chemistry

What: What is a protease? A protease, also called proteinase or proteolytic enzyme, is a protein molecule that can cleave the peptide bonds linking adjacent amino acids in a protein or peptide. Consequently, proteases are sometimes referred to as "molecular scissors." Like other enzymes, proteases are catalysts - a single protease molecule can cleave hundreds to thousands of peptide bonds per minute.

Writer: moocow300

LCC: QD

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Oct 6 2009 3:50 AM

What: "To make a simple analogy, crude oil is like a bowl of alphabet soup, with each letter a different compound," says Maxwell. We may only need three letters [for a particular application], but it's hard to pick them out of the soup. It's almost impossible to get all the wax refined out of crude, for example. But with polyalphaolefin we can create a product without lighter or heavier components than we need."

Writer: Bill Maxwell

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jun 5 2010 8:10 AM

What: "A phase diagram is like a map, except that instead of the NS and EW directions, we have a pressure 'direction' and a temperature 'direction' (of course, axis is a better word)."

Writer: G Venkataraman

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jun 5 2010 8:10 AM

What: An atom is like a tiny solar system.

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QD

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Date: Jun 15 2010 11:11 PM

What: "An atom is like a football.The electron in an atoms is like the skin of the football."

Writer: Not Stated

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jun 15 2010 11:11 PM

What: "Since the nucleus of an atom is like a ball inside a stadium, and since practically all the matter of an atom is in its nucleus, an atom is mostly empty space. "

Writer: David M. Schwartz

LCC: QD

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Date: Jun 15 2010 11:11 PM

What: "An atom is like a very small, round cloud, by itself too small to see. This cloud is tough enough to join many other atoms of different round shapes to make things that we can feel - like animals, plants, rocks, air and water."

Writer: Loren Booda

LCC: QD

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Date: Jun 15 2010 11:11 PM

What: "The last thing that can be doubted is matter: hard solid world we live in. But is it? Is matter really what we think it is?! The answer is No. We live in - what Richard Dawkins calls - "the middle world". Matter is for the most part emptiness. There is way more emptiness in a seemingly solid matter than there is stuff. If we were small enough, we would see that the nucleus of an atom is like a fly hovering in the middle of a football stadium, the outer walls of the stadium being the electrons encircling the nucleus."

Writer: Roxilius

LCC: QD

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Jun 15 2010 11:11 PM

What: "We can see how an electron orbiting the nucleus of an atom is like an electric current flowing around a loop of wire."

Writer: Bruce Harvey 1997

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jun 15 2010 11:11 PM

What: "Describing a nucleophile is like describing a ball, but the question about what is substitution is like what is playing ball. I prefer to discuss nucleophiles after showing examples (including the bond making and breaking processes or mechanism) of substitution reactions. Then the nucleophile is the group that donated electrons in forming a bond. If you were accustomed to substitution reactions, then you would intuitively what a nucleophile was. What you would learn would be the term nucleophile. "

Writer: orgopete

LCC: QD

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Date: Jun 16 2010 5:31 AM

What: "Organic synthesis is like building with LEGOs"

Writer: Mary Virginia Orna

LCC: QD

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Jun 16 2010 5:31 AM

What: "First of all, there is a proton transfer to the hydroxyl group. This should look familiar: protonation is like serving a deportation notice to the hydroxyl group, telling it that expulsion is imminent. "

Writer: James ...

LCC: QD

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Date: Jun 16 2010 5:31 AM

What: Complex carbohydrates are polymers of sugars, often glucose. They digest much more slowly than pure glucose because of their large size and composition. Visually, a complex carbohydrate is like a string of pearls and a glucose is like a single pearl earring. To get a sense of how this size difference affects blood glucose levels; Image dropping a 30 pearl necklace on the floor; the necklace stays in one piece. Now imagine dropping 30 pearl earrings on the floor. The 30 earrings will explode over a wide area. This is what is occurring in your blood when you are constantly eating high-glycemic index foods; it is a constant explosion of glucose into your blood that stresses your pancreas to produce insulin to lower your glucose levels.

