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About Me
- Emily Johnson
- I am a North Dakota native with a wonderful husband and baby boy. I love to exercise, eat good food, play with my son, do projects with my husband, laugh with my family, and spend time outside. Most importantly, I love to learn. I treasure education and love that I have the chance to influence young minds. Just because the brain isn't a muscle doesn't mean we shouldn't exercise it!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
Cooking is Chemistry
Like many, I am a big supporter of food. Cooking, baking, concocting new taste sensations - it's all great. When I look at my kitchen and think of the disasters I can create, I can't help but think that it is a lot like a science lab. In fact, I should take the same safety precautions in the kitchen as I do with a chemistry experiment - apron, goggles, protective gloves.
So how is Chemistry involved in the kitchen? Well, let's look at how a typical recipe (lab) is laid out:
You are told your final product (objective) - ie. Blueberry Muffins
You are told your necessary ingredients (materials)
You are given your directions (procedure)
AND you are usually told how much the recipe yields.
YIELDS! What does that mean? And where have we heard that word before? Oh yes, in Chemistry. In a chemical reaction, we see an equation with reactants on the left, and products on the right. What is in between? Not an equal sign, but an arrow --> which symbolizes "yields" which is another way of saying "produces." A + B --> AB in this equation, we would say A plus B yields AB. A and B are the reactants and AB is the product. Most of the time we need heat to make a certain recipe work; blueberry muffins would not be produced without the help of an oven. Reactions that require heat to make them work are called endothermic reactions.
Other chemical reactions take place in the kitchen without us even knowing. For example, if you were to place a ripe, green banana in the same brown bag as an apple overnight, your banana would be ripe as ripe can be by morning. Why is that? Apples (and bananas) give off ethylene gas, a plant hormone that stimulates ripening. Do you think people working in the supermarket produce department need to know anything about this? Factors like this all come into play when storing and displaying fruits and vegetables.
If you are like me, and you enjoy a nice meal, think about the chemistry that is involved with cooking the next time you have a bite. It is fascinating what a few ingredients and some heat can produce - in the kitchen and in the science lab!!
You are told your final product (objective) - ie. Blueberry Muffins
You are told your necessary ingredients (materials)
You are given your directions (procedure)
AND you are usually told how much the recipe yields.
YIELDS! What does that mean? And where have we heard that word before? Oh yes, in Chemistry. In a chemical reaction, we see an equation with reactants on the left, and products on the right. What is in between? Not an equal sign, but an arrow --> which symbolizes "yields" which is another way of saying "produces." A + B --> AB in this equation, we would say A plus B yields AB. A and B are the reactants and AB is the product. Most of the time we need heat to make a certain recipe work; blueberry muffins would not be produced without the help of an oven. Reactions that require heat to make them work are called endothermic reactions.
Other chemical reactions take place in the kitchen without us even knowing. For example, if you were to place a ripe, green banana in the same brown bag as an apple overnight, your banana would be ripe as ripe can be by morning. Why is that? Apples (and bananas) give off ethylene gas, a plant hormone that stimulates ripening. Do you think people working in the supermarket produce department need to know anything about this? Factors like this all come into play when storing and displaying fruits and vegetables.
If you are like me, and you enjoy a nice meal, think about the chemistry that is involved with cooking the next time you have a bite. It is fascinating what a few ingredients and some heat can produce - in the kitchen and in the science lab!!
Monday, February 20, 2012
Leap Year: Why do we leap?
We are approaching the end of February, the month that has 28 days.... 75% of the time! Around 2,000 years ago, Julius Caesar realized that our calendar didn't quite match the time it takes to revolve around the sun. You see, it takes about 365 1/4 days for the Earth to make a full trip around the sun. Our calendar is only 365 days long, so once every four years we must add an extra day to our calendar year to make up for the extra time it takes for our revolution around the sun.
So what about those people who are born on a leap year? Well, technically they only have a birthday every four years! Imagine that! Actually, people who are born on a leap year will celebrate their birthday either on the 28th of February or the 1st of March.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Coldest States in the US - Current Results
Coldest States in the US - Current Results
North Dakota is ranked 2nd in the nation for having the coldest winters. What are important things to keep in mind when temperatures drop this low? For starters, bundle up! You may think that going to and from a vehicle to a building is nothing to bundle up for, but its never a bad idea to be prepared for the unexpected. Certain circumstances may cause you to stay outside longer than you would expect OR you may have car trouble. Speaking of cars: make sure to keep your vehicle filled with gasoline during these bitter cold months. It's also important to keep a survival stash in your vehicle "just in case." You may want to fill a duffel bag with some candy bars, a lighter, extra mittens and hats, a blanket, flashlight, extra batteries, bottled water, reflectors, deck of cards, and boots. You may also want to put a shovel in your trunk in case you need to shovel a path for your vehicle. These are just a few tips for surviving the cold winter months we experience here in North Dakota. Its never a bad idea to be over prepared! Stay warm!
