Concept of Therapy in Treatment

Mitosis Cell Lab Essays - Cell Cycle, Cellular Processes

Mitosis Cell Lab Essays - Cell Cycle, Cellular Processes Mitosis Cell Lab I Mitosis Cell Lab II. Introduction Life exists almost every where on this planet and if we are to attempt to comprehend what life is in all of its magnificence we must look at its simplest forms. Even a cell, the smallest form of life known is extremely complex. All life begins as a single cell. I can not begin to understand the depth of what it takes for one cell to multiply and change until we become conscious of ourselves. There are two types of cell division, Meiosis and Mitosis. Meiosis is where a cell splits and becomes four different cells. Mitosis is the process that allows a cell to split into two identical cells. This happens by having all of the DNA replicate before the cell splits so each has all of the original DNA. My lab shows mitosis in cell reproduction, because I do not have a microscope powerful enough to see the actual process within the nucleus I can not observe the chromosomes actually duplicate and separate. It is powerful enough to allow me to see cells splitting and I can observe the population growth without the aid of tools or instruments. First I began by starting the yeast culture in a bowl. I then removed a sample to observe it using a microscope. All throughout I measured the thickness of the yeast population. These observations combined show that through mitosis cells reproduce. III. Problem The challenge that faces me is how can I demonstrate mitosis or cell reproduction. The reason I have to do this is so that I can actually observe the process as it occurs and not just read or do work sheets about it. Unlike our former labs now we are not in absolute control of the lab. Density is a constant and properties of light are facts that can be stated in words. Life even on the smallest scale, cells, can be unpredictable and uncontrollable. IV. Hypothesis If I put yeast in warm water with sugar and flour then the culture will grow because the cells will reproduce through mitosis. V. Experimental Procedure A. Materials 1. Yeast 2. Warm water 3. Bowl 4. Sugar 5. Glass slide 6. Cover slip 7. Iodine 8. Microscope 9. Plastic wrap B. Procedure 1. Pour 2.5 cups warm water into bowl. 2. Add 3 table spoons of sugar into the water and stir. 3. Add just enough yeast to cover the surface of the water. 4. Stir slowly for a few seconds. 5. Cover with plastic wrap. 6. Every 5 minutes measure the thickness of the layer of yeast up to 1 hour. 7. After 15 minutes add .5 tablespoon sugar and stir again. 8. After another 15 minutes stir and take a small sample of the yeast population. 9. Place the sample on a slide add iodine and place cover slip over sample. 10. Observe under a microscope on all three powers. VI. Data/Results A. Quantitative Graph #1 The thickness of the layer of yeast after time. 4mm 3.5mm 3mm 2.5mm 2mm 1.5mm 1mm .5mm 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 Time in minutes The data set that I studied should resemble an exponential model but because of time constraints I only observed the very beginning of its growth. If I gave the population more time and I continued to add food it would probably have kept reproducing until constraints like space and/or its waste (alcohol and more) began to slow its growth. B. Qualitative When I viewed the yeast under the microscope, the cells appeared average in size relative to the cells we looked for the other cell lab. I do not think I used enough iodine or I should have used a different die because I had a hard time seeing the nucleus. I did see the cells divide but it wasn't in great detail. I couldn't see the chromosomes but I did see the cell divide and blurry unknowns that was probably the nucleus and perhaps other organelles. When I looked at the sample on the lowest power I could easily see the population grow, even though individual cells could not be seen the sample seen never stopped moving. VII. Conclusion The main reason I conducted this lab was to show that mitosis is a process that in which cells reproduce. Personally I think that this is the most helpful lab we have done as

Operation Management Concepts Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 1

