blood sucking mosquito serves a good and useful purpose? We'll present more than one example of how the answer is, Yes! Blood Sucking Mosquito as Food Most of us realize mosquitoes serve as food for many birds. Ever seen bats, at dusk, circling around dipping and diving? You can be sure that a sizeable number of the "bugs" it is eating are mosquitoes. But we would be mistaken if we…

23Dec 2017 by Vincent Summers 1 Comment

What Is It Good For? The Osage Orange

Humor, Plants

[caption id="attachment_18317" align="alignright" width="440"] Osage oranges[/caption] You've heard of the Osage Indians, but have you heard of the Osage orange? Latin name Maclura pomifera, the "orange" is a grapefruit-sized, pale green, bumpy, ordinarily uneaten fruit with a woody, pulpy consistency that smells a good deal like its citrus namesake. If these fruits are seldom eaten, are they useful for something else? If so, what about the tree? Finally, if the tree is generally undesirable, what of its wood? Is Osage Orange Fruit Worthless? Most foraging animals pass by an Osage orange, with exceptions being the squirrel and the deer, which eat its tiny seeds. Is there something useful in its chemistry? The fruit does contain two isoflavones, namely osajin and pomiferin. Of the two, only pomiferin is classified a strong…

13Dec 2017 by Vincent Summers 1 Comment

What IS the Kinetic Isotope Effect and How Is It Useful?

Chemistry, Physics

[caption id="attachment_18280" align="alignright" width="460"] The simplest atom.[/caption] Matter and the atoms that make it up consists of electrons, protons, and neutrons. The center or nucleus of each atom consists of at least one positively charged proton. Usually the nucleus includes neutrons, which are uncharged. Negative electrons are found in orbitals well outside the nucleus. Their number equals the number of protons in the nucleus. Such atoms have a net charge of zero. Elements The number of protons determines what element an atom is. One proton identifies hydrogen, two protons helium, three lithium, four beryllium, five boron, six carbon, and so on. Each of these elements possesses a unique chemistry. The quantity of protons equals the quantity of electrons, so everything's set, right? Well, no! The number of neutrons in all…