A Modest Proposal, Scientifically Demonstrated: Chemistry is the only Necessary General Education Re

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A Modest Proposal, Scientifically
Demonstrated Chemistry is the only Necessary
General Education Requirement
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Ed Vitz http//faculty.kutztown.edu/vitz/
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Acknowledgements
Thanks to Carlson Chambliss for establishing a
means of recognizing research accomplishments
Thanks to nominators and supporters Excuse my
Diletantism
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Demarcation
A fish is not an expert in hydrodynamics
Imre Lakatos
In answer to Stephen Toulmin, discussing a
sociological demarcation of science
But what distinguishes knowledge from
superstition, ideology or pseudoscience? The
Catholic Church excommunicated Copernicans, the
Communist Party persecuted Mendelians on the
ground that their doctrines were
pseudoscientific. But then the problem of the
demarcation between science and pseudoscience is
not merely a problem of armchair philosophy it
is of vital social and political relevance.
Not to mention ID
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The Ambit of Chemistry
Demarcation of scientific disciplines
"The Ambit of Chemistry," E. Vitz, J. Chem.
Educ., 56, 327 (1979).
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Demarcation A Contemporary Issue
Election Statements by contenders for President
of ACS Catherine T. Hunt
Now, more than ever, we need to engage the next
generation in the exciting and challenging field
that is science. My 14-year-old son frequently
says, "Mom, you would have everyone believe that
everything is based on chemistry!" And I smile
and say, "So, you've been listening!"
http//www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/acsdisplay
.html?DOCelections5C2005candidates5Chunt.html
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• Demarcation A Contemporary Issue

Election Statements by contenders for President
of ACS George E. Heinze
Our Challenges. We see a confluence of basic
questions challenging us Who is a chemist, what
constitutes chemistry, and how should chemistry
be taught? These questions are deeply intertwined
and can no longer be ignored.
http//www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/acsdisplay
.html?DOCelections5c2005candidates5cheinze.html
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Professional Definition of Chemical
The ACS will award 1,000,000 to anyone who can
name anything you can touch that isnt a
chemical.
Michael Heylin, CEN May 9, 1994 To a chemist, a
lettuce leaf, a cucumber, or any other tangible
thing is chemical. They are chemical in the
sense that they can be analyzed, studied, and
largely understood in chemical terms.
Vitz, E., Common Meaning of Chemical,
Chemical Engineering News, 5/20/91, p. 2
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Wittgenstein 1889-1951.
The meaning of an expression is its use in the
multiplicity of practices which go to make up
language. There is no denotative link between
names and referents. Grayling, A.C.,
Wittgenstein, Oxford University Press, Oxford,
1988, p. 67.
Everyday language is a part of the human
organism and is no less complicated than it.
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1921.
The everyday language of chemists is not
consistent with Everything is a chemical!
(Chemical Senses)
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Proof that Perception is Chemistry Ferrioxalate
Actinometer
Prepare a solution of potassium
tris(oxalato)ferrate (III) in a buffered solution
of 1,10-phenanthroline. Flash with a strobe.
Vitz, E. The Ferrioxalate Actinometer, J. Chem.
Educ. 58, 655 (1981).
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Chemistry of Vision
All-trans-Retinol (Vitamin A)
11-cis-Retinal
Rhodopsin 11-cis-Retinal/opsin complex
Zurer, Pamela S., The Chemistry of Vision, CEN
November 28, 1983,p. 24. Hayward, G., et al,
Science, 211, 1981, 942-944.
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George Wald Photoreception
George Wald, Nobel Prize in physiology or
medicine in 1967 for his monumental contributions
to our understanding of the molecular basis of
photoreception he hired an organic chemist to do
some of it
http//www.nap.edu/html/biomems/gwald.html
The Origin of Death http//www.elijahwald.com/o
rigin.html
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Perception/Afterimages
1. Stare at a photographic strobe held at arms
length and flash it to see the afterimage.
2. With your hand about a foot from your eye,
point a finger upward and balance the
afterimage on the tip of your finger.
3. Move the finger to the left and right to make
sure the afterimage is balanced.
4. Move the finger toward you and away from
you. What do you see?
