An Essence?

You’re already tired of this, I am sure. I do not want to be doing this anymore than you do. Whats worse is I have to torture you with 400+ forsaken words about a topic that you wish to never hear in your lifetime ever again.

But about 50 words into it, and you are still reading.

Chemistry, Physics, no matter what it may be, it is science. The heart of all sciences, my favorite being chemistry in particular, must be curiousity.

Ever since chemical engineering or simply chemistry sounded like a great general area of interest to me, thoughts race in my head concerning possible resources to use for alternate fuel sources, possibly stronger metals with a lighter weight, armor for the military, less hazardous plastics, synthesized medicines and drugs, stronger rubbers (slight chuckle?).

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

-Albert Einstein

I highly doubt that he approached the arena of science, be it chemistry, physics, or perhaps even biology with a closed and stoic mind. You must doubt he already knew everything there was to know about science. You must doubt that was just some God-sent, scientific prodigy who was predestined to lay such a strong foundation for science. Curiousity was a weapon in his explorations.

Some experts today include people from all around the world who teach in the University of Nottingham or the University of Waikato. Names, I’ll tell you will not be important to you. Completely unnecessary for the fact that it all boils down to the one classic quote. “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach”. Perhaps, the true experts are the one’s who research and take the teachings of a professor to whole other levels. Scientists who explore in the name of progress are the true experts who are working to be acknowledged as veterans and masters of this highly complex world. You will perhaps never hear of the one research scientist who developed the synthetic drug, methylenedioxyamphetamine (horrible drug, but truly, when done in an organized and controlled fashion, can represent the extent of research and curiousity of a scientist), despite the fact that this unknown scientist never broke a law since the drug was created as precursor in the production of EVEN MORE potent and advanced therapeutically active drugs. Even later in the 50’s, our nation conducted medical research by the Army for the search of psychological warfare agents.

All because someone was curious. It all began with an idea. And THAT, is the essence of chemistry, and of all disciplines of science for that matter.

As a kid…

Remember as a kid, everyone wanted to be this guy at some point. The one chemist looking crazy and mixing waters that ended up changing colors, exploding when it bubbled, cured an ailment, or quite the opposite. There was something that appealed to us of discovery, mystery, the diabolical laughter, congratulations, perhaps money. But we were too young to realize just how prestigous that was. We were too young to cling to that hope and instead picked the career that dealt with action, peril, adventure, danger. Becoming an archaeologist became appealing when we saw Jurassic Park, although there were no genetic cloning experiments for resurrecting prehistoric animals. A fire fighter called out to us as well, a job with honor, always on call, but scarcely needed for a fire. A professional stuntman even, oh how intense would that have been?

But, this image accurately depicts the process of research for the chemist. An idea is sparked and is boiled down in the mind, then to manifest it into material, it begins to be vaporized and mixed with creativity. With the mind, it is art when a person explores new territory in a manner that is organized, despite its complexity. Analyzed and researched through time spent on the product and material being created, the end result is a ground-breaking finding. What is being found, for what purpose, that is all something that entirely depends on the research and the scientist. Prestige and respect will always be given to a scientist who discovers something new in scientific community. In the case of the world as a whole, if the product is destructive, as revolutionary it may be, it will be turned from being an acheivment and a breakthrough to being nothing more than a tool of death. Such a shame.

Both sides are very easily understood. On one end, there are people who only ridicule “these tools of death” for the sake of saving the planet. It is true that the greatest threat to the world is ourselves. But, at the same time, why save so many lives and help with overcrowding (too radical?). On the side of science, all it is is advancement. There are times when i look out over the city and see it as the epitome of human waste and the disgusting mark it is on our precious planet (why hippies live in cities, i will never understand). Something needs to be done, and that is what drives science. Scientific research for society is a push for change and advancement. A typical research scientist is a primary deviant and believes he is right and is doing nothing wrong. Just by researching something new, he is deviating from the norms in the world and creating something that would change the world, even if it was a small one.

Who’s gonna care?

Such a great idea this whole project was, eh? Start a blog and talk about something educational that you would be interested to study in college? I truly doubt anyone reading this is really going to want to know about how the mouse you are holding was created thanks to a scientist who researched polymer chemicals and its properties or that the metal wires in your headphones were researched to maximize the effeciency to provide you with the best sound your ears could ever overdose on. No, but of course I’m going to have to do this. Nearly 3 weeks left of this god forsaken place that we can nearly call a home (some would call it a prison) that has been labeled with a word; prison, thy name is school.  So hip-hip-hooray! Chemistry! For most teenagers in high school, chemistry was not one of their particularly favorite subjects in school. Great to know I picked such a great topic to blog about (Truly, the word blog has lost its originality to me now. From here on, I will never want to blog on my free time ever again. The word disgusts me now.) . Oh yes, this will definitely be popular. Just about as popular as the sight and smell of moldy cheese being fed at a high class ball. Oh yes, it will be popular!

But chemistry? Why? It is too late to change it to something with more meaningful and relateable to the rest of you (Most of you being my fellow inmates. Forget regular classes, AP felt like i was on death row. Solitary, please?). Chemistry with Couto, well yes, that, bluntely said, sucked. Chemistry, the very subject, was amazing. Most of you will remember the soap project. How cool was that? Or how about the magnesium oxide lab where we burned the metal and it flashed bright white like if it was the fourth of July and you had just lit off one of those lame screamers that flashed bright on the street? Or how about the titration experiment where you had to mix the HCl acid with NaOH and get the two to just be a slight tint of pink? The best part was, for most of us, we actually understood how and WHY it happened? Any toddler can mix chemicals and create soap, but how many of them understand the process down to the molecular level? It was then that i fell in love with the subject and the idea of exploring every possibility for a career and chances to obtain true greatness imagineable.

Read this if you want. Read what I have to say about Chemistry or don’t. I could care less. You are blogging about something that you love (perhaps) as I am, but you are doing it and being graded. Truthfully you know you don’t want to be doing this either. I’m on the same plane as you. Whats worse, our teachers took the only parachutes we could have used away from us. It would be an ideal time to learn to fly, eh?