Thorium

Another picture post...Heidi and I went for a walk in the woods with Brodie today, but it ended up being a hike to a nice little summit after an impromptu decision to take the "Summit Trail." It was such an interesting view of Lake Placid...not like most other peaks around town. Check it out!

Looking down at Lake Placid - we were able to find the road we live on (weird).

Brodie is not one to stay still long enough for pictures, especially when there are piles of snow to sniff.

Summit view.

A "different" view of the ski jumps.

Fun Fact: During World War II, the Allied forces got extremely worried that the Germans were farther along building an atomic bomb after they confiscated a huge stockpile of thorium from Paris. Instead of a bomb, the Germans were planning on using it for toothpaste.

Actinium

Winter is a unique beast in the Adirondacks - you've heard me complain about no snow, herald new snow, and now that snow has turned to ice. Mother Nature clearly has yet to decide on her outlook for winter this year. Nevertheless, today was bright and sunny (let's not forget the below zero windchill!) so I decided to get a few pictures. They are certainly not my best (read: my fingers were freezing), but here they are!

I was so surprised to find all these ducks just chilling (literally and figuratively)! Crazy, right?

Whiteface from Lake Placid.

A view of the ski jumps - isn't the snow pathetic?

I had taken a picture here in August as the sun was setting. The view? Still good in winter :)

High Peaks from Adirondack Loj Road.

Surprise! I love finding finely crafted snowmen. This guy is a beauty!

Fun Fact: Actinium is extremely rare so it has few industrial uses, but it has been used as a source for radiation in treating cancer.

Radium

Thank you all so much for checking out my post from yesterday! It was certainly a fun one to write and it's hard to come up with another post so soon that even comes close...

I was pondering doing a Christmas wishlist of science things, but obviously that never got done. So in an attempt to make a list that only slightly resembles a belated Christmas list, here are some sweet reads for the holiday break!

The Poisoner's Handbook. A friend of mine recommended this one to me and one of today's fun facts actually comes from the book. During the Jazz Age in New York, a medical examiner explores the world of toxicology and poisoning, which at the time was the perfect crime.

Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America. I would be lying if I said I haven't drooled about getting the chance to read this book. This book has a similar feeling to yesterday's post. Here's a tidbit from it:

Will the media save us?  Don't count on it.  In early 2008, of the 2,975 questions asked the candidates for president just six mentioned the words "global warming" or "climate change," the greatest policy challenge facing America.  To put that in perspective, three questions mentioned UFOs.

A Short History of Nearly Everything. Let's be honest, Bill Bryson is the man. I'm pretty sure when this book came out in 2004, science had a short stint as a popular subject.


Fun Fact: Radium was once believed to have health benefits, so people included this radioactive element in medicines, facial creams, and health drinks. Turns out radium is not so healthy, as it stores itself in bone and wreaks havoc in the body.

Geneva's Fun Fact (!!): A friend of mine sent me this one the other day after reading The Poisoner's Handbook. People who suffer from radium poisoning exhale radon gas!

Francium

I've talked about writing this post for awhile, so I'm happy to finally get some time to sit down and type! I saw this article back in November while perusing the NY Times and have read it what seems like a billion times since. The article delves into President Obama's recent announcement that he would like to see higher education produce 10,000 more engineers and 100,000 new STEM (science-technology-engineering-math) teachers in the very near future. It's certainly a great proposal, but here are some speed bumps:

College attrition rates. For students who are interested in the sciences, approximately 40% switch their major. Toss in pre-med students and that 40% dropout rate rises to 60%. Some of this can certainly be attributed to a lack of preparation in high school, but much of it comes from the stress of pursuing a science degree, especially at schools where science majors see their social science and humanities friends' grades inflated. Math and science majors are known for having the lowest grade point averages and it's not because we're stupid/lazy - it's because most science and math questions have a clear-cut answer. Blowing up a lab is not an art form - it's a problematic error.

With science comes math. It seems like a very simple statement, doesn't it? And to most science majors, it's pretty obvious. But what is scary is that people still don't seem to understand science and math's inherent coupling. Without Newton and calculus, there would be no physics. Without physics, no chemistry. Without chemistry, no biology. The cycle continues, but the most important part is that science boils down to being applied mathematics. People like numbers (for the most part), so when seemingly  interesting phenomenon arise, we seek to answer those questions with numbers. And with those numbers, explanations are needed, thus the quantitative and qualitative nature of science.

(NY Times multimedia image)

To paint a picture of why this article has been so alluring to me for some time, look at the graphic above. If we are in the "technology era" how is it that only 2.4% of bachelor's degrees are computer science related? And why has this number been declining since the early 2000s?

I recently asked my students if they knew how much science affected them and they scoffed at me...it took me a lot of mental persuading to not start on a diatribe about how their smart phones and iPods and computers are all related to science. We chalk these things up to "advances in technology" but what that really means is scientific experimentation and discovery (sorry if that comes as a surprise). The next time a pair of ear buds for your iPod breaks, take some time to cut those puppies apart - there is a reason why copper is the wire of choice for transmitting sound from the iPod to your ears, but could you explain why that is? (Guess what - some of my students can.)


