UHB1: Common Cold

 Common Cold 

Both doubt and certainty are contagious as the common cold.

- Kathryn Schulz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsqCA50d7BM

The common cold is something we all experience in our life. It is very uncomfortable and exhausting to experience this. With a reasonable amount of time spent with the common cold, we have our own remedies to treat it. In reality, we do not know what a common cold really is. 

This writing will focus on understanding the common cold with the help of science, it does not give any medical advice. Simply it explains the common cold with the help of known facts. So it will provide an understanding of the common cold and help to act accordingly. 

What is a virus?

A description of human Rhinovirus 

Virus: An Illustrated Guide to 101 Incredible Microbes Front Cover Marilyn J. Roossinck

"A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism".

Decoding this sentence will provide a lot of information. 

The word virus is originally a Latin word that translates as a thick unpleasant liquid or simply slime. This might give some intuition in this context of the common cold, one can relate "thick unpleasant liquid " to the common cold. So, in a literal way, one can relate a virus as an "unpleasant liquid " from one's body and it is hazardous for fellow humans (This is not entirely true but in some sense it is considerable).

"Submicroscopic refers to something which can't be seen using conventional microscopes which work with a visible light source. So a virus is smaller than the wavelength of light. Which is really small. 

These graphics will give a better understanding of the size of the virus compared to other particles

https://assets.weforum.org/editor/VA3n8eC_pHvbZGL13lARzzkBw7h-xyOBM4E48Mf_yjw.jpg

Infectious or infection is derived from the Latin word "infectious" which means to put in or to dye or to stain. So it is an action to put something in our case the something is a virus. In a more apt manner, infection is an invasion of some disease-causing microorganisms. So an infectious agent is something that can be quickly passed on to another person.

The virus is a confusing and interesting organism because it can only live in a living body and be pseudo-dead outside a living body.  It is like some kind of superpower it can freeze itself outside a living body and can attack once it is inside a living body. 

Understanding the nature of the virus

We human beings are very much capable of creating our own energy, we are not actually creating energy but we transfer energy from our surroundings like plants create their own energy to live from the sun and soil we create it using plants, animals, sun, and soil. The same applies to bacteria, insects, and other living organisms. To put forth assume what will happen if plants do not have soil, sun, and air to live can they live? The answer is no. 

As mentioned earlier viruses are pseudo-dead outside the living body which means they are not capable of making energy on their own but once they find a host which can supply the energy they can then act independently.

Viruses are very intelligent they can reproduce rapidly, they and easily adapt to any environment, they can co-opt with the host and evolve easily, and they can spread easily. This might give you a very overlooked understanding of viruses but that is enough. One important note is that viruses exist since the evolution of cells.

Common cold

The common cold is a viral infection in our nose and throat simply the upper repository tract.  It is the most common human disease. The technically common cold is called "Upper Respository infection (URI)". Then the question will be why it is called the common cold? It will be answered later. 

In a non-technical tone, the common cold can be understood as follows. When a virus or a group of viruses come and live in the lining of the nose, throat, sinuses, and larynx. Basically when the virus chooses the upper respiratory part of our body to live and reproduce. 

What does the common cold cause?

The simple answer to this question is that it causes discomfort to us. Broadly speaking it causes many things. Cough, sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, headache, and fever are some discomforts caused by a cold and this can be considered as a sign or a symptom of a cold. 

<a href="https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/common-cold-symptoms-cartoon-style-infographic_9741943.htm">Image by brgfx</a> on Freepik

What causes the common cold?

As we know the common cold is caused by viruses. There are many kinds of viruses that cause the common cold and the most dominant of them is Rhinovirus which literally means nose in greek. This type causes almost 30% to 60% of the cold along with other commonly implicated viruses including human coronaviruses, influenza viruses adenoviruses, human respiratory syncytial viruses (RSV), enteroviruses other than rhinoviruses, human parainfluenza viruses, and other 200 types. But mostly different variants of the Rhinovirus family.  

It is because Rhinovirus infection increases quickly in temperatures from  33 to 35 °C, which is the average temperature found in the nose. These are one of the smallest viruses. on average, it is 30 nanometers  in comparison an RBC (red blood cell) is 5000 - 8000 nanometers. Which is an advantage for Rhinovirus. 

Rhinovirus along with other viruses is transmitted through various means. They spread via airborne aerosols, respiratory droplets, and contaminated surfaces, including direct person-to-person contact. The viruses may survive for prolonged periods in an environment (over 18 hours for rhinoviruses) and can be picked up by people's hands and subsequently carried to their eyes or nose where infection occurs. So as a consequence of this poor hygiene can also cause the common cold.

https://www.verywellhealth.com/cold-causes-4689139

What  "The common cold" really is?

So far we have some understanding about the common cold that is caused by viruses and other but what is the common cold really? The common cold that we experience is our body's reaction to the habitants a.k.a viruses in our body.

The common cold is caused by viruses but the thing that we experience is the reaction of our body to the virus in our body and the virus does not cause a runny nose rather it is our body's coping mechanism in a defensive mode to survive.

What actually happens

The virus has a very comfy environment inside the lining of our noses and sinus. They enter through various means. 

