I assume that these biographies are already supposed
to be available - and many of the suggested people
do not have biographies appropriate for fifth or
sixth graders...
That being said, I would suggest a biography, there
are a few but the level is not right, of Rosalind
Franklin. Depending on the person telling the story
she should/should not have received a lot of credit
for the DNA model proposed by Watson and Crick.
Jim Watson's autobiographical work on the work leading
to a structural model for DNA is also a good book for students, who are interested in how science really works.
I was a little surprised - maybe I did not dig deep enough -
not to see a comment about one of the interesting and
almost unique things that can be done with titanium, that is
to make so-called shape memory alloys of titanium and nickel
called "nitinol." See
http://www.stanford.edu/~richlin1/sma/sma.html
This stuff has the interesting property that deformation followed
by heating can cause it to return to its original shape.
There are a lot of interesting things that can be done
with such a material including cardiovascular applications.
It is true, however, that even a fairly large decrease in
the price of producing titanium will have little effect
on the final price of nitinol, given the further work
necessary to make nitinol from titanium.
Yes, I made gunpowder. Went to the local drug store
as a nine year old and got the stuff. Not sure if
the pharmacist even knew what I was up to...
Also threw calcium carbide in a paint can of
water and set off. Boom!
Played with benzene, mercury, and God knows what else.
Gilbert chemistry set had a lot of interesting
stuff in it.
BUT - this was probably not a good thing, and I certainly
wouldn't want kids doing this nowadays, given what
I know about safety and missing body parts.
HOWEVER - all is not lost. It is very possible to
do things with "kitchen chemistry" type experiments.
Inks (water soluble) can be chromatographed on paper
towels. Lipstick (sic) can be chromatographed (components
separated) on napkins... (There is an interesting
story in Primo Levi's The Periodic Table about this.)
So the bottom line is that clever highschool teacher
science wannabes have to learn how to make the
excitement of science clear to students by using
a little ingenuity and thought about safer way to
do this than in the good/bad old days.
Slashdot Mirror
I think it is "Gregor" ...
I assume that these biographies are already supposed to be available - and many of the suggested people do not have biographies appropriate for fifth or sixth graders... That being said, I would suggest a biography, there are a few but the level is not right, of Rosalind Franklin. Depending on the person telling the story she should/should not have received a lot of credit for the DNA model proposed by Watson and Crick. Jim Watson's autobiographical work on the work leading to a structural model for DNA is also a good book for students, who are interested in how science really works.
I was a little surprised - maybe I did not dig deep enough - not to see a comment about one of the interesting and almost unique things that can be done with titanium, that is to make so-called shape memory alloys of titanium and nickel called "nitinol." See http://www.stanford.edu/~richlin1/sma/sma.html This stuff has the interesting property that deformation followed by heating can cause it to return to its original shape. There are a lot of interesting things that can be done with such a material including cardiovascular applications. It is true, however, that even a fairly large decrease in the price of producing titanium will have little effect on the final price of nitinol, given the further work necessary to make nitinol from titanium.
Yes, I made gunpowder. Went to the local drug store as a nine year old and got the stuff. Not sure if the pharmacist even knew what I was up to... Also threw calcium carbide in a paint can of water and set off. Boom! Played with benzene, mercury, and God knows what else. Gilbert chemistry set had a lot of interesting stuff in it. BUT - this was probably not a good thing, and I certainly wouldn't want kids doing this nowadays, given what I know about safety and missing body parts. HOWEVER - all is not lost. It is very possible to do things with "kitchen chemistry" type experiments. Inks (water soluble) can be chromatographed on paper towels. Lipstick (sic) can be chromatographed (components separated) on napkins... (There is an interesting story in Primo Levi's The Periodic Table about this.) So the bottom line is that clever highschool teacher science wannabes have to learn how to make the excitement of science clear to students by using a little ingenuity and thought about safer way to do this than in the good/bad old days.