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Physics Perception
EYE
afterimage
flash
retina
lens
One real physical effect causes the angular size
of the moon's image on the retina to be about 2
smaller when it's on the horizon, compared to its
size at the zenith. This is due to the fact that
the moon is one earth radius farther away when
observed on the horizon. This size change from
zenith to horizon is much smaller, and in the
opposite sense to the moon effect. A change of
such a small amount is not large enough to be
noticed with our unaided visual system. Some
people suppose the moon effect to be due to
atmospheric refraction. Refraction effects can be
measured with instruments or cameras, and we find
that refraction actually makes the moon's disk
subtend a smaller angle in the sky than it would
have if the atmosphere were not present.
http//www.lhup.edu/dsimanek/3d/moonillu.htm
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The Moon Illusion
The moon illusion is one of the most famous of
all illusions. Stated simply, the full moon, when
just above the horizon, appears much larger than
when it is overhead. Yet the moon, a quarter of a
million miles away from the earth, always
subtends the same angle wherever it is in the
sky, roughly 0.5 degrees.
Kaufman, L. and Rock, I. "The Moon Illusion I,"
Science, 1962, 136, p. 953-961. Kaufman, L. and
Rock, I. "The Moon Illusion II," Science,
1962, 136, p. 1023-1031. Kaufman, L. and Rock,
I. "The Moon Illusion." Scientific American,
July 1962, 207(1) Cover and p.
120-130. http//facstaff.uww.edu/mccreadd/section2
.html http//facstaff.uww.edu/mccreadd/ http//www
.griffithobs.org/IPSMoonIllus.html http//www.bio.
uu.nl/lab/NE/people/borghuis2/scriptie.htm http//
www.grand-illusions.com/moon.htm
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The Ponsi Illusion
Emmerts Law You see with your mind, not with
your eye. Perception is 90 conception
http//www.cquest.utoronto.ca/psych/psy280f/ch7/em
mertSI.htm
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Emmert's Law
If a briefly presented visual stimulus is
followed closely in time by a bright flash or
pattern mask', it will be rendered invisible.
This phenomenon of backward masking' tells us
that the neural processing of a visual stimulus
can be disrupted before it reaches the part of
the brain where consciousness arises. Michael
Morgan Making holes in the visual world
http//neuro.caltech.edu/kamitani/paper/morganNat
Neuro99.pdf


Michael Bross Emmert's law in the dark active
and passive proprioceptive effects on positive
visual afterimagesPerception 2000, volume 29,
number 11, pages 1385 - 1391 http//www.perception
web.com/perabs/p29/p3038.html
Richard Gregory, Editorial, Perception, Vol. 27,
1998 http//www.perceptionweb.com/perc0198/editor
ial.html
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Perception (Consciousness?) IS Chemistry
Moving the hand sends chemical signals down the
arm to the spinal cord and to the brain, where
they interact with the chemical signals from the
eye, changing the location of the images.
Lithium treatments Oxytocin and
vasopressinmemory of social relationships Chemica
l treatments of schizophrenia
Can everything be reduced to chemistry?
Will the scientist who finds that all human
behavior is dictated by the laws of chemistry
claim that discovery as his own?
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The Mind/Body Problem Reductionism
Drawings by Roderick M. Chisholm in Richard
Taylor, Metaphysics, Prentice Hall, Englewood
Cliffs NJ, 1974, p. 19.
See also Michael Polanyi, The Tacit Dimension,
Doubleday, 1966 V.C. Chappell, Ed., The
Philosophy of Mind, Prentice Hall, NJ, 1962
John OConnor, Ed., Modern Materialism Readings
on the Mind-Body Identity, Harcourt, Brace, and
World, 1969.
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Mind/Body Theories
Cartesian violates 2nd law and E conservation
Brain activity causes both body action and
thought, which is illusory
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Mind/Body Theories
correlation without causation two clocks
God is the link between mental and physical
God preestablishes the corresponding paths of
the mental and physical
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Chemistry Defined

PV nRT
TiCl4, (CH3CH2)3Al Ziegler-Natta
With apologies to Nick Downes, Big Science,
AAAS Press, 1992, p10.
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Chemistry Defined
Chemistry
is the study (explanation, understanding) of
anything in terms of the properties of its
constituent atoms and molecules.
