Week 12

Describe connections between cell biology and your TCM studies

I guess the most basic connection would be that cell biology is the study of he cell and its inner workings and in my TCM studies I'm studying the body and its inner workings. They are both ways of trying to understand a very complex object.


How Cells Divide: Mitosis vs. Meiosis

I really liked this website because I am a very visual person and being able to see an animation about it really helps me to figure out what is going on.

Diversity of Species

I'm not sure if I'm understanding this assignment correctly. My immediate environment is my apartment and I'm pretty much the only species in there. I tend to kill plants so I don't have any(unless you count my roommates red-tinsel christmas tree). There is an ant that managed to make it inside my window somehow and I just noticed a few small spiders in the corners. Outside my apartment there are many types of plants. Outside my front window I can count 7 different types of plants, including the grass.

Week 11

Thoughts on Gene Therapy

I really have mixed feelings about this.  A part of me is a little scared at what we are able to do these days.  I guess I've always looked at our genes as the basic building blocks that make us who we are as individuals.  I find it a little strange that we have the ability to change that.  I guess if I or someone I care about had one of the diseases that they are trying to cure such as cystic fibrosis, hemophilia or muscular dystrophy, I would welcome the chance to cure it.  I guess the question is how far do we take this?

Chemistry of Life

I checked out the link that was given and I like the definition for biochemistry that states that "Biochemistry is the chemistry of life, a bridge between biology and chemistry that studies how complex chemical reactions give rise to life."  I feel like this is a simple way of explaining what biochemistry is.

Animations

I watched a few of the animations and I thought they were a little strange because I wasn't totally sure what I was looking at with a few of them.  I did like the chain reaction animation because I felt like it was pretty self explanatory.  

Week 10

Semiconductor of the week

My semiconductor is silicon.  Silicon's chemical symbol is Si.  Its atomic number is 14.  Apparently, it was first identified by Antione Lavoisier in 1787.  According to Wikipedia, the applications for Silicon are mainly in alloys, electronics and in silicones.  It is most widely used as a semiconductor because it remains a solid at higher temperatures than germanium.

Welcome to Chembalancer!

I really liked this link.  I tried the quiz and got almost all of them correct on the first try.  What I really like about the quiz is that it showed a little graphic of how many of each element there was.  I got a little frustrated because sometimes the graphic wouldn't work and I would have to actually do it in my head.  Lazy, I know.

Week 7

Alkali Earth Metal of the Week

My alkali earth metal is Radium.  Radium's chemical symbol is Ra and its atomic number is 88.  According to some information I found on Wikipedia, Radium is highly radioactive.  It is white, but oxidizes quickly after being exposed to air.  It has a half life of 1602 years.  It was discovered in 1898 by Marie Sklodowska-Curie and her husband Pierre.

Avogadro's Hypothesis

I got each of the questions on the quiz section correct.  I thought it was an interesting article!  It was interesting to see how these people came up with their hypotheses.

What is a mole?

The mole is a unit of measurement.  According to the article, the mole is the amount of substance of a system which contains as many elementary entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kilograms of carbon 12. 

Week Six

Halogen of the Week

My halogen of the week is Chlorine.  Chlorine's symbol is Cl and its atomic number is 17.  Carl Wilhelm Scheele is credited for discovering chlorine in 1774, but according to Wikipedia, failed to establish it as an element.  Instead, he thought it was an oxide.  It wasn't classified as an element until Sir Humphry Davy did an experiment in 1810.

Alchemy: Science, Magic or Art?

I believe that alchemy is a little bit of all three.  I feel that there is definitely an element of art involved since there has to be some sort of creativity in even coming up with the ideas that they did.  I always thought of alchemy simply as the act of trying to turn crappy metal into gold, but after reading a little more about it, it seems like there was so much more to it.  Wikipedia even says that alchemists even made contributions such as producing gunpowder, inks, dyes, etc.  It also goes on to say that some early alchemists viewed alchemy as a spiritual discipline.  

Week 5

Inert Gas of the Week

My inert gas of the week is Argon.  Argon's chemical symbol is Ar and its number is 18.  According to Wikipedia, Argon is present in the Earth's atmosphere at 0.94%.  Argon was isolated in 1894 by Lord Rayleigh and Sir William Ramsay in Scotland.