North Dakota is ranked 2nd in the nation for having the coldest winters. What are important things to keep in mind when temperatures drop this low? For starters, bundle up! You may think that going to and from a vehicle to a building is nothing to bundle up for, but its never a bad idea to be prepared for the unexpected. Certain circumstances may cause you to stay outside longer than you would expect OR you may have car trouble. Speaking of cars: make sure to keep your vehicle filled with gasoline during these bitter cold months. It's also important to keep a survival stash in your vehicle "just in case." You may want to fill a duffel bag with some candy bars, a lighter, extra mittens and hats, a blanket, flashlight, extra batteries, bottled water, reflectors, deck of cards, and boots. You may also want to put a shovel in your trunk in case you need to shovel a path for your vehicle. These are just a few tips for surviving the cold winter months we experience here in North Dakota. Its never a bad idea to be over prepared! Stay warm!
Monday, December 12, 2011
600 Light Years: A Fair Jaunt.
In March 2011, NASA launched a space instrument who's mission is to find other Earth-like planets in our Milky Way galaxy. This spacecraft, Kepler, contains a relatively small telescope which tracks stars and specifically examines the brightness of them. When a star's brightness is briefly absent, Kepler takes note and monitors that star more because a break in the brightness means that a planet is crossing that path of light.
One of those planets has been found to be in the habitable zone to a star, just as our E
arth is to the sun. Kepler-22b has a radius 2.5 times that of Earth's, a year that is 290 days, and temperatures that are not much different then Earth. This makes it possible for water to stay at the liquid state. It is 600 light years away from Earth. Does anyone know how many miles that is? If the speed of light is 3.0 x 108 m/s, how could you figure out the miles?The Kepler Mission was named after scientist Johannes Kepler. What did this scientist discover? Why do you think they named the mission after him?
Friday, September 23, 2011
Video Games: Could gamers be the future to scientific discoveries?
For years, scientists have tried to come up with the crystalline structure for an enzyme that could help in investigating an AIDS-like virus in monkeys (M-PMV). In learning about M-PMV, scientists can better understand the AIDS virus in humans. With no luck on their own, scientists called in members of Foldit. Foldit is a protein folding computer game that allows players to manipulate protein structures in 3D. The gamers figured out the structure in just 3 weeks! Using their intuition and high 'gaming' skills, they were able to recognize patterns and codes that a computer alone could not. Is this the future in scientific research? It may be particularly useful for microscopic problems that involve high levels of manipulation. So if you're a video game enthusiast, you may want to think about science!
Monday, August 29, 2011
One ORDER of 'Diptera', please
Shooo, fly, don't bother me! From the order, diptera (meaning "two-wings"), the fly is a common annoyance to many people. We swat them away without a thought, but what would happen if we took the time to examine these pesky insects a little further?
Under a microscope, you would see a body built for flight with 3 definite segments: head, thorax and halteres.
When a fly lands on a food source, they will typically spit or drool on the food before they ingest it.
Fly larvae are called maggots and they can be very disgusting. You will see maggots on rotting meat or decaying bodies. BUT, you may also see maggots in hospitals used on patients with necrosis (a condition in which skin cells die prematurely). The maggots will feed on the decaying skin tissue and "undo" the necrosis process, essentially.
So, there is more to a fly then meets the eye! However, they are still vastly over populated and (in my opinion) could still stand to be killed!! So swat away, my friends; UNLESS you can catch a fly, keep it alive, and bring it into class. If you do this, we will do some examining of our own.
Under a microscope, you would see a body built for flight with 3 definite segments: head, thorax and halteres.
When a fly lands on a food source, they will typically spit or drool on the food before they ingest it.
Fly larvae are called maggots and they can be very disgusting. You will see maggots on rotting meat or decaying bodies. BUT, you may also see maggots in hospitals used on patients with necrosis (a condition in which skin cells die prematurely). The maggots will feed on the decaying skin tissue and "undo" the necrosis process, essentially.
So, there is more to a fly then meets the eye! However, they are still vastly over populated and (in my opinion) could still stand to be killed!! So swat away, my friends; UNLESS you can catch a fly, keep it alive, and bring it into class. If you do this, we will do some examining of our own.
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