|
Here are some projects that I am currently working on:
For chemistry teachers and all students of chemistry, I am developing a Color-Coded
Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements. The color-code will indicate where in the universe the chemical was made. For example.
all the Hydrogen present in the universe today was made during the first three minutes of the Big Bang. Visit this site often
to learn more about this project.
Here is a
sample of my proposed Introduction to the Periodic Table Project:
How We Found out Where
the Chemical Elements were Born
You know when and where you were born. But, do you have any idea where your atoms (the very chemical elements you are
made of) were born? Our first suggestion might be that the atoms were all born simultaneously with the rest of the universe,
during the Big Bang about 15 billion years ago. We can shoot down that idea easily: It was much too hot at the Big Bang for
any kind of atom to survive. The nuclei of the 94 natural elements (including the protons, the nuclei of hydrogen atoms) would have all been torn to shreds at the near-infinite temperature of space at the instant
of the birth of the universe.
So,
how did the elements get into the universe? Prior to the 20th century, nobody had a clue.
Curiously, the scientists that found the first clues were not chemists, and were not even looking for the origin of
the chemical elements. They were physicists. They were trying to calculate the age of Earth using scientific principles.
It
was Lord Kelvin who took the first cautious steps. He reasoned that he only had
to calculate the time needed for Earth to cool down from its original molten state to its present temperature. Then, as an
independent check, he could calculate the age of the Sun (assuming the Suns heat was due only to gravitational contraction
of its gases). Kelvin worked on this problem off and on over a period of thirty years and came up with an answer: Sun and Earth are each 24 million years old.
Thomas
Chamberlain and other geologists virtually gagged when they saw Kelvins estimate. They knew that evidence from sedimentary
rocks indicated that Earth was certainly much older than 24 million years--probably close to one billion years old. Chamberlain
guessed that there must be an almost inexhaustible fuel that was supplying heat to the cores of both Earth and Sun.
In
1905 Albert Einstein, with his equation e = mc2 , provided a possible inexhaustible fuel. If energy equals mass
times the velocity of light squared, then every grain of sand, every stone is a potential fuel! But, how do you burn a stone?
Not by any chemical reaction, which involves the electron shells surrounding every atom. You can burn a stone by reacting the nuclei of the atoms in the stone.
Nuclear chemistry was pioneered in England in 1919, in Ernest
Rutherfords laboratories (the same Rutherford that discovered the nuclear atom). When Sir Arthur Eddington heard of Rutherfords
work, he immediately realized that nuclear reactions could provide the inexhaustible fuel to power the Sun---this was the
clue that eventually resolved the puzzle of where did the chemical elements come from.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is Another Active Project
For science teachers and students and anyone interested in the Creation of
the Universe, I am working on a book which will explain (in language you can all understand) just what "God" had to do to
make that famous tree (in "only God can make a tree"). The tentative title of that book is God's Dream--News about
this Project will appear on this page on a regular basis.
If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me
at: harrymin@comcast.net
So, Who is Harry Gilbert?
Well, for starters, I am a science writer, an author, a science
teacher, a retired Rocket Engineer.
How did I get to where I am?
I was educated at Lafayette, Audubon, and John Adams public schools
in Cleveland,Ohio. I graduated as a Chemical Engineer from Case School of Applied Science (now Case Western Reserve University).
One of my early triumphs as a working engineer was the synthesis
of vinylidene cyanide, a molecule that many chemists were trying to make.
A more recent success was the development of an improved rocket
propellant for the Sparrow missile. However, what made me most happy was working with my daughter Diana Gilbert Smith on a
science teacher's resource book that was recently adopted by the Education Department of Adler Planetarium as a principle
resource in their "Astronomy Conections, Gravity and Black Holes" professional development program for middle school science
teachers. The book, Gravity: the Glue of the Universe, is now in its third printing.
There have been many excellent reviews, but here is
my favorite
Review
:
Appraisal: Science Books for Young People, published
by Northeastern University, Boston, MA. This is a journal dedicated to reviewing teacher's resource science books for students
K-12. The following review of Gravity, the Glue of the Universe appeared in Vol.31, N4, Fall 1998.
This textbook
provides an extensive look at gravity from the times of Aristotle to Stephen Hawking. It shows the evolution of scientific
techniques employed by scientists and theorists through the years. Each chapter has two formats: a narrative section followed
by instructional units, with lesson plans and experiments. All the experiments use low budget, easy-to-find materials. They
are all geared to a regular class period and ask the student not just to repeat the experiment, but think about what is happening
and why.
The narratives and lessons are interesting and compelling, you wanted to roll up your sleeves and get to work immediately.
The engaging narrative and well-chosen activities clearly present the evolution of the understanding of gravity while
illustrating the development of the scientific method itself. Nine appendices, a selected bibliography (including Internet
resources), list of references and an excellent index complete this thorough work.
|