Colors of foods in my kitchen

I am pretty embarrassed by the colors of foods in my kitchen.  I went out of town last weekend and haven't spent any time at home so I haven't gone to the grocery store in some time.  Most of the colors come from fruits and vegetables.  Green in lettuce and peas, an orange, some orange squash and yams.  Some of my cereals have dried berries that are pretty brightly colored.  Other then that, everything is brown and beige.  I'm sure that will change after I go to the store tomorrow.

This week's links

I found this week's links very interesting.  I really liked the link "Color of Elements in a Flame."  It was really cool to see pictures of the flames and I guess it connects to our discussion on fireworks last week.  I also found the article "Luminescence and Fluorescence" interesting.  I never realized that there are so many forms of luminescence.  It makes sense that there would be, I just never really thought about it.  It reminded me of when I went to a marine biology camp on Catalina Island as a kid.  We had a night class that discussed bioluminescent fish which I found very fascinating.  

 

Week Four

Catalyst of the week

My catalyst is Nickel.  The chemical symbol for Nickel is Ni and it has an atomic number of 28.  According to Wikipedia, Nickel is used as a catalyst for hydrogenation.  Apparently, nickel was first classified as an element in 1751 after it was mistaken for copper ore.  It is mostly used in alloys and is found in many common things including stainless steel.

Atom Economy

Apparently I don't have a very scientific mind because this article was very difficult to follow.  What I get from Atom Economy is that there are calculations that can be done to see how many atoms are wasted in a chemical reaction.  Ideally, there would be no wasted atoms once the end product is achieved.

Just how close are we to Green Economy?

I feel that we are getting closer to being a green economy but it is still going to be a very long road.  As a whole, I think that we have so much money invested in our current way of living that it is going to be very difficult to get industries (and consumers) to change their ways.  Unfortunately, it is a lot easier to start green then it is to clean up the mess and we are at the point now where we need the cleanup crew.

Week 3

Transition Metal of the Week

My transition metal of the week is Rhodium. The chemical symbol is Rh and its atomic number is 45.  It has an atomic mass of 103.  According to Wikipedia, it is a very expensive metal and is a member of the platinum group.  It's most common use is in catalytic converters in automobiles, but it has many other uses.  

Covalent Bond Types are like Eating in a Restaurant.  Does this image help?

This image helps a lot for me.  I am a very visual person and like having something common to compare this scientific stuff.  It kind of reminds me of the zoo cards which work very well for me.  I need some sort of story to remember what an herb does.

Chemical Bonding Images Website

I really liked this website because I felt like I was really able to see what is going on when there is a chemical bond.  The drawings I have seen of H2O (for example) are usually letters with some lines connecting them.  This really helps me put a visual into my head.

Week 2

Element of the Week

My element of the week is Manganese.  Its atomic number is 25.  According to an article I found, manganese is a metal resembling iron.  Its atomic mass is 54.9380 and it has a melting point of 1244 degrees.  The symbol for Manganese is Mn.

Ozone

When I asked people what they thought of ozone, pretty much the only answer I got was that it was something in our atmosphere that protects us from the suns rays which is kind of the way I thought about it.  I still don't completely understand ozone and how it is used in commercial applications.  

Periodic Table Websites

I thought for sure the periodic table would seem like a bunch of gibberish to me, but as soon as I started messing around on some of these websites, things started slowly coming back to me.  The spiral chart looked way too confusing and I clicked out of it as soon as I saw it.  I really liked the way that the interactive chart was set up.  The quiz was pretty cool, but I wasn't very good at it...I guess I don't remember THAT many.

Chemistry Quiz

I was pretty surprised that I actually did ok on the quiz.  The only question I got wrong was about milk being a mixture.  Now that I think about it, it makes total sense.  

Tina's Bio

Hello everyone!   I was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona.  I left Arizona for college and went to Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles where I obtained a bachelor degree in Graphic Design with a minor in Art History.  I worked as a producer in visual effects for 3 years before deciding to make a change and study Chinese Medicine.  I went to Samra University (in LA) for a year before transferring to AIMC.  This is my 2nd trimester at AIMC.