Writer: mattyflynn

LCC: QD

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Date: Jun 19 2010 12:35 AM

What: So Ionic bonding is like the hard core punk rock music..*sings* all your electrons are mine, we will own you. And Covalent bonds are like hippie folk music..."ok, lets all get together and be one with the electrons. And Nuclear bonding is like rap music. "Yo yo. We's nuklee-R don't make us go critical on y'all.

Writer: Chris Petrie

LCC: QD

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Date: Jun 19 2010 12:35 AM

What: DNA structure is like a twisted pearl necklace. Of course this analogy can only be taken so far. Pearls are generally homogenous in term of size and shape. The base pair sequence in DNA will vary considerably. The picture in the link is good visual initiation.

Writer: mattyflynn

LCC: QD

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Date: Jul 10 2010 2:05 AM

What: The bridge was built from both sides. They didn't start on the San Francisco side and start building. First, engineers determined that an anchorage could be built on both sides. Once each side had a strong foundation construction could begin. Point of care devices should follow a similar pattern; bridge the chemistry and the manufacturing process BEFORE the chemistry and manufacturing are set. Build the device from both sides. This insures that such devises can be built consistently and well.

Writer: mattyflynn

LCC: QD

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Jul 20 2010 9:13 AM

What: "The functional groups are like the arms and legs on the molecule's body and therefore tend to interact more with the environment and noses". I would include other parts of the human body in this analogy. Including, the sexual organs, the mouth and the other interactive parts of the body. Even deeper, ones heart, ones emotional being and interacting with other people is of course a very important functional group.

Writer: Not known

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Oct 3 2010 5:01 AM

What: "Functional groups are like a prefix/suffix ('un' being the example) - always cause the same change in chemical behavior/meaning." This page also has some very good analogies for water, DNA and other things biochemical.

Writer: TS RICH

LCC: QD

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Date: Oct 3 2010 5:09 AM

What: On page 73 of this book, there is a comparison between artificial limbs and antidepressants. As noted in the book, both of these technologies allow people to function after injury, either physical or mental.

Writer: Andrea Andreadis, Ph.D

LCC: QD

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Date: Mar 14 2011 3:52 AM

What: "The DNA is like a train track that gets pulled apart by the train."

Writer: Dr. Barry Starr

LCC: QD

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Date: Sep 21 2011 9:01 PM

What: Glycogen, polymeric glucose, is like a roll of quarters and glucose is like an individual quarter. The body binds glucose molecules together to form glycogen. The analogy to coins is kinda like stacking quarters together to they can be put in a role of quarters for storage. There is an off/ on dynamics with glycogen/glucose. If there is excess glucose, some of it is bound to other glucose molecules to form glycogen. If glucose is need, as during exercise, glycogen is broken down to make glucose. This is sorta like taking from individual quarters from a role as you need to do laundry or make change.

Writer: LucretiaGemanica

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Oct 30 2011 12:49 PM

What: "Oxidation is named after oxygen,which is good at stripping electrons from molecules; to help you remember, think of oxygen as being caustic or destructive, like a paint-stripper. Oxidation strips off the electron paint, whereas reduction has the blanketing effect of a fresh coat of paint." That is blanketing with a coat of new molecules coated on another molecule.

Writer: Nick Lane

LCC: QD

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Date: Nov 17 2012 10:23 AM

What: "Good up high, bad nearby--In some ways, ozone is like real estate: What's important is location, location, location."

Writer: Daniel Jacob

LCC: QD

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Dec 13 2012 11:11 AM

What: "A catalyst is like a minister at a wedding ceremony because the minister causes the ceremony to take place, has a key role in determining how quickly the ceremony takes place, and is not himself permanently changed as a result of the ceremony. This is unlike the couple getting married, who are permanently changed as a result of the ceremony!"

Writer: E. Ridgley

LCC: QD

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Dec 13 2012 12:35 PM

What: "Imagine, he says, a happy couple who stop and talk to well-wishers standing on the church steps before leaving for their honeymoon. One of the newlyweds encounters an old flame--the true love--and then parts from his or her beloved.....Alas, where there once was togetherness is now a separation."

