Peeps

The marshmallow part of peeps are made of of marshmallow, sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, and a couple of other chemicals that is mixed and then whipped.  The sugar coating is made by mixing sugar and food coloring in a special barrel, and then it is spread out onto the conveyer belts that the marshmallows go on.  After the marshmallows are shaped, they are placed on this conveyer belt and they go into a wind tunnel where the sugar is whipped around and it coats the marshmallows. The ingrendients in peeps are: sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, contains less than 0.5% of the following ingredients: yellow#6 lake, maltodexrtin, natural flavors, potassium sorbaate,(a preservative), yellow #6, yellow #5 (tartrazine, red #40, blue#1.
Peeps are not soluble in most liquids, including water, acetone, acids, or bases.  One would think that they would be soluble in most liquids, because they are made of sugar, which is soluble in water.  However, they are soluble in phenol, which shows that peeps are actually a protein because they are made of gelatin.  Interestingly, however, the peep eyes are insoluble even in phenol.\

sources
http://www.peepresearch.org/solubility.html
http://www.bhg.com/holidays/easter/recipes/how-marshmallow-peeps-are-made/#page=14
http://dairyfreetoddler.blogspot.com/2010/10/halloween-treat-peeps.html

Invention of the mole

First, in 1811 in Italy, Amadeo Avogadro hypothesised that equal volumes of different gases at the same tempertature contain equal numbers of molecules.  Using that information, Stanislao Cannizzaro used developed a set of atomic weights for the known elements by comparing the masses of equal volumes of gas. Later, Johann Josef Loschmidt calculated the size of a molecule of air in 1865, and therefore was able to estimate the amount of moleciles in a given volume of air.  All of these lead to the developement of Avogadro's number, or the mole.  The word mole comes from the german word molekulargewicht, meaning molecular weight, and it was coined in 1901.

http://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?mid=53
http://www.chemistryexplained.com/Ma-Na/Mole-Concept.html

biogeochemical cycles

Studying biogeochemical cycles as "coupled" means studying how the cycles interact with one another, and how they rely on each other.  This is important because in this way we can study how the cycles that occur in local areas affect the world at large in huge ways, such as global warming.  By understanding the different cycles and the the affect each one has on another, we can protect the environment and maybe stop global warming.  We must study them together because the cycles are falling out of sync and only by putting them back together can the world go back to normal.

4 facts about the bonding discovery

1) bonds that atoms have determine their properties, such as hardness, transparency, etc
2) applying strain during the bonding process can change the bonds that form
3) using optical spectroscopy and analysis, the researchers were able to examine what was happening on an atomic level when strain was applied to silicon during bonding
4) using strain can increase the chemical reactivity of a substance and cause it to make different structures

Alloys

An alloy is a mixture of two or more elements, at least one of which is a metal.  Most metallic items are actually made of alloys, not metals.  They are usually prepared by melting a mixture of the ingredients and then cooling them to form a solid.  Subsitutional alloys are when the atoms of the atoms of the different elements are about the same size and so they replace each other in the crystal.  Interstitial allotys are formed when the atomic sizes are different and the smaller one fits into the spaces in between the larger atoms.  One example of an alloy is brass, which is made up of copper and zinc.  Another is steel, which there are many types of, in some of which there is carbon and iron.

Color Vision in Birds

Five things I learned from the article:
1. Birds are sensitive to four or five wavelengths, while we are sensitive to three; we are trichromats and birds are tetrachromats or pentachromats
2.Some species of birds may even be able to see ultraviolet radiation
3.Birds have a higher proportion of cones to rods than humans in their eyes4.
4.Birds also may have double cones, and their photoreceptors may be different than humans'
4.In a bird retina, the fovea, where there are a lot of cones, is in a line rather than a circle, and there may be two fovea

Element Naming

When new elements are discovered, and then recognized by a comittee of  scientists, they are given a number, and then later the name and symbol are decided on.  Element names have to end in -ium.  Usually elements are named for famous scientists, such as einsteinium.  Until someone comes up with a name, and a comittee agrees on it, elements have names that derive from their numbers.