Pique the Geek 20111127: Chemical Bonds and Electronegativity
The way that atoms bond together to form molecules has been a question asked since scientists came to the consensus that atoms do indeed exist. Work progressed rapidly after the turn of the 20th...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20111211: Would I Lye To You?
Sodium hydroxide, aka lye, is one of the most important basic chemicals used in industry, and until not too long ago, for several home uses. It can still be found in a few consumer products, but...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20111218: The Science of NCIS
The popular TeeVee show NCIS purports to use science to solve most of the difficult bits of its cases, almost always murders. Since this is about a TeeVee show, I was torn betwixt posting this piece...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20111225: Pagan Christmas Traditions
Christendom, like other religions before it, assimilated former religions to forge its own traditions. This is very much the rule rather than the exception when a new religion begins to dominate an...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120101: Aluminum
Aluminum (or aluminium to our UK friends) is one of the most useful metals that are commonly available. Unlike other metals such as iron, copper, and the like, aluminum has been used in large...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120108: Aluminum Part II of II
Last week we discussed the production and uses of aluminum, and that piece got a lot of comment traffic and made the Kos Recommended List, which I value greatly. Some of the comments asked questions...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120115: Trichomoniasis, a Very Common STD
Trichomoniasis is probably the most commonly spread sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the US at present, yet hardly anyone has heard of it. The main reason is that there are many "silent" cases,...
View ArticleA Rare Plea for a Repost 20120116
Folks, you know that I never beg to be heard, but this time I do beg for it. I posted what is likely to be the most important public health piece that I have written here last night, and it was widely...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120122: Chlamydia, a Serious STI
Last time we talked about trichonomiasis, a sexually transmitted infection (STI) that often produces no symptoms. Chlamydia is another STI that often causes no symptoms, at least initially. We shall...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120129. The Things that We Eat. Milk
Of all foodstuffs, milk is unique in that it provides all of the nutritional needs for infant mammals. In addition to nutrition, it also supplies essential antibodies the first few days to newborns....
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120205: Carbon NMR Spectrometry
NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) spectrometry is one of the big guns in organic chemistry and biochemistry for determining how atoms are strung together in molecules. There are many different kinds,...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120212: The Things that we Eat. More on Milk
Two weeks ago we began a short series on milk, in particular cow's milk, used as a food by humans. We mentioned that humans are the only species to drink any kind of milk after infancy (unless we feed...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120218. The Things That we Eat. Cheese
This is the third part of a four part series about milk. The first and second parts are here and here. The final installment will be about human milk with emphasis on its importance to the...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120226: The Things that we Eat. Breast Milk
This is the forth and final installment on my short piece about milk. This time, instead to focusing on human consumption of milk from other species, in particular from cattle, to the importance of...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120304: Norovirus, a Nasty Bugger
I was actually going to address another topic this evening, but after late Friday and all of yesterday (and part of today, too) this topic is on my mind. First we shall review my symptoms then get to...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120311: More on Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking)
Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is back in the news since the Ohio Department of Natural Resources indicated that it was likely that disposal of those fluids after the actual fracturing operation was...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120318: Ovarian Cysts
Ovarian cysts are an extremely common condition in women of childbearing age, and not uncommon in women past menopause. In fact, most women of childbearing age have ovarian cysts that produce no...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120325. Wrist Drop
I apologize for not keeping up with my normal posts, but I have developed a rather serious neurological disorder, the common name being wrist drop. It has to do with damage to the nerve that serves to...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120401: The Things that we Eat. Pink Slime
Pink slime is a slang term, and not a terribly inapt one for what is technically known as lean finely textured beef or boneless lean beef trimmings. Although I used the term pink slime in the title to...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120408: More on Meat
Last time we discussed lean finely textured beef, commonly referred to as pink slime. Tonight we shall finish this short series by discussing two other forms of recovered meat.Mechanically separated...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120415: Beryllium, a Very Unusual Element
Beryllium, atomic number (Z) 4, is the second metallic element in the periodic table. By looking at the periodic table, one would think that it would be very similar to magnesium and calcium, but one...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120422: The Isotope Effect
The germ of this piece came from an undertaking that I am considering. That undertaking is to write a post for every chemical element. The recent successes of my more technical pieces have made me...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120429: Technetium, An odd Element
Last week a commenter suggested this topic, and I am always happy to get reader feedback and try to honor requests. Technetium is one of only two elements with an atomic number (Z) less than 82 (Z =...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120506: Promethium, another odd Element
Last time we discussed technetium, and now we shall discuss the only other element with Z < 82 with no stable isotope, promethium (Z = 61). But there is more business than just that, and it has to...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120513: Melatonin, not just a Sleep Aid
Before we get started, please allow me to wish all of the mums, grandmums, greatgrandmums, greatgreatgrandmums, and, often neglected, adoptive and foster mums out there a very HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! I...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120520: Tanning Pros and Cons
Tanning, either by the sun or by artificial means, is hugely popular in the United States and elsewhere. The word itself is interesting, deriving from the Old English tannian which in turn is derived...