Writer: William Pirkle

LCC: QD

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Date: May 2 2013 1:11 PM

What: This change is more physical than chemical. Proteins in their native natural active state are not really solid, but kinda globular gelatinous in nature. When they are heated, in the 35 to 45 degree range, they ,in essence, melt. Melting is a phase transformation not a chemical reaction. The melting changes the 3-d structure of the protein usually rendering it inactive. This would be the result with an enzyme such as a protease.

Writer: Lucretia

LCC: QD

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: May 6 2013 10:29 AM

What: "hybridization is like mixing orbitals of different 'color'. If the s orbital is 'black' and the p orbital is 'white', then one can get any shade of 'gray' (the hybrid orbital) by mixing various amounts of the two types."

Writer: jmontchamp

LCC: QD

Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: May 9 2013 6:18 PM

What: "Simple diffusion is like a random walk, Banavar explains. In such a walk, the direction of each successive step is governed by chance. If a crowd of random walkers starts from the same point, the pattern of dispersal of the crowd is predictable." The link is a study of comparing people and molecules. The assumption seems to be that people can modeled as molecules. This of course assumes that people have no free will,this is a BIG assumption.

Writer: Jayanth R. Banavar

LCC: QD

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Date: May 13 2013 4:41 PM

What: "To this end, the body makes another protein - the famous ubiquitin - adhere to the protein carrying out the task. The UPV/EHU chemist, Fernando Cossio, stated at a conference that ubiquitin is like the kiss of Judas. It marks the destiny of the protein on the path to destruction. "

Writer: Fernando Cossio

LCC: QD

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Date: May 15 2013 9:27 PM

What: "DNA is the archival record of our being. It's carried in every cell of our body. RNA is the working copy of that record. DNA is like the American constitution buried in a Washington vault. RNA is like the working law. It's fractional and varied, but it always reflects that document in the vault. "

Writer: John H. Lienhard

LCC: QD

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Date: May 14 2013 2:56 PM

What: "You know, I'm glad you said something, because I've given this a lot of thought since my comment. Ionic bonds are the only bonds where anything is "exchanged," i.e., an electron or two. So maybe covalent and hydrogen bonding is really only friendship. Metallic bonds are like office friendships and van der Waals bonds are like friendly acquaintanceships where you're always happy to "play catch-up" every once in a while. I think I may have been a little hasty in my judgment of the chemical community."

Writer: Curmudgeonliness

LCC: QD

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Date: May 15 2013 10:01 PM

What: "Analogy: Alanine is like vanilla flavor - happy anywhere it goes in polypeptide chain. Whereas other residues, such as basic or acidic residues are picky with the places it resides, therefore the frequency of change in amino acids varies depending on the type of amino acid."

Writer: Amanda

LCC: QD

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Date: Jul 10 2013 3:50 PM

What: "Dr. Gordon: EDTA is essentially four molecules of vinegar, and chelation is a natural process. The word 'chelation came' from the Greek word 'claw.' Somebody suggested the metaphor that EDTA is like using a hamburger to give your dog a pill-it's an easy way because you hide the pill in the protein. EDTA is essentially a man-made synthetic amino acid, which hides the lead, mercury, cadmium, or other metal inside of it-so that it is finally able to exit the body with a higher efficiency."

Writer: David Jay Brown

LCC: QD

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Date: Jul 10 2013 4:14 PM

What: "Pat Bailey, from the University of Keele, explains why he thinks boron is like a middle-aged accountant who participates in skydiving and partner swapping parties in his spare time" A metaphorical podcast about this element....

Writer: Pat Bailey

LCC: QD

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Date: Jul 17 2013 6:44 PM

What: "An acid-base buffer is like a shock absorber-something to prevent a disturbance while retaining the original conditions or structure" This is from page 196 of the linked book.

Writer: Melvin D. Joesten et al.

LCC: QD

Where:

Date: Jul 17 2013 7:46 PM