100 common misconceptions (Part 5: Things famous people didn't say.)

51: Paul Revere never said "The British are coming! The British are coming!" , the colonies at that time were also considered "British". He probably said "The Regulars are coming! The Regulars are coming!"

52: Obi-Wan Kenobie never says "May the force be with you" Hans Solo says that".

53: Sarah Palin never said "I can see Russia from my house"

54: Al Gore never said "I invented the internet"

55: Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary my dear Watson"

56: Neil Armstrong never said "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". He said "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" 

57, 58 The Apollo XIII crew never said " Houston, we have a problem" nor did they say "Failure is not an option".

59: The Queen in Snow White never said "Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all" She said "Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all"

60: George Washington never said "I can never tell a lie. It was I who chopped down the cherry tree".

100 Common Misconceptions (Part 4: Things you were told you when you were little)

41: You have 5 senses. No, in fact you have many more than five. This misconception stretches all the way back to 600 BC(E) with Aristotle. Although you do have five physical senses, you also have different ones, such as the sense of time, the sense of fear, the sense of weight, and many more.
42: Christopher Columbus discovered that the world was round. In fact, it was discovered by the Greeks hundreds of years before that, and it was commonly accepted around Christopher Columbus's time.
43: Christopher Columbus was the first European to discover America. No, in fact the Vikings were.
44: Your thumb is not a finger. No, actually your thumb, them same as you pinkey,  index, and pointer is also a finger.
45: A pencil's "lead" of  is not Pb, it is actually graphite.
46: Your stomach is the big muscle just below your ribs. No, your stomach is under your ribs.
47: John F. Kennedy never said "I am a jelly doughnut" He said "I am a Berliner" which is a whole different type of doughnut.
48: Sushi does not mean "raw fish" , it means sour rice.
49: The Great Wall of China is not the only man mad thing visible from space, it is not visible from space and there are many man-made things visible from space (namely Light pollution)
50: Ostriches do not hide their heads in the sand when frightened.

BANANANANANANANANAS

We all know what bananas are, and it's hard to imagine that they were exotic once, but Chiquita Bananas is the proof that they were once a novelty. This song was actually a commercial in the '40s sung by Monica Lewis. It was the first news of a banana is the west. This song arouses many questions among which are:
1: Why are bananas good for us?

1 cup (225g) bananas=
Fat 1g
No Cholesterol
Carbohydrate 51 g
Protein 2 g
Vitamins A&C
Calcium 11.3 mg
Iron 0.6 mg
Magnesium 61 mg
Phosphorus 50 mg
Potassium 806 mg
Sodium 2.3 mg

2:
Why shouldn't you put bananas in the fridge?
Well basically the skin of a banana is made up of cellular tissue. This tissue contains phenolic compounds which provides bananas with their  yellow color. Bananas ripen with the help of natural acid productions and when exposed to the cold, this acid production slows down and therefore so does the ripening; rendering the bananas nearly inedible.

The cold, whether natural or a result of refrigeration, quickly breaks down the cell walls of the banana peel. This results in cell membranes that are weak and susceptible to leaking. When the membranes weaken, the phenolic compounds mix with polyphenol oxidase. As a result of this interaction, the phelonic compounds oxidize and produce a brown compound called melanin, turning bananas completely black.

Of Mice and Men (And the American Dream)

Of Mice and Men:

Author: John Steinbeck

Cover artist: Ross MacDonald
Country: United States
Language: English
Genre: Novella
Publisher: Covici Friede
First publication date: 1937
Pages: 187 (First Edition)

Of Mice and Men is a Nobel Prize winning book. It is the tale of two men; Lennie and George. Lennie is severely mentally handicapped and enjoys petting dead mice. George is smart, small, and quick-witted. His dream is to have a farm of his own. In order to raise this money, he starts work on a farm. While working there, he finds Candy, an old "swamper" who has just enough money saved up so that after a month of work they could acquire their own farm. Unfortunately, trouble arises and George's hopes may never be fufilled.

IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO READ THE BOOK BEFORE READING THE NEXT SECTION 

Buy the book!      Buy the Film!

                    

The American Dream

What is the American Dream? The commonly accepted meaning is that the dream is what every American wishes for deep down in his/her heart. It is “That dream” the dream everyone knows - to have a happy life, to work for oneself, to have one's own land. This dream has been chased after by many people - generation after generation, century after century. Many millions of Americans have dreamed this dream, but very few succeed in obtaining their wishes of a better life. This is expressed by Steinbeck through Crooks who says:

I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an' on the ranches , with their bindles on their back an' that same damn thing in their heads. They come, an they quit an' go on; an' every damn one of 'em's got a little piece An' never a God damn one of em' gets it. (page 74)

People dream the dream for a different reason. They dream it as a shield against the harms of this world to which they are subjected. They dream it as a shield of hope, of hope for a better future.