Fun Fact: If a solid block of francium could be produced (nearly impossible if you were wondering), it would evaporate itself in a violent radioactive reaction.

Radon

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday!

I got spoiled by the snow pixies the day after complaining about no snow with a small but solid amount of snow that is skiable (explains my blogging absence despite being on break I hope!). Needless to say, my fish scales and the golf course have spent some quality time together!

Not too much else from the home front - my days consist of sleeping in front of the fireplace and/or skiing. Enjoy today's video - it combines my love of skiing (though it's the wrong discipline) and Christmas!

I'll get back to science/education blogging soon and if the weather continues to be gorgeous, expect some winter pics!

Fun Fact: Grand Central Station, made of granite, is famous for being radioactive! Granite contains both uranium and thorium (radioactive elements) which decay to produce radioactive radon, adding to Grand Central's radioactive qualities.

Astatine

If there was any bumper sticker that defined me (besides one spelling my name with periodic table elements - impossible if you were wondering) it would say "I'd rather be nordic skiing." (I add nordic because we all know that people think of the worst type of skiing ;) ) While most people relish the warm sunny days in December that bring 40 degree weather and gives high school boys a reason to wear shorts in the winter, the warmth (and rain) that leaves brown lawns and an iced over driveway makes me cringe.

And cringing certainly happened yesterday, as any and all snow on the ground melted. Normally I would not be too downtrodden by this, but after traveling across borders with a ski bag (quite the story if anyone is wondering), I was really hoping to hit some pow pow if not even some glazed tracks. As it stands, the only thing I'm asking Santa Claus for Christmas is some snow...just enough to even ski at a golf course...but please, the white stuff????

An homage to Peggy is built every year. Sadly, I think Peggy might have to go without :(

Fun Fact: At any given time, there are only about 28 grams of astatine on Earth.

P.S. In case you haven't figured it out, the purple words are links. And in skiing fashion, today's are slightly hilarious.

Polonium

I officially survived another semester at grad school...papers are handed in and I'm cuddled up with my favorite dog in front of the fireplace. It feels so nice to be home :)

I also have been so excited for this element (yes...I am a dork). The first of two elements discovered by Marie Curie, I thought I would share her story about her rise to success. Curie was fortunate to have a supportive husband who aided her with her research and fought for her to teach at the Sorbonne. While these videos are slightly hilarious with the phony French accents, it is still a great story.

Look for more posts in the coming weeks, now that I have some time to actually write things that aren't papers :) I have a lot to catch up on with some great posts about science and hopefully some winter pictures, so I'm excited!!

Fun Fact: Polonium's most common isotope, polonium-210, is so radioactive that a single gram of it in air produces 140 watts of power continuously.

Combined Fun Fact: If a coin was made of polonium and radium, the elements discovered by Marie Curie, it would kill everyone in the same room.

Bismuth

Awhile back, a friend of mine from college posted about how teaching stifles a stylish wardrobe in a means to remain modest. Thinking about most of my teachers from high school, this really fit the mark. The teacher "uniform" for men was always dress pants or khakis with a button down or polo (with the occasional tie thrown in). For women teachers, there was a bit more variety, but it dribbled down to longer skirts or pants, sweaters, and button-downs.

From posts about my tights, you are safe to assume that I am not one to perpetuate the stereotype that teachers' wardrobes must blend in with the chalkboard. While my outfits are certainly not provocative, I always try to include a little bit of stylish flair. My personal favorites are ankle boots with dresses and skirts, layering patterns/textures, and well you guessed it...the infamous tights.

So when I set out to write this post, I wanted to find some style savvy student teachers that are at the School of Education at U of M with me. During my photo shoot of friends from class, it was brought to my attention that teachers are known for having the largest collections of cardigans. It was also at that point that I noticed that each person I was shooting was wearing a sweater.

Anyway enjoy this twist on my teacher wardrobe post because apparently I have yet to debunk the frump that is the "teacher sweater."

Take 1: The classic v-neck with the current stripe trend.

Take 2: Adding some flair with jewelry.

Take 3: Button-up + cardigan.

Thanks to my lovely models for not being afraid to rock the "teacher sweater."

Fun Fact: When artificial bismuth is crystallized, it forms a rainbow colored step pattern. Cool, right?

 

Lead

I'll admit, November was a terrible month for blogging. Whoops. I can't promise things will get too much better in these next few weeks as I am finishing up the semester at U of M and at the middle and high schools.

There is certainly much to tell so I'll try and extend it over a few posts so I don't look like a complete slacker. Look for posts about "Midnight Madness," my delayed teacher wardrobe post, and my super delayed science majors in college post. There is also some exciting news about the periodic table, so look for that as well!

In the mean time, warm and fuzzy news from the school front. Because my middle school mentor teacher is on medical leave, I get the chance to go back to the high school next week and rock some teaching. I made a surprise visit yesterday and I am pretty sure I am still on Cloud 9 from getting to see my kids again.

