Time for the Peeps

The first Peep met his fate in 1M HCl (gastric acid strength).
The second Peep met his fate in 18M Sulfuric Acid. This did cook the sugar
coating into a black carbon uck factor.
The third Peep bobbed happily in Acetone and the fourth bobbed almost as
happily in Lye.

As usual none of the Peeps dissolved over the 2 hour period of time.

Now do YOU want to eat one of these?
Chris

Revenge of the Peeps - Sacrifice of the Gummy Bears

This year I brought Gummy Bears to see if they could stand up to the chemical treatment we had put the Peeps to in the past. The green Gummy Bear faced his demise bravely and hung on for 2 hours in 1 M HCl (about the same at Gastic Acid). However, the red Gummy Bear #2 did not fare nearly as well and dissolved almost immediately in 18 M Sulfuric Acid. The next two Gummy Bears survived much longer in Acetone and Lye. The Peeps seemed much relieved to be watchers on for the time being - but now it was their turn..Part II upcoming....

Curving Space and Time

Not that I entirely understand this myself...

"The more I study science the more I believe in God."

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."

"The deeper one penetrates into nature's secrets, the greater

becomes one's respect for God."

"I want to know how God created this world. I am

not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum

of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts, the

rest are details."

"We are in the position of a little child entering a huge

library filled with books in many different languages. The

child knows someone must have written these books.

It does not know how. It does not understand the

languages in which they are written. The child dimly

suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of

the books, but doesn't know what it is.

That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most

intelligent human being toward God. We see a Universe

marvellously arranged and obeying certain laws, but only

dimly understand these laws. Our limited minds cannot

grasp the mysterious force that moves the

constellations."

Albert Einstein

But, then as I study sometimes, I think I too should go back to
playing in mudpuddles! I understand them oh so much better than
the grand scheme of the universe.
Chris

Psalm 19

"The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.
Day after day they pour out speech;
night after night
they communicate knowledge.
There is no speech; there are no words;
their voice is not heard.
Their message has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends
of the inhabited world.

In the heavens He has pitched a tent
for the sun.
It is like a groom coming from
the bridal chamber;
it rejoices like an athlete
running a course.
It rises from one end of the heavens
and circles to their other end;
nothing is hidden from its heat.

The instruction of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy,
making the inexperienced wise.
The precepts of the Lord are right,
making the heart glad;
the commandment of the Lord
is radiant,
making the eyes light up.
The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the Lord are reliable
and altogether righteous.
They are more desirable than gold -
than an abundance of pure gold;
and sweeter than honey-
then honey dripping from the comb.
In addition, Your servant is warned by them;
there is great reward in keeping them.

Who perceives his unintentional sins?
Cleanse me from my hidden faults.
Moreover, keep Your servant
from willful sins;
do not let them rule over me.
Then I will be innocent,
and cleansed from blatant rebellion.

May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to You,
Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

Amen. Pax.

I've Been Tagged

By De'Etta and I'm supposed to posted from page 123 of the nearest book

(which will have to be the current book I'm reading nearby because I am in

the book/computer room and it is FULL of books) -

RULES:

Open book to page 123. Find Sentence number 5. Post the next

three sentences. And then tag 5 more people.

My Book is "A Field Guide to Germs" by Wayne Biddle.

Sentence 6-8 (this is on Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever)

"...A physician in Great Falls, Montana, with the perfect name of

Earl Strain, first perceived an association of the symptoms with tick

bites in 1902. Then the illustrious...."

(I won't leave you hanging...the next illustrious guy to study it died

from it..)

I tag: Beth

Debbie

Liz

Ginger

Jen

Golden Book of Chemistry

This is the book that unleashed it all. I started my love of Chemistry with this book. But it is not a simple Childhood book - there are no comparable books on the market today like it. The experiments described in this book are demonstrations that might be done by a High School Chemistry teacher

like myself (and I do some from this book!) but only with the greatest

caution would one want a child to do them. The chemicals used are now

almost impossible to get but in the Sixties one could still buy these sorts of things.

I bought my supplies from Spivey's Hobby Shop in West End or from

the Drug Store. When I was in the 6th grade my then 11th grade

cousin called to ask if I knew how to make any rocket propulsion and

I told her a nice chemical formula (that I still know and will refrain from

writing out for fear someone will try it - it is very simple to do IF you can

get the chemicals). She called back a few days later to tell me her

Chemistry teacher was quite alarmed and asked her where she got the

information. She told him and he told her to go take my

Chemistry set away from me. She was laughing. I was not.

I still have my copy of this book. It is now worth between $400-$500.00.

On Ebay they are calling it the book they Banned in the Sixties.

(I didn't know that). It does have one strange page that shows

1) how to make Chlorine gas and

2) a picture of how to smell the stuff.

Now even *I* knew that was flat out stupid. I never tried that one.

Recently I finished reading "The Radioactive Boy Scout" by Ken Silverstein

and the young man in this book also got his start from reading

"The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments".

However he didn't decide to go to college and major in Pharmacy as I did..

He decided to build a nuclear reactor in his back yard. He had no siblings

so I guess he could do this undiscovered. My sister or two brothers surely

would have been my undoing should I have tried something like this

plus I did not have the money he did to buy the batteries, smoke detectors,

etc to take apart to get the necessary ingredients.

It was interesting to read how much he did and where he found

all the "stuff" he needed. (From a parent's point of view -

Where WERE THEY??) While he never got his reactor up and

running suffice it to say the neighborhood glowed for quite a while

and the clean up was costly.

It was sort of a trip down memory lane but with a totally different outcome.

Thank God for that!

Chris

Science Fair Time Again

That time of year again.

I provide the guidance and supplies. I have Jessica get the idea. And this year she came up with a good one - I never want to eat fast food again - well at least for a while. She is seeing how

clean various places in town are/might be. We ate at

Chick Fil A on Friday night, McDonalds on Satuday morning,

Taco Bell for lunch and at Arbys for supper. Ugh. I gained 100 pounds. She swabbed the table top, the condiment counter, the restroom door handle

and the outside door handle. Four places. Now we wait to see if any bacteria grows. She will photograph each day. Her technique was good and I had her prepare the petri dishes (I only provided the bare dishes and the agar and the sterile swabs. Hometrainingtools.com!)

Of course if this turns out badly, ALL of us may never eat at these places again!

smiles, Chris

The Election

Liz G. and daughter Kate design but MY idea (ahem). I wasn't serious
but apparently Liz liked the idea. (Come to think of it now that I'm staring at
it so do I but I don't even think I can influence the Almighty to come back a wee bit
earlier than He plans to. So I shall write in Jack Bauer. Just a fill in for the
time being. Sort of. NO comparison I mean ...at all! (I don't want anyone to be
confused about my theology!) Chris