Last week’s readings were all about the states of matter. Whether a substance takes on the form of a solid, liquid or gas all depends on both the intermolecular forces (that is, the force of attraction between molecules) as well … Continue reading
On Jan. 20th of 2015, scientists confirmed a new type of chemical bond: vibrational bonds. Researchers began studying the new relationship in 1989 when a reaction between bromine and muonium in a nuclear accelerator broke a common law in chemistry: reactions … Continue reading
Professor Radhakrishnan’s lecture this week touched on several topics, but her discussion on the physics of music led me to research more about acoustics in buildings. I found a New York Times article, titled “Art + Physics“, which highlights the many … Continue reading
This week in class, we learned about how polarity affects solubility. Difference in solubility is especially valuable in the art of lithography, a kind of print-making developed in the late 18th century. This chemical process was developed by a writer/composer … Continue reading
During class this week, we learned about the different states of matter and how the characteristics of atoms change as matter changes its phase. Some of these phase transitions were familiar to me. Melting, the transition from a solid phase … Continue reading
After hearing some of Mala Radhakrishnan’s poetry in class this week, I was inspired to look up further examples of scientific concepts that had been captured by poetry. In my research I came across a poem written by the 16th century … Continue reading
In the article “Doing Science Making Art”, Conway states, “it is a curious feature of our perceptual cognitive apparatus that insight into the artists’ strategies, whether gained through art or science, does not seem to diminish the power of the … Continue reading
A beautifully rich color not occurring in nature, Egyptian blue might be one of the earliest examples of the intersection between art and science. Possibly one of the first artificially created pigments, the existence of egyptian blue shows us that … Continue reading
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/ajax/printable/?id=844&box=2 The PBS program “Secrets of the Dead: China’s Terracotta Warriors” explores the creation of an army of 8,000 clay soldiers that were buried with the first emperor of China. Although they have faded over time, the soldiers were originally painted … Continue reading
In 1869, Russian chemist Dmitry Mendeleev published the first draft of the periodic table of elements. His table arranged the elements in order of atomic weight -from lightest to heaviest- and included gaps where Mendeleev made predictions of yet unknown elements. Mendeleev’s … Continue reading