Operation Management Concepts - Case Study Example This paper illustrates that the major role of having the operations management activities aligned properly in a business setup is to improve on the productivity and profitability of a business as these activities tend to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the production process. Every business should thus ensure proper organization of their operations management for improved productivity at reduced costs. The set of processes and activities involved in the creation and delivery of goods and services by transforming inputs to outputs is what is defined as operations management. The Case study is a description of the processes and activities involved in the harvesting and packaging of Lettuce and celery in the fields of Lincolnshire. These activities are performed manually in the fields by a number of personnel who play different roles in the process. A number of persons have been assigned the task of picking the products to form the gardens while others are involved in packag ing and labeling of the products for transportation to the different outlets. From the input transformation output model, the transformation is seen as any processes and activities involved in the conversion of different inputs into outputs that have added value. The products of the transformation process have more value designed to satisfy the customer's tastes and preferences as well as attracting more customers and thus profits. In the case study of Lettuce and celery harvesting, more value is added to the products by removing the unwanted parts and packaging into bags that improve the handling of the products by distributors and customers as well. This adds value to the products and thus fetching better prices for the products.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress - Essay Example onto his country and as the result of purges a great number of intellectual people were sent to the so-called reeducation camps thus â€Å"ignorance was in fashion†. As in the story by Dai Sijie, two young sons of doctors were sent to a remote village to such a camp. Having a very slim chance of ever being allowed back to the city, the boys had to adjust to the life in the village; they had to endure humiliation and hard labor. The only books they were allowed to read were books approved by communists. Even playing the music could be dangerous if it was not a music approved by Chairman Mao. Most members of village the Narrator and Luo were sent to were illiterate and had low aspirations. They were uneducated: a clock was a novelty for them and, more so, the violin, which they considered a toy. The only person who ever saw such musical instrument was the tailor. However, he never heard the music it played. The â€Å"revolutionary peasants† were very ignorant. When Luo contracted malaria, the choice of cure was weeping and a â€Å"shock treatment† in the ice-cold water. When the narrator and Luo met a very beautiful little seamstress and her father, both of the young man became attracted to her. Luo confessed, though, that she was â€Å"too uncivilized† for him to fall in love. When, through the series of events, the Narrator and Luo obtained the â€Å"forbidden books†, they also started reading it to the Little Seamstress. Everyone felt the transformative power of the books. The Narrator told about the effect the book had on him: â€Å"To me it was the ultimate book: once you read it, neither your own life nor the world you lived in would ever look the same. ¨ (Sijie 107). The effect the book had on the little Seamstress was even greater. Her uneducated mind became a fertile soil for the new ideas that were coming from books. The life in the city fascinated her. In fact, the book reading or story telling became a favorite entertainment in Phoenix Mountain villages. The

Swan lake Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Swan lake - Essay Example The performance seemed to have been based on expression of the early and the late 1800’s Romantic ballets. The actors’ body movements, their facial expressions as well as the performance costumes, perfectly matched those that were used in during the era of Romantic Ballets of the 1800’s. Apart from the costumes, facial expressions and body movements, the actors also had facial and body make-ups that gave the Swan Lake performance a mood of the late and the 1800’s where, majority of the actors were women, with sharply painted lips, properly defined and eyebrows. On the other hand, men were also decorated with different make-ups that defined their age differences as well as social status. Additionally, the performance had a perfectly coherent classical background music that gave its audience various moods. The music generally gave a feeling of sadness added by the sad facial expression exhibited by some of the actors. In terms of lighting, the performance involved the use of different lighting colors, basically indicating the different moods of the idea passed across by the actors. The lighting was properly integrated with the background music in the sense that when, the music played at a faster frequency, a different background light was flashed. The performance had a happy ending, usually evident in most love stories. This is another feature that gave it a feel of the Romantic ballets that were common in the early and the late 1800’s. In as much as the performance had various features associated with Romantic ballets, the there was too much use of certain colors specifically, the white color that was used majorly by the lady actors. This color was too conspicuous and created a sense of boredom. In addition, there were some dull colors used by the male actors that made the performance quite dull and boring, thus reducing the overall quality of the performance

