School is our second home, kitchen our second lab

After a long period, i am here to make an effervescence in our blog. Exactly twenty years before, Nicholas Kurti ,an oxford physist got completely dissatisfied with the knowledge horizon of human beings . He asked " we are bothered about what's happening in the atmosphere of venus, but whats our idea regarding the chemical and physical transformations taking place in our kitchen?" . This question marked the begining of a new branch of food science called 'molecular gastronomy'. I like to define molecular gastronomy in simple words. When a person applies his knowledge in physics and chemistry( or any scientific knowledge) into cooking, the mere cooking will get transformed to fabulous molecular gastronomy. How different cooking temperature affect eggs, their viscousity , how to introduce air to some meals etc are all dealt by molecular gastronomy. Renowned French chemist and cook Herve This (not serve this:-)) is regarded as the father of molecular gastronomy. In future , no doubt, we will prefer star hotels with a molecular gastronomist as head of the cooking department. May be you will go for short term molecular gastronomy coaching classes to have varieties in your dining table. Spherification is one of the beautiful ,sorry delicious techniques in gastronomy. Here we convert liquid drinks to solid. Time is not too far where you will 'eat' grape juices like peanuts. Enjoy the cooking experience as a science discipline. Place bottles containing liquid nitrogen and carbon dioxide along with the bottles of chilly powder and common salt.School is our second home, kitchen our second lab

Frank Sherwood Rowland Passes Away

The great American chemist Frank Sherwood Rowland(84) passes away. Each and every individuals in this world has their own duty to fulfill before death. The most important contribution of this great chemist is his findings on ozone layer depletion. He was the first person who predicted the existance of a hole in ozone layer. This accelerated the growth of atmospheric chemistry. What might had happen if we were unaware of that 'hole'. Oh God! Cant even imagine that. So Frank Sherry, let me ask you one thing, were you a special messenger of God?

Memories are like Copper Sulphate

Have you ever seen copper sulphate? I think, probably its one of the handsome chemicals. The most encountered form of copper sulphate is its pentahydrate form( CuSO4.5H2O) which is having intense blue colour.What happens if this CuSO4.5H2O is heated? It will lose the water of hydration and will become anhydrous copper sulphate having pale green or grey-white colour. Now the real magic is when anhydrous copper sulphate again become blue colour if some water is sprinkled on it......................,........... Memories are also like this. Just like copper sulphate change its colour with temperature,memories will become pale after years. It can't outlive the passage of time. But will these memories get its true colour again? I should like to chronicle the incident behind this post. One of my high school friends called me today after two years gap.What to say? I was taken to that dream world of memories. My friend's lovely voice acted as the water of hydration. My school days' memories got back its intense 'blue colour'.!! Don't you have a similiar experience? We are all living in a hectic world. All of us are busy with our own business. When you are enjoying with your 'present' friends, you may not be recollecting the faces of your old friends. But i am sure that those nostalgic feelings will come to you once. Memories are unexpected visitors. They come without informing and enter your heart without knocking. Gradually your memories will be changed to an intense 'blue colour'.

Asima Chatterjee, God's Gift to Chemistry

'Natural intelligence' is one among the nine types of intelligence. One who is having natural intelligence will form an interference pattern with the wavelength of nature. Great photographers,poets etc. are having this type of intelligence. When dealing with natural intelligence, what comes to mind is the name of a great Indian chemist Asima Chatterjee. Asima was one of the god's favourite creation. When she was sent to the earth, God revealed her the mystery of this cosmos. On 23'rd september 1917, Asima was born at Kolkata in West Bengal. Phytomedicine was her favourite area. Phytomedicine is mostly associated with the study of chemical compounds that is naturally found in plants. Do you know that Taxol, one of the effective cancer drugs is extracted from plants. Asima dedicated her whole life for the study of chemical compounds found in herbs and plant. She fell in love with nature. Asima's contribution to the development of anti-epilleptical and anti-malarial drugs is really great. She got a wonderful opportunity to study under the guidance of P.C Ray,another great Indian chemist. I should like to compare it with Harriet Brooks' opportunity to work under Rutherford. Asima Chatterjee was the first Indian woman who got a doctorate in science. In this occasion of International Womens Day lets chalk the name of this great woman in our heart.

