Eye: The Human Video Camera

Eye spy with my crooked eye!

There are too much fascinating things about our own body it's unbelievable. Our pair of eyes is probably the most compelling, as I couldn't imagine my world of science without them so I take real care for mine (I assume you do too, or I will be more than happy to withdraw your eyes out and donate them to someone else who may have better use for them, and I'm not joking we're that lucky to have them)(!). It's one of our more delicate organs - at the same time being our most useful and unique. It can detect single photons dashing around (light for non-physicists) and it will convert these energetic wave/particles into electro-chemical impulses allowing us to see. They work at a specific rate which makes us humans see a certain amount of 'views' each second, this rate is so high that it seems smooth to us, hence it's related to a video camera working in the same process. I also relate the eye to a video camera because in our mind we can 'playback what we recorded'. We have the ability to look at something, close our eyes and picture the same image in our heads and we it helps us to recognise familiar faces in pictures. Invertebrate animals' eyes are slightly different from vertebrates because it may be adapted to view object in a certain angle, or underwater etc. But they work the same, so it's fine.

Reading this with my subsequent blogs you should realise this is probably the odd one out so far: this is a biology topic (cheesy). But eyes are that fascinating that I'm going to approve this onto my blog by calling it a biophysics topic (since it's the physics of the eye I'm really interested in). But at the same time I think you should know the basics about it, and below is a diagram that shows the main components of the eye which together collaborate to make the eye successful. If something went wrong with one of the components, the eye make stop functioning.

The lens is one of the more-know parts, is there to help focus light output into the retina. Dioptres is what is used to measure the curvature of an item and the lens contributes to roughly a third (18) of the total curvature produced by the eye. Cataracts is known as the opacities (reduced transparency) of the lens which blocks light going through and eventually reduces sight. Muscles in the lens contract and relax simultaneously to preform a function called accommodation which is the switching of focusing on the lens from short sighted/close up vision to long sighted/long-ranged vision, and it's a reflex. Many people wear glasses because one of the type of visions does not focus properly, and the glasses they wear have lens in shape according to whether they're long sighted or short.

The Iris controls the amount of light entering the eye, depending on the intensity of light in the surroundings. In dark areas the iris widens to allow more light to go through inside the eye so we can see more things. Cat like animals are known for having very adaptable irises. The colour of the iris is one of the main genes learnt in school that are inherited from parents, where brown irises are the dominant colour (no I do not know why, but you can find biologist to help you answer this question using your own eyes).

The cornea is the transparent film around the eye which you touch if you want to poke the eye, and does most of the contribution to refracting light into the eye (the other two-thirds infact). The pupil acts as the next shield up which absorbs all the light through its tissues (which explains why it appears black).

The retina is the 'conversion' part of the eye. Here lies the mechanical processes inside the eye, as this is where all the light is converted into impulses sent to the brain. The retina also does basic optical processing, such as edge detection and colour separation. So ultimately, it produces the image that we see.

That's pretty much the basics about the eye (all you'd need to know if you happen to be in a quiz night, and they ask you questions about the eye anyway), but I can tell you a cool error called aliasing. Aliasing happens when you see something move, but it's moving faster than the enumerated images your eyes record every second, so the view of what you see moving fast actually looks like it's going slowly, or irregular movements. Aliasing is also produced when you infrequently sample a piece of analogue signals in music - the coded samples join together to produce a completely different signal. Here's a video that demonstrates what I'm blabbing about:

Enthalpy: The Heat Wave Hello

More onto the chemistry side, enthalpy is probably one of the most abundant topics done in A-level Chemistry. I only know about one specification for chemistry (OCR chemistry A), but I can bet my grades they appear in every A-level specification. It's that important, and is the backbone for physical chemistry. I like physical chemistry, as it has plenty of maths in it, and the industry involving reactions and saving energy etc. has a lot of money involved (for us too) so I wouldn't recommend a no to any who would like to go into the chemical industry. But first you have to learn the basics!!!

Understanding enthalpy is straightforward. It's the measure of the total amount of energy stored in a chemical system (for dummies, it's just heat energy!). The enthalpy change would be the change of enthalpy throughout a reaction, which you can get two main types: (exothermic and endothermic). For those special literature/scientists would be able to work it out for themselves: exo- prefix meaning outside, and -therm- meaning heat. An exothermic reaction is one which throws heat out from the chemical system (the reaction) into the surroundings (air, water etc.) And by common sense, endothermic reactions take in energy.