Effect of Magnetic Field on Hydrodynamic Behavior

Effect of Magnetic Field on Hydrodynamic Behavior Effect of Magnetic Field on hydrodynamic behavior in a Microchannel Heat Sink Mohammad Nasiri 1*, Mohammad Mehdi Rashidi 2, 1 Department Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz 5166616471, Iran 2 Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. ABSTRACT In this study, hydrodynamic behavior nanofluid (Fe3O4-water) in a MicroChannel Heat Sink (MCHS) with Offset Fan Shaped under magnetic field was numerically investigated. The two phase mixture model was used to simulate the nanofluid flow. Flow was assumed laminar, steady and incompressible. The effects of changing Reynolds number, power magnetic field, and nanoparticle diameter on fluid behavior are considered. The results show that the friction factor decreases and Nusselt number enhances whit rising Reynolds number. Whit increases intensity magnetic field the pressure drop, friction factor and Nusselt number increasing. The results indicate that non-uniform magnetic field has more effect on nanofluid behavior compare uniform magnetic field. Keywords Nanofluid; Microchannel heat sink; Magnetic field; Friction factor; Nusselt number Nomenclature ,z Cartesian coordinate axes Velocity component in x and y and z direction, respectively (m/s) (a,b) Center of magnetic wire (m) Velocity vector (m/s) 0 Velocity inlet (m/s) Acceleration vector (m/s2) Thermal conductivity (W/m K) Specific heat capacity at constant pressure Boltzmann constant (1.3806503ÃÆ'-10-23 J/K) Temperature (K) I Electric intensity (A) H Magnetic field intensity vector (A/m) Heat flux (1 MW/m2) Channel width (300ÃÆ'-10-6m) Hydraulic diameter (0.00001333 m) Channel length (2.70ÃÆ'-10-3m) Drag coefficient Mean velocity (m/s) Drift velocity (m/s) Slip velocity (m/s) d Mean diameter (nm) Nu= Nuselt number friction factor = Reynolds number Prandtlnumber Magnetic field (T) Greek symbols magnetic permeability in vacuum (4à Ã¢â€š ¬ÃƒÆ'-10-7 Tm/A) Dynamic viscosity (kg/m s) Thermal expansion coefficient(thermal expansion coefficient (K-1) Density (kg/m3) Mean free path (17ÃÆ'-10-9 m) Magnetic susceptibility Particle volume fraction Electrical conductivity (s/m) Subscripts Particle Base fluid bw Bottom wall Effective Average Introduction Nanofluids has higher thermal conductivities compared to them base fluids [1-5]. Currently the use of nanofluids in thermal engineering systems such as heat exchangers [6-7], microchannels [8-10] , chillers, medical applications [11,12], and solar collectors [13]. Tsai and Chein[14] investigated analytically nanofluid (water-copper and nanotube)   flow in microchannel heat sink. They was found that optimum values of aspect ratio and nanofluid did not make conversion in MCHS thermal resistance. Kalteh et al. [15] investigated the laminar nanofluid flow in rectangular microchannel heat sink both numerically and experimentally. Compared the experimental and numerical results presented that two-phase Eulerian-Eulerian method results are in better accordance with experimental results than the single-phase modeling. The reasons experimentally   study by Azizi et al.[16] reported that Nusselt numbers decreases whit rising Reynolds number and enhancement heat transfer by using nanoparticles camper to that of pure water for similar Reynolds number. Sheikholeslami et al. [17] studied effect nanoparticle on heat transfer in a cavity square containing a rectangular heated body numerically. They indicated that using nanoparticle increasing he at transfer and dimensionless entropy generation. Micro channel heat sink (MCHS) using in many applications, such as microelectronics and high energy laser. MCHS cooling is very important because heat flux in this channel higher than regular channel. Many studies analyzed the convective heat transfer characteristics of nanofluids in micro channel heat sink in recently many years ago[18-24]. Sakanova et al. [25] investigated effects of wavy channel structure on hydrodynamic behavior in microchannel heat sink. They found that increasing nanoparticles in pure water the effect of wavy wall unnoticeable. Radwan et al. [26] using nanofluid on heat transfer microchannel heat sink in low concentrated photovoltaic systems investigated numerically. They