We were in the bathroom at Panera Bread the other day, and Light was looking at the light fixture on the wall. I look at the fixture to see what he is talking about, and I see a label on the fixture that says “W601.”
I respond, “ No kiddo, that is the part number. It is only a 100-watt light bulb. A 600 watt bulb would probably cause a fire.”
“How does that cause a fire?”
“Well, electricity generates heat, and too much in a fixture that is only able to handle 100 watts would cause it to overheat, I think, and then cause a fire.” (I hate it when I don’t have a real good answer to something….which is often!)
“Oh, I was not aware that electricity generated heat. Hmm…”
So we head out of the bathroom and go to finish our lunch. Light is eating his muffin and I can just see the wheels turning, and I wait for the next question, and know there will be many to follow.
We make it to the car, and are discussing electricity in the capacity I can. I don’t even recall exactly the discussion….too many questions! So we are discussing electrical fires, then grease fires, then fire burning oxygen, then heat rising, then fireplaces, then chimneys, then carbon monoxide, then carbon dioxide, then ozone.
“Well, if carbon monoxide is one carbon and one oxygen, and carbon dioxide is one carbon and two oxygen, why can’t our body use the oxygen from those? Why is carbon monoxide poisonous?”
“Well, (searching frantically through my brain), I think the way carbon bonds to the oxygen does not allow our body to use the oxygen. We need free oxygen, which is two oxygen atoms.”
“Why can’t we breath ozone then? It is three oxygens. That should be even better. It is just more oxygen.”
“Uh, I don’t really know. We are going to have to look that one up when we get home (remember I have been driving during this entire conversation!).”
“Well, mom. I NEED (when he says “need” he really means “need”) a piece of paper. I have to write something down.”
Well, I have to do my best to get paper to him (we ALWAYS have paper in the car!) and he starts writing down some CRAZY molecules.
He is carrying on and on in the back seat, “ Okay, I have 5Na, that’s 5 sodium, plus 3Cl, and 19O…………Is this even possible to make? Hmm, well, Hydrogen has one free electron to bond, and Chlorine has…..” And the minute we walked in the door when we got home….. “I HAVE to see the periodic table of elements.”
Well, muffins to electricity to chemistry. I NEVER know where we are going, how we will get there, and where on earth we are once we arrive! It is all about the journey! He has spent the last few days reading about chemistry in the Usborne Dictionary of Science. I have learned all about the radioactivity of different elements.
Links we found to explain Oxygen and Ozone:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone
