What is the Chemical Composition (Ingredients) of Ivory Soap?

Based on the analysis given in U.S. Patent No. 3,933,780 , the composition of Ivory Soap was determined to be 12.8% Lauric Acid, 7.5% Myristic Acid, 0.6% Myristoleic Acid, 21.8% Palmitic Acid, 3.7% Palmitoleic Acid, 13.6 % Stearic Acid, 31.6% Oleic Acid, 3.1% Linoleic Acid, and 5.2% Other (includes C6-C10). All these acids are as their sodium salts. The numbers are probably plus or minus 3% and vary with the species of animal rendered for tallow, and the time of year that either the tallow, or coconut oil was obtained. The mixture is optimized for cleaning. The coconut oil (cocoate) has C12-C14 sodium salts that give a good lather, but are not very good for cleaning. The tallowate is not good for lather, but is very good for soil removal. The acids are shown in their cis form. There can be some isomerization to trans, during processing. The ivory soap bar may also contain some glycerin, sodium chloride, and water. Taken as a whole, the average molecular weight of the sodium salts is 281 grams/mole. A wikipedia article discusses fatty acids. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_acids . A table of the GLC analysis and chemical stuctures of the fatty acids found in Ivory Soap (reg. trademark) are illustrated below:

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN%2F3933780

Here is an activity for exploring the surface tension properties of water:

Surface Tension (Soap Boat)

http://mypages.iit.edu/~smart/scavjoh1/lesson1.htm

Study Guide - Midterm Exam Spring 2009

Name ________________________
And where did we get the name for Punnett squares? From a man named R.C. Punnett. He was a genetics professor at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. “Punnett had a role in connecting Mendelism with statistics. In 1908, Punnett was asked at a lecture to explain why recessive phenotypes still persist — if brown eyes were dominant, then why wasn't the whole country becoming brown-eyed? Punnett couldn't answer the question to his own satisfaction. He in turn asked his friend the mathematician, G. H. Hardy. Out of this conversation came the Hardy-Weinberg Law which calculates how population affects genetic inheritance. “ http://www.ams.org/featurecolumn/archive/genome3.html
ANDERSONCRDIISTUDYGUIDEMIDTERMEXAM2009

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NATURE OF SCIENCEWhat is science?
What is a theory? What are examples of theories?What is an inference? What are science processes? Be able to identify. (Do not confuse with steps of the scientific method)
Know how to graph data and interpret graphs.
What do scientists do with data?
Know that scientists use the metric system for measuring.

QUESTIONS ABOUT EVOLUTION AND NATURAL SELECTIONWhat is variation?What is selective breeding (artificial selection) and what is natural selection?What are the steps in the process of natural selection? Be able to explain: The signficance of overpopulation The significance of variation in populations
The significance of the struggle for existence
The significance of differential survival and reproduction
Be able to explain predator and prey interactions in relation to natural selection.Who was Charles Darwin?
Know what these are: homologous, analogous, vestigial structuresHuman classification and evolution, extinction, hominids, hominoids.What is a species?Be able to describe the evidence that scientists use that supports the theory of evolution.
Be able to describe an example of evolution over geological time, such as whale evolution, human evolution, evolution of the horse, etc.Know how to create and use a dichotomous key. Know about classification of bacteria, and antibiotic resistance in bacteria.

QUESTIONS ABOUT GENETICS

Know how to draw and interpret a Punnett square for crosses between tall and short plants. Know what phenotypes and genotypes are. Know how to determine genotypic and phenotypic ratios and proportions.

Know what dominant and recessive is. Know what chromosomes are. Know the number of chromosomes in the human body and in human germ cells. Know what homozygous and heterozygous are. Know what a hybrid is. Know what alleles are.

Know why Gregor Mendel is important to the study of genetics, what he studied and why, and the concepts he contributed to the field of genetics.

Know about sex-linked traits, how to use Punnett Squares for those traits, and the importance of the X and Y chromosomes. Know what autosomes and sex chromosomes are. Know what a karyotype is and how gender of offspring is determined.