International Women's Day

Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something said,ask a man; If you want something done,ask a woman." Whole over the world, eighth march is celebrated as international women's day. In this context, its very essential to appreciate the most outstanding women in chemistry. I should like to introduce seven great women in chemistry from tomorrow ownwards. So friends wait for the daily posts. And one task for you, can you guess the names of those seven stars..?

Little Mosquito Army

I am taking you to a battlefield. An adventorous journey. Are you ready? Now you are in a special vehicle designed by MCB(MYSTERIOUS CHEMISTRY BLOG). Be atomst cautious. Our enemies are not so silly ones. Oh i forgot to say who our opponents are. Its none other than the mosquitoes,' Little Mosquito Army'. Attack is the best defence. We are going to attack our aspersors. Get ready with your weapons. Before that all of you should apply an oinment which contain the chemical DEET(N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide). DEET is very efficient against mosquitoes. Lactic acid, CO2 and Octenol emitted by human body help mosquitoes to find their target. Most modern chemical sensors of little mos. army will detect the presence of these chemicals. Fruity or floral fragrance( esters) can also make their task easier. Our disastrous weapon DEET can confuse their chemical sensors. Lactic acid emission from your body can be controlled to an extent by avoiding high pottasium content foods.( i think salty and crispy food items are rich in pottasium). Oh God ...!!! Hey Jack, What the hell are you doing there? Dont light the candle since it will emit CO2.. OK OK..Thats all we can do.. Now their chemical sensors are under our jurisdiction.. Still we cant quit.. There are two more sensors to deactivate. Their thermal and visual sensors.I dont think that we can abash their thermal sensors, because we cant change our body temperature. Now visual sensors!! If there is someone wearing bright and dazzling clothes ,just kick him out..Do you know the simple but amazing principle behind their visual sensors?. "SOMETHING THAT IS MOVING HAVE BLOOD IN IT" .So dont make unnecessary movments. Comparing to their 'hi tech' sensors our weapons are so weak.. Using their chemical sensors they can focus their prey which is thirty metre away. No doubt our best weapon is DEET. Thanks to US Army. It was US Army who devoloped DEET during the time of second world war.Oooooops! Whats that, two mosquitoes are coming. What to do? I should like to say ' NO' to chemical methods in this critical stage. See what i am going to do. I am going to impart a higher momentum on them using my hands(given initial velocity greater than 3*10^8 m/s.) Its dead .it was a 100% physical method, all the three sensors of our little mos. got destructed:-D.. MISSION SUCCESS!!

Chemistry of Love

That house was resembling a court atmosphere..Breaking the dreary silence father roared, "who is he? I wont allow you to marry that idiot"
Daughter: IMPOSSIBLE! I am in deep love with him. Nobody can part us.
And that was all. The court adjourned and she left the scene weeping. Tears roll down her cheeks, Hugging the teddy bear gifted by her 'Poppins', She remembered that fine evening in which she met him for the first time. Science says that first stage of love is lust. In this stage hormones produced in the brain is sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone. As the name indicate this stage is JUST A LUST, not a serious one. Our heroine , Oh i forget to mention her name. Her name is Angel. Angel is now in the stage of Lust. In the floods of time, gradually this Lust became attraction. Angel began to feel that she is the most luckiest woman in the world. This kind of feeling is common in the second stage of love, that is ATTRACTION. A number of hormones will rule the person.Chocolate is often considered as a symbol of love.Its said that some chocolates contain a chemical called Phenylethylamine(PEA). This PEA induce a feeling that we are in the top of the world. The same chemical will be ruling a valentine's nerves during the stage of attraction. Person will not feel appetite, cant concentrate etc in this period. Our Angel is also facing the same problems. If I dont feel appetite, i will become very sad. I cant even think of a day without my favourite meals. But look our angel is so happy. Why ? Yeah, thats it the dopamine production increased for Angel. Dopamine is having the power to motivate. When you are appreciated by someone dopamine production increases and you will be having an urge to repeat the action that helped you to get the appreciation. So dont hesitate to appreciate someone. This dopamine thus induces happiness in valentine. Extreme happiness is a symptom of love. Angel is now in that hallucination, but how to express her love. This is what troubles her.Wow! When you are so willing to do something whole world will indulge in a conspiracy to make that thing success. Here also happened the same. Both Angel and our 'Poppins' were walking down the street . Nature has done a conspiracy, it rained .She ran to his umbrella and in a sweet and soft voice murmured," I love you". Now they are in the peak of second stage. One more hormone is also working this time and that is norepinphrine. I dont know how to explain it. As soon as you see your lover in crowd you will be feeling some pleasent distractions like sweating your palm etc. Such and such and such feelings are due to this hormones norepinphine. Now all the silly stages are over and Angel and Poppins is in a world of true love. The third stage is called attachment. In this stage majour hormones produced are oxytocin and vasopressin. But what to do our Angel's father is not ready to approve this divine love. Do you remember the words of Angel that " dad, nobody can part us".These words came from the heart and hormone responsible is vasopressin. Vasopressin is the horomone of monogamy( having only one mate). Vasopressin dont allow you to go behind another partner. Now in this valentine's day lets pray for Angel and Poppins. And wish you a happy valentine's day.