show that nanofluids is effective technique for enhance heat transfer. Tabrizi and Seyf [27] investigated laminar Al2O3-water nanofluid flow in a microchannel heat sink. They showed that increasing volume fraction of Al2O3 and nanoparticle size reducing the entropy generation. Chai et al. [28-30] studied hydrothermal characteristics of laminar flow microchannel heat sink with fan-shaped ribs. Their results presented that used the fan-shaped ribs the average friction factor 1.1-8.28 times larger than the regular microchannel, while used the offset fan-shaped ribs was 1.22-6.27 times increases. Also the microchannel with large ribs height and small ribs spacing, the frictional entropy generation rate increases and thermal entropy generation rate decreases comparing than the smooth microchannel. Magnetic fluid (ferrofluid) is a stable colloidal suspension consisting of a base liquid and magnetic nanoparticles that are coated with a surfactant layer and it can be controlled by external magnetic fields [31]. Sundar et al. [32-33] experimentally studied the heat transfer characteristic of Fe3O4 ferrofluid in a circular tube whit applied magnetic field. They detected that the heat transfer increases compared to water flow at same operating condition. Aminfar et al. [34-36] studied effect different magnetic field on ferrofluid for different channels. They showed that using the uniform and non-uniform transverse magnetic increasing heat transfer coefficient and friction factor. Also shown that non-uniform transverse magnetic enhanced heat transfer more than axial non-uniform magnetic field. In this study, the uniform and non-uniform transverse magnetic effect on heat transfer of ferrofluids flow in a microchannel heat sink with offset fan shaped by using mixture model. The effects of uniform and non-uniform transverse power magnetic fields, Reynolds number and nanoparticle diameter variation are studied in details. Governing Equations Researchers presented different models for numerical analysis in multi-phase flows [37-40]. The mixture model is one of methods for nanofluid analyses [38-41]. In this study, flow is assumed steady state, incompressible and laminar with constant thermo-physical properties. The effects of body forces and dissipation are negligible. Also, for calculate the density variations due to buoyancy force was used the Boussinesq approximation. Considering these assumptions, the dimensional equations define as: Continuity equations: (1) Momentum equations: (2) The term refers to Kelvin force; it results from the electric current flowing through the wire. In this equation, H is Magnetic field intensity vector that determined as [42]: (3) where (4) (5) I is electric intensity. The wire direction is parallel to the longitudinal channel and in the center of cross section at the (a, b). Also, M is the magnetization in Equation (2) and determined as [36]: (6) where is magnetic susceptibility of ferrofluid at 4% volume fraction for different mean diameter is present in Table 1. Table 1. magnetic susceptibility of ferrofluid for different mean diameter mean diameter magnetic susceptibility 10 0.34858668 20 2.7886935 30 9.4118388 In Equation (2), is called Lorentz force that determined as: (7) Where and are respectively effective electrical conductivity and nanofluid velocity vector, also is the induced uniform magnetic field that can be calculated by intensity of magnetic field: (8) Energy equation: (9) Volume fraction equations: (10) In Equation (10), Vm, and Vdr are the mean velocity and the drift velocity, respectively, that be defined as: (11) (12) where à Ã¢â‚¬   is the volume fraction of nanoparticles. The drift velocity depends on the slip velocity. The slip velocity defined as the velocity of base fluid (bf) with respect to velocity of nanoparticles (p) and determined as: (13) (14) The slip velocity is presented by Manninen et al. [31e]: (15) In Equation (15) f drag and r are drag coefficient and acceleration respectively, which can be calculated by: (16) (17) In Equation (16), Rep = Vmdp/veff is the Reynolds number of particles. Nanofluids Properties The physical properties of water and Fe3O4 nano-particles are shown in Table 2. The water-Fe3O4 nanofluidis assumed is homogenous that the thermos-physical mixture properties calculated for 4% volume fraction of nanoparticles. Table 2. Properties of base fluid and nanoparticles [35,40]. Properties Water Fe3O4 Density (kg/m3) 997.1 5200 Specific heat capacity (J/kgà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â€ž ¢K) 4180 670 Thermal conductivity (W/mà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â€ž ¢K) 0.613 6 Electrical conductivity (s/m) 5.3 25,000 Dynamic viscosity (kg/mà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â€ž ¢s) 0.0009963 The