When I first walked in, I tried to be unassuming, as to cause the least amount of distraction but of course I got stopped at the metal detector where the security guards asked me all about being at the middle school. I got laughed at for trying to get a visitor's pass as the secretary looked at me and goes, "We've missed you." Word of the wise - make friends with these people because they will tell you ALL about what goes on and will always help you out :)

On walking in to the 9th grade wing, my heart started to pump and my fingers were quaking - it was so weird, but I think I was just so excited to see some of my kids. I walked past the English class where I got a little wave, a bigger wave, and then a giant wave from one of my students. I chuckled when kids were asking what this student was doing and he said "I saw Ms. Labbate!" The best part was one of the kids saying back to him "You couldn't have - she's not here anymore." Yup, that's me, a mirage. Two more classrooms and smaller waves and twinkling eyes from kids not paying attention.

When I hit the science door I stayed outside because there were 15 minutes left of class and I didn't want to interrupt my mentor teacher if she was in the middle of a lesson. Have it my luck that no less than 2 minutes standing outside the door, but one of the students pops out and squeals in delight. She tries to drag me into the classroom, but I explain that I'm not going to go in as Ms. Stine-King was teaching. Her reply? "It's not that important, pleaaaaaaaaaaase come in." She eventually goes back in and Ms. Stine-King walks out 2 seconds later, smiles, and says "Let's see what happens when you come in."

CHAOS. Studious faces to looks like Christmas came 23 days early. Screams of delight. "Ms. Labbate's BACK!!" Hugs. "Ms. Labbate, now that you're here, come help me." (still in my coat and carrying my backpack at that point...never really got to put my stuff down) "Ms. Labbate, I failed my quiz because you left." (yeah...okay)

After the class ended, the "Ms. Labbate's back!" rumor mill was flying down the hall and kids were traveling by the science room to see if it was true. More hugs. More smiles. More love. Man it feels good to be back at the high school.


Fun Fact: Lead's symbol on the periodic table is Pb, which comes from its Latin name plum bum. Because lead was originally used for water pipes, the name plumber is also derived from plum bum.

Tryptophan

It would only be expected that I blog about tryptophan on Thanksgiving, given the myth that the turkey gets blamed for making everyone tired (hint: lay off the potatoes and you'll be bright eyed and bushy tailed).

Tryptophan is not an element, but an amino acid, another type of building block. In this case amino acids are the periodic table of proteins. Luckily there are only about 20 and change, depending on if you are considering human or bacteria amino acids.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! I am so thankful to everyone who reads this blog - it's been fun to post and to learn more about the elements than when I started this blog.

There are certainly many things I am thankful for, but that list might get too exhaustive. I'm enjoying my break in Ohio (the worst state according to crazy Michigan football fans) but I am certainly missing being home in the 'dacks where there is a blanket of beautiful white snow.


Fun Fact: Chicken has more tryptophan than turkey.

Thallium

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is next week with the weather fluctuating between dreary cold grey and bright warm sunny days. Snow is in the forecast for Michigan (!!!) and while I wish I could get my first Michigan snow day, my New York self tells me I'm going to have to wait awhile longer. In honor of the crazy weather patterns, here are some crazies of my own:

Dreary cold grey: I just paid $3000 to fix a cracked cylinder head in my car (yes, the new car that I've had since August - I know what you're thinking)
On the bright side: The mechanics cleaned my car (wash AND wax), charged me only $6 for an oil change (the least they could do), and aligned my tires...FOR FREE.

Dreary cold grey: My middle school mentor teacher ruptured her achilles tendon playing basketball over the weekend. Because she had to have surgery to repair it, she is out until after Thanksgiving.
On the bright side: Another middle school teacher took us under his wing for the week. He has the most charismatic turtle I have ever met and I'm pretty sure I wasted a half hour staring at the tank. Substitute mentor for the week is an awesome teacher - I have never been so jealous of a teacher voice before.

Dreary cold grey: I realized today that I had not turned in a paper for a tuition grant due in August (whoops).
On the bright side: Telling the financial aid woman that you completely forgot is a good enough excuse to turn in said grant in November. She even processed it same day!

Some more on the bright sides - I've gotten some cool ideas recently for my blog (but I would totally love some more if you have any ideas!). After reading a college friend's teaching blog, I am trying to put together a cool wardrobe post (let's be honest - I talk about tights too much sometimes). And my usual NY Times staple did a recent series about being a science major in college. Did you know that 40% of intended science majors never follow through? Look for those posts in the coming weeks!


Fun Morbid Fact: Thallium poisoning was prevalent during the Cold War era, as its symptoms are common for most general ailments - fever, cramps, and stomachache. Because the effects are long-term leaders would used it on their enemies so that they would not be implicated in their death. If you watch House or read Agatha Christie novels, both have featured thallium poisoning!