Nitrogen,Oxygen and Argon

I should like to direct a film, a chemistry film. In that film all the characters will be elements from periodic table. Most probably oxygen will be the hero and nitrogen will be the heroine. It is this wonderful chemistry behind oxygen and nitrogen sustains life in this earth. Oxygen is a gas responsible for combustion. You know the most abundant element in the atmosphere is nitrogen.78% of atmospheric air is comprised of nitrogen and the oxygen constitute 21%.This oxygen is having a tendency to ignite everything. Nitrogen provides an inert atmosphere and just like a wife reduces the strain of husband, nitrogen controlls oxygen. Really wonderful chemistry. I think god is a chemical engineer. This chemistry of oxygen and nitrogen is made use in many industries also. To avoid the risk of explosion we use nitrogen medium to provide an inert atmosphere. If there were no nitrogen, earth might had become a swirling sphere of fire. 78+21=99. What about the remaining 1% of atmosphere? Ya you are right. The inert gas (oh, sorry we cant refer 18 group element as inert gases now) Argon constitute the remaining 1%. The great chemists Sir William Ramsay and Lord Rayleigh discovered Argon. Discovery of Argon was a turning point in inorganic chemistry. This discovery catalysed the rate of discovering other noble gases. And a new group was introduced to Periodic table.
(note: in smaller ratio atmosphere also contains other particles,gases,water vapour etc)

"WERE THEY ENEMIES?"

Title of the film:" Were they enemies?" SCENE 01 (The great chemist Arrhenius in his labouratry) He is busy with his research on the conduction of electricity through electrolites. His happy mood shows that he is very near to success. Yes friends, story of this great chemist can be easily converted to a film.Arrhenis is a heroe in chemistry. But do you know that he was a villain for Mendeleev(or vice versa?).when doing his research in electrochemistry he was in his very young age.His findings were not accepted initially.Mendeleev was a strong critic of Arrhenius. Words of Mendeleev is very significant because at that time he was a well established scientist.Disapproval of Mendeleev thus became a great barrier for Arrhenius.But by god's sake Ostwald and Van't Hoff accepted and encouraged Arrhenius. Ostwald was very much impressed by the findings of Arrhenius.Just as lord Krishna embraced 'Kuchela', Ostwald embraced the findings of Arrhenius.There starts the story of a great friendship( why not? Just as we commoners have,scientiest is also having good friends ) Lets move onto scene number 2(after interval). Now Arrhenius is not a research student, he is a popular scientist.But in his eyes,you can see the enemity towards Mendeleev. Its time for the introduction of a new character. That is none other than the great 'NOBEL PRIZE'. Arrhenius is now playing very crucial role in determining the Nobel prize winner.Arrhenius continuously pleaded and recommended this prize for his friends Ostwald and Van't Hoff.Moreover he tried his maximum to deny Nobel prize for Mendeleev. As a result Van't Hoff became first nobel prize winner in chemistry. After four or five years Ostwald also got Nobel. Still our Mendeleev,father of periodic table, did'nt get it. Even a child is sure Mendeleeve is highly eligible for this prize.He deserves it. Years passed and Arrhenius was very firm in his decision. In 1907, the great chemist Mendeleev passed away. After death Nobel prize cannot be given. Now friends you say, were they enemies? Actually who had gone wrong? Was it Mendeleev? Or was it Arrhenius? Before giving me an answer dont forget the suppression faced by Arrhenius. Also dont forget about the incredible contributions of Mendeleev to chemistry.. Note: Arrhenius got Nobel prize in 1903