Now after they enter and take their place our body senses something new and sends a signal to the brain about it.

The brain starts to react. First, our body makes the blood passage wider to increase blood flow. This is the reason we feel and look inflamed (Swollen and sometimes red) during cold

Next, the body releases more white blood cells (WBC) in the blood. WBC is a part of the immune system that prevents us from external and internal attacks of infections and other things. As the blood passage is widened more WBC flows in the blood and reaches the sites of attack (mainly the upper respiratory tract).

Next, our body starts to produce mucus due to the triggering of the chemical called histamine in our body. This caused the overproduction of mucus in the lining of our respiratory tract which can travel to our digestive system, sinus, mouth, and lungs. mucus is like a goo so it is sticky. This mucus can also be triggered due to fine dust (Which is a dust allergy very similar to the discomfort of the common cold). As the mucus is like a goo it traps the virus in the inner linings of the upper respiratory system.

Already the blood passage is inflamed and the overproduction of mucus will cause it to press our sinuses and this caused the headache mainly in the outer four heads. So the compression of the sinus causes headaches. 

The WBC physically fights the viruses and the nucleus flushes out the virus by mouth, nose, or by digestive acids. So this causes runny nose, sneezing, cough, and vomiting. So, what we experience as the common cold is our body's reaction to the virus in our body. 

https://www.pennmedicine.org/for-patients-and-visitors/patient-information/conditions-treated-a-to-z/common-cold

Scientifically what can be done during the common cold?

As WBC is the primary defense mechanism which is made up of protein, taking protein-rich food will be useful as it boosts our immune system, during this discomfort we will also feel fatigue. Basically, protein helps us to build antibodies (like WBC) and helps to maintain strength by which the duration of the common cold might be significantly reduced. 

Taking a lot of fluids without sugar because sugar triggers the production of fatty acids in livers so will cause more discomfort by causing more swelling thus it causes more problems. Including electrolytes in the fluids will help to gain strength. Taking a lot of fluids will help to keep us hydrated and keep mucus production. By taking a lot of fluids mucus can easily come out of our body.

The other scientific thing that our body does is to cough and sneeze, by which the mucus and the virus can physically come out of our body through mouth and nose. Both coughing and sneezing help to relieve the congested airway and help in releasing mucus from the body.  

Taking rest helps to overcome these discomforts. Doing heavy physical work and mental work will cause more discomfort. 

Myths related to the common cold

Applying Vicks during a cold can relieve clogging inside the sinus. The reality is that the odor of menthol tricks us that we are breathing through an unclogged nose.  Menthol is an organic compound that produces a cooling sensation when applied on the skin that can relieve light pain. Naturally, this is found in peppermint.

Eating ice cream can cause a cold. This is not entirely true, it depends on the situation. When you are already infected by the virus eating ice cream which is essentially made up of dairy products and sugar will make the mucus thick and cause more discomfort. When you are not infected by a virus ice cream can't cause a cold. 

Taking antibiotics can speed up the process of recovery. People use mild antibiotics while they have colds thinking that it will provide relief but in reality, it will do nothing because antibiotics are against bacteria they do not affect viruses. 

Over-the-counter, medicines can help to get relief. It is true but always relying on these medicines to overcome the symptoms will be a bad idea in the long run because our body will become resistant to them and will produce no effect in the long run.   

You can catch a cold by wet hair and spending more time in the water (at least in my home). Wet hair can't be a possible reason to catch a cold but spending time in water can cause it because water might contain viruses so it can affect us. 

Why is Upper Repository infection called the common cold?

The name is common cold for the upper repository infection because this infection is mostly observed during cold weather. The reason can be justified using science. 

During cold weather, the air is moist and humid so the possibility of virus trapping in the moist is high and it can persist for more time can be easily transmitted. During cold weather, people tend to stay indoors so the possibility of transmitting the virus is high because we get exposed to it for a longer period of time. 

Why do children get the common cold more often? 

The reason for this is that children do not have fully developed immune systems, they are in the developing stage so they experiment and react with new inhabitants like viruses and bacteria. This is the reason why children are more easily affected by the common cold. Also because of poor hygiene children catch a cold.

In the worst-case scenario, we can expect the body temperature to increase to kill those viruses and any other inhabitants and we call it a fever. The best way to overcome this is to take rest, have hot tea, sleep well, have more fluids, and eat light food and protein-rich food. Even taking a hot bath will help with the symptoms of the common cold. 

https://images.everydayhealth.com/images/your-day-by-day-guide-common-cold-722x406.jpg?w=768

Cure for the common cold

As it is mentioned earlier the virus are intelligent pseudo-living beings. They evolve in every possible environment so any medication that we give to fight it will actually help in the evolution of the virus we can not cure a common cold but can prevent it by having a proper diet to have a good immune system and good hygiene. 

For better understanding, you can watch the video by TedEdu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsqCA50d7BM

Hope this article was useful and I hope you learned something from it.

If you have any theories or questions regarding this, you can express them in comments or chat with me on my Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/phy.sci/?hl=en.

IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS AND CLARIFICATION YOU CAN COMMENT HERE.

IF ANY INFORMATION IS INACCURATE I AM READY TO CORRECT IT

Hope this article was useful and I hope you learned something from it.