Well, all reactions take in and let out heat energy (through the breaking and making of bonds), but what determines an exothermic/endothermic reaction is the comparison between the input and outputs of energy.
We rely on these reactions everyday. Respiration is an exothermic reaction produced by our cells; as we take in glucose and oxygen a reaction occurs which converts the orientation of the atoms into carbon dioxide and water. Photosynthesis is the opposite (endothermic), which produces our vital ingredients.

Every reaction has an enthalpy change (as you know), and it's called the Enthalpy Change of Reaction (no way!) which for my spec, you couldn't walk into the exam without knowing the definition - so by default - I know them off the dome. Here I go:
The enthalpy change of reaction is the enthalpy change that accompanies a reaction in the molar quantities expressed in a chemical equation. Jheeze.
Since combustion (reacting a substance with oxygen) is another important reaction, scientists have decided to exclude combustion as it's own enthalpy change called the enthalpy change of combustion (no seriously?) where most organic combustion reactions form products such as carbon dioxide and water.
The third most important (for you, anyway) is the enthalpy change of formation, which is the change made when a single mole of a compound is formed straight from it's broken down elements.
There are loads more important enthalpy changes including:
-enthalpy change of vaporisation
-enthalpy change of atomization
-enthalpy of hydration, work function enthalpies. Yeah, we could be here for a long time. But the last thing I want is my readers to walk out here not understanding enthalpy.

There are a couple ways of working out enthalpy changes, some being more useful than others. You can work it out using direct determination, where you work out the heat exchange by using the formula Q=mcT (J) and the amount in mol of the substance not in excess (mol).
Then, you scientists can use your brilliant mathematical brains to get in the form (kJ/mol) which enthalpy is measured in. Seriously though, you might want to up your math game to help you be the world's best scientists, my potential readers.
Another way is to use bond enthalpies, which is the difference between the average bond enthalpies broken to start the reaction and the ones made by the reaction (I think this method is the most straight forward)
The last method is using Hess' Law (named after Germain Hess, one of the scientists that if he was alive today, I could never disrespect him due to how much he devoted his life to chemistry). He worked out that you can follow a reaction through different routes (different intermediate product made) but as long as the initial and final conditions are the same, the enthalpy change will be the same for every one of those routes. Examiners love to ask students about these in exams to test their mathematical abilities for chemistry, so watch out my fellow readers.

Note to readers: If you would like me to expand on this, mabye if you still don't understand this and you want me to demonstrate the comment post is just below -_-

Infinity: The sideways number 8

 I thought that I would choose a topic which is maths related (as on this blog there wont be much of such) but at the same time, it affects the world of Physics and Chemistry in the same principals as if you attempted to cut a cake into three even slices, or an engineer setting a clock to a specific degree of accuracy in calibration to the time. It's experienced through certain paradoxes (such as the Grandfather paradox, which some may say it's evidence of how you cant time travel), or it can be experienced by a little child told to count chickens as a method of trying to get them to sleep (which may be seen as a lazy aspect of parents, but lets not get off of topic), but all in all, infinity is a concept with no boundaries whatsoever.

Quick Note to reader: I though I'd like to start off with a topic which interests me, and as it may not interest my readers as much, I'm going to be honest and say I do not care; as soon there will be plenty other topics to help you or read about - but apart from that - what makes a good scientist is that they are able to interpret other views about problems (theories) coming from other scientists such as myself (wouldn't do that far Savion!), so there. Having said all this, I will try to make this as brief and as interesting as possible.

The philosophy section of infinity (out of the three types of infinity, the others being mathematical and physical)(which perhaps was more of a science than what Biology will ever be) is actually pretty imaginative I thought. A philosopher held to high regard called Aristotle presented hiss mass population at a time with a set of paradoxes so draw more attention to the crowd. He created the paradoxes of motion (which some are actually interesting) and some of which I shall share with you.

Physical Infinity: Dichotomy paradox - Made by Aristotle, and I've heard of this before I even knew who the guy was; I remember my primary school teacher telling me about something like this. It goes like this:

'That which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal'

PREACH! For those scientists who are strong in science/maths but weak in English (I used to be like that, until I realised how important literature was) I'm guessing you readers don't know the definition of locomotion.  So I will explain. Suppose you was going to your friend's house from your own. No matter which way you use to get there, you will always past a point where the displacement from you to this point is half the displacement from your house to your friend's house. Then to get from 'half way to your friend's house' to your friends house you must past another point which is half way, or three-quarters the way from your house to your friends house. And from that displacements and further displacements as you get closer to your friend's house, there must always be a point half way between. And this is the paradox, it goes up into infinity, where the points are members of a geometric sequence with the common ratio being half. This would work with any set of numbers where the common ratio has a magnitude less than 1. And this idea is known as the dichotomy paradox. Simples.