Flash news: syringes found near gym

Are you interested in body building? (i am not) Anyway i have something to tell regarding the topic of body building. Last day i occasionally seen some used syringes near a gym ( gym: paradise of youth) . I was really shocked to hear the secret behind the muscular body, six pack, body building etc. These people (not everyone) use steroid injections to enhance their muscles. For it is a chemistry blog i have a responsibility to explain what this steroids are. Steroids are the large class of organic compounds having four cycloalkanes connected to each other. Of these four cycloalkanes, three are cyclohexane and one cyclopentane. Here body builders use anabolic androgenic steroids(AAS). This AAS is similiar to male sex hormone testosterone. There are so many nick names for this dangerous chemical like gym candy, arnolds etc. These uneducated persons (i dont think educated persons use steroids) use syringes of about 5 cm length and directly inject AAS to their muscles.Steroid is having so many uses too.They are used in the treatment of HIV , Cancer etc.. Body builders and athletes belong to the category of mis users. In case of athletes steroids work in two way 1.Enhance their muscles 2.Induce a feeling of competitiveness and aggressiveness. ( now i think you might have understood why some athletes are punished by anti doping agencies). We already dealt about two class of people(body builders, athletes). Now there is a third category of drug addicts who use this chemical for hallucination. Now what are the side effects of AAS? (1) Psychological problems (2). Cancer (3) Growth problems (4) needle born diseases like HIV. (5)damages liver. There are still more side effects.its heard that most people dont want to work for muscles of leg. They are concentrating only on chest, arms, etc portions,( may be because leg muscles are normally not so possible to exhibit before people). This is a serious problem. Lower part of the body and joints will be unable to stuport the six pack and sixteen pack of upper portion:-D friends now think.. Do you want extra muscles? Those given by god and that can be enhanced by normal exercises are enough,I think. Special note: if you are trying to impress girls by body building. I dont think that it will work.Try some other techniques.

Story of a Beautiful Girl

They were enjoying the fabulous dusk.Really they were made for each other couple. He was well built and handsome too.Sitting with her dearest person she, heroine of this story, felt as if she is in heaven. She is the most beautiful lady that i had ever seen. So dazzling. Ruby lips,dusky eyelids, and rosy cheeks made her the most beautiful woman in the world.In soft but strong romantic voice he said to her "You are as soft as hydrated magnesium silicate".(:-D) "WHAT? She roared in angry. Yes friends, hydrated magnesium silicate is the softest mineral known. Its nothing but 'talc', the common ingredient of talcum powder. In talc , magnesium is found sandwiched between two silicate layers. Put some talcum powder in water. Is it soluble? No. Moreover they resist moisture too.Due to these reasons they are used widely in all cosmetics. Is talc harmful? Ok lets come back to our story. Days passed and in the course of time their (lover's )bond enthalpy increased. In a fine evening she didnt felt so fine. She was so tired and very weak. Her endless journeys to the hospital and eternity started from there onwards. Doctors confirmed that she is a victim of severe cancer. Decline of her majestic life! Her rosy cheeks became pale and dark,they reflected a melancholic mood. Hero of our story was just a 'fair weather friend'. He left her and searched for other beautiful girls. Through the windows of the hospital she watched another fabulous dusk. "What's the reason for my disease?" she engaged in a deep thought. She recollected that funny words " you are as soft as hydrated magnesium silicate" Talc! She got the answer. Talc was the assassinator of her royal life. Asbestos like fibre present in talc is a potent carcinogen. So better avoid talcum powder use.