If you have any theories or questions regarding this you are free to express them in the comments or you can chat with me on my Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/phy.sci/?hl=en.

.

Empiricism and Rationalism

 Empiricism and Rationalism - A connection to Model theory

“I suppose therefore that all things I see are illusions; I believe that nothing has ever existed of everything my lying memory tells me. I think I have no senses. I believe that body, shape, extension, motion, and location are functions. What is there then that can be taken as true? Perhaps only this one thing, that nothing at all is certain.”

 ― Rene Descartes

Why should we know the words Empiricism and Rationalism? People have a very different views of the world. No same person can have the same thought over a thing they observe. The approach to the emergence of thought in the homo mind follows two independent ways of process. Those ways are Empiricism and Rationalism. We humans are concerned with knowledge. Once there was a battle between these two processes but due to the emergence of the human mind now we can use this process to explain how now think and how one can have the grand knowledge of Mundus. It does not judge a mind rather it expands the mind to join with like-minded people and to understand the persona mind.

Empiricism

The word Empirical is the Greek word "empīricus" which means "based on observation". Now many things in a chaotic mind will find a link at least for minds like me. So in simple words the process of Empiricism states we process our knowledge by observation. For better understanding, we can say that we gain knowledge only by the materialistic observations that we make. To make sense of this process we need to go back to our childhood. When something is introduced to a child, the child takes it plays with it, grabs it, sees it, bites it, and does many things until it gets a sense of what it is basically the child scans the thing given to him or her. So when a teddy is given to a child it scans it and forms a model of the teddy in the mind and gets a piece of knowledge about the toy.

Rationalism 

The word rational is the Latin word "rationalis" which means " in accordance with reason and logic". The reason is simple logic and logic is a mind game that everyone performs. This logic makes us the 6 sense living entity. So the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive. To understand it let us take an example, As a youth, we learn to handle money, we have a piece of prior information about money management from our parents, elders, and books. During a crisis, one can't spend the money just like that so one should make mental calculations and see which result will be suitable for him or her. So this is based on logic it is a rationalist way of linking the information and gaining the knowledge.

A deeper understanding of Empiricism and Rationalism

In the beginning, the Empirical process of gaining information is seen to be correlated with common sense. Since we see and feel the things around us and know about them. It becomes obvious that we gain knowledge from an empirical process. One thing we do know is that our senses sometimes mislead us. White walls can appear yellow in strong sunlight. Surgeons can stimulate one's brain so that one “sees” a patch of red that isn’t there. One can have hippopotamus dreams, and so on. "My sense experiences are at least sometimes created by my mind – or somehow in my mind. These comparatively rare “mistakes” have led many philosophers to insist that all my perceptions are “mediated”. Ultimately there is a greater consequence of this thought process which believes that only we exist and nothing else exists.

Comming to Rasitionlist's way of thinking makes the knowledge very unique. It is not that the rationalist creates knowledge in their mental state rather they join the information through logic and make it a piece of unique information. It seems that rationalism is a process followed by the polymaths and the selected ones but in reality the freedom of logic makes us what we are so, we all have a piece of rationalist thinking. This rationalist process has a blasting negative consequence, As a rationalist is a mental person he or she will gain a god complex out of his or her powerful capacity to link and create knowledge. 

Finally...

This discussion is not over but has started, From this much we should understand how we are. Personally the concept of "unknown knowable mind - consciousness" still remains a private room in each of our minds and the rationalist process of gaining knowledge will help us to gain knowledge about this private room. 

No matter how much we know about wave-lengths of light and human sensory perception, science seems unable to describe or explain the total uniqueness of our perceptual experiences or “qualia”

DO VISIT THE ARCHIVE TO EXPLORE MORE 

Hope this article was useful and I hope you learned something from it.

If you have any theories or questions regarding this you are free to express them in the comments or you can chat with me on my Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/phy.sci/?hl=en.

 

WWAMO 3: Understanding the structure of an atom

 

WHAT  WE  ARE  MADE UP  OF?

Understanding the structure of an atom

“Protons give an atom its identity, electrons its personality.” ― Bill Bryson

Previously we have seen some basic things about the particles present in the atom. This segment will mainly focus on the detailed structure of an atom, the rules governing them, and the parameters to locate the three fundamental particles of an atom. So this segment needs little attention to understand the concept. 

Image shows an electron ptychographic reconstruction of a praseodymium orthoscandate (PrScO₃) crystal, zoomed in 100 million times. Credit: Cornell University

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-the-highest-resolution-atomic-image-ever-captured/

How does an atom really look?

In reality, we can't see an atom as we can see the collection of them. This is because the atom is almost 10000 times smaller than the wavelength of light. We are able to see a table because the light is reflected by it as an atom is very small the light will pass through the atom thus we cant see it. 

We get answers by collision 

Image No. 10324719 | This is a Rights Managed image. Inventory No.: 1901-51 Source No.: 1901-0051 Credit © Science Museum / Science & Society Picture Library -- All rights reserved.

https://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10324719

The above image is a cathode ray tube. This is one of the original vacuum tubes used by the Cambridge professor of physics Joseph John Thomson (1856-1940) to discover the electron in 1897. Thomson's work contributed enormously to our understanding of the atomic structure of matter, leading to the research fields of atomic and nuclear physics, and marking the birth of the modern electronic age. 