Philosophical Infinity: Eternity - One of the most well known infinities, eternity is the state of existence for a limitless amount of time. Some say romance is a from of eternity, but I think that's a load of monkeys; you cant love someone like that for ever if people are changing all the time, because that would mean your not in love with the same person at the same magnitude if they've changed, because they are different. Not to say your intentions to fall in love with a partner wont be maxed out, but if the mood of someone suddenly shifts, then the amount of love they may recieve from you will also shift.
Aristotle also has a say in this - which is not surprising - as at his time thoughts on religion were stronger than thought on actual science. (He thought vacuums were a load of monkeys at the time). But you already know my feelings on religion, but I'm just saying.

'Can anything be said to exist outside of time and space?'
'Surely the event that started the universe must've been triggered from something else?'
'Are impossibilities really nothing? Can they be made possible providing it has been allocated the correct length of time?'

All these ideas which I'm telling you are not going to be answered today. But the smarter scientists/readers would go and do some more research on this, as there are an infinity number of ways you can lecture your biology teacher about this...

...and on that note, it's time to hibernate (yawn). Let me quickly say this as like a moral on today's lesson. Anything in this universe that you want to see happen can may well happen - only if you apply the right disciplines, and it may come in about 'pick a number between one and infinity!' years time (hey, patience is a virtue), but the chances are you have a chance. Don't be complacent and take on the ogre with one fist. Be patient and find an alternative, maybe get some support.
Good Night. Next blog's going to be on Enthalpy so check it out!!!

About Myself & My Unconditional Love for Science

...anyone reading this.. yes! If you're reading this kudos for you! I shall introduce myself and a brief description of my ideas and thoughts of this.
My name is Savion (Say-vee-yun) (and that's all you need to know about my personal details!) and I have a global interest about science and maths (in fact, when I was young, these subjects were just about the only ones I was any good at, however I do really like the subjects History and Art - which you could argue is the opposite of maths), and I believe it's important for other students to know the importance of science, and maybe considering it as a career. I'm currently studying science/maths in college, chemistry is my favourite science out of all, and I'm wanting to take this subject further in university. I hope to captivate my readers into my posts about science and help you cut through your studies.

Science's position Today
I believe science in schools is an underrated subject, with it being compulsory to take, with at the most 40% of students taking sciences in college. This is terrible, I think more people should take science, and out of the people who do take science half wont even finish their course (ugh). That's just lazy. You can't be taking science and not expecting to do any work throughout the course to pass - unless of course - you're me.

But this is the reason why I'm here, to let my readers learn more about what science teaches in textbooks, expanding your knowledge and maintaining the interest that you did once have when you chose to do science.
I only do chemistry, physics and maths, I don't believe biology is a strong science; I like biology and it's vital but students tend to take Biology as an excuse to call themselves a scientist (and if you do, I'd like you to slice your eyelids off right now), and then add Psychology to their roster which I think defies the laws of a science being a science. Or even Sociology. And then somehow, Geography makes the list, and I'm like WHAT? I then compare this thought about Geography to a frog applying for X-Factor. So keep Geography where it belongs in the humanities section, and while putting Biology slightly aside from the rest of them, lets call a square a square and a circle a circle by considering Chemistry, Physics (and ultimately mathematics, which I haven't talked about much here) sciences.

Science has become more knowledgeable than what it used to be, lets say, 500 years ago. With some experiments being luck, and the decease of many influential scientists along with their discoveries after each century, science has grown. It may seem like to the naive student that there isn't much missing in it's brain, but I just reply by saying a century ago nobody thought we could ever 'fly' from one country to another.

Religion versus Science
I don't think that this is a battle, more rivalry. I'm not religious, and I respect people who are to the fullest, but religion started out as a strategy to solve problems - just like science - the only difference really is religion is not 'physical'. That's all. Hundreds of years ago important scientists (lets say, Michael Faraday), were highly religious themselves, and this suggests the situation was like a person being friends with two people who didn't get along, rather than black and white. And all this controversy of what Muslim scientists are getting should be eliminated. These sides cant be against each other, as they both share a common goal, to make the world a better place to live on. People have just got to realise this.

Another reason (if I think I made any reasons) why you should consider a science career is that on average, people who have science careers (especially maths) tend to earn more money than people who don't, which is always a good thing.

I hope you all benefit from my blogs, and please point out any improvemets that I can make. Thanks
Savion