Shh,... A secret

Chemistry is extremely mysterious and is used for so many mysterious purpose too..Its not only the tool of researchers and teachers. But even the thieves and terrorists use (misuse?) chemistry. An example is black money spam. People cheat the governnment by coating a black substance over the money. And nobody knows what this black substance is.. Cash coated with this black substance looks like a black x ray sheet.. Smugglers and other thieves can thus transport it without the detection of customs.. Its heard that, the black substance used for coating is iodine and a special type of glue..Now they remove this black coating using a secret and expensive ( mysterious too) solution called SSD automatic solution. Its very secret solution, and commoners cant even know the expansion of S.S.D. Really mysterious is'nt it?

Harriet Brooks, We Love You...

We cannot see moon during day time..Due to the glory of the shining sun we even forget the presence of moon..The most elegent woman in the history of physical science is , of course, Marie curie.. But I think, due to the glory of this shining personality we sometimes forget about other talented women.Harriet Brooks is one among them.Rutherford , father of nuclear physics, regarded Harriet Brooks as the most outstanding woman in radioactivity after Marie Curie. Getting such a comment from Rutherford is really great...But What a Pity!! Scientific world did'nt appreciated her properly. Contribution of Brooks to the nuclear science includes the discovery of radon. Brooks was the first person who identified the transmutation of one radioactive element to other. Brooks is the discoverer atomic recoil. Atomic recoil, transmutation etc are the fundamental concepts in nuclear science. Still Brooks belong to the category of those unfortunate but talented people who did'nt get nobel prize..She deserves it.. She suffered a lot during her education and reserch period. She educated at a time where women is not expected to enter the universities. After getting graduation in mathematics and natural philosophy, she begun her research in nuclear science. She was forced to leave the field after her marriage. As i mentioned, there existed a patriarchal society and it was mandatory for women to resign from universities after marriage. There ends the bright era of Brooks. While comparing Brooks with Marie Curie, you want to bear in mind that Brooks stopped her research projects in a very young age..Dear Brooks, you are a great inspiration for all downtrodden women in the world. We love u ... In our heart and in our soul the place of Brooks is not behind Curie..

Milky chemistry ,part 2

Start reading this only after part 1( i think thats the right procedure) How can you ascertain the quality of milk? Shall i share an idea..? Ok , check the pH of the milk. pH of good milk( cow milk) lies in between 6.5 and 6.7 . Milk is little acidic. Fresh milk is least acidic or somewhat neutral. When fermantation take place, that is due to the bacterial activity milk become more and more acid. That is milk having pH below 6.5 is having enormous number of bacteria. So its better to drink alkaline milk, is'nt it..? No, dont try milk having pH greater than 7. People nowadays force the cow to yield more milk by injecting some hormones. These cows are more susceptible to udder infection and other disease which attribute the alkaline nature of milk..so never use milk having pH greater than 7.So carry a pH meter with you always if you are willing to drink fresh and pure milk.The acid present in pure milk is lactic acid.( do you know that lactic acid in humanbody attracts mosquitos and will help them to focus their target even from a large distance.) Have you ever seen the label 'pasteurised toned milk,homogenised'. What do all these terms signifies? I already told about toned milk in part 1. What is pasteurised milk.? Pasteurisation refers to the process of heating the milk(any substance) for a definite time and then cooling immediatly. It is of many times.HTST(High temperature short time milk) is heated to 71.7 degree celsius within 15 to 20 seconds. In UHT(Ultra Heat Treatment), milk is heated to 135 degree celsius within one second. Pasteurisation increases the shelf life by decreasing the microbes.Homogenised milk feels creamier in mouth. Milk is an emulsion. Fat and liquid molecules are enemies. They dont like to meet. This is the reason for formation of a yellow layer or skim over the milk.Homogenisation tries to have a compromise in between fat and liquid( oil and water) by reducing the size of fat and then disperced. So whenever you buy milk packet check its pH and also ensure whether it is Pasteurised and Homogenised.. Continue reading part 3