J J Thomson's scattering experiment gave a way to know and imagine the structure of an atom. You can get the exact detail on the internet. After the discovery of this experiment, the image of the atom was developed by many people and now we have a complex structure to understand but still, we can understand it.

The alpha particles were used in the early stages now we use the electrons, x-rays, and more to find out the structure.

Illustration of an atom

The is my imagination so if anything is wrong you can correct me.

Let's start with a primitive image and get an intuitive imagination.

Made by J John Paul using blender

CLASSICAL MODEL

The above is an image of an isolated Helium atom 

(The colors are imaginary, they are provided to distinguish between the particles)

The above illustration gives us much information about the atom. On comparing the size of the fundamental particles we can see that the Protron and neutron are identical in size, So considering them as solids we can say that they have the same mass. By the experiments, it is found that the size of the Protron and neutron is 1.5 femtometer which is quadrillionth (1 followed by 15 zeros) of a meter or we can say 0.00000000000000015 meters. They both have almost the same mass. The mass of a proton is 1.67493 x 10^(-27) Kg and the mass neutron is 1.67262 x 10^(-27) which is very small. From the illustration, we can see that both proton and neutron collectively form the nucleus or the central part of the atom and they contribute almost 99.99% of the mass of the atom.

The electron is very tiny as compared to the above two particles. In terms of quantum mechanics, the electron is size less i.e. a point particle but it has a mass that is 9 x 10^(-31) m again it is very small.

Interestingly all the electrons in the universe are identical and you can't distinguish between two electrons if a cluster of electrons is placed before you. The same case applies to both protons and neutrons in the universe.

Imagining an atom like a scientist.

Made by J John Paul using 3-D Paint

MODERN MODEL

This is how a real scientist would imagine an atom. Previously we saw the two electrons in a definite position but in reality, we can't determine their exact position but we can predict their location in a specified region. Here come boring yet most beautiful reasoning of humans called probability. Probability is not a new word nowadays all the sports from football to cricket this plays an important role and we also involve in it like a modern astronomer. 

So in the illustration, you can see some regions brighter than others. The bright region specifies the position of the electron with the maximum probability and the light region specifies the minimum probability of the position of an electron.

**** Now we have a good image of the electron and now we can proceed with some basic concepts.

New words to things before we dive into a beautiful scientific literature 

• An isolated atom always consists of an equal number of protons, neutrons, and protons. It is because an isolated atom is natural so all net charges should be zero.
• Orbits - Orbits are the well-defined paths of the electron around the nucleus.
• Orbitals - The shape of the probability cloud is called orbitals. 

Understanding orbits and orbitals

See the illustration of the classical model here we can see a very thin circular line that can be considered an orbit. It actually represents the motion of the electron in the 1-D plane. It can be either circular or elliptical. Orbits represent that position and momentum of an electron can be measured simultaneously with certainty.

Orbitals are 3- dimensional space (the real space we live in) around the nucleus where the probability of finding an electron is maximum. So it represents the motion of an electron in 3- dimensions. Orbitals have different shapes. Orbitals are completely a result of Quantum mechanics. So orbitals have many restrictions but it makes our job easy.

The main difference between orbits and orbitals is that in one orbit 2 x n x n electrons can be present (where n is principle quantum number) but in an orbital, only two electrons can be present that too with many restrictions.

To directly say orbitals are mathematical functions the describe wave-like behavior of an electron. The following illustration shows different types of orbitals. The orbitals are observed using spectroscopic techniques and are named after them according to their observed shape (s - sharp, p - principle, d - diffused).

ATOMIC ORBITALS

Illustration made using blender and GIMP by J John Paul

Instead, each electron exists as a probability cloud, more likely to be in one place than another, but not actually in any one place at any given time. The figures below show the various three-dimensional shapes of the probability clouds of electrons around a nucleus. The first type, called an “s” orbital, is totally symmetrical—the electron is not any more likely to be in one direction than another. The second type, called a “p” orbital, has two lobes, meaning the electron is more likely to be found on one side or the other of the nucleus, and less likely to be found in any direction in between. While there is only one “s”-type orbital, there are three “p” types, with lobes pointing in the three orthogonal directions (x, y, z) of space. Similarly, there are five different types of “d” orbitals and seven different types of “f” orbitals, with increasing numbers of lobes. (You may think of these shapes as a bit like three-dimensional standing waves.)

• Shells - The shell is the principle quantum number. The electrons in an atom are arranged in shells that surround the nucleus, with each successive shell being farther from the nucleus. Electron shells consist of one or more subshells, and subshells consist of one or more atomic orbitals. Electrons in the same subshell have the same energy, while electrons in different shells or subshells have different energies. Shells are named K, L, M, N.. (which are X-ray notations)

• Subshells - The "subshells" are the orientations and shapes for orbitals, going in order by s,p,d,f.  (will be continued in quantum numbers)

• Energy levels - Everything in the world possess energy so when we enter into atomic levels we have to be careful with the energy levels. "A quantum mechanical system or particle that is bound—that is, confined spatially—can only take on certain discrete values of energy, called energy levels." In this case, we generally speak about the potential energy so by convention we set the potential energy at infinity is zero. Thus, the bounds electrons have negative potential energy. As the energy levels depend on the principle quantum number (n) these are not continuous rather discrete or quantized which means only a certain set of values can exist and others are forbidden. Quantized energy levels result from the wave behavior of particles, which gives a relationship between a particle's energy and its wavelength. For a confined particle such as an electron in an atom, the wave functions that have well-defined energies have the form of a standing wave (which is illustrated above).