physical mixture properties are calculated by means of the following equations: Density of nanofluid: (18) Specific heat capacity of the nanofluid: (19) Dynamic viscosity of nanofluid [43]: (20) Thermal expansion coefficient of nanofluid [35]: (21) Electrical conductivity [36]: . (22) Based on the Brownian motion velocity is Thermal conductivity of nanofluid [44]: (23) dp and dbf are particle diameter(nm) and molecular base fluid (0.2 nm). In Equation (23) Pr and Re are Prandtl and Reynolds number, respectively defined as: (24) (25) Also, in Equation (25) is water mean free path (17 nm) and kB is Boltzmann constant (1.3807 ÃÆ'- 10à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢23 J/K). Deà ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ nition of Physical Domain and numerical method Fig.1 shown the geometry of the microchannel heat sink with offset fan-shaped reentrant cavities in sidewall. The channel width and space between a pair cavity is 300 ÃŽÂ ¼m.The channel length is 2.70 mm with a thickness of 350 ÃŽÂ ¼m and the pitch distance of two longitudinal microchannels is 150 ÃŽÂ ¼m. The channel cross section heat sink has a constant width of 100 ÃŽÂ ¼m and constant depth of 200 ÃŽÂ ¼m and   radius of the fan-shaped reentrant cavity is 100 ÃŽÂ ¼m. a) b) c) Fig. 1. a) Geometry of microchannel in the present study b) Cross-sectional plane of transverse non-uniform magnetic field c) Transverse uniform magnetic field In this study, used the finite volume (FV) method to numerically solved non-linear partial differential equations. The velocity pressure coupling by SIMPLEC algorithm. The discretization of momentum and energy equations used the second order upwind scheme and the solid phase equations became discretization by first order scheme. In this study for evaluate of effect the mesh points on the precision of the results, several grid sizes have been tested for the constant heat flux at Re = 300 are given in Table 3. The 1188000 grids is adequately suitable. Table 3. Grid independent test (Re = 200,T0 = 300, 4% vol.). V/V0 T/T0 Grid 1.038 1.027 672914 1.029 1.019 889440 1.023 1.013 1188000 1.02 1.011 1591128 In order to validate this, the amount of mean temperature at the bottom of the microchannel compared by numerical result of Chai et al.[45](Fig.2). Also for comparison effect the magnetic field, the dimensionless velocity under the magnetic field compared by analytical results of Shercliff [46] that shown in Fig. 3 and can be seen a good agreement between results. Figure 2. Comparison of the results for average temperature bottom heat sink Fig.3 Comparison between numerical and analytical results for flow under magnetic field Boundary conditions The set of non-linear elliptical governing equations are solved by using the boundary conditions in the entrance of microchannel (Z = 0), u = 0; v = 0; w = v0 ; T = T0 (26) at the microchannel outlet (Z = 2.7 mm): ; u = 0; v = 0 ;P = Patm (27) In the left and right sides of microchannel outer adiabatic walls (X = 0 w): (28) In the microchannel inner walls: (29) (30) Finally, a constant heat flux condition is imposed at micro heat sink bottom wall (y = 0). Results and discussion The variations of pressure drop and Reynolds number for various transverse magnetic fields are shown in Fig. 3a. It can be seen that for a given fluid, the pressure drop increases by increasing the Reynolds number because rising the velocity inlet. As shown in Fig. 3b whit increases intensity uniform and non-uniform magnetic field in the same Reynolds number (Re=300), the pressure drop increases for non-uniform magnetic because the secondary flow near wall became larger and powerful. Also scale up particle diameter of 10nm to 30nm decreasing pressure drop (Fig. 3c). a) b) c) Fig. 3. Effects of various a) Reynolds number [H=6ÃÆ'-106, dp=30nm] b) power magnetic field gradients [Re=300, dp=30nm] c) particle diameter [H=8ÃÆ'-106, Re=300] on the pressure drop Fig. 4 presented streamlines for various magnetic fields at 0.0015à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ Z à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤0.002. As shown in Fig.4, when magnetic field is weak the streamlines same together because the magnetic field had not enough powerful for veer stream. By increases intensity magnetic field the nanofluid flow shift to near wall and thereupon the vortex in reentrant cavities became powerful Fig.5. Fig. 4. Stream lines in same Reynolds number (Re=300) and particle diameter [dp= 30nm] for a) non-magnetic field b) non-uniform magnetic field (H=6ÃÆ'-106 A/m) c) uniform magnetic field (H=6ÃÆ'-106 A/m) Fig. 5. Stream lines in same Reynolds number (Re=300) and particle diameter [dp= 30nm] for non-uniform magnetic field a) H= 6ÃÆ'-106 A/m c) H=8ÃÆ'-106 A/m The friction factor