Aristotle once said,

"The search for truth is in one way hard and in another easy. For it is evident that no one can master it fully nor miss it wholly. But each adds a little to our knowledge of nature and from all the facts assembled these arises a certain grandeur."

Welcome: An Introduction

Setting: Starbucks
Katrina enters Starbucks, aproaches the front cash, orders a grande white chocolate mochachino, and waits for it to be served. Meanwhile she scans the cafe and spots Mr. Barry in a crisp new gecko blouse (custom fit) from Malaysia. As he sips on his wild sweet orange tazo tea, Katrina notices that he is reading the preface of The Science of Everyday Life. Since he is having a hard time with the technical writing style Jay Ingram posseses, Katrina decides to give him an introduction of her own...

In the novel, The Science of Everyday Life, Jay Ingram attempts to answer all of those questions that everyone ponders but no one looks into. The experiments described in this novel are very interesting and are hard evidence of the many theories explained. Since there were 26 chapters that weren't all that interesting, I chose the 10 best ideas to share with all of my viewers. Enjoy!

Closet Science

Before this wonderful novel, I had no idea that you can create sparks of electricity by chewing on Wintergreen Lifesavers in the dark. Though the average person would probably not chew lifesavers in the comfort of their own closet without being told they can create a spark, I know I am definitely on my way to testing this experiment. The trick is to be in complete darkness with a mirror, let your night vision kick in, and chew with your mouth open. Blue-green sparks will fly due to the breaking down of the sugar crystals. When the atoms of the sugar are broken apart, cracks start to form, and “negative and positive electrical charges are left isolated on separating fragments of the crystal.” These charges obviously want to attract, so when they leap to do so, they are leaping through nitrogen gas. This nitrogen gas absorbs the energy and then lets it go right before your eyes in a blue-green flash. In fact, Ingram describes it as a minuscule version of lightening. You ask why wintergreen? Well, to my newfound knowledge on lifesavers, the wintergreen has oil in it that is very good at soaking in ultraviolet light. I wonder if Lifesavers is the best wintergreen candy to use or if a softer wintergreen candy would even work. This chapter is an excellent example of how everyday science can explain the chemistry of sugar. Without the experiment that I can easily visual or even do myself, reading about crystallized structures and transferring energy to create an ultraviolet light would be similar to reading something in a different language.


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1 comment:

  1. UnknownJune 18, 2014 at 5:20 AM

    Great post. This article is really very interesting and enjoyable. I think its must be helpful and informative for us. Thanks for sharing your nice post about science.
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