Curley's wife is an important side-character in this book. She is the character that reflects the use of the dream as a shield. As a little girl Curley's wife had a dream that one day she would be a movie star. She says that she

Coulda been in the movies, an' had nice clothes__all them nice clothes like they wear. An' I coulda sat in them big hotels, an' it wouldn'ta cost me a cent because I was in the pitcher. An' all them nice clothes. Because this guy says I was a natural. (page 89)

That dream was crushed when her mom “stole” the letter that she hoped she was going to get from the guy who visited her. But in fact that was just her wishful thinking- the letter was but an illusion. Afterward she kept her old dream hidden, covering up her sadness that her hopes shall never be, with the American Dream, using it as a cover, as a bear might hide in a cave. Once that letter never came, she married Curley, not in the hopes of a good husband, but just to get away from her bad life. This is proved by the fact that once she got away; she all but abandoned Curley.

George is one of the two main characters in this story. His dream was to “live off the fatta the lan'” as he says. But he unknowingly knew in his heart that what he and Lennie hoped for was impossible, but he doesn't realize it until Lennie kills Curley's wife:

I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we'd never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would. (page 94)

Even though he “knowed from the start” that his dream wouldn’t come true, he still persevered, and he hoped for a better life.

Steinbeck uses George to show us that the American dream gives us hope for a better future, even when a better future is improbable.

George is small, quick, and smart, but Lennie, the other main character in the story, is just his opposite. Throughout the entire book, Lennie is portrayed as being severely mentally retarded. When Lennie kills Curley's wife, out of context it makes us despise Lennie, but instead in the story Steinbeck makes us feel as though Lennie is the victim. Through Lennie, Steinbeck shows us that not all people choose the American Dream as a “Plan B”, some people only have the American dream. Lennie says his dream is the same as George's, but all he does, all he can do is just echo it.

George went on. “With us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got
somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don't have to sit-in no bar
room blowin' in our jack jus' because we got no place else to go. If them other
guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us.”
Lennie broke in. “But not us! An' why? Because . . . . because I got you to
look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.” He laughed
delightedly. “Go on now, George!”
“You got it by heart. You can do it yourself.” (page 13-14)

Candy is similar to George in his longing for a better life. He continued hoping for a better life because of his fear. The fear of death. His death. He feared that he would soon go down the same path as his dog; he would become too old and would be disposed of.  The hope is his only escape.

They'll can me purty soon. Jus' as soon I can't swamp out no bunkhouses(page 60)

Terrified of his impending doom, Candy grasps at the opportunity to be free.

Steinbeck uses Candy to show us that even though hard times will happen, the hope of the dream can help you get through the darkest, hardest times.

Crooks is the negro stable hand on the farm. He has the dream to regain his life the way it was before when he was a child. He had long given up on that dream, and had resigned himself to

a life of misery, but when Lennie and George came along; they reignited that hope.

Crooks said darkly, “Guys don’t come into a colored man's room very much. Nobody in her but Slim. Slim an' the boss.”

&

Candy seemed embarrassed. “I do' know. 'Course if you want me to.”

“Come on in. If everybody's comin' in, you might just as well.”(page 75)

When Crooks was a child, his family had already succeeded to live a happy life. When he moved, that dream was shattered: He was shunned and he was forced to work as a stable-hand

Crooks is used to show that even though the American dream gives us hope, when we lose that hope the result is devastating.

Throughout this story, Steinbeck acknowledges that the American Dream exists, and that it gives off hope, but that it can be also hope shattering. Steinbeck feels that despite its negative side, the Dream is a beacon of hope, and I think the world needs as much hope as it can get.

NANOTECHNOLOGY: THE TECH OF A VERY SMALL FUTURE.

Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale.  Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other objects possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers.

            Nanotechnology measures miniscule things in Nanometers. One nanometer is 1/1,000,000,000 of a meter. To put that into comparison a nanometer to a meter is like a marble next to the earth. The amount an average man’s beard grows in the time it takes him to lift his razor to his face is also about a nanometer. Another example of a nanometer is a helium atom which is one tenths of a nanometer thick.