GATTACA Movie and Designer Babies

Reading Questions – GATTACA and Designer Babies
Goldberg, Allen. “Parental vanity corrupts a lifesaving technology.” The News Journal,
[Wilmington, Delaware] 28 Feb. 2009: A11.

http://henrystrongingoldberg.blogspot.com/2009/02/httpwww.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mgoldberg17-2009feb17,0,4288749.story

1. The movie, GATTACA, is copyrighted 1997. What services are the Fertility Institutes (Los Angeles) offering to patients that are similar to a scene in the movie?

2. From information that is written the news article, answer these questions:
a. What is “in vitro” fertilization?”
b. What is “preimplantation genetic diagnosis?”

3. What is Fanconi anemia?

4. In the author’s opinion, why would creating “designer babies” cause problems for families who are trying to have a baby free of fatal genetic deseases?

5. Most cases of Fanconi anemia are inherited as autosomal recessive traits (scientists are still researching the genetic inheritance of the disease – it’s more complicated than presented in this question). If “A” represents a normal gene and “a” represents a defective gene, show, in the Punnett Square below, how a child can inherit Fanconi anemia.

6. How can Fanconi anemia be treated?

http://henrystrongingoldberg.blogspot.com/ Update: March 5, 2009. The Fertility Institutes have backed away, for now, from offering designer baby services.
http://henrystrongingoldberg.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_DearHenryArchive.html

Wickelgren, Ingrid. “Designer Genes, Will DNA Technology Let Parents Design Their Kids?” Current Science, Weekly Reader Corporation [Riverside, New Jersey] 3 Dec. 2004: pp. 10-11.
ABC News. "Boy or Girl?" Couples Choose Unborn Children's Sex." 25 March 2006. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Health/Story?id=1767206&page=1


Here is a link to my posting with the reading questions that go with the movie GATTACA:
http://cavalierscience.blogspot.com/2009/03/gattaca-movie-and-designer-babies.html

Another post of interest:
http://cavalierscience.blogspot.com/2010/07/longevity-genes-found-predict-chances.html

Watching the Movie - GATTACA

Students watched the movie GATTACA (can be rented at a video store) and answered questions on the viewing guide, which can be found as a file at the bottom of this web page: http://www.middletownhs.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=41979&type=u&rn=1482866, or at this web site:
http://mshartatgreenhope.googlepages.com/Week16.doc This is part of our study of genetics.
The answer key for the viewing guide questions can be found here: http://www.middletownhs.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=41979&type=u&rn=5497465

Here is another website that has questions about the movie GATTACA, and lessons about genetic engineering humans:
http://science.uniserve.edu.au/school/movies/gattaca.html

This is another website that has questions about GATTACA:
http://www.teachwithmovies.org/

My students also read an article about designer babies, and I designed a question sheet that goes with the reading: http://cavalierscience.blogspot.com/2009/03/gattaca-movie-and-designer-babies.html

Another post of interest: http://cavalierscience.blogspot.com/2010/07/longevity-genes-found-predict-chances.html

Human Evolution Multimedia

Students watched a video clip: Did Humans Evolve? The video clip can be found at this web page:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/educators/teachstuds/svideos.html

Students also watched this video clip: Becoming a Fossil. The video can be found at this web page:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/04/3/l_043_01.html

Human evolution was demonstrated by observing this online activity:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/evolution/

This website ( http://www.becominghuman.org/ ) and note taking sheet ( http://www.middletownhs.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=41979&type=u&rn=4264204 ) are for an extra credit activity.