decreases as Reynolds number increases (Fig. 6a). The magnetic field cannot overcome viscous force and affect mean velocity when intensity magnetic field is low, therefor the friction factor is almost fixed for using magnetic and non-magnetic field. Whit increases intensity magnetic field the mean velocity decreases and while the pressure drop increases (Fig. 3.b); therefore, the friction factor increases at maximum intensity field (Fig. 6b). Also scale up particle diameter the main velocity and pressure drop decreases. The uniform transverse magnetic field is depended to velocity that whit decreasing velocity the uniform transverse effect decreases on flow, so friction factor rising (Fig. 6c). a) b) c) Fig. 6. Effects of various a) Reynolds number [H=6ÃÆ'-106, dp=30nm] b) power magnetic field gradients [Re=300, dp=30nm] c) particle diameter [H=8ÃÆ'-106, Re=300] on the friction factor Figure 7 shows the variations of average temperature bottom heat sink for different condition. Whit increasing Reynolds numbers the velocity increasing too and the vortex in reentrant cavities became bigger and powerful, thus average temperature bottom heat sink decreases (Fig. 7a). Effects of various power magnetic field gradients [Re=300, dp=30nm] on average temperature bottom heat sink presented in Fig. 7b. When the intensity magnetic field is weak cannot affect average velocity because cannot overcome viscous force. By strengthening the non-uniform transverse magnetic field the average velocity became larger and growth vortex in channel, therefore average temperature bottom heat sink reduces. Particle diameter rising, the non-uniform transverse magnetic had more effect than uniform transverse magnetic and non-magnetic on average temperature bottom heat sink (Fig. 7c). Whit scale up particle diameter decreasing thermal conductivity and heat transfer for when applied uniform transv erse magnetic because it independent of particle diameter. Figure 8 presented the variations of average Nusselt number for different condition. Nusselt number enhances with Reynolds number in

The Reluctant Scientist :: Personal Narrative Science Essays

The Reluctant Scientist So I have to ask myself, how it came to pass that a woman who has little interest in science (never, in fact, dissected so much as a single frog in high school), who never wanted to teach children any older than second graders, and who most importantly, loathes, and I mean that with a capital L, Loathesrodents of all sorts, came to be in a science classroom full of fourth grade students, picking rats’ bones out of hairballs? Well, it wasn’t easy, let me tell you. It all began innocently enough about two years ago, when my younger daughter, now ten, came home full of bubbling enthusiasm for her classes’ latest science project. â€Å"We’re doing owl pellets, Mom,† she informed me. â€Å"We get to find the bones and take them out and figure out what they are! Today we found a vole’s skull!† Having no idea what she was talking about, I said what all good moms do in order to demonstrate I was properly interested, â€Å"That’s nice dear,† and promptly forgot about what she had said as I turned my attention to something that I did understand. Owl pellets only returned to the forefront of my thinking several days later, when I visited my daughter’s classroom to fulfill my ongoing volunteer commitment to the school. The students were in the middle of science when I arrived, and spread out on their desks were an assortment of scales, rulers, tweezers, charts, tiny bones, and suspicious looking piles of gray fluff. Caitlin sprang from her desk and ran towards me. â€Å"Mom! Come see what Kimhee and I have!† Pulling me by the arm, she brought me over to her and her partner’s table, where they had the same odd assortment of items. It appeared as if the were reassembling some of the bones into a rather dubious looking skeleton. Wrinkling my nose, I asked, â€Å"What isthat?† â€Å"It’s the skeleton of a vole, Mommy. I told you all about it at home,† Caitlin replied, somewhat accusingly. Kimhee reached into the stack of papers on the table and extracted a detailed diagram of what appeared to be a rodent skeleton and offered it to me. â€Å"We got the bones from our owl pellet, and now we’re putting them back together,† Caitlin continued. â€Å"See, here’s the skull. We had another one, but we don’t have enough of the rest of the bones to make two skeletons.† â€Å"What exactly is an owl pellet?