            Materials commonly used in the science of nanotechnology are called fullerenes. Fullerenes are molecules made up completely out of carbon. They are similar in structure to graphite which is made up of stacked graphene sheets (rings with six flat sides linked in a honeycomb pattern.) SEE IMAGE 2 Fullerenes are different because they can have rings different amounts of sides (five six and even sometimes seven). They come in the form of hollowspheres, ellipsoids, and tubes. Hollowsphere and ellipsoid fullerenes are also called buckyballs. The tube-shaped ones are called carbon nanotubes or buckytubes .These nanotubes can get to a length to diameter ratio of 132,000,000:1. That’s like having a giant straw that is one mile wide and stretches up to the sun and halfway back! The most common carbon nanotube is carbon fiber and is found in golf clubs, baseball bats, and even car parts. Manufacturers use carbon fiber frequently because it is very lightweight and strong.

           

 In nanotechnology particles are defined as small things that act as a whole unit. Particles are sorted by size into three categories: coarse particles, fine particles, and nanoparticles. Coarse particles, the biggest type, are between 2,500-10,000 nanometers in size. Fine particles, the smaller ones, are between 100-2,500 nanometers in size. Nanoparticles the absolute smallest particles are between 1-100 nanometers in size. A particle behaves as a whole unit and is a small object.

All in all, nanotechnology is important to the world because it can create materials that are extremely lightweight, durable, flexible, or even all of the above together.

Graphene is an atomic-scale honeycomb lattice made of carbon atoms.

Buckminsterfullerene (C₆₀) is a member of the carbon family and is a hollowsphere fullerene (which is also known as a buckyball). 

Pb in my tea?

So, today was a field trip day. We went to Geller MicroÅnalytical Laboratory, Inc.  to get my mom's teacup analyzed for lead. The founder of the company, Mr Geller, is one of my mom's friends and offered to analyze the cup when he heard that she thought it had lead in it. At about 9:15 am we entered into the Laboratory, teacup in hand, and met with Mr Geller. First off we had to chip off a piece of the teacup  in order to analyze it.

 When the Titanium-Carbide pliers failed, it was my turn...

 To smash it with a hammer!

After we got a small chip off from the cup, we brought it over to the optical microscope. It looked like this. The darker patch is the glaze, the lighter the ceramic.

In order to capture different angles, we put it on a ball bearing that was cut in half.

Once we were finished with the optical microscope, off to the  scanning electron microscope (SEM) for a preliminary scan. The scan turned up distorted: the electrons sent by the microscope bunched up because the negatively charged couldn't go anywhere on the non-conductive surface, therefore creating lots of noise. In order to fix this problem, we had to coat  the piece of ceramic in a very thin coating of carbon.

 This is the machine to do it.

The way it works is that two touching carbon rods in a vacuum above the sample are charged with electricity. The electricity makes the carbon rods spark and they release tiny particles of carbon which then coat the sample. The vacuum was powered by a 56... Thousand! RPM Jet engine motor.

This is what a sheet of paper looks like coated in particles of carbon.

After we coated the ceramic with Carbon, we brought it back to the SEM for a second scan. The electrons bombarded the piece of ceramic which released x-rays. these were picked up and put into a graph   This one showed, with much relief, that it had no traces of lead in it.

 These are what it looked like under the SEM.

100 Common Misconceptions (part 3: Chemistry)

31: Gold(Au, 79) is the best natural conductor. No, actually Silver(Ag,47) is the best, but Gold doesn't oxidize like Silver and Copper(Cu,29) do, so it will last much longer. [For those wanting to know, the best conductor is a superconductor]
32: The Atomic Number {as its name suggests}is the number of Atoms in an Element.[For those of you who have taken chemistry you are probably like me and starting to go red it the face]. NO! An element has 1 atom. The Atomic number is the number of  protons in the said atom!
33: Chemistry is the study of blowing stuff up with dangerous chemicals. No! Chemistry is the study of the composition of the universe.
34: Water is an element. No, it is the combination of 2 Hydrogen (H, 1) atoms and 1 Oxygen (O, 8) atom.
35:Objects float/sink in water because they are lighter than water. No, they sink/ float because they are less dense than the water they are displacing
36: Gases are not matter because most are invisible. No, they are matter, they just aren't very dense.
37:Rare earth minerals are rare. No, they are not. They are quite common actually.
38: Oxygen is always transparent. No, as a liquid it is blue and as a solid it is white
39a: The atmosphere is mostly made up of oxygen.
39b: The atmosphere is mostly made up of CO2.
39c:  The atmosphere is mostly made up of Hydrogen/Helium (He, 2)/Fluorine (F, 9)/Neon (Ne, 10)/Radon (Rn, 86)/{insert any other gas here}.NONONONONO! It it made primarily of Nitrogen (N, 7) (78.08%).
40:Air=Oxygen. Grrrrr! Air is 78.08% Nitrogen, and only about 20.95% Oxygen!