Can stepping in a room full of alcohol fumes make you drunk?

Well, can it? This was a great question that Pippin14 was wondering about last year, and I was thinking about what to post about for the little contest me, Pippin, and Toadsrockz are currently having, this seemed like a great question to try to answer.

If you look at the question, I actually have two different answers: both yes and no. Who knows which one is right? But mostly, I believe that no, it cannot make you drunk.

First of all, the main way you get drunk, is basically drinking alcohol, of course. The nicotine then almost in a way takes over your brain and influences you to experience things like hallucinations, etc. So what I'm trying to saym it that you only get drunk when the alcohol, the nicotine, the drug, is actually in your blood and in your system. This way, when you walk into a room full of alcohol fumes, it wouldn't affect you in any way, other than maybe either smelling good or bad to you.

On the other hand, maybe, just maybe, it could make you drunk. When I was learning about the digestive system, I learned why your mouth waters when you see food, and why that is actually when digestion starts in the mouth. The reason your mouth waters is because when you see the food, your brain is preparing itself for the meal you are about to consume. So maybe if you have have drunk alcohol before, your brain, while thinking your going to drink it, prepare and make you crave it. In contrast, if you haven't, your brain would be preparing for what your about to drink, so in a way, there is a chance you could be drunk.

In conclusion, there are many sides to this argument, so feel free to comment on what you believe.
Personally, I'd rather think that it wouldn;t really affect you in any way because I feel you're only "drunk" when the alchol is in you system.
Just something to think about :)

WORMS!

Today, we finished the internal dissection of our worm! It was sooo fun!
I learned so many different things I hadn't learned before, especially when it came to the the digestive and circulatory system. When I first saw the worm, it looked like a straw to me, long and thin. It was hard to think that such a small organism could have such complex body systems.
Though the preservative didn't smell too good, it was really cool to see what the inside of a worm actually looked like, along with learning many new facts. What I thought was the coolest was if you poked the intestines or cut through, you could clearly see the dark, fertile dirt, which was the worm's main source of food. Next, I also didn't know that a worm's brain was so tiny!
In addition, if you kind of lifted the whole digestive system in a way, you could see the ventral nerve cord running through the bottom; a white line and bouncy in a way.

All in all, the new vocabulary I learned through the lab were: setae
                                                                                           anterior
                                                                                           posterior
                                                                                           dorsal
                                                                                           ventral
                                                                                           clitellum
While observing the exterior and interior of the worm, I saw and can now tell the difference between the dorsal/ventral, the anterior/posterior, and all the organs: mouth; pharynx; hearts; esophagus; crop; gizzard; intestines; clitellum; anus; ventral nerve cord; and blood vessels.

Can't wait for the frog! :)

Snow, Snow, and EVEN MORE SNOW!

This is truly the worst winter yet! The snow is almost never-ending! Just yesterday we had an ice-storm, and now all the roads are covered in ice, and it's very slippery outside! Numerous schools have been closed due to inclement weather today.
It's only the beginning of February, and we have had numerous storms come our way! Plus, there's supposed to be another storm this Saturday and sometime next week.
This truly is the harshest winter yet. Though it looks like a winter wonderland outside, it's not as perfect as people think. To me, snow= shoveling. You see, not too fun, huh? Maybe for some of those lucky ones that get to stay inside, but I'm always stuck shoveling. Last week's storm was so bad that we literally had to push our car to get it out because of all the snow and ice accumalated under it! Not too fun.
Happy Groundhogs Day everyone! Hope there's an early spring; I don't want six more weeks of winter!
Stay safe, it's icy outside! (:

PIPPIN'S QUESTION BOX

~And as stated by Pippin14, spread the love of science<3 ! ~

Awesomespectacular Is Back!

Hey people! Awesomespectacular is finally back after the summer, though a little, well, a LOT late! Sorry, with all the chaos of the beginning of school, I've rarely had time to blog unlike Toadsrockz and Pippin14, who were right back on track. In fact, my last post was over SEVEN months ago in April! Oh well, but I'm back to blogging. Welcome new bloggers! Check out Pippin's Question Box for more information! Well, thats all for now.

AwesomeSpectacular1009(:
P.S. mostly intended for Pippin14 and Toadsrockz.

The Great Race!

I must say, this was one interesting project! It was fun, though at the same time a little irritating because every time I tested it, my car kept breaking down(I made it out of Lego Blocks). In the end, my car is finally intact. My Lego car represents Newton's Second Law of Motion, which is that both mass and acceleration affect the force of an object, which can be calculated by multiplying the mass by the acceleration of the object. Next, when the momentum changes, it is directly proportionally to the force acting on it. This is represented by my car, because I tried to add more mass to my car, which would lead to more acceleration, which would then lead to more force. This way, my car could possible go pretty far until friction stops the tires from rolling on the surface. As my car is built up of Lego Blocks, I tried to add more mass by adding extra Lego Blocks and a passenger. In the end, I had to remove the passenger because it kept falling out every time I tried to test the car! Hopefully, because of some of the extra mass I've added, it created more acceleration and force for my car to go fast as well as far. May the best person win!

