Stop Faking IT: Chemistry Basics

In NSTA’s seventh Behind the Books podcast, listen in as Stop Faking It: Chemistry Basics author Bill Robertson shares his approach to learning chemistry, with a hands-on approach that uses chemicals you can find under your kitchen sink, assuming it's equipped with more than a stack of dirty sponges. The emphasis is on why things happen in a certain way, not on memorizing chemistry principles. You will learn not just how to balance chemical equations but why in the world you would want to! To listen, visit Behind the Books.

Archaeology - artifacts found from wall of Jerusalem

A team of archaeologists in Jerusalem has uncovered what they believe to be part of a wall mentioned in the Bible's Book of Nehemiah.

Read about it here.

Does the atom really exist?

It never fails, every year when I teach atomic structure and the theory of the atom, I get this question from several students.

This year a paper was put together by the head of our school system's science department, which I think is very good at addressing this question.

You can read it here.

Great quote

I saw a great quote in a church bulletin this past weekend that I wanted to share:


"That God normally operates the universe consistently makes science possible; that He occasionally goes past science and the laws of nature to work miracles ought to keep scientists humble"

-- D.A. Carson

What do these numbers have in common?

What do these digital numbers have in common:

111, 202, 222, 252, 505, 525, 555, 609, 629, 659, 808, 828, 858, 906, 926, 956?

Time ceases to exist at the speed of light

I've long been intrigued by the fact that we live in a 'time' bounded realm and that eternity (heaven or hell) is 'timeless'. What then occurs when we die? We are transported from a 'time' oriented existence to a timeless existence? maybe, maybe not.

Anyway thinking back to my college days in studying quantum physics, I remembered that quantum physicists study the nature of light. So then wouldn't time cease to exist if people could be transported at the speed of light?

At least in theory, this idea is reasonable. If a carousel were spinning so that the outer edge of the carousel moved at nearly the speed of light, then time would appear to slow down for people on the carousel. When the carousel riders looked out at the world spinning by, the days would pass very quickly. So the people on the carousel would age very slowly relative to people not on the carousel. This would create, essentially, a time machine that lets the passengers on the carousel travel into the future.

To create a time machine like this, you would really have to do it with a spacecraft moving in a straight line through space. The main problem then becomes accelerating the spacecraft. Let's say that you want to accelerate to a speed approaching that of the speed of light, and you are willing to subject the passengers to 2 Gs of force (twice the force of gravity -- people weighing 150 pounds would feel like they weigh 300 pounds) during the acceleration process. The passengers would have to endure that force for about half a year! Never mind the amount of fuel it would take to provide that acceleration...

In other words, no one is going to be traveling near the speed of light anytime soon. So back to earth and living in time.

Zero Gravity or Micro Gravity

In a lesson this past week, I planted a 'seed' in my students mind by exploring their understanding of gravity. Of course, they are very bright and all know what gravity is experientially. I also asked them, based on their understanding of gravity (not what it really is) if there is such as thing as zero gravity. The answer was a resounding yes.

So now then why does some gravity exist on the moon, I ask. I then went on to introduce a new term related to gravity and have them think of environments of micro gravity.

I'll finish this lesson later in the curriculum, but for now their wheels are turning....