Mercury

Ah the poisons of mercury...how they can be likened to the endless papers that have poisoned my blog writing. I apologize for the absence, it's amazing what back-to-back-to-back assignments do to the mind. To show you that I am still alive, here's the next best thing to an actual beating heart - a mercury beating heart!

Since my last post I have transitioned to a classroom of sixth graders, which in two short days provided me enough material to make a comedic act. The only (well not really only) bad thing? Those kids are too darn respectful of adults to make crass jokes about my stockings. Because of this I ordered maroon tights. Take that teaching world.

To give you an idea about my life in middle school, here are some tasty tidbits:

1. On walking into the school, one student asks his friend loudly "New kid?" The kid next to him goes "Idiot...new teacher." What a relief...I guess I'm an adult now.

2. My students tried to guess my age. According to their poll, I am somewhere between 18 and 48.

3. Puberty is a real interesting character. Girls are taller than guys, some kids come up to my hip when I'm wearing Danskos, but the best one is trying to figure out who the girly voice singing in the class is coming from.

4. In sixth grade, having a girlfriend means that you can wink at or possibly touch a girl in the hallway. She also gives you her school picture. Anything else? Well that's just too serious.

5. Having a student's older sibling in your old placement makes you instantly cool. As a test of your coolness, you have to be able to spell their name (because that's TOTALLY what your older brother told me about you and it's not like I could get that off an attendance sheet kid).

6. Kids talk. This is no surprise. While my students in ninth grade told me some RANDOM things, sixth graders take random to a whole new level. One kid will not stop talking about food...today's five minute rant was on turkey clubs. Mind you this kid is shorter than short and is lucky to have any ounce of fat on his body (I promise you he is well-fed). Another one of my students tells me about science fiction movies, as if I watch them all the time (I don't). And others just inform me about people they wish would go up in nuclear mushroom clouds (that was talked about with my mentor teacher :/).

7. Animals. We have a palm-sized toad, a lizard, and a family of millipedes living in the class (in cages). Note: I will never touch those things...gross. This also ended up in my placement partner and I taking a baby mouse who was supposed to be toad food back to Ann Arbor with us because the toad is apparently a picky eater. Baby mouse? Well he's in the freezer happily sleeping for the rest of time.


Fun Fact: Liquid mercury is so dense that lead will float on it.

Gold

I probably should have made this one of the first posts, but with such a precious metal today, there seemed like no better time to tell the story behind CHEM GIRLS FOREVER. The Chem Girls came about the summer between my junior and senior year of college when the professor I was doing research with took on 7 girls with 7 different research projects for the summer. Three of us bonded over the frustration of never being able to talk to said professor and realized that our nerdy quirks for the periodic table were uncanny.

Enter in Katherine's besty Ben, who lived with us that summer. Ben became a regular hanging out with Taylor, Katherine, and I, and credit is due to him for dubbing us the Chem Girls. Ben was soon included as a Chem Girl (despite his science background being poli-sci :) ). So there you have it - Chem Girls. And with any group of friends, especially those with super nerdiness that most people don't understand, it lasts forever <3

Chem Girls (minus 1) and the surprise coordination of our outfits.

The last Chem Girl :)

Chem Girls graduating (look at those honor cords)!

Fun Fact: All the gold ever mined during the human race could fit into a cube that measures 60 feet across on each edge. 

Platinum

So in my delay of this blog post, I was somehow disillusioned into believing that I hadn't blogged about the automotive industry and catalytic converters...boo palladium.

Instead, I found this gem of an article the other day about the rising value of a science degree (which is nice to hear considering that I am slowly going mad with this Master's program). Here are some tasty tidbits:

1. STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics) fields are the second fasted growing occupational group in the U.S. behind health care (cough...also science related...cough)
2. Contrary to popular belief, computer engineering and lab research account for only 5% of STEM occupations. Others include manufacturing, transportation, mining, and sales and management.
3. STEM has been referred to as "common currency in the labor market" as companies have started focusing on technology.
4. Of those graduating with STEM degrees, only 10% go into related fields such as engineering, physical science, or architecture (I admit - I am totally guilty BUT I am [hopefully] fostering the next generation of STEM)
5. 65% of people holding a Bachelor's degree in a STEM field earn more than those holding a Master's degree in other subjects.
6. 63% of people holding an Associate's degree in science or technology earn more than those holding a Bachelor's degree in other subjects.

Here's the one kicker (there are many, but I don't like to be Negative Nancy) - employers continually complain that STEM workers “can’t talk and can’t write a memo and have horrible interpersonal skills.” If any of you STEMers are reading this, start rocking some liberal arts classes :)

Common Occurrences: Platinum is generally recognized as being a precious metal for jewelry, but it also well known in the automotive industry as a catalytic converter.

Fun Fact: "It has been estimated that one of every five products made today uses platinum, either directly in the product itself or as part of the manufacturing process for the product" (A Guide to the Elements, Albert Stwertka)

Iridium

Oh, chemistry books. It figures that my mom and sister would find me a "chemistry experiments at home" book and that I would find myself another book about the periodic table :) Check them out!

Find it here!

Find it here!

Maybe I've started to open my eyes to chemistry, but I think the periodic table is making a style comeback (no, but seriously). Today in Barnes and Noble, I was tempted to buy a 1000 piece puzzle of the elements (how easy would that be to figure out?!) AND they have 2012 planners with the elements. Science, my friends, is clearly cool. Or, I am clearly a dork - your choice.


Fun Fact: Spark plugs containing iridium can last up to 100,000 miles - you'd maybe replace those twice in a car's lifetime.

Osmium

Today was Bullying Awareness Day and what a surprise that I would experience bullying in my classroom in a new, overt, and frightening way. To give you a taste, here is an excerpt that I wrote to my victimized student:

"I am hoping that you never have to hear someone tell you those things again, but if it does happen, don't be afraid to stand up for yourself. When you assert yourself, act in a way that maintains your integrity as a good person. From experience, I can tell you that making rude or disrespectful remarks back at people does not help the situation. During high school I was just like you - tall and thin. People called me "skeleton," "matchstick," and "ruler" constantly, but those remarks stopped when I acted like I wasn't phased by those comments. While it still hurt to be called those names, acting like I didn't care did not give people the reaction they wanted and eventually the name-calling stopped altogether.

"I want to take this time to remind you how wonderful a student you are to have in class. My mornings always start on a positive note with your "good mornings" and it is always nice to see your hand up when I ask a question in class. I am so impressed that as a 9th grader you treat people with so much respect - that is a rare and valuable quality."

I admit - I had my bullying days in high school - where I was the bully, the victim, and the bystander. And many times we revert to being a bystander and say "kids will be kids." But when does it go too far?

Fun Fact: Osmium is the hardest pure metal, which allows for its use in pen nibs and old phonograph needles.

Rhenium

It's my birthday today! Which means I get to geek out by showing you videos about birthday candles and the fun things you can do with them.

But before the videos, here are some milestones from the past year:
1) I graduated from college and started a Master's program
2) I moved to Michigan (obvious I know)
3) I missed seeing the ACTUAL Stanley Cup 3 times (twice in Lake Placid, once in Michigan)
4) I don't wear my hair in a ponytail everyday (this my friends is HUGE)

I am sure I am forgetting a bunch of things, but Year 21 was so hampered by school, school, school, and well more school that it was hard to really find things that were milestone worthy (although I still count an A in P-Chem as a mega-milestone). Here's to Year 22 being better :)

Fun Fact: Before its discovery in Germany in 1925, rhenium was discovered by Masataka Ogawa in Japan in 1908. Unfortunately "nipponium" (Ogawa's name for rhenium) was misidentified as technetium, so Japan's name for the element was nullified. Instead the element was named for the Rhine River in Europe.

Tungsten

You know it is finally Fall in Michigan when the grocery store has mums and pumpkins outside and there is more than one variety of red apples.  :)

But seriously, it is finally Fall here and the leaves are changing (despite it being shorts weather). While I remain a NY/Adirondack snob in that Fall in the ADK's is far superior to what I've seen in Michigan so far, here are some pictures from today (I apologize for the poor quality on the last two - I was trying out my tripod and auto-timer).

I saw this tree on the way to the grocery store this morning which prompted my need to take pictures. It's SWEET, right?

A little bit up the street from me.

I couldn't help but document the fact that I was wearing shorts today. This weather is NUTS.

Fun Fact: Tungsten filaments are found in incandescent light bulbs, but only 10 percent of the electricity the light bulb uses is converted to visible light. 

Eco-Friendly Fun Fact: For every $2 that is invested in compact fluorescent lights, a thousand pounds of carbon dioxide emissions are saved. Go switch over the last of you incandescent light bulbs RIGHT NOW.

Tantalum

The Nobel Prize for Chemistry was announced today with Israeli scientist Dan Shechtman winning for his discovery of quasicrystals. For the non-doctorate chemists out there, quasicrystals are materials that are tightly packed with a non-repeating pattern (read: like a solid but without the repetition we love and know). Here's a picture from the NY Times - it would make a pretty sick blog background if you were pondering :)

(Picture from NY Times)

Sometimes I feel like my students are quasicrystals - you think you can predict their next move, but they surprise you every day. Take for instance the following examples:

1) I may never wear colored or patterned tights again. Today I was wearing polka dot tights and my kids thought I was some kind of leper. "Miss Labbate, why are your legs so bumpy?" (said more like "Miss Laaaabate, why yo legz so bumpay?"). "Miss Labbate, what is going on with your legs?" Needless to say, another pair of tights banished to the back of the drawer.

2) In high school and college, I was told I was intimidating. Today one of my kids told me that even if I was "100% mad," he could never take me seriously because I look too sweet/nice. And with that comment, my rough and tough persona along with my ego went flying out the window...

3) Teacher/dress shoes are for "old people." I was told I needed to "get me some Jordans."

And some less funny ones...

4) Apparently being white and having brown eyes is impossible. That one was a new one for me (please go tell that to my Italian relatives...)

5) Being called a "hot piece of white ass" by your most well-behaved kid? Yeah, that happens too.

Expect the unexpected friends. You'll never know what happens next.


Common Occurrences: Tantalum capacitors are found in cell phones, computers, medical equipment, radios, video games and even talking dolls!

Historical Reference: Tantalum filaments were used in light bulbs on the Titanic. The ship boasted that lights could be kept on through the night without the worry of fire.

Fun Fact: Tantalum is one of two elements to have had an organized boycott against it! Tantalum is often boycotted because its mines are around the habitats of endangered gorillas.

Hafnium

I have talked about football before on the blog, but I finally had the chance to score a ticket to one of the games! In those three and a half hours of craziness:

1) Michigan slaughtered Minnesota 58-0 to win the little brown jug
2) I got completely sunburned...as in red as a lobster
3) I somehow caught on to all of the crazy sayings, hand gestures, etc. - who knew there could be so many varieties of the wave?!
4) Went from Row 60 to Row 10
5) Made an awkward friend who tried to steal my sunglasses - sorry freshmen, no go.
6) Snapped some amaizing pictures - check them out!

The Big House

I'm pretty sure this was before one of Michigan's many touchdowns

Thanks for being a last minute stand-in Dave!

As we got closer the 26x zoom on my camera got to get some sweet shots

Final score. GO BLUE!

The little brown jug (if you can see it)

Football and Chemistry Trivia: If the nucleus of an atom was the size of a pea, the whole atom would be as large as a football stadium. The pea would also have to weigh well over a ton! Talk about size scales!

Fun Fact: Hafnium is in devices used to cut steel, as it has a high melting point and is extremely resistant to corrosion.

Lutetium

So in my infinite wisdom forgetfulness, I forgot to post a video about the Ytterby elements on Ytterbium - the LAST possible element to do so with. Now I guess is better than never...enjoy!

In other fun and exciting news, I learned that rust colored tights are a bad choice. Apparently my students thought that I was diseased (my legs had suddenly changed colors!) or that I was half black/half white (but only bottom/top half). Needless to say, the tights have been retired.
 

Fun Fact: When in doubt, use elements in lighting. Lutetium is found in lutetium-bromide lighting which is used for high-intensity discharge lights (read: I have no idea what this means but go with it).

Ytterbium

The whole blogging once a week thing is a killer. There have been so many exciting things in science and education, and even some mildly blog-worthy things about me. As a super-speedy rewind with a promise to explain at length in other posts, here are some tasty morsels:

School
I gave out 4 lunch detentions the other day. Instead of feeling righteous and powerful, I felt like the ultimate scumbag (Lunch detention gets handed to you if you amass 3 tardies for a single class). I'm pretty sure the next time these kids walk in to class, I'll get a scowl in return to me saying "Good morning!" But hopefully the lesson in lunch detention will be received: get to class on time.

I got to teach a full lesson! My mentor teacher asks me (somewhat spontaneously) if I wanted to teach the class that was coming in (literally as we were speaking). I of course say "Yes!", after waiting ages to pull out and use the techniques loaded in my back pocket (as another point of imagery - there are so many, I'm surprised my pants haven't fallen down). The lesson went as well as what is to be expected with approximately 5 minutes of preparation, but the kids seemed attentive and my mentor teacher even took some of the things I did and used them when she taught the lesson the next period.

While teaching, two of my kiddos were one step away from getting into a huge fight. As in they were standing up, with looks of pure aggression, and I was at the front of the classroom trying to remain calm and hoping to talk them down. Turns out I didn't have to do anything, because this disruptive kid who spends more time out of his seat than in his seat gets in between the two of them and puts his hands up like Jesus and they both sit down. Sometimes I just don't question things...

Science
Apparently some scientists got neutrinos to go faster than the speed of light. This is worthy of a full blog post, but I'm not about to post this until I see some cold hard evidence that suggests the experiment was valid. I'm not one for salacious science gossip. 

Ann Arbor
It's finally Fall! With that comes a bazillion apples at the Farmer's Market and gorgeous mums. So excited!

Football season never ceases to amaze me. While walking to the Farmer's Market this weekend, I got stopped by a police escort for the football players on their way to the field. The players all pile into the U of M commuter buses to travel to the stadium and each bus says something goofy on the screen at the top of the bus like "Go Wolverines" or "En route to the Big House." It's even better that people line the street like it's a parade. Thank goodness the woman next to me was as utterly confused by this as I was.


Common Occurrences: Ytterbium is primarily found in lasers, but is also used in stress gauges that monitor land deformation from earthquakes and explosions.

Fun Fact: The mineral xenotime can contain either ytterbium or yttrium.

Thulium

I hope in my absence this week, many of you have explored the new "Periodic Table" tab! There are a few interactive tables, a traditional table, and a song about the elements, so I encourage you all to check it out! (Thanks to Nick for giving me the inspiration and to Katherine for a fabulous periodic table!)

