Chemistry Week 6

• Test your understanding of hypotheses – try Avogadro's Hypothesis and report back on your findings
• What exactly is a mole? - try "What Is a Mole, Checking Out the Mole"

Avogadro's hypothesis site not working :(

What is a mole: The mass of substance containing the same number of fundamental units as there are atoms in exactly 12.000 g of ¹²C. Fundamental units may be atoms, molecules, or formula units, depending on the substance concerned. An amount of any chemical compound that is equal to the combined atomic weights or the molecular weight, expressed in grams, contains 602,213,670,000,000,000,000,000 molecules.

Physics Week 6: Vibrations

Are all vibrations "good":
- the first thing that comes to my mind if earthquakes, and how if you're a human hanging out when the earth shakes around you, it's not a good vibration! It is interesting to note that earthquakes often create new environments for new plants and animals, so guess it all depends on your perspective. 

Resonance in my world:
- I live in west oakland, near where the nimitz freeway collapsed. There's a little memorial park that's kindof overgrown and forgotten-looking, and I wonder how many people living in west oakland today were directly affected by that disaster. I know if will only be a matter of time before the next quake, and I wonder if there is any way to predict what kind of resonance a quake will produce

Connections between Energy and Qi:
I think that qi is energy that is temporarily in your body. It is your being's energy, the energy of your life-force that you borrow from the universe. Qi moves in waves and has far-reaching effects, and can move out of your body as you expend energy and when you die. 

Biology: The Pattern of Life

Distinguishing between living and non-living systems:

- for me, living means some kind of push towards growth and homeostasis. Also some kind of respiration i.e. taking in from the environment and processing on the inside. But I'm open to changing my mind/being proven wrong (I'm thinking about crystals and how they grow and change over time and wondering if they could be classified as living by some standards). 

Getting back to nature:

- As a certified plant and nature person, I know that I need to spend time outside and in nature as often as possible in order to feel balanced, peaceful, and alive. I'm wary of "fixes" like grounding mats that try to say "get the benefits of nature without actually interacting with nature!" because I think its truly missing the point and having a reductionist view of the benefit of time spend in nature. It's similar to how western medicine extracts one thing from a plant and says that the medicine is better/as good as the plant. There's a lot to be missed when you don't actually spend quality time outside, and a lot of it cant be quantified. 

Chemistry Week 5

Colors of your kitchen:

There are many colors in my kitchen! The colors in my cupboards and fridge ranges from green (arugula, kale, zucchini) to blue(berries), pink (chard), yellow (beans), red (beans, fruit), and orange(s). I guess that means I'm staying up on the colors to take care of my whole physical and energetic body! I don't always have blue and purple foods around, and should probably buy more purple yams and cabbage. 

Physics Week 5

My Asymmetrical World:
I like thinking about how the world is actually asymmetrical. I think as humans we often see balance and symmetry as some kind of goal or ideal, when really that's pretty unrealistic and unnatural. I'm thinking about asymmetry when it comes to power and relationships, and how people don't need to be exactly balanced in order to thrive and can achieve harmony through interpersonal support. For example I'm really good at organization, emotional support and keeping track of what needs to be done when, my partner is really good at fixing things when they break and de-escalating conflict, and my housemate/best friend is really good at taking care of our animals and plants and cooking. We don't need to be perfectly symmetrical within ourselves to be part of a functioning whole. 

CP violation: I think this is fascinating! I don't exactly know what the implications are, why it happens or what it ultimately means, other than it means that there is more going on than we can comprehend. And I love that! What is the hidden force that led to our current matter-dominant universe? Maybe we're not meant to know. 

Chemistry Week 4

: ØDiscover your “Transitional Metal of the Week” and post a brief description ØPost your thoughts on Green Chemistry 

Transitional Metal of the Week: Titanium

Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It is the 9th-most abundant element in the earth's crust and has a silver color, low density, and high strength. Titanium is resistant to corrosion in sea water, aqua regia, and chlorine, making it a favorite for industry. It is often alloyed with iron, aluminum, vanadium, molybdenum and other elements to produce strong, lightweight alloys for aerospace. It is used in medical prosthesis, dental, agriculture, automotive, jewelry, and cellphones. Significant titanium-bearing deposits exist in western Australia, Canada, China, India, Mozambique, New Zealand, Norway, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Ukraine. Nettles contain about 80 parts per million of titanium. 

Thoughts on Green Chemistry:
I think the goals of green chemistry are excellent. It would be prudent for these concepts to be incorporated by all manufacturers and businesses working with and creating chemicals. It's funny that many industry-supporting politicians and people wouldn't support these initiatives because they would consider them to be "bad for business", but what's really the worst for business is our planet becoming uninhabitable. 

Physics Week 4

- I'm sure e=mc2 has affected me in many ways that I can't conceptualize. I know the equation explains how matter can be converted to energy and energy can be converted back to mass, which is how nuclear fusion works. From what I can gather, none of the stars or other masses in the universe would exist the way they do without the impact of this equation..so clearly I wouldn't exist either. 

-Compare the 4 forces:

- Strong Nuclear force: a force that acts between 2 or more protons and neutrons inside the nucleus of an atom. It is the fastest force and stores a large amount of energy. The strongest force present in nature. 
- Weak nuclear force: acts between leptons, is stronger than gravity, is involved in decay, most effective in short distance
- Electromagnetic-  is the combination of all electrical and magnetic forces, acts between particles, can attract or repulse.
- Gravity: gravity causes objects to curve towards each other in space-time, such as placing two objects on a stretched out sheet