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Unit 6.3 Chemical Processes
in Nature
Natural and household materials are used for doing classroom
experiments. The colors of different kinds of berries are
extracted to make acid-base indicators.
Video program cues: 14:10-25:40
Cells are dynamic
"Cells are dynamic living entities, but the
textbooks let us think that they’re static. The protein
complement of a cell changes from one minute to the next,
responding to environmental influences, responding to communication
from other cells, responding to what we have eaten, and
to what we are experiencing. Even when we are sitting still,
we have billions of changes going on constantly."
Dr. J. Craig Venter
Former President, Celera Genomics
Readings
Chemistry Highlights 2001 (2001)' Biochemistry, 'Chemical
& Engineering News, Vol. 79, No. 50, pp: 45-55.
Compounds from plants demonstration
and laboratory
Dr. Leslie Pierce demonstrates the acidity of household
solutions using indicators that are extracted from plants.
Activity
Links
Readings
Kanda, Naoki; Asano, Takayuki; Itoh, Toshiyuki; Onoda, Makota
(1995)' Preparing "Chameleon Balls" from Natural Plants:
Simple Handmade pH Indicator and Teaching Material for Chemical
Equilibrium, 'Journal of Chemical Education, Vol.
72, No. 12, pp: 1131 (abstract only).
Correction (1996)' Preparing "Chameleon Balls" from Natural
Plants: Simple Handmade pH Indicator and Teaching Material
for Chemical Education, 'Journal of Chemical Education,
Vol. 73, No. 12, pp: 425.
Natural and synthetic processes
"When chemists are designing reactions,
they are usually after what is called selectivity. Selectivity
is when two chemicals come together, A+B, to give you the
one chemical that you want, C. A truly selective reaction
does just that: A+B --> C. In order for nature to run
something so complicated as our cells, it must run millions
of reactions with exquisite selectivity. But nature gets
its’ selectivity in a very different manner than chemists
and chemists are very good at getting selectivity. Nature
has reduced the tree to a very limited arsenal of elements,
and the enzymes are fantastic machines with very elaborate
designs. Chemists use the whole Periodic Table, and that
is the main reason we pollute. One of the major ways to
reduce pollution is to move the elemental balance of chemical
technology, closer to the elemental balance of life, wherever
possible."
Dr. Terry Collins
Professor of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University
Link
- Article from Science,
January 2001, by Professor Collins on sustainable chemistry.
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