Curriculum Development Report
The Natural World
As the director of curriculum development, I spend time with a diverse collection of books, many of which we use in our courses. Lately, I’ve been looking into chemistry. My background is not in the sciences. In fact, high school chemistry was one of those courses that seemed to be almost a stumbling block, and I’ve avoided the “hard” sciences ever since. Now I am amazed, however, and humbled to see the extent to which so many aspects of our world are linked to so many others.
For example, the elements are the simplest substances found in nature. That is, an element cannot be broken down into anything else. In the natural world, there are only 91 elements. All the beauty of nature consists of variations on the same 91 themes. Undoubtedly, anyone who has ever taken a chemistry course has encountered this basic concept, probably during the first lesson. Nonetheless, to see — or even to think about — such diversity, and then to realize that it is all based on so few elements, does not fail to take away my breath.
As all chemistry students know, elements combine to form compounds. One of the most common of these is calcium carbonate, which we have all seen in the form of shells, both egg and sea. In perhaps its most beautiful form, calcium carbonate becomes the stalactites and stalagmites that may be found in underground caves. Too many of us have also frequently turned to calcium carbonate to ease discomfort caused by unwise eating, since it is also a component of many over-the-counter antacids.
Those who use essential oils draw on an ancient application of chemistry. Of the essential oils, carvone is particularly interesting. Humans commonly encounter it in culinary ingredients such as spearmint, caraway seed, and dill seed. An especially fascinating aspect of carvone is that it is a member of the terpene family, which is thought to enable communications between plants and insects. A plant being attacked by a predator caterpillar may release terpenes that, in turn, attract insects that prey on the attacker. If the same plant is simply cut, terpenes are not released.
These few scattered examples are among many that make me wish that I had not spent so many years being shy of the “hard” sciences. Perhaps the time will come when I can really dig in and study them. What an adventure!
Krista Leamon, ND
Note: Examples in this column were taken from Chemistry in Focus: A Molecular View of Our World, 3rd Edition, by Nivaldo J. Tro, published in 2007 by Thomson Brooks/Cole.