View ArticleUpdated: Pique the Geek 20120527: Anaphylaxis
Anaphylaxis, also called anaphylactic shock, is a potentially life threatening condition. I write about it tonight because yesterday afternoon my friend's mum called me to come next door to see what...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120603 Updated: Fireflies (with Poll)
'Tis the time of the season here in the Bluegrass for fireflies (or, as we used to call them at home in Arkansas, lightening bugs). Fireflies are an amazingly large group of insects, and are found on...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120610: More on Fireflies
Last time we had a rather technical discussion about the biology and chemical mechanics of fireflies. I appreciate all of the comments, and some of them indicated that I should expound a bit.Most of...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120617: Helium, Indispensable and Finite
Helium is one of the elements that most people see (well, not see since it is a colorless gas) in everyday life. We are familiar with it because it used to fill toy balloons so that they rise in air....
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120624: Lithium, Primal and Essential
Lithium, the element with the atomic number (Z) of three, is as old as the universe. It, along with hydrogen and helium, were formed at the time of the Big Bang, making it primal indeed, although much...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120701: Fireworks Safety
This time of year I generally write about fireworks since they are integral to the celebration of Independence Day. I have written some rather technical pieces in the past, so this time I thought that...
View ArticlePique the Geek (Elements) 20120708: Boron - Widely Used and Uncommon
If you follow this series closely, you will remember that the last element that we covered was lithium, and so the next one should be beryllium. However, I wrote about beryllium recently and so you...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120715: Carbon, the Stuff of Life Part I
There are only a handful of elements that are absolutely essential to all known lifeforms, and carbon is easily the most important. Certainly hydrogen and oxygen in the form of water and other...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120722: More on Carbon
Last time we started our series on carbon, and I now expect it to run for four installments. Amongst many other properties, carbon is unique in having more allotropic forms than any other element....
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120729: Carbon Copy
Last time we started talking about the allotropes of carbon, finished graphite and began with diamond. Tonight we shall continue the diamond saga and maybe move to a third common allotrope.Last week I...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120805: Yet More Carbon
Last time we finished our discussion of diamond, and now we move to what is pretty incorrectly called amorphous carbon. Truly amorphous materials. like glass, have no true crystal structure (although...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120819: Nitrogen, without Life?
I took a week off from blogging last week for a number of reasons. One was that I was having trouble getting my mind around topics. Another was being in sort of a strange set of moods that have made...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120826: Nitrogen, Extremely Versatile
Last time we talked about the unusual properties of elemental nitrogen mostly and how stable it is. We only touched on a little of the fascinating and extremely complex chemistry of nitrogen, ONCE we...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120902: Why we do not burst into flame -- Oxygen
Oxygen is one of the most fascinating elements for many reasons. Before we get to it, I first want to point out that the column of the periodic table that starts with nitrogen are called pnictogens,...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120909: Oxygen Wrapup
Last time we discussed oxygen as an element, including why we do not burst into flame in our 21% oxygen atmosphere. Quantum mechanics can really be interesting.This time we shall discuss some of the...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120916: Fluorine, Something You Have Never Seen
Element 9, fluorine, is the first of the halogens, from the Greek halos, "salt", and gonos, "to bring forth". All of the members of this family tend to form salts with metals, but fluorine is unique...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120923: Neon, as Inert as Elements Come
Last time we talked about fluorine, the very most reactive chemical element. Now we add a single proton to the fluorine nucleus and come to Element 10, the LEAST reactive chemical element. What a...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20120930: Sodium -- You Can Not Get Away from It
Sodium, element number 11, is one of the most common elements in the crust of the earth. Except for school laboratory demonstrations, few people have ever seen elemental (metallic) sodium because it...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20101007: More about Sodium
Last time we started our discussion about sodium, and tonight we shall continue it. We have pretty much covered the quantum mechanical part and the properties and uses of elemental sodium, so tonight...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20121021: Reflections on the Genus Carya
Today was a splendid day in the Bluegrass. The temperature was in the low 70s, only a very light breeze, and not a cloud in the sky. Ashley had gone to birthday party for a relative, but when she got...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20121111: Drying Oils
I was painting a wooden basket yesterday with boilt linseed oil and thus came the inspiration for tonight's topic. Drying oils are very important in the coatings industry, not as much as in the past...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20121118: Scotch Whisky
Scotch whisky is quite different than most other distilled grain spirits. First of all, it has its own spelling. Except for Scotch, the spelling is "whiskey". In the case of Scotch, it is "whisky"....
View ArticlePique the Geek 20121202: Emulsification
Before we begin tonight, please join me in paying my respects to my mum, who would have been 91 years old today. The season beginning with Thanksgiving and lasting through New Year's Day was her...
View ArticlePique the Geek 20130106: Magnesium -- Common and Essential
Magnesium, with a Z = 12, is an extremely common element in the crust of the earth, but it is never found in nature in the elemental state. It is the second member, after beryllium, in the alkaline...
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