Valentine Chemistry

How was this year's February 14th? Think about it for a second.

You think it was good? Great, I'm happy for you.
You think it was bad? Well, don't worry if you didn't get any flower or sweets. Some things just can't be measured by other things, and this is one of them.
Also, if you get anything from someone just on Val's day, you should question yourself whether they really care. Let's say Val's day is gone, no more Val's day, will that person still give anything for you? What I'm trying say is, we don't necessarily need a day to show someone else that we care about them.

Okay, okay, I know I'm starting to sound like a terribly picky and materialistic person. In order for me to maintain my good image, I'm going to define that - or rather, those 'things' mentioned above.

Have you ever heard the 5 languages of love? (This is universal love, okay. Not limited to romantic love or passionate love or anything like that.)

If your dominant language is.....
1. Touch -> you show you care through hugs, pats on the back and things that involve physical touch. You wouldn't like people you hate doing those things, or even being close to you.
Nothing speaks more deeply than appropriate touch.

2. Words -> you show you care by talking to that person a lot. Like saying or explaining your thoughts and anything on your mind. You especially despise hearing negative things or insults about you or your loved ones.
This language uses words to reaffirm people.

3. Give -> you show you care someone by giving gifts. Gifts include food and drinks, accessories, books, well anything material to be honest. You don't give things to just anybody. You really hate getting things that you don't like.
What makes them feel most loved is to receive a gift.

4. Serve -> you show you care by doing anything that helps the one you love. Simple things, such as helping with a friend's homework, washing the dishes and sweeping the floor. You wouldn't even give an offer to help with any of that if you don't really like a person.
For these people, actions speak louder than words.

5. Quality time -> you show you care by spending some time with them, like eating lunch together or doing projects together. When you do and the person does not give you attention, you'd likely feel disrespected.
This language is all about giving the other person your undivided attention.


I think the 5 languages of love is worth knowing to have better relations with others.

Here's a real story:
A's least dominant language is touch while her friend B's most dominant language is touch. When B is happy, B will hug A, if B is tired, B will put her arms around A. A feels really uncomfortable with all this touch going on, no doubt about it.
If A doesn't know about the 5 languages, A will likely despise B.
Since A knows about the 5 languages, A tolerates B's actions and even gives B a hug if B is feeling down.

Okay so there you go! This post is getting too long now. If you want to find out your dominant language, just head over to www.5lovelanguages.com.

Some Magic

Conservation of Mass

One of the most basic things in chemistry. So according to this law, you will end up with the same amount as you started with.

Conservation? If I mix 5 grams of sand and 10 grams of salt, I will end up with 15 grams of sand and salt, right? At the beginning I have 15 grams, separated, and in the end I have 15 grams, mixed together. It's as simple as that.
Mass? Means that this applies to things measured in 'grams'. Kilograms, hectograms, decagrams, grams, decigrams, centigrams and milligrams are examples of these. (Yes, there are a lot more prefixes for this. Look them up on your own.)

Take caution though, the mass part is very important! If I mix 100 ml of water with 100 ml of alcohol, I only end up with 180 ml, NOT 200 ml. Why, you ask? To put it simply, when you put cookies into a jar, there's going to be spaces between the cookies and the jar, right? Though the jar is full of cookies, it is not actually full - you can still stuff in some rice cereals in the spaces. And if you put in 5 cookies, each weighs 6 grams and 15 rice cereals, 2 grams each, then you have 60 grams before and after putting those into the jar. So though if you look from the top of the jar nothing's changed, actually you've slipped in something to fill up the spaces.

If that's confusing, remember, chemistry is unseen by our eyes because everything's really really small. But that's the basic.

Back to the conservation of mass, this fancy term just means 'when you have that much, you only have that much'.
Remember, this works for grams grams grams grams.

Intro to Chemistry

Chemistry started out as a study where a group of people tried to mix things in order to make more useful and pricy things. For example, mixing lizard tails with frogs to make potions. Or to turn lead into gold and being rich in an instant.

Of course they didn't get what they wanted. It's just against the law of nature, don't you agree? They ended up getting nothing. Or so you think. It turns out that they realized there were some unusual happenings during their attempts to create all those impossible stuffs, and that's where chemistry comes in. To explain ridiculous and undefined phenomena.

I'd like to think chemistry as what we call by 'magic' in fiction novels and movies.

Why? Because it's a study of something that cannot be seen with our eyes. They're so small that you don't really know what's actually happening -  you can only guess, even with experiments. These experiments are accepted to be close to the truth because they're logical, but nobody actually knows whether it's legit or not.

I'd like to share some basic knowledge on chemistry on the next few posts. By basic, I won't use any chemistry equations or anything like that, so it's going to be just the big idea behind them explained casually. I sure hope that you will be able to make a sense out of it.

