Disappearing Spoon Chapter 2: Summary & Reflection

Summary:

        Kean starts off this chapter by discussing some of the words used in Shakespeare plays. He talks about how long some of them were. He used the words to explain how the proteins made are mushed together into a very long word. Kean used the protein sequence for the tobacco mosaic virus as an example. He then goes into talking about how carbon ties this all together. Carbon is known as the backbone of amino acids.Carbon's place on the periodic table is the reason why amino acids all bond together. Carbon wants a full outer energy level with eight electrons. This is known as the octet rule.  It is easiest for oxygen to retrieve all eight electrons than for carbon and nitrogen. Kean then moves on to speaking about the relationship between carbon and silicon. 
       Carbon is one of the most important elements that are a foundation of life. Silicon is used in silicon dioxide, beating out carbon. Kean starts to mention why silicon and carbon are closely related, but both very different. Life forms using silicon in replacement of carbon would be challenging for two reasons. First, silicone dioxide is a solid not a gas like carbon dioxide. Secondly, silicon atoms cannot form double bonds. Silicon can be found in microchips in computers and cellphones. Carbon can be found everywhere because of its willingness to bond with many things. That us why it is one of the most important elements on the periodic table. Kilby invented an integrated circuit, in order to get rid of the tyranny of numbers. The tyranny of numbers was about how it was very inefficient to hand wire circuits and carving transcriptors. 

_{