Here is an interesting article, Neaderthals Conquered Humans, Why Not Us?
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/09/09/neanderthal-mammoth.html

Another interesting article 05/19/09, 47-million-year-old human link revealed
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090519/sc_afp/usgermanynorwayarcheologysciencelead
Here is the original article that appeared in the Public Library of Science:
Complete Primate Skeleton from the Middle Eocene of Messel in Germany: Morphology and Paleobiology
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0005723
This online National Geographic article contains a video clip that tells about Ida, the 47-million-year-old fossil
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/090519-missing-link-found.html
The video clip is also available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLilqm6GxrA

This online article describes the genetics/evolution involved with lactose intolerance and adult milk drinkers: Sixty percent of adults can't digest milk
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2009-08-30-lactose-intolerance_N.htm?imw=Y
The original article about adult milk drinkers can be found online:
http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1000491

Here is the National Geographic online article about the oldest fossil skeleton of a human ancestor (as of October 1, 2009):
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091001-oldest-human-skeleton-ardi-missing-link-chimps-ardipithecus-ramidus.html
This is the link for the AAAS video about the analysis of the Ardipithecus ramidus skeleton:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC9aIth1ah4&feature=related
This web site has a video about the oldest fossil skeleton of a human ancestor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyx-ryWHB2s
Here is a song about Ardipithecus ramidus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-DCcrLIcL4

DNA suggests Siberian find could be humans' long-lost relative (March 24, 2010)
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100324/full/464472a.html

Australopithecus sediba: A New Species of Homo-Like Australopith from South Africa (April 9, 2010)
http://www.sciencemag.org/extra/sediba/

9-Year-Old Kid Literally Stumbled on Stunning Fossils of a New Hominid
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/04/08/9-year-old-kid-literally-stumbled-on-stunning-fossils-of-a-new-hominid/

Updated information on how Australopithecus sediba walked, moved around, and ate:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130411142719.htm

Sequencing The Neanderthal Genome
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/328/5979/710
Research raises doubts about whether modern humans and Neanderthals interbred
http://discovermagazine.com/2013/march/14-interbreeding-neanderthals

First Direct Evidence of Chalcolithic Footwear from the Near Eastern Highlands
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0010984

The Evolution of Blue Eyes - Article - Darwin's theory of natural selection evolves

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/08/science/sci-evolution8

All Non-Africans are Part Neanderthal - Article - Genetic confirmation that our ancestors interbred

http://news.discovery.com/human/genetics-neanderthal-110718.html

Smithsonian Magazine's article on Evo-tourism
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/evotourism/Evotourism.html

A phylogenetic tree of human evolution
http://www.nabt.org/blog/2010/02/18/digging-up-our-family-tree/

Male common ancestry and the Y chromosome
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23240-the-father-of-all-men-is-340000-years-old.html

Mutation rates help estimate the age of our common ancestry
First migration from Africa less than 95,000 years ago: Ancient hunter-gatherer DNA challenges theory of early out-of-Africa migrations

Khoe-San peoples diverged before 'out-of-Africa' migration of modern humans

"The largest genomic study ever conducted among Khoe and San groups reveals that these groups from southern Africa are descendants of the earliest diversification event in the history of all humans -- some 100,000 years ago, well before the 'out-of-Africa' migration of modern humans."

Neanderthal fossils found in Greek cave suggest ancient humans and Neanderthals shared a common region with each other
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/02/neanderthal-fossils-greek-cave-ancient-humans_n_2992294.html?utm_hp_ref=science#slide=581869
 

Genetics Tests 1,2,3,4 Questions and Answer Keys

Why Is Evolution Important Now? Understanding Extinction and Our Environment

Students read an article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27503150/ about the possible extinction of the Mexican axolotl, and answered the following questions:

Koop, David. “Scientists try to preserve Mexico’s bizarre axolotl.” The News Journal, [Wilmington, Delaware] 3 Nov. 2008: A5.

Reading Questions

Name _______________________ Period _______
1. What exactly is an axolotl?
2. The International Union for Conservation of Nature put the axolotl on its
annual list of threatened species. Why is the axolotl population declining?
a.
b.
3. Biologist Luis Zambrano says that if the axolotl goes extinct, it would be a great loss to:
a.
b.
4. Describe:
a. What an axolotl looks like.
b. How an axolotl moves around in its environment.
c. What an axolotl eats.
d. How the axolotl got its name.
5. How does the axolotl play a key role in laboratory research?
6. How can the axolotl be saved from extinction?

Here is another recent article about the axolotl and extinction:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8220000/8220636.stm