• Ground state -  When the electron is in the lowest possible energy configuration in a particular orbital it is said to be in its ground state.

• Exited state -  If the electron is in a higher state than its ground state it is called an excited state. This may occur due to heat, light etc.

Rules for filling electrons in the orbits

• Aufbau's principle. It states that in the ground state of an atom or ion, electrons fill subshells of the lowest available energy, then they fill subshells of higher energy. For example, the 1s subshell is filled before the 2s subshell is occupied. In this way, the electrons of an atom or ion form the most stable electron configuration possible. Here the 1 in 1s represents the principle quantum number. Simply the electrons according to this rule are filled according to the increasing order of the atomic orbitals.

• Pauli's exclusion principle. This is one of the famous rule in the physics regime. To simply say it tells that in an isolated atom only two electrons can occupy the same orbital or the quantum state. This is because of the "spin" in electrons. Due to the spin no two electrons can take the same state. This rule help us to calculate the number of electrons that can occupy the given subshell ( it is given as 2(2l + 1) where l is the angular quantum number. It is named as exclusion principle because if two electrons with the same quantum state is present then one electron is excluded.

• Hund's rule. From previous rules we know that  each orbital can occupy two  electron. So while they are filled first one electron is filled first and then after fill it the 2nd electron is filled. i.e if you have the box and 6 balls first one ball is filled in each box and then the remaining 3 balls are filled in the box.

Filling of electrons in the atom

https://www.texasgateway.org/resource/21-atoms-isotopes-ions-and-molecules-building-blocks

The four important quantum numbers

Quantum numbers describe the orientation of an atom mainly the location and arrangement. (previously you have encountered two quantum numbers n and l). It is easy to visualize an atom using quantum numbers because of the integer or half-integer values. Understanding quantum numbers will help us to know about the atom in detail.

 

• Principle quantum number (n): It is the serial numbers of shells starting from the inner lower most shells to the outer shells. Is has the values of 1,2,3,4... or generally represented as K, L, M, N.. shells. In a overall view it gives us the energy configuration of the atom. The set of orbitals with the same n value if often referred as an electron shell.

• Orbital quantum number (ℓ): It can also be called as angular quantum number because the orbital quantum number of an orbital determines its angular momentum an the shape of the orbitals (See the fig. of atomic orbitals above). It has the values (n-1) so it starts from 0,1,2,3... n-1. It is generally represented as s, p, d, f... which has the shapes spherical, sumblled, doughnut and some other unique shapes respectively. So it represents the number of planar nodes (mid point) passing through the nucleus.

• Magnetic orbital quantum number (mℓ): The magnetic quantum number specifies the orbitals available within a subshell, and is used to calculate the angular component of the orientation of the orbital in space when placed in an external magnetic field. So it wives two important things first, the projection of the orbital quantum number (ℓ) on the magnetic field direction. Its value renges from l, l-1, l-2 ...0, -1, -2, ... -l i.e. if l is 2 ml can have the values -2, -1, 0, 1, 2. This magnetic orbital quantum number forms the basis of the modern periodic table. s, p, d, f orbitals contains 1, 3, 5, 7 orbitals so the values of ml ranges from 0, +/-1, +/-2, +/-3. Each of these orbitals can accommodate up to two electrons with opposite spin. This quantum number brings the concept of spital quantization which means that if l=3 then ml can have 7 values thus the l or the angular component can take only 7 directions in the space.

• Magnetic spin quantum number (ms): As already mentioned an electron will have its own spin which is one of the fundamental property of electron. So an electron can have up (+1/2) SPIN or down (-1/2) SPIN, which gives the basic orientation of a electron. The ms give us the projection of the spin vector s along the direction of an external magnetic field. So it can have two values parallel to magnetic field (+1/2) and anti-parallel to the magnetic field (-1/2).

So with the above we can imagine a atom in more systematic and precise manner.

Electronic configuration

Electron configuration was first conceived under the Bohr model (classical model) of the atom, and it is still common to speak of shells and subshells despite the advances in understanding of the quantum-mechanical nature of electrons. 

An electron shell is the set of allowed states that share the same principal quantum number, n (the number before the letter in the orbital label), that electrons may occupy. An atom's nth electron shell can accommodate 2 x n x n electrons, e.g. the first shell can accommodate 2 electrons, the second shell 8 electrons, the third shell 18 electrons and so on. The factor of two arises because the allowed states are doubled due to electron spin—each atomic orbital admits up to two otherwise identical electrons with opposite spin, one with a spin +1/2 (usually denoted by an up-arrow) and one with a spin −1/2 (with a down-arrow). A subshell is the set of states defined by a common azimuthal quantum number, ℓ, within a shell. The value of ℓ is in the range from 0 to n-1. The values ℓ = 0, 1, 2, 3 correspond to the s, p, d, and f labels, respectively. For example, the 3d subshell has n = 3 and ℓ = 2. The maximum number of electrons that can be placed in a subshell is given by 2(2ℓ+1). This gives two electrons in an s subshell, six electrons in a p subshell, ten electrons in a d subshell and fourteen electrons in an f subshell.