So in my busy week of being in the high school and university classes, it dawned on me in my hands-on-Physics-lab-teaching-class (I have no other way to describe this class) how much I truly missed rigorous science. I add in 'rigorous' because I have been bored half to death with the pace of my ninth grade class, where we haven't made it out of the scientific method yet. Understandably, high school - especially ninth grade - does not move at the lightning pace of college classes, but when students are given three worksheets about the scientific method and not a single question is related to actual science examples, it is mildly disheartening (if you're wondering, the worksheets are on Spongebob, The Simpsons, and Jersey Shore).

I miss digging into the sciences and really thinking about why things happen. No joke - my physics instructor at U of M ended the class by squirting out a mountain of shaving cream onto the desk and asking, "Is this a solid, liquid, or gas?" Seems simple in practice that you would choose one of the physical states, but being in a room of science nerds, we started to question the necessity of gas when squirting it out, if the cream was liquid in the can, etc. It turns out the answer is not so simple (d. none of the above). What we learn about states in elementary, middle, and high school is that they are static and have clear cut lines that define them. In real life, not so much. So in short, shaving cream is somewhere in between our ideas of solids, liquids, and gases.

Why do I expound so much time on this? In my need for science, I have been devouring the Science Times whenever humanly possible. I have even been going back into the archives to read stories that I may have missed because I need something scientifically stimulating right now. And in the archives, I found this gem of an article from August (clearly I didn't have to go back too far) talking about the isolation of scientists from politics and general society. A group of scientists who have had former political careers have formed a campaign called Ben Franklin's List (fitting name right - scientist and founding father) that encourages more scientists to run for political office. Think about this for a second - we are currently making decisions about science and math education, technology, ground-breaking research (i.e. stem cells), NASA, etc. and a mere 22 of 435 people in the House of Representatives have any science background. That's a bit scary, right? The saddest part about the article is that Ben Franklin's List suffered a setback when one of its founders decided to run again for office. Being that he wanted to create a nonpartisan organization, he had to pull himself out from being a part of what he had started. You don't see that very often in other political organizations...

Anyway, I encourage you all to read the article - it is pretty enlightening. And along with the article is a "Name that Scientist" quiz with current, living scientists. See how you do and I'll let you know how I faired.

Trivia Answer: Other cities that have elements are Berkeley, CA (berkelium), Dubna, Russian (dubnium), and Darmstadt, Germany (darmstadtium). Unlike the elements from Ytterby, Sweden, the aforementioned elements are all short-lived radioactive elements developed in a laboratory setting.

Fun Fact: John Emsley, a British writer about chemistry, cited thulium as "the least significant element there is." His statement comes from the fact that thulium has few applications in our society, is extremely rare, and is difficult to purify. To exemplify this, in 1911, it took scientist Charles James 15,000 recrystallizations to purify thulium.

Erbium

Dearest Fellow Readers - I miss you. Terribly. Waking up at 4:30 a.m. and going to graduate classes after being in high school is rough...as you can tell from my pathetic attempt at blogging lately. To brighten your moods, here are some of the goofy things I do to survive hour and a half commutes, working with ninth graders who have egos bigger than the Michigan defensive line, and getting up at times that college students go to bed.

In the morning, I've found that picking out clothing before 5 a.m. leads to some horrifying outfits. I remember having a Spanish teacher who talked about getting dressed in the dark and for the most part she never looked that great (one time she was wearing a yellow and a purple sock with a skirt...yikes). So I literally lay out my clothes the night before, including shoes and accessories. It saves me at least 5 to 10 minutes that I can use to sleep. At the beginning of the week, I must look like I have OCD though because I have every outfit with a post-it note attached saying the day of the week hung up in my room.

Set two alarms. The other morning I questioned why my alarm went off so early and promptly went back to bed. Thank goodness the second alarm knocked some sense into me.

Leave a checklist at the door. If you think remembering your laptop (and charger), water bottle, lunch, phone, car keys, wallet, and school stuff is plausible in the morning, power to you. I'm lucky if I remember to consult my checklist, which is why it is directly above the lock for my door.

If you can't make dinner in a pair of shoes, there is no way that you can teach in them. End of story.

Always pack extra lunch. I pack enough for myself and then for myself again. Because you will be hungry at 7:30, 11:00, and 2:00. Teaching gives you a voracious appetite.


Fun Fact: Erbium, terbium, ytterbium, and yttrium are all named after Ytterby, Sweden where they were discovered in a single mine!


Trivia: What other cities have elements named after them?

I recently got a "scientific inquiry" about where we are on the periodic table. Here is a blank table for reference, but I'll post a new page with just a periodic table in the near future!

Holmium

Happy First Day of School from Michigan! Here's to waking up at 4:30 in the morning and not getting home until around 8. Because I've scheduled this post to publish, I'll tell you more about my first week in coming posts, but in the meantime enjoy these education articles. They are an interesting lot - especially the last one. I usually read the NY Times, but I thought it would be great to find a new perspective, so the Wall Street Journal hit the spot.