Is perception chemistry?
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Disciplines defined by Subject
Many disciplines are defined by the subject of
their study, as well as by their methods.
Sociology group behavior of people and other
animals Anthropology human activity in
historical context Geology minerals Entomology
insects Human nutrition Food Astrophysics
Space and its contents
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Physics Defined

Nick Downes, Big Science, AAAS Press, 1992, p10.
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Balloon Explosion
A Chemical Balloon Explosion Why?
The Grim Silence of Facts without theories,
mind
H2 O2 ? 2 H2O No physical change would be
that exciting!
Every sort of shouting is a transitory thing.
It is the grim silence of facts that counts.
Joseph Conrad
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Hydrogen Balloon Explosion History
Lakehurst/New Jersey, May 6th 1937, 7 pm The
"Hindenburg" has come all the way from Europe - a
luxurious flying hotel, faster than any ship. The
pride of the Third Reich prepares to land, and
hundreds of onlookers have gathered to
watch. Then, all of a sudden, a burst of flame
just forward of the upper fin. In a matter of
seconds, the largest airship ever built goes down
in a fiery blaze.
http//www.vidicom-tv.com/tohiburg.htm
Actual broadcast http//www.nlhs.com/sounds/wls_m
orrison.wav
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Hydrogen Balloon Explosion Economics (Hydrogen
economy)
CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI Prince Edward Island Premier
Pat Binns and Randall MacEwen, Vice President,
Corporate Development of Hydrogenics Corporation
(Nasdaq HYGS TSX HYG), announced today that
Hydrogenics and Prince Edward Island Energy
Corporation will lead a consortium of industry
and government partners to develop Canadas first
wind-hydrogen village demonstration - the Prince
Edward Island (PEI) Wind-Hydrogen Village
Project. This multi-faceted initiative will
demonstrate, in real-life and in real-time, how
wind energy and hydrogen technologies can work
together to offer clean and sustainable energy
solutions across a wide range of applications.
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H2 1/2 O2 ? H2O
0
H2 1/2 O2 ? H2O (g) ? Hf -241.82 kJ/mol
N2
O2
N2
N2
N2
O2
O2
N2
H2
H2
H2
H2
O2
N2
H2
H2
O2
N2
O
H2O
H2
H2O
O2
N2
?H 0.16 mol x -241.82 kJ/mol 38.7 kJ
Heat of formation Enthalpy change for
formation of 1 mole of a substance in its
standard state, from the elements in their
standard states.
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Explore the Chemistry
This explosion is slow (!) due to diffusion of
gases over large distancereal explosions are
supersonic (physics?). Use Chemistry to Speed
it upreduce distance between collisionsMix the
H2 and O2 !!!
Demo Water is electrolyzed, the gases combined
to blow bubbles in a soap solution in a viewers
hand and exploded. First done by Michael Faraday
(1791-1867) in 1826 !
The Art and Science of Lecture Demonstration,
Charles Taylor, p. 92.
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A Challenge
Weve exploded balloons chemically, that is,
provided a chemical reason for a balloon popping.
Chemistry deserves to be in the menu of General
Education Courses. Do any other disciplines?
Can there be
reasons for a balloon breaking?
Sociological/Political Science
philosophical
physical
Human kinetics
biological
psychological
musical
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Music
In art, we experience vicariously what might
lead to conflict, war, injury, insult if
practiced in actuality. We explore and resolve
moral conflict
I am making the apparently paradoxical
suggestion that play is the prophylactic of
warthe phenomenon of catharsis, the purgation of
the emotions recognized by the Greeks as taking
place in their dramadischarge of aggressive
impulses
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture A sombre
mood is set at the outset by eight solo cellos
intoning the theme of a Russian hymn, 'God
preserve Thy people 0-200) which returns in
full instrumental panoply near the end (200-345)
Edward Bullough, Psychical distance as a
Factor in Art and an Esthetic Principle, British
Journal of Psychology, Volume V, 1913.
Herbert Read, The Redemption of the Robot My
Encounter with Education Through Art, Simon
Shuster, New York, 1966, p. xxiii.
