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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!!