Summary
Proteins are usually made out of Carbon the sixth element. Carbon is vital for amino acids, which made up the proteins of living organisms. Carbon is a very vital, and “friendly” element that easily allows other elements to bond with it, even many at the time and stable. Carbon has a resemblance with Silicon, the element below it. Element could be the alternative to Carbon-based life in other galaxies. But although they are similar, Carbon and Silicon have their differences as they make different compounds. Silicon found in sand and glass can cause diseases such as pneumonia, and other variants such as p45 and P16. Sometimes Silicon Dioxide, that comes from the volcanoes and can be fatal for one’s health, mimins Carbon Dioxide and gets into one’s lungs leading to fatal results. Silicon Dioxide is also a solid, not a gas, solids stay with solids, and if there was a life based on silicon, it will be a life based on solids which are hard to mix and dissolve. Carbon also produces sugars in one’s body that store energy. Carbon keeps life, Silicon and the element below it Germanium are encharged of modern electronics, the following under is Tin that we use to preserve food, and then Lead, which can have some negative effects to the planet and its organisms inhabiting it.
William Shockley and electrical engineer and physicist, was trying to make a Silicon amplifier since tubes in the computers were delicate and prone to overheating. All his attempts to make the amplifier so it would not produce signals that would go both ways, or would faint, failed. As a result, he let John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain finish this task. Both men were the best team since they seemed to have great teamwork by letting one, Bardeen be the head, and Brattain, be the hands. Instead of using Silicon as the transistor since it was difficult to purify, they decided to use Germanium and with this, the built the first solid-state amplifier calling it the transistor. Stockley stole the credit of this invention. Barleen left to do another work later on. Then Gordon Teal made a speech of the better Silicon transistor. At first it did not work, but as he continued, it ended up throwing Germanium off the window. The three Bardeen, Brattain, and undeserved Shockley, won the Nobel prize for their ingenuity.
Jack Kilby started working on problems of the Texas Instruments company. He was hired to solve a computer hardware problem because the silicon transistors were cheap, good, but they needed a bunch of them. He had the idea of the integrated circuit. He had to maneuver the wires to make everything fit in the system. He, not trusting silicon, decided to use germanium once again. The pieces were all together, and the pieces did not have the need of soldering it together. He technically created the computer chip. He won the Nobel prize and are still used fifty-years after he created them. The only thing that did not survive of his prototype is the use of Germanium.
Reflection
This chapter had a mixture of chemistry, biochemistry, and even technology. Focused on the group number fourteen from the most vital element Carbon, to the harmful Lead. It described why and how Carbon is important to all organisms. It also described why Silicon cannot be used for living and why the the fan fiction of aliens cannot be a possibility.
I found it very interesting that many organisms use it for coating themselves. They cannot use it for breathing, and their systems are not made up of it, since it can be very dangerous. But instead, they use if for coating that can actually be very effective for protection. The thing I disliked about this chapter, was Shockley. At first I thought he was very smart trying to find a way to facilitate the computer systems and everything, but I found out that he is an opportunist, only taking advantage of the people who actually did the work. That is not all, when he decided to change his career path, he wanted the minorities to stop having offspring, and that is honestly how it works. He wanted a society of intelligent people, but there are intelligent people even within minorities. He is just a racist that resembles Hitler, and contemporary Donald Trump. One thing I learned, is that Silicon can be a conductor of electricity whereas I thought only the metals could do so.
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