Pippin's Question Box

What is entropy? Best

When I went on Wikipedia , I learned many different facts about entropy. For example, I learned that entropy is a measure of how organized or disorganized a system is. Is also stated that "Gain of entropy eventually is nothing more nor less than loss of information." Like kinetic energy, potential energy, and work, entropy is also measured in Joules. Next, I learned that entropy is a very important part of the second law of thermodynamics. Thermodynamics consist of objects that "carry" energy. For example, atoms or molecules.

When I went to a different site , I learned many daily life examples of entropy. For example, entropy works when ice cubes melt in a glass or when you pour sugar in your cup of coffee or tea. Believe it or not, these are all examples of entropy. From this website, I learned many interesting facts. For example, I learned that entropy comes from a Greek word meaning "transformation." These are just small examples of what I learned, which means that you can go on the sites I just listed to learn even more information!

Pippin's Question Box

Choose an article from Neuroscience for kids and summarize what you learned.

When I went to Neuroscience for Kids, I learned more about the Alzeimer's Disease and found many highly interesting facts I never knew about this disease. Alzeimer's attacks your brain is is definitely not a normal part of aging! People that are diagnosed with AD have memory loss along with some difficulty with their language and emotions. This is known as dementia, the progressive loss of intellectual abilities. People with AD need help with almost everything including bathing, eating. and going to the bathroom. Unfortunately, there is no cure for disease and will stay with that person for the rest of his/her.


The most surprising fact I learned was that approximately 4 MILLION Americans have Alzeimer's. Also, I learned that. by 2050, over 14 MILLION Americans could be diagnosed with Alzeimer's. I feel that the memory loss part of Alzeimer's is that it's really sad. I mean, soon enough, the person might not even remember family and close friends! The areas of the brain affected by this disease are the Cerebral Cortex, the Basal Forebrain, and the Hippocampus. What causes this disease? This disease and its symptoms usually occur after the age of 65, and it is caused by a gene known as ApoE on chromosome 19. Researchers are not 100% sure of this fact, but it is mainly the risk factor.


After reading the whole article, I found a really nice quote about the Alzeimer's disease that I really liked.


"Alzeimer's can be called the long good-bye. You grieve about the loved one from the moment you begin to observe the gradual loss of memory and the speech and personality changes, because they are incurable. The person you love is gradually changing before your eyes. You say good-bye many times until the final good-bye at death."

~Norma Wylie, 1996 (in Sharing The Final Journey: Walking With The Dying)

Pippin's Question Box

Why do people look up at the ceiling when they think? Best
People always look up at the ceiling when they think so they won't get distracted while they're trying to think peacefully. When thinking, you don't want to be distracted, and we all know that people get distracted really easily. When I went to this site, I had to agree with their thinking. When you look up and stare up at the blank ceiling, it's a lot more peaceful and less distracting. So when you look up when you think, I think you have less chance of getting distracted than someone that doesn't look up when they are trying to think.

Pippin's Question Box

How do icicles form? Best

From what I learned from this site, this is how icicles form: First of all, for all the people that don't already know, an icicle is a spike of ice that is formed when water dripping or falling from something freezes. Mostly, they are formed when either ice or snow is melted by sunlight or any other kind of heat source. This melted water runs in an area where the temperature is below 32 degrees Fahrenheit(0 degrees Celsius). This causes the water to once again freeze. In the future, any more water runoff will cause the icicle to grow more and more. This is how an icicle is formed.

Lit: 5 Fables

I think that the maxim/moral of The Wolf in the Sheep's Clothing is that appearances can be misleading and deceiving. By this, I mean that if the poor lamb hadn't thought that the wolf was his mother as it was dressed in her clothing, it wouldn't have ever followed the wolf and been eaten.

Next, I think the moral of The Four Oxen and the Lion is that united we stand and dividing we fall. When the oxen were together, they were able to defend themselves more properly because they could cooperate and work together. But when they had a fight, they separated and then the lion could easily kill them because they were alone and a lot weaker than if they were together.

The maxim of The Fisher and the Little Fish is that you should take what you get and be happy with what you have. In this case, the fisher should be grateful that at least he got one fish, though small, and be happy about it. If he let it go just so he could catch a bigger fish, and then he didn't catch another bigger fish, he would have nothing, not even the little fish, which is why I think the maxim of this story is that you should be happy with what you have.

The moral of The Crow and the Pitcher is that where there's a will, there's a way. Instead of giving up when the crow found he could not reach the water, he just kept trying and trying and was very persistent. If he wasn't, he would have probably given up and left, still thirsty. The crow just kept trying until he achieved his goal: to reach the water and drink it, which is why I think where there's a will, there's a way is the moral of the story.

Last but not least, the maxim of The Fox and the Goat is that you should look and think twice before doing something. You should also think and consider your idea before making a quick and hasty decision. If the goat hadn't made such a quick and hasty decision, she would have realized how stupid she was for jumping in a well just because a fox said so.