The Difference Engine: Hold the carcinogens

http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/07/healthy-eating

With grilling being so popular among the American population, awareness of the dangers posed by carcinogens in meats has become a pertinent subject. Since 1970, we have known leaving beef, pork, fowl, and fish cooking at high temperatures causes heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). These forms of cancer can be produced at a relatively low temperature of 3000F, when our grills can reach up to 7000F, or more, within minutes. At such high temperatures, meat becomes burnt, and unhealthy for consumption quickly. HCA’s are formed when amino acids and sugars react at a high temperature to create an energy boost that later may become cancerous. One of the cancer causing boosts is called harmane and causes shaking of the arms, head, jaw, and voice and can be found in 20 times more people than Parkinson’s disease. PAH’s, on the other hand, can be found when fuels such as oil, coal, tar, and wood are burned. They are even usually removed from vehicle exhaust because they are so harmful. In food, they are found when the fat and juices from the meat drip onto the red hot coals or splash plates, causing a flame to form. When this flame makes contact with the meat, the PHA’s in the flame go onto the meat. After eating the meat, HCA’s and PAH’s alter the DNA in body cells, increasing susceptibility to cancer. When experimenting with rodents, scientists found those that were fed with HCA and PAH in their food developed tumors; however, the amount of HCA and PAH the rodents were given was disproportional to the amount the average human can consume. But even without the rodent information, people who ate medium to well-done beef were 3 times more likely to suffer from stomach cancer than those who prefer rare or medium-rare beef. Also men who consumed 3 grams of well-done meat had a 40% higher chance of getting prostate cancer. Even though World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research issued a release in 2007 asking people to cut down on red meats and smoked food in general, they failed to mention PAH’s or HCA’s and the later damage caused by cancer. The statement these institutes made did not make the American population completely aware of the cancerous high risks and really should have. Some helpful tips for avoiding consumption of HCA’s and PAH’s to the best of our ability is eating protein packed food such as tofu and marinating meats for at least 6 hours before grilling would decrease levels of HCA’s and PAH’s dramatically as well as only using the ends of grills which remain at 2200F. We need to be more careful with our lives even at the cost of our appetites.

The Acids: Converting Copper Lab

Notes: Procedure:
• Copper powder before the heating is a fine brick-red powder substance
• After the two minutes being on the hot plate, the substance was charcoal and stiff with a slightly purple hue
• Then it was removed from the hot plate and broken up as much as possible with a spatula into a not as fine powder
- Then we placed the crucible back on the hot plate for 10 more minutes with the top ajar to let some oxygen in
• Every two minutes we removed the crucible from the hot plate and broke up the solid with a spatula as previously done
• After the first 2 minutes, it remained a powdery substance with more solid particles
- Instead of having a purplish hue it had a charcoal color
• After the next two minutes the substance remained the same
• After the next two minutes the substance remained the same
• Then we removed the crucible from the hot plate, placed it on the base of the ring-stand, and allowed its contents to cool to room temperature

Questions: Page 140:
1. Answers
a. Describe changes you observed as you heated the copper.
i. We observed color change and the formation of solid particles within the heated crucible. In the first stages of heating, the copper became charcoal in color with a slightly purple hue, and by the end of the heating cycle, the copper was completely charcoal in color.
b. Did the copper atoms remain in the crucible? Explain, using evidence from your observations.
i. Yes the copper did remain inside the crucible but there were slight powder stains on the sides of the crucible that changed color along with the rest of the powder.
2. Answers
a. Were the changes you observed physical changes or chemical changes?
i. As we observed, the copper oxidized; therefore, the changes were chemical changes.
b. What observational evidence leads you to that conclusion?
i. It is a chemical reaction because burning, or combustion, involves chemical reactions between the copper and the oxygen.
3. Answers
a. How did the mass of the crucible contents change after you heated the copper?
i. The mass of the contents did not change at all, they were exactly the same before and after heating
b. Explain why the mass of the crucible contents change in that manner.
i. Although we recognized that the mass of the crucible content should have increased after oxidization, it remained the same. This may be due to crushing the powder too fine, or because of not enough copper particles oxidizing.

Aggregated Data:

Average gain: 0.06g
Median gain: 0.06g

2SAS #13-25

13. a) periods b) group or family

14. Sodium-Na and Potassium-K

15. a) the far right column b) they are very unreactive c) they are chemically inert

16. a) MgF2 b) GaP3

17. about 68 degrees celsius

18. Higher

19.

20. a) protons-4 , neutrons-5 , electrons-4 b) protons-7, neutrons-7, electrons-7 c) protons-10, neutrons-10, electrons-10

21. The student is incorrect because a +2 ion indicates the loss of 2 electrons making the atom positively charged.

22. a) Carbon-12, Carbon-13, Calcium-41, Platinum-195, Uranium-238
b) Carbon

23. No it is not, we would also need the atom's ionic charge, melting point, boiling point, state of being (gas, liquid, solid), and the element's proton and neutron count.