For atoms, the notation consists of a sequence of atomic subshell labels  with the number of electrons assigned to each subshell placed as a superscript. For example, hydrogen has one electron in the s-orbital of the first shell, so its configuration is written 1s1. Lithium has two electrons in the 1s-subshell and one in the (higher-energy) 2s-subshell, so its configuration is written 1s2 2s1 (pronounced "one-s-two, two-s-one").

https://www.texasgateway.org/resource/21-atoms-isotopes-ions-and-molecules-building-blocks

Representation of an atom.

HOPE THIS WAS USEFUL

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Hope this article was useful and I hope you learnt something from it.

If you have any theories or questions regarding this you are free to express them in comments or you can chat with me in my Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/phy.sci/?hl=en.

For previous articles on previous series following link link

WWAMO 1: https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/09/wwamo-2-what-we-are-made-up-of.html

W5: https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/06/w5-scientific-values-of-water.html

W4: https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/05/w4-structure-and-states-of-water.html

W3: https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/05/w3-mythological-stories-about-creation.html#more

W2: https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/05/w2-scientific-exploration-of-origins-of.html

W1: https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/05/w1clear-liquid-aka-water.html

 

TAU 4: Peace be with the elements

THINGS AROUND US

4. PEACE BE WITH THE ELEMENTS

“I am utterly convinced that Science and Peace will triumph over Ignorance and War, that nations will eventually unite not to destroy but to edify, and that the future will belong to those who have done the most for the sake of suffering humanity.” 

― Louis Pasteur

I hope every one have experienced salt in your life. Going little scientific the common salt that we use is called as NaCl or Sodium Chloride. There is a very interesting thing about it, stating from fights in home to major turn back in independence moment of an nation. We can learn many things form salt or for the matter from nature if we observe and question it. 

SALT EXTRACTED FROM SEA 

https://www.freeimages.com/photo/salt-flats-1192314

What salt is made up of ?

Technically form our daily use of salt it can be said that salt is a white crystalline substance that gives seawater its characteristic taste and is used for seasoning or preserving food. Scientifically salt is something different, Salt is a chemical compound consisting of an ionic assembly of cations and anions.Salts are composed of related numbers of cations (positively charged ions) and anions (negatively charged ions) so that the product is electrically neutral (without a net charge).

So in case of common salt in our home we have Sodium as cation and Chlorine as anion so they can be represented as (Na + and Cl-). 

NATURALLY OCCURRING SODIUM METAL STORED IN OIL

https://periodictable.com/Elements/011/index.html

NATURALLY OCCURRING SODIUM METAL

https://theodoregray.com/periodictable/Samples/HaliteAndBorax/index.s14.html 

Why the names anion and cation?

Now we see both have the suffix "ion" in simple words we have ion is any free atom which is single and waiting to join with other atom in two different ways . First way,there are only two configuration of ions one with a lack of electrons and other with extra electrons. We should understand that an atom should have only certain number of electrons to attain the stable configuration so they join with the electrons of other ions to attain the stable configuration. First an ion can get electrons. Second an ion can give electrons. So it is a kind of mutual understanding with that electrons. So when the electrons join in the above mentioned way they are forming bonding so they are broadly call as the process of chemical bonding.

Bonding of sodium and chlorine ions

(IONIC BONDING)

https://www.dummies.com/education/science/environmental-science/environmental-science-what-is-ionic-bonding/

Why chlorine is against peace?

It is not much against the peace as compare to the next element in the discussion. Chlorine along with liquids as turpentine and ammonia it is very explosive. Even pure chlorine when inhaled is poisonous to our body, high concentration can cause death. The main reason is the when they react with our body they form acid and those acids cause damage to our internal and external organs. It is one of the chemical used in wars.

http://gochemless.com/learning-center/chlorine-bromine/

Why sodium is against peace?

If you just keep sodium near water after sometimes it will behave like a bomb. In small amounts it is good of health, small amounts in the scene ten in thousand ( so very little). For our bodies it will cause organ failure if taken in large quantities. So the word explosive is enough to show that sodium is against peace.

SMALL AMOUNT OF SODIUM EXPLODING IN WATER

https://ehs.stanford.edu/reference/information-alkali-metals

How does both sodium and chlorine combine to become peace lovers? 

Simple as mentioned about the ions earlier, when sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) are combined, the sodium atoms each lose an electron, forming cations (Na+), and the chlorine atoms each gain an electron to form anions (Cl−). These ions are then attracted to each other in a 1:1 ratio to form sodium chloride (NaCl).  Simply the table salt is formed.

Now as both have their stable configuration so there is no need to react with other materials thus they are not dangerous now. Simply, sodium did not want the extra electron and chlorine want a electron so sodium by giving becomes happy and chlorine by taking becomes happy. As both are happy they do not cause any harm.

