During the month of April, I offered a discount on all of my Classic Science Series Textbooks in exchange for some of the most used online resources for science education.

This discount offer expires on midnight Friday April 30th.  So if you are interested, act fast!

The responses I received were exceptional!  Thank you all very much!

I have placed these SCIENCE WEBSITES online for all of you to explore.  The comments I received from the families and educators concerning these sites have been placed under the links for you to read as well.

I hope to be able to provide these kinds of offers periodically throughout the year.  Stay tuned to my monthly newsletter – Mr.Q’s LabNotes to find out about these offers AND receive a free monthly activity as well.  And, as always, I promise NO SPAM!

Wait a minute… SPAM.  I think I just thought of another idea for a blog entry.  Hmmmm…..

Take care everyone.  Check out these great science websites.  And once again, thank all of you who took the time to share your ideas.  These are excellent resources!

Oh yes.  Pizza.  What more can be said?  Most of us have tried many different kinds of pizza and have found at least one favorite for the dinner (or breakfast) table.

So this week, let’s pull a little information from my Classic Science Chemistry book and dig into a little of the science behind this tasty item.  Rather than focus on the science of MAKING a pizza, let’s look more at the science of EATING our pizza.  First of all, let’s review some of the basic concepts we will be looking at from our previous series on the Science of Breakfast:

As you already know, pizza (like everything else in the universe) is made up of atoms.  And atoms usually do not just hang around by themselves.  They stick together with each other to form a larger group called a molecule.  Pizza is filled with billions of molecules!

This fact is both good and bad for us.  You see, our bodies need many of the atoms within these molecules to live.   That’s right!  We use these atoms to help us move, breathe, walk, talk…

But there is a HUGE problem!  These atoms are stuck together in such LARGE molecules that our bodies cannot use them.  Another way to say this is the density of our pizza is too large.  There are too many atoms stuck together in that piece of pizza for our bodies to be able to use them. We need to move them away from each other!

But how?

This is where our digestive system comes in!

First, let’s imagine you are eating your favorite kind of pizza. Once that pizza gets in your mouth your teeth get to work.  They grind your pizza into smaller and smaller pieces. By doing this, your teeth start to break down a lot of the large molecules into smaller molecules!

This means your teeth help to diffuse the molecules within the pizza away from each other!  This makes your slice of pizza less dense.

But the molecules that make up your pizza still need to break apart even more! This is when your body starts to attack your food with chemicals called enzymes (“en-zimes”). Enzymes are chemicals made by your body to do all kinds of cool things. Some enzymes are made to help break down the large molecules in your food!

Now if you want to get REALLY gross, you can open your mouth and look at all of that mushed up goodness that was once your pizza.  (Please don’t do that at the dinner table…)

You might be thinking with all of that grinding and tearing from your teeth AND the chemical warfare you are waging against that squished up goo swimming in your mouth that SOME of the atoms within that pizza HAVE to be destroyed, right?

WRONG!

The Law of Conservation states that atoms cannot be created or destroyed, only changed.  That means all those atoms within your pizza are still hanging around inside your body (unless, of course, you left a few crumbs on your cheek.)

Imagine a slice of pizza built out of building blocks.  You could easily take apart that artistic masterpiece with a little effort, right? Of course you could.  Well THAT is what you are doing your pizza with your mouth!  You’re not destroying anything at all, just rearranging the pieces.

I’m not done yet!  We’ve got a lot of science to look at during dinner.  Stay tuned!

Find out more about scientific concepts for your family within the Classic Science Curriculum

Be certain to check back every Thursday or subscribe to the Blog of Mr.Q for weekly updates.

LabNotes and the Archive

LabNotes are a monthly newsletter that I send out to a few of my friends out there.  In the past, I have been able to send these out from my own server.  Unfortunately, “the man” did not like me sending out a few thousand emails every month.  So, I had to change the format a bit and send them through a new server.  Hence, the facelift that all of you noticed in the October LabNotes.  Change is always scary, but I think this new format is going to work out just fine!  In fact, I’ve received so many requests for past issues recently, I’ve created an archive for you to explore.  Check out the archive and if you like what you see, register to receive your own copy.  I promise no SPAM whatsoever!

Suggestion Box

For those of you who have been following me for the past few years, I want to thank you for all your suggestions.  I could not do this without you.  To make things a little easier, I have created a suggestion box for you to send me a message about anything you like, dislike, or want to see from me.

Classic Science Labs (aka – Life Science Online Course)

Science Pioneers, a non-profit informal science organization in the Kansas City area, has asked me to create  an online course for homeschool families and public school educators based on the free Classic Science: Life Science curriculum I am offering.  It is entitled, ”eLab: A 6-Week Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything” and begins in January.  You can find out more about this course on their website here.

Classic Science Testimonials

Again, thank all of you who have helped to spread the word about the Classic Science curriculum.  I had no idea that so many people out there would find be talking about little o’ me.  I have placed a few of the blogs and personal emails I have received in the past couple of years about the curriculum.  If you are uncertain about whether or not the Classic Science curriculum is right for you, check out what people all over the world are saying in the testimonials!