Facts about Bonding

      Facts about bonding:

• By applying strain during bond formation, Professors from NC State influenced the assembly of Silicon crystals
• Optical Spectroscopy was used by these professors to examine what was happening to the Silicon crystal when strain was applied
• Strain has been used to affect overall chemistry for a long time, but is wasn't until now that people payed special attention to how it affects one single bond
• Even when applying a small amount of strain to a bond, it has the ability to increase the reactivity of the bond in a certain direction and therefore could cause structural changes

What is an Alloy?

       An alloy is a substance composed of two or more metals, nonmetals, or possibly gases that are mixed by fusion, dissolving, melting or mixing.

Examples of Alloys:

• Bronze- Bronze is made when Tin and Copper are combined.  Bronze was commonly used in the Bronze Age for technology.  Cruder forms of Bronze can be made by combining Copper with Aluminum, Silicon, Manganese, or Phosphorus.
• Steel- Steel is made when Iron is combined with a small amount of Carbon.  Steel is popularly used in buildings or as reinforcements for more unstable items such as concrete.

What colors do birds see?

Five things that I have learned about the color vision of birds:

• Humans are sensitive to three peak wave lengths while birds are sensitive to four or five making them tetrachromats
• The structure of a bird's retina is much more complex than that of a human
• Birds have a deeper fovea which creates a larger surface area to hold more cones
• There is a strong connection between the habitat and the spectral senses of a bird
• Some birds, like the Kestrel, use their ultraviolet sight to detect the urine and feces of mice in a large cultivated field, therefore allowing them to find and capture them

Naming New Elements

      Naming new elements can be a very tricky thing.  The new elements that are being created are very short-lived and will disappear in seconds.  Before being given a proper name, they are called by a temporary title like "Element 114" where the number stands for the number of protons in the nucleus.  For the most part, new elements are given names that end in "ium".  For example, element 112 was named Copernicium in honor of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.  Elements have generally been named after famous scientists in the recent decades, but that isn't a necessary item in naming the element.  In order for a new element to be considered a new element and accepted on the periodic table, it first has to be accepted and approved by the International Committee of Chemists and Physicists.  Once this is done, the element goes through the process of being given a proper name.

The Amazing Glowing Bug

        Glow-In-The-Dark Millipede Says 'Stay Away'
Here are five facts that I have learned by reading this article:

• The experiment that was done in this article provides the first evidence of bioluminescence being used as a warning signal much like chemicals or bright colors are used by other animals.
• Bioluminescence is thought to help attract mates, attract prey, or send messages back and forth between members of the same species.
• The difference between having a warning signal and not having one, could mean life or death for an animal because ones without a signal could be attacked more often.
• Small animals like rodents are one of the millipedes most likely predators.
• Although these millipedes do glow in the dark, they don't use the same mechanism as a firefly or glowworm to ignite their light.

        

         In this article about glow-in-the-dark millipedes, the scientists conducted an experiment in which they used the scientific method.  Here is my evidence as to why I think that the scientific method was used:

• The scientists made a hypothesis as to what they predicted would happen.  "Marek and his coworkers hypothesized by using bioluminescence as a warning signal, luminescent millipedes would be attacked less than non-luminescent ones." 
• They conducted an experiment to test their hypothesis and gather results.  "For the field experiment, the group took their clay millipede collection to Giant Sequoia National Monument in California, where they set them on the ground along a transect line, spaced five meters (16 feet) apart. Glowing and non-glowing individuals were distributed in random order to avoid sampling bias."
• They analyzed the data that they gathered and made a conclusion to their experiment. "The next morning, the researchers went to collect the live and clay millipedes and assess the results."It was just -- carnage," Marek said. "We were really surprised at the predation rate on these millipedes. Overall, about one-third of them -- both real and fake -- had been attacked."