Milky chemistry, part 1

"The most sincere form of love is love for food," not my opinion,It's Bernard Shaw's opinion. Who would'nt like food? Now shall we discuss some food chemistry? I think its better to start discussion with milk (the first food of any mammal). Milk and honey are the only articles of diet whose sole function in nature is food. Milk is an apt example for oil in water emulsion. 87% of milk is water. he he he, in addition to this people add some more water to cheat us.:-D.. Have you ever seen a label 'toned milk' in milk packets? Anybody? Next time you just note it.. Actually this toned milk means a mixture of pure raw milk, water and milk powder..If commoners add water to milk, its cheating. But if a multinational company do this ,its called toned milk..This is what called as socialism. Shall we start our milky chemistry with a magic? Magic is a close friend of chemistry. Chemistry in its childhood was known under the name alchemy.Early days of alchemy was nothing but magic. Before starting the magic show i should like to say my reference is http://chemistry.about.com Ya lets start the show. Take a glass of milk. Everybody , please be fast. Got it? Ok, then we want some food colours..If its not there in your house, go and get it from a bakery or coolbar. Put a very little quantity of that colour in milk. You can see the colour is neither spreding nor dispercing. Now let see what happens if some detergent powder is added to .It will be a feast and treat for your eyes.I am sure you will be shocked to see the magic created by an invisible painter. Colour will start spreading and will start dancing.. What is the chemistry behind this? Detergent break down the proteins and also will reduce the surface tension.Reaction with detergent and protein creates all this magic.This experiment is a proof for rich protein content in milk.( dont forget to do the experiment, its really amazing). (read part 2)

Sir Venkataraman Ramakrishnan

What is the most difficult task in the world? If somebody ask this question to me ,my answer will be probably "reading newspaper". Searching for a good and useful news from eighty percentage of politics , crime news is really a tedious task.But today fortunately that smiling face of Venkatarama Ramakrishnan grabbed my attention easily.He is honoured with knighthood. He was the newsmaker of 2009(Born in India, Nobelled Abroad). 2009 Nobel prize for chemistry was jointly awarded to Steitz,Yonath and our Venki ( He is often known by the name Venki). I dont know how to refer Venki.. Was he a physicist? Was he a biologist? Was he a chemist? No, No , No.. He is a "scientist"..There lies the significance of the words science and scientist.. His works argued that there is no need of boundaries between scientific disciplines..Never Never Never say that you are a physics student or a chemistry student.Just feel proud to say "I AM A SCIENCE STUDENT". If you search V.Ramakrishnan in google you can get all the information regarding Venki.When he was born? Where he was born? How was his education? etc etc.. So search it. My attempt is to provide a synopsis about Venki.Rest is your job.What was Venki's attitude towards life? What was his motto? What was his opinion about certain issues? Such and such questions are not so easily acessible through google.. So lets concentrate on such topics( i think you might have understood this policy through my posts about Lipscomb,Shechtman, etc). Ya Venki was educated in India.After his primary education he was in a dilemma of what to study in higher level. Venki was very much interested in English literature.. In one of his interviews(see nobelprize.org) he criticised the cultaral climate in India..He said that studying humanities subjects in India is very risky according to the parents. He also critisised giving second priority to basic science after engineering and medicine.(remember he said it years before, the present condition is really terrific). Now listen what i am going to say next. You will be shocked to hear this. V.Ramakrishnan wrote IIT entrance exam and couldnt get admission.. What does it imply? Was Venki's position below that of IIT standerd.. Then how did he get nobel prize.? Why did'nt "our" IIT students getting nobel prize.You ought to answer these questions. Recently one eminent scientist visited one of the IIT's in India and complained about students standerd..(you need not to give priority to my opinion, but what i think is it's not Alan Turing but the entrance coaching centre is the father of artificial intelligence).. I didnt provide some factual information about Venki, i hate giving such and such information as in history classes. But what i want to stress is lets agree with Sir. Venkataraman Ramakrishnan and shall concentrate on building a broad culture of respect for basic science and knowledge.