24. An electron's mass is so much smaller than a proton and neutron it is not included in the atomic weight because it is so minuscule.

25.

2SAS #1-12 pg. 130

1. a) physical property b) chemical property c) chemical property d) physical property

2. a) physical property b) physical property c) physical property d) chemical property

3. a) chemical property b) chemical property c) chemical property d) physical property

4. a) chemical property b) chemical property c) chemical property d) chemical property

5. a) A cut apple left out in the air turns brown because of the exposure to oxygen which creates a chemical reaction, displaying a chemical property b) Flashlight batteries lose their "charge" after extended use because they can no longer be used to facilitate use and have created a chemical property c) Dry cleaning removes oils from clothing because it is a nonpolar substance combining with oil a nonpolar substance creating a chemical reaction and making it a chemical property d) Italian salad dressing separates over time because it is a suspension and is not homogeneously mixed so chemically will separate displaying another chemical property

6. a) When making chocolate chip cookies one must get all the ingredients, mix them together to form a dough, let them set in the refrigerator, put them on a baking sheet, put them in the oven, let them cool.
b) Mixing the ingredients is a chemical change because it is creating a reaction with all the ingredients to form a new substance; the dough. Letting the dough set in the refrigerator is physical property because the dough become firmer. Putting them in a shape on the baking sheet is a physical property because the dough stays the same in a different shape. Baking them in the oven is a chemical property because the substance didn't change but it cooked because the heat allowed the cookies to get harder.

7. a) metal b) nonmetal c) nonmetal d) metal

8. a) metal b) metalloid c) nonmetal d) metal

9. Boron- B, Silicon-Si

10. a) Because Iodine is a nonmetal, it should shatter into pieces and be brittle b) Zirconium would bend and be maleable because it is a metal c) phosphorus would shatter and be brittle because it is a nonmetal d) nickel would bend and be maleable because it is a metal

11. Nonmetals are non electrically conductive and they also shatter easily into small pieces and cannot bend to fit around small areas and into smaller wires.

12. Metals are good for coins because faces such as Abraham Lincoln's on the penny can be printed on to them easily because they bend, metals also can last a long time, and they also are cost effective while still being good quality.

A slim chance: Insulin’s role in obesity

Because obesity has become a huge epidemic in our world today, scientific researchers are always looking for reasons to explain such a huge phenomenon and help those many people in need. After gaining such a huge amount of weight, many people find it impossible to loose the pounds once they put them on. It is well known that part of the struggle to lose weight is will power; however, some research has shown late on-set diabetes, one of the symptoms of obesity could be perpetuating it. Late on-set diabetes is the resistance in the hormone cells to insulin even though it is available. Although this diabetes is not deadly, insulin regulates the absorption and release of sugar, and without it blood sugar can get out of control. Dr. Bruning from Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research in Cologne decided to research if the insulin controlled brain cells also resisted insulin and might effect an obese person's ability to consume so much food. By looking at the midbrain cells, which are responsible for producing the feeling of pleasure, in mice, Dr. Bruning found vital information. The male mice that had been genetically altered to not have insuline-receptor genes, ate 3.2 grams of rodent chow and the average amount of food a male mouse eats a day is 2.8 grams. In female mice the average amount per day to eat should have been 2.7 grams; however, without the insuline receptors the female mice ate 3.1 grams a day. Obviously there was a difference without the insuline receptors; however, Dr. Bruning cannot conclude that humans are effected the same way because knocking out a gene is different than acquiring late on-set diabetes and mice are not men! This research is still important though, because it raises the question as to why the absence of something can produce a reaction of pleasure for food.

http://www.economist.com/node/18833493

Taking a Stand: my opinion on water shortage vs. water pollution

OR

In my opinion, i strongly believe that water shortage is a much bigger problem than water pollution. Although water pollution is harmful and sometimes expensive to take care of, it is not as bad as the absence of water. Without water all sources of life would die and there is no way of creating water out of nothing. Polluted water can easily be purified to the best of our ability with great technology we have today. As we learned from the FLOW video UV lights and other processes can be used to purify water. To say polluted water is hard to deal with is true; however, water shortage is impossible to deal with. Sometimes trucking in water from other parts of the world can help in these situations, but then other parts of the world may start to have water shortages. If the water supply dwindles so will population. Clearly water shortage is a much worse problem than water pollution.

WATER!

Things you need to know about water:

Water is...
a polar molecule
V-shaped
the most common solvent
made of 2 Hydrogen Atoms and 1 Oxygen Atom
constantly in a cycle
present on 70% of the earth
boiled at 100 degrees Celsius and is vapor above
liquid from 99 degrees Celsius to 1 degrees Celsius
solid from 0 degrees Celsius and below
(has) high surface tension
always in a 2hydrogen:1oxygen ratio


-When things are dissolved in water their positive ions will attract towards Oxygen and their negative ions will attract to the hydrogens