Michigan gets a new chancellor for improving public schools statewide

The one room schoolhouse could teach us a lesson about school community

An interesting look at "super teachers" and charter schools

Fun Fact: A slug of holmium, also called a pole piece, can be used to increase the intensity of a magnetic field. This is particularly useful for MRI scans, where a stronger magnet leads to better imaging.

Dysprosium

Happy Labor Day! Because most people are not laboring and are instead enjoying the Monday off, here are some funny videos with "science tricks." Watching these videos reminded me of a professor I had in college who shared "party trivia" with us, which was essentially fun facts about what we were learning. So in that spirit, enjoy these "party tricks!"

Fun Fact: Dysprosium is named from the Greek dysprositos, meaning "hard to get at." The element has few uses, but despite it's name, it is ubiquitous in commercial lighting. Fun(ny) story :)

Terbium

I never went to a high school with a football team. Though many people tried to get a team, the school was just too tiny and could never have filled a roster. In college, no football team again. The lack of football was due to the school's past as an all girls college - so yeah, no football. The Midwest - football country. Don't be fooled - Texas isn't the only state that loves football. Here is what I've learned from U of M's football game today (just to be clear, I didn't go - I'm still a hockey girl):

1) It's MAIZE and BLUE. Not yellow, not gold, maize.

2) People will pay ridiculous prices for parking. If you live a block away from the stadium, you can get $40 to $50 a space. Me? Saved an extra space in my parking lot for a cohort member for free. (You owe me Nick).

3) There is no reason why tailgating should not begin at 9 in the morning. When the marching band starts playing, you start drinking.

4) NEVER leave your home without wearing Michigan apparel. Despite wearing a Michigan shirt, "M" earrings, and a maize headband, I was underdressed.

5) As a fan, pull out the stops. That means decorating your car, your home, etc. That also means having a satellite dish at your tailgate, a giant 10 foot tall wolverine, and at least 5 Michigan flags.

6) If people ask you if you are going to the football game, lie and say yes. You are safe however in a jewelry store or a running store to say no.

7) Running errands in town on football days is ideal. I got a necklace fixed in under an hour because the jewelry store was quiet. I also had a rousing chat with the girls at the running shoe store. And of course, the farmer's market...where you are safe without a Michigan tee.

8) When they say you will be disrupted by living so close to the Stadium, that's a bunch of lies. You only get disrupted when somebody scores.

9) Hail to the Victors.

10) GO BLUE!


Fun Fact: Terfenol, an alloy of terbium, will change shape when placed in a magnetic field. This is useful for turning a solid surface into a loudspeaker (read: you can crank up the volume of your dining room table!).

Gadolinium

I could use the excuse that I've been busy (because 5 a.m. wake-ups really put you down for the count), but the fact of the matter is, I've just been lazy. Here are some pictures from home that I should have uploaded eons ago aka less than a week ago, but who's counting?

Sunset on the Loj Road.

There is quite the story that goes along with this rose bush about the Momma's brown thumb, but nevertheless, it gets beautiful blooms.

I wish this could have been bigger, because trust me, it's my favorite from home right now.

Do you see the rainbow? Because I totally pulled off the road and balanced on the guard rail like a fool to take this picture, so you better think the rainbow was worth it.

Brodie's "adopted" collar. So cute.

Brandy, the world's loudest and most persistent dog.

Nothing better than s'mores with JUMBO sized marshmallows.

Common Occurrences: If you've ever had an MRI, gadolinium is the main contrast agent (read: allows the images to have clear definition).

Fun Fact: Gadolinium has a "Curie point" at 66 degrees Fahrenheit. What that means is that at temperatures below 66, gadolinium will be attracted to a magnet, but at temperatures above 66, it is no longer magnetic. Cool, right?

Europium

Today? Humbling.

I was fortunate to attend the teacher "motivation" session at the school where I will be observing this fall. It involved music from the marching band, a showcase of school talent, student guest speakers, and celebrating successes from the past school year, but most of all it set the goals for this coming school year.

If you had only attended the first part of the morning, you would think that this school district thrives, that it's teachers love their jobs, that the students love their school, and that the highest academic achievement is reached. Wrong. While many of the teachers cited in a survey that they "liked" their job, very few said they loved it. And the students leave in droves from their school - last year alone, the school lost 400 kids from the high school (which has 1200 in attendance). As for academic achievement, the school has not made adequate yearly progress (a No Child Left Behind buzz phrase) for the last seven years. Yikes.

The worst part? Listening to how the community doesn't respect their school. I get it, I totally do - it's easiest to state a school's faults then it is to state it's successes. As I learned today, we don't often take pride in our successes (the superintendent did an amazing job of that with the beginning of the session). But the message that struck me the most about the lack of respect was this - the school board president asked the teachers: How can we expect the community to sing its praises for the school when we can't even sing those praises ourselves?

Food for thought my friends.


Common Occurrences: Nearly all compact fluorescent bulbs contain europium phosphors (read: fancy chemistry term for pleasing light).

Fun Fact: Europium is used for labeling on the Euro.