<I HOPE WE SHOULD LEARN SOMETHING FROM NATURE. NATURE IS THE BEST TEACHER>

TO SEE MY OLDER POSTS CLICK THE FOLLOWING LINK BELOW

https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/03/

https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/04/

https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/05/

Hope this article was useful and I hope you learnt something from it.

If you have any theories or questions regarding this you are free to express them in comments or you can chat with me in my Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/phy.sci/?hl=en.

For previous articles on this follow the following link

TAU1: https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/04/mysteries-of-fountain-pen.html

TAU2 : https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/06/tau2-egg-is-violating-physics.html

TAU3: https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/07/tau-3-color-of-clouds.html

 

POEM 2 NATURAL LESSONS

POEM 2 
NATURAL LESSONS

The sky is never the same shade twice and neither is your heart. 

The moon has never apologized for hiding some nights

and neither should you. 

The stars have never stopped shining because someone wanted them to and neither should you.

The earth has never stopped

moving,

growing,

evolving

for anyone

and neither should you.

W6: Water and life

 WATER AND LIFE 

Where there's water on Earth, you find life as we know it. So if you find water somewhere else, it becomes a remarkable draw to look closer to see if life of any kind is there, even if it's bacterial, which would be extraordinary for the field of biology. 

-Neil deGrasse Tyson 

Life in water

https://twistedsifter.com/2014/05/magnified-seawater-by-david-littschwager/magnified-seawater-by-david-littschwager-4/

Always water is associated with life. As the quot says where there is water there is life. Water is always associated with life. It is because of its important properties. The special properties of water make it so unique that the life on earth has evolved with it. Data says that on Earth we have 3% of pure water of which 0.5% is in liquid form. You may think that 3% among 100%  is a very small quantity among the growing population. I may say no because 3% is so huge that it has been serving as our only water source for hundreds of years. So it is our lack of attention has caused water problems in many major cities and low profile villages. 

In this we will know how water supports life. It is very important to understand it because without water we humans are out of life in 3 to 5 days. "Even though water is a nonliving thing it is the origin of living things."

What makes water so important for life?

Every drop of naturally available drop of water contains life in it. If we see at a very basic yet fascinating form of life, a single celled organism say amoeba. The most essential function for any thing is to do work in order to survive. Say take a engine if you do not give fuel it will not run and at the same time if the exhaust is not opened the engine will collapse. So the same principle apply to a living organism in order to survive, let it be a singled cell organism or the great blue whale. Their process may be different but their functions ate the same. So to do work, energy is needed.

Again take a engine, a fuel essentially contains carbon in it. As in solid form carbon is nothing but coal. Let me ask you, If you put coal in your car or bike will it run? No. So the carbon in liquid form is the fuel i.e. petrol or diesel. So due to the nature and availability of fuel in nature the liquid form and the gaseous from are dominant (Flossie fuel and natural gas). So by nature it can be seen that the liquid form is very important medium through which we can get energy. In a similar way due to ease of availability of water in liquid form in the normal surface temperate of earth. Water can be a essential medium to gain energy.

Water is nicked named as the universal solvent. which means that water can dissolve all the kinds elements and molecules of its type. As we can see the petrol or diesel that we use for the vehicles are not the pure form of fossil fuels or natural gas. Some additive like sulfur, lead other types of oxygents (helps to burn fast) are added so that the efficiency and the output of the fuel will increase in order to power the engine in a more efficient way. So for organisms these additives are called as nutrients, which are essentially our food in a primary view point. Now due to the polar nature of water and as most of the nutrients found in nature are in the polar or ionic form they easily stay with water naturally. Even rain water will contain small amount of  nutrients. These nutrients are not available like a butter block, they are trapped  in the earth's surface, So as water runs in the land it takes all the nutrients available add becomes a potential carrier of nutrients, which is the primary form of energy providers to the living organisms. 

Salt dissolved in water

http://web.fscj.edu/Milczanowski/psc/lect/Ch10/slide914.jpg

So, the liquid form and the unique nature if water to dissolve many things due to its polarity makes it a important part of life.

How water does its job? 

Take the amoeba. The function can be better explained using this single celled organism. Like our skin which protects us from the environment and helps to feel the surrounding and helps to cool the body. In a similar way the amoeba has a outer membrane which separates the organism from the environment. It also has other functions. As we humans have mouth to eat and leave out the waste through urine and stool. Amoeba dose not have such things, so the membrane acts as inlet and outlet.

Real picture of a amoeba, taking its food.

http://bio1903.nicerweb.com/Locked/media/ch28/amoeba.html 

Note on membrane 

Technically a membrane is a thin flexible sheet forming a barrier or a lining. So in living organisms each organisms has a membrane. Even our skin is a membrane. Essentially we can carry thing on the other side of the membrane by creating pressure difference. So it can act as a barrier from one side and act as a channel from the other side.

Egg membrane. This is how a membrane looks.

https://theuijunkie.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/eggmembrane.jpg

Which medium is good for making the membrane efficient

A membrane is very thin and sensitive even some membrane breaks due to loud sound, So when something is passed through a membrane it should be smooth and harmless. 