Details

The first fifth post! I always try to fulfill the promises that I've made so here's my first free thought post *dun dun dunnn*. I don't know what will eventually become of this post, let's just see what my mind-finger coordination will result in here, hmmm.

I don't know if this blog actually has its reader besides me and myself, but if anyone is there, do you notice the minor changes in the previous posts? I've fixed the typos and inaccuracies that one may stumble upon the previous two posts. Yeah, I tend to take notice to small, minor and the most unimportant details in almost everything. Those who know me in real life may not believe this fact because I appear very laid back, but honestly, I do pay attention, especially to people's names. Come to think of it, this is partly thanks to those Starbucks or J.CO 'mbak-mbak and mas-mas' who always spell my name incorrectly on my cups.

Other than names, I always check the packaging of everything that I'm about to take, making sure that everything's in good condition. These include comic books, pens and pen refills, game and CD cases (except if it is really rare and there's only one sitting on the shelves waiting for me to take home ;) ). Oh, and I always try to open gifts slowly and gently by taking off every tape on the wrapping paper one by one without tearing it.

Wait, that's not what I wanted to talk about in the first place. Hmmm. As it's getting late, I think I'll end this here and actually talk about what I wanted to talk about in the next fifth post. Yes, I am that forgetful. I think a lot, but forget like 90% of what I was thinking. Do I sound like Winnie the Pooh? It's okay though because at least I still have something left on my mind.

For my personal reminder: next talk about 'Never let your feelings get too deep. People can change at any moment', okay? ;)

New Direction

Hello! After two months of desperate blogging, I have finally decided a certain 'theme' for this blog. First things first, as you can predict by seeing my previous post, this blog is headed towards the path of science! Yay science! So yeah, more scientific stuff coming soon here. Oh and don't worry, I hate the idea of a copy and paste blog so I promise you I won't use weird languages or jargons to sound smart or anything like that.

Seriously though, I think it's really pointless for people to use jargons all the time - it ruins all the fun. Science should be - and can be - accessible for everyone hungry for knowledge. So yeah, accessible science stuff is coming your way.

Second, I will try to be a more open person by making this blog accessible to everyone. Feel free to come back once in a while to see if a new post has been added. Also, I've planned to post some of my free thoughts, maybe in the fifth post of every five posts, to make this blog feel more.... 'human'..... and personal.

I'll conclude this post with an image which instantaneously felt close to my heart.

YouTube Channels - Science

Have you ever been depressed because you have this science exam(s) tomorrow and you just don't understand literally any of it? I have been there; trying to ace tests by memorizing but not understanding. Albeit being able to score pretty good at science regardless how I study, 'studying' like that didn't feel right at all. Sooo I have found a solution to that! (And you don't need any solute for it.)

The key to your success is everyone's friend: YouTube!

With the help of these wonderful people (and also the most important thing: your effort. We need that, okay?), I guarantee you will pass your darkest and scariest exam moments.


Mathematics - PatrickJMT (Patrick Jones)
Math is really that simple - everything's right in front of you, shrouded by this invisible barrier of numbers. Patrick Jones' casual style will make you think that math is not mysterious.

Also check out his puzzle problems - they're really fun!


Biology - bozemanscience (Paul Andersen)
Though I've never met Mr. Andersen in person, I can tell that he is really passionate about teaching and science. Scoring a 90 at biology seemed impossible for me in high school, but thanks to him, I was able to attain an average score of 90 for biology in my report card! Woohoo!
Other than his complete collection of biology videos, he also has hundreds of videos on physics, chemistry and earth systems science, all available for your pleasure at bozemanscience.com.

Definitely a must subscribe for anyone struggling with science.... but wants to know science better.


Chemistry - Tyler DeWitt
Hundreds of videos on chemistry, he explains a lot of basic stuffs you need to know to survive in your science classes. The definition of moles, isotopes, secrets to remembering gas laws - all those stuff that goes between physics and chemistry classes.
Here's one of them: THE definition of isotopes. (I used to get isotopes, isobars and isotones all mixed up, but not any longer after watching this video).

I'm sure what he said to you will stick to your head because he progresses slowly, making sure that watchers understand the points he wants them to know.


Physics - TwuPhysics (Yau Jong Twu) 
Her videos are long, but they're really the best explanatory physics videos you can possibly find on the net. She has covered almost all physics subjects - with deep understanding of each topic.
D-1 physics exam, I had no idea what light diffraction and slit meant. Thank goodness I stumbled across her video and in less 2 hours I managed to understand everything there is about diffraction and slit problems.

One thing I really like about her is that she is not like those teachers who are 'this is the formula, just use this formula and put everything you know into this formula and this formula will solve all your problems'. She explains every single formula - where it came from, the reasoning behind it, so physics can become more like how it's supposed to be. Oh and she also has sample problems within each topic to make sure you're ready to ace your test!

Exams? Fear no more.