† I inquired hesitantly, not at all sure that I wanted to know the answer. Once again, my daughter looked at me impatiently. The Reluctant Scientist :: Personal Narrative Science Essays The Reluctant Scientist So I have to ask myself, how it came to pass that a woman who has little interest in science (never, in fact, dissected so much as a single frog in high school), who never wanted to teach children any older than second graders, and who most importantly, loathes, and I mean that with a capital L, Loathesrodents of all sorts, came to be in a science classroom full of fourth grade students, picking rats’ bones out of hairballs? Well, it wasn’t easy, let me tell you. It all began innocently enough about two years ago, when my younger daughter, now ten, came home full of bubbling enthusiasm for her classes’ latest science project. â€Å"We’re doing owl pellets, Mom,† she informed me. â€Å"We get to find the bones and take them out and figure out what they are! Today we found a vole’s skull!† Having no idea what she was talking about, I said what all good moms do in order to demonstrate I was properly interested, â€Å"That’s nice dear,† and promptly forgot about what she had said as I turned my attention to something that I did understand. Owl pellets only returned to the forefront of my thinking several days later, when I visited my daughter’s classroom to fulfill my ongoing volunteer commitment to the school. The students were in the middle of science when I arrived, and spread out on their desks were an assortment of scales, rulers, tweezers, charts, tiny bones, and suspicious looking piles of gray fluff. Caitlin sprang from her desk and ran towards me. â€Å"Mom! Come see what Kimhee and I have!† Pulling me by the arm, she brought me over to her and her partner’s table, where they had the same odd assortment of items. It appeared as if the were reassembling some of the bones into a rather dubious looking skeleton. Wrinkling my nose, I asked, â€Å"What isthat?† â€Å"It’s the skeleton of a vole, Mommy. I told you all about it at home,† Caitlin replied, somewhat accusingly. Kimhee reached into the stack of papers on the table and extracted a detailed diagram of what appeared to be a rodent skeleton and offered it to me. â€Å"We got the bones from our owl pellet, and now we’re putting them back together,† Caitlin continued. â€Å"See, here’s the skull. We had another one, but we don’t have enough of the rest of the bones to make two skeletons.† â€Å"What exactly is an owl pellet?† I inquired hesitantly, not at all sure that I wanted to know the answer. Once again, my daughter looked at me impatiently. The Reluctant Scientist :: Personal Narrative Science Essays The Reluctant Scientist So I have to ask myself, how it came to pass that a woman who has little interest in science (never, in fact, dissected so much as a single frog in high school), who never wanted to teach children any older than second graders, and who most importantly, loathes, and I mean that with a capital L, Loathesrodents of all sorts, came to be in a science classroom full of fourth grade students, picking rats’ bones out of hairballs? Well, it wasn’t easy, let me tell you. It all began innocently enough about two years ago, when my younger daughter, now ten, came home full of bubbling enthusiasm for her classes’ latest science project. â€Å"We’re doing owl pellets, Mom,† she informed me. â€Å"We get to find the bones and take them out and figure out what they are! Today we found a vole’s skull!† Having no idea what she was talking about, I said what all good moms do in order to demonstrate I was properly interested, â€Å"That’s nice dear,† and promptly forgot about what she had said as I turned my attention to something that I did understand. Owl pellets only returned to the forefront of my thinking several days later, when I visited my daughter’s classroom to fulfill my ongoing volunteer commitment to the school. The students were in the middle of science when I arrived, and spread out on their desks were an assortment of scales, rulers, tweezers, charts, tiny bones, and suspicious looking piles of gray fluff. Caitlin sprang from her desk and ran towards me. â€Å"Mom! Come see what Kimhee and I have!† Pulling me by the arm, she brought me over to her and her partner’s table, where they had the same odd assortment of items. It appeared as if the were reassembling some of the bones into a rather dubious looking skeleton. Wrinkling my nose, I asked, â€Å"What isthat?† â€Å"It’s the skeleton of a vole, Mommy. I told you all about it at home,† Caitlin replied, somewhat accusingly. Kimhee reached into the stack of papers on the table and extracted a detailed diagram of what appeared to be a rodent skeleton and offered it to me. â€Å"We got the bones from our owl pellet, and now we’re putting them back together,† Caitlin continued. â€Å"See, here’s the skull. We had another one, but we don’t have enough of the rest of the bones to make two skeletons.† â€Å"What exactly is an owl pellet?† I inquired hesitantly, not at all sure that I wanted to know the answer. Once again, my daughter looked at me impatiently.