The chicken..or the egg?

Hello again people!

And how might I ask are you feeling today?
Hehe,all the niceties aside, today's topic will be chicken and egg. More importantly, albumin. Now, If I remember correctly.. there's an old unsolved mystery that exist every since I was a dust: What came first, the chicken or the egg?

While in the midst of pondering this piece, let me begin by saying my answer would be a Zeno's Paradox (Check it on wiki if you like). So, don't expect a straight answer from me. Coming back to the egg, what does the embryo need in the egg to become a chicken? Albumin. I am sure you've done some experiments in high school about egg whites. If you boil them, they turn..well..white. And that, my good sir, is translated into Albus in Latin. Aha! Bet you'd never thought Dumbledore was named after the egg..Maybe that's why he's quite cracked..lol. Back to the topic, albumin is basically any protein that can dissolve in water and experience heat coagulation.(cooking egg white)Remember, albumin is only reference to one type of protein, albumen(egg white) is made up from dozens of them.

Proteins a.k.a polypeptides, are made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain polymer and joined together with peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups containing amino acid residues. The reason why there are varying proteins that exist (e.g. Keratin, Lectin e.t.c) is because the linear polymeric chains enable different composition and structure to form. The sequence of amino acids determine the function. It's like having 11 clothes in your wardrobe but having 39916800 ways of wearing them. If a protein is undergoes hydrolysis(hydro-hydrogen, lysis-break), we would get a mixture of amino acids. Proteins are also classified according to their solubility and shape, such as fibrous protein (e.g.skin, hair) and globular protein(e.g egg albumin, enzymes.

Globular proteins are sometimes soluble in water and sometimes form colloids(starch solution). Why soluble? This has to do with the hydrophilic tendencies of the protein(philia=love). They have a roughly spherical shape and highly folded structure(compact). Now, egg white is albumen. Egg albumin is ovalbumin. We are talking about the basic things that build body, even our own. They are Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Hydrogen. (Amino acids has -NH2 and -COOH groups). These form the very compounds that ultimately make us function.

The lesson of war, young grasshopper, is that to look at how uniquely simple building blocks of chemistry creates our building blocks of life(cells). And how cells create organisms, ultimately individuals. Individuals form community and earth is the part of universe. We are made of teamwork. We are never alone at all, are we? We're just a part of the bigger picture, you and I. War exist but peace does too. The only way to understand this game is to look at the bigger picture.

Henceforth, I end my weekly rantings again here with my answer whether a chicken or an egg comes first-that is a paradox. We should be focusing on what feeds the egg to become the chicken. The next generation, people. Think BIG!

Thank you for joining me! XD

Vaseline(R) is good for your skin!

Recently, I've developed peeling skin all over my palms. I don't know why though..
:( Anyway, as I was walking back from class that day, I noticed there's actually a Guardian lot here. So I entered it. I walked up and down the aisle and finally something caught my eye(Did I ever tell I'm the worst shopper ever? I take too long figuring what I want and when I do, I compare prices, survey other shops, balance debit-credit accounts etc before I actually purchase something? I know.. business people's worst nightmare..) Anyway, what I saw was Vaseline(R), you would know that by now from the title. Now, I know Vaseline's been around for ages, probably since my mother's mother's and maybe another mother's time. That make it a reliable product to me..hehe.

Back to the chemistry part of it, what is Vaseline? The answer to that question is one word: Petrolatum. "Petro-what'" you say? Petrolatum. It's not the actual petroleum, rather, it was a deposit of paraffin-like material in the first oil rigs. These were really troublesome deposit, often causing machines to malfunction. Workers, however, used it for cuts bruises and burns because it hastens healing. This is partially true. Once a wound is cleaned and disinfected, the petroleum jelly may be applied on the bruise to prevent bacteria from infecting the wound. It's like a sealant from the bacterias. (But don't try eating it! It can cause lipid pneumonia, result of inhaling fat)

Petroleum jelly is colourless, flammable, viscous mixture of hydrocarbons and is devoid of taste and smell(Although I swear it smells a bit like plasticine!-but no surprise there, people. Apparently, petrolatum is used as a lubricant for plasticines, enabling a higher malleability and inelasticity) t does not oxidise when exposed to air nor is not readily reacted with other chemical reagents. It is insoluble in water but soluble in chloroform, benzene, carbon disulfide and oil of turpentine. This means it can only be dissolves in mildly polar or non-polar solvents. Water is extremely polar. There's a new fact for you today.

A lot of pharmaceutical oitments use petrolatum because of their low reactivity and lubricating effect. Petrolatum differs from glycerol, despite producing the similar feel when applied to thr skin. Petrolatum is a non-polar hydrocarbon that is hydrophobic(hydro=water, phobia=fear) whereas glycerol (an alcohol-the -ol is attached to the name) is the opposite. The glycerol is so strongly hydrophilic(philia-affinity) that it continuously absorb the moisture from the air, resulting a wet feeling similar to the greasy feeling of petroleum jelly.

Hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties are like allies that either like you or don't like you. They may be good for some certain party but it may differ entirely for the other. So..are allies necessarily a good thing? Well, some people like their lotions greasy and some don't. Hence, the chemical warfare. Haha, I'm a grease girl, you are?

So ends my post for today, hope you enjoyed this blog. Thank you!