Consider gas, gases are very smooth but there is a problem with it. It requires lots of energy to store it in a confined place like our body. Next take solid, not all solids have a smooth surface and mostly they are available as a bulk matter so it will harm the membrane ( To imagine the above, consider your sweet coming like vapor from a pressure cooker top and rock salt coming out of your skin).So water is left.

Water being a good solvent of nutrients which are mostly ionic or polar dissolve in it. As water has the ability to flow the dissolve contents do not accumulate is single place. thus making it smooth and easy  to transport.

A Cross section of real plant cell membrane

Burton, R., Gidley, M. & Fincher, G. Heterogeneity in the chemistry, structure and function of plant cell walls. Nat Chem Biol 6, 724–732 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.439

Unicellular organisms and water 

Consider a single living cell, let is be of plants or animals. a cell as a membrane (plant cell have two of them).Now to gain energy the cell needs the nutrients or essentially the food. As water dissolve it. Through the process of osmosis (movement of substance through membrane due to pressure) the water along with the nutrients enter the cell and the the energy is produced. Now after producing energy the left our (waste) should get out of the body, so again the water inside the cell's body dissolve them and it is extract out of the body through the membrane. The same thing happens with us, instead of taking water through our skin we take though our mouth and let it out through urine or stool.

Unicellular organism in water

https://www.micropia.nl/en/discover/microbiology/Ciliates_en/

this is how water does its job. 

Water and underwater life.

Even here a unique property of water to dissolve gas comes to play. Essentially the most common sea animal is the fish. let's see how water helps a fish (This may be a hysterical en-query but it is important to understand it). Fish also needs oxygen to live but not as liquid oxygen but as gas oxygen that we use to breath. So a fish do not make any special reaction with water to extract oxygen from it.

One more specialty of water

Water is unique in many ways. Water not only dissolve liquid or solids like minerals, it also dissolve the gases in the atmosphere. As there are some space between the the molecules of water the gases get trapped between the molecules. Oxygen is on of the gas that get trapped in water. So the sea water contains dissolved oxygen. 

As fish have gills, they are naturally designed to get the dissolved oxygen from water and release oxygenated water. By this way the life in water lead their life. even underwater plants do the same.

This how a water breaths.

https://nessf.org/how-do-fish-breathe-the-science-behind-gills/

 Water and humans

Water contains every thing a human wants in order to live. All the food we eat do give us the energy to do work but it produces lots of waste. Essentially all the metabolic process inside our body occurs due to the liquids present in it. As water contains salt, essentially sodium ions, they are responsible for our motor movement because they conduct the electrical signals from our brain to our toes. You cant just take a sodium bar and eat because it will kill you only water can provide that sodium in ionic form.

Up to 60% of the human adult body is water. According to H.H. Mitchell, Journal of Biological Chemistry 158, the brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and the lungs are about 83% water. So water is essentially a important part of of our human body. It also helps the body to clean from inside and outside. As water is the main content of blood i.e. 90% of blood contains water. So the absorbed nutrients is carried out all over the body by blood (red colored water). As we know there is good blood and bad blood. The good blood contains all the nutrients and the bad blood contains all the waste like carbon dioxide, urea and many types of acids which are harmful for our body. Thus the drainage system  inside our body is run by water.

https://www.otsuka.co.jp/en/nutraceutical/about/rehydration/water/body-fluid/

Due to this reason we need to drink water.

Drinking water can be poisonous to human

Yes, large intake of water will lead to many problems. As more water is in the body the lungs will have a problem in its functioning, the nutrients will become diluted, the amount of sat become low ant there will be a efficiency of sodium. So over hydration will cause problems like water intoxication, Hyponatremia. It even causes the brain cell to cause to swell causing high pressure in the brain.

Cerebral oedema due to water intoxication. Plain brain CT scan revealed marked swelling of the sulcus at the frontal lobe and narrowing of cerebral ventricles at re-admission. Following the discontinuation of CY treatment and fluid restriction, hyponatraemia was promptly restored by 72 h without any disorientation. CT scan also revealed no cerebral oedema at hospital Day 10. Abbreviations are CT: computed tomography and CY: cyclophosphamide.

T1  - Water intoxication induced by low-dose oral cyclophosphamide in a patient with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-related glomerulonephritis

VL  - 1

DO  - 10.1093/ndtplus/sfn076

JO  - NDT plus

ER  - 

 

THUS WATER IS VERY IMPORTANT IN OUR LIFE, IT IS IMPORTANT  TO KNOW ABOUT THE THINGS AROUND US AND ACT ACCORDINGLY.           

The series W - Water a.k.a clear water is over

TO SEE MY OLDER POSTS CLICK THE FOLLOWING LINK BELOW

https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/03/

https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/04/

https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/05/

Hope this article was useful and I hope you learnt something from it.

If you have any theories or questions regarding this you are free to express them in comments or you can chat with me in my Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/phy.sci/?hl=en.

For previous articles on this follow the following link

W5: https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/06/w5-scientific-values-of-water.html

W4: https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/05/w4-structure-and-states-of-water.html

W3: https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/05/w3-mythological-stories-about-creation.html#more

W2: https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/05/w2-scientific-exploration-of-origins-of.html

W1: https://jjohnpaul.blogspot.com/2021/05/w1clear-liquid-aka-water.html