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Themes W.J.Comer (Univ. of Kansas, KU)
Peter Ilich Chaikovskii (1840-1893), Russian
composer of orchestra music, ballet and opera
scores. For the dedication ceremony for the
Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow, Chaikovsky
wrote the 1812 Overture. The music was to set the
tone for the celebrations around the new Church,
which was erected with public donations in
thanksgiving for and commemoration of the Russian
victory over Napoleon in the War of 1812. In the
section below you will find links to mp3 audio
files containing parts of the overture, together
with some commentary on what musically is going
on in the passage. Preview the different themes
of the work before listening to the whole of the
overture (which runs approximately 16 minutes).
You should be able to play these files with the
QuickTime player, with Windows MediaPlayer or
other media players. The piece opens with the
somber tones of a Russian Church chant, recalling
that the declaration of war was announced at
Church services in Russia and then immediately
followed by a solemn chant for Russian success in
the war. This announcement and public reaction
was captured in fiction in Leo Tolstoi's War and
Peace. There follows a theme of marching of
armies, carried out by the horns. Another theme
used in the early part of the overture is the
initial notes of the French national anthem The
Marseillaise which begins "Allons enfants de la
patrie, le jour de gloire est arrivé!" The French
anthem reflects the early French victories in the
war, including the capture of Moscow in September
1812.
http//www.ku.edu/russcult/culture/handouts/chaik
ovskii.html
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Themes W.J. Comer
This is followed by a Russian folk dance theme,
which commemorates the national unity that
developed in beating back Napoleon. While
Napoleon could be more daring in battle, the
Russians had patience and the people on their
side to wait out the invador and wear down his
enthusiasm. The French retreat from Moscow began
in late October 1812. Caught in the Russian
winter for which they were ill-prepared and
hounded by local resistance and guerrilla
warfare, the French Army suffers great losses.
This is reflected in the dizzying spirals of a
diminuendo. The firing of cannons reflects the
Russian military advances in forcing the French
further toward the borders. With the military
conflict over, we return to a solemn Church chant
to give thanks for the victory and the liberation
of Russia from French occupation. Below the
triumphant cannons and the horns, we hear the
strains of the victorious Russian national anthem
beginnning with the words "God, save the Tsar!".
The Russian anthem makes an important
counterpoint to the French anthem that was heard
earlier. Now that you are familiar with some of
the individual themes that come up in the work,
listen to the whole recording. (Note This file
is almost 4MB in size it will take a while to
download over a modem connection.) These
selections are taken from a recording of the 1812
Overture, opus 49, conducted by Antal Dorati,
recorded by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and
the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington, DC,
produced by London records, 1975, 1978. Page
composed by William ComerLast updated March 9,
2001
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Cozy Powell
1812 Overture 200 234
http//www.cozypowell.com/sounds.html
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Disciplinary Explanations
Sociology/Political Science I bet your group
isnt cohesive enough to cooperate on breaking
this balloon Why did it break? Group
cohesiveness Biology Strength of muscles
latex-degrading microorganisms Physics Forces
shear, stretch Economics Ill give you 5 to
break this balloon. Human Kinetics Start with
empty balloon. How many VOmax will it
take? Philosophy Why did the balloon break?
Because I have free will and wanted to break
it. Music On Beat.
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General Education
Richard Feynman The world looks so different
after learning science. For example, trees are
made of air, primarily. When they are burned,
they go back to air, and in the flaming, heat is
released, the flaming heat of the sun which was
bound in to convert the air into tree. And in
the ash is the small remnant of the part which
did not come from air, that came from the solid
earth, instead.
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Chemistry As Gen Ed
Its not the course, its the teacher
Passionate about the discipline and expression in
language and mathematics and sophisticated about
its connections with other disciplines.
1. Baker, Dorothy. J. Chem. Educ. 1927, 4,
1128. 2. Simons, J. J. J. Chem. Educ. 1935, 12,
461. 3. Hopkins, B. S. J. Chem. Educ. 1935, 12,
418. 4. Tro Nivaldo J., Chemistry as General
Education, J. Chem. Educ. 2004, 81. 5. Bent,
Henry A., A Dialog Concerning the Two Chief
World Systems Art and Science, J.Chem. Educ.
1981, 58, 331
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End