Chemistry - The Connection between Science and History
Sep 27th, 2007 by lvbirders
Josh and I have been enjoying reading, Napoleon’s buttons How 17 Molecules Changed History by Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson, in our science study of chemistry. The book is an account of 17 groups of molecules that have greatly influenced the course of history. The chapter on Isoprene has led us to a rabbit trail of learning about polymers. I found this great kids’ site with information explained in enough of a basic way that even Josh and I could understand it , although I did get some looks from him concerning “Paul the Lemur” lol. We pretty much just read the site for the information and ignored the “fun stuff” as Josh reminded me “he’s a little old for that” lol. I also found this experiment which we will be trying to do soon. We did do a little hands on with Josh creating polymer chains
and then “crosslinking” them.
The Napoleon’s buttons book is a wonderful companion for our Chemistry studies as it has a tremendous amount of history in it. The science is explained in such a way that Josh and I are able to get a general understanding of what they are discussing. Using it with my history buff of a son, I love the connections that it shows between science and history.
Sounds like a great book! What fun you two are having… :)
What an awesome project! I’ll have to look for that book.
http://tribeofautodidacts.homeschooljournal.net/
Oooh. We have that book. Have not read it yet as I am saving it for a bit further down the road. Maybe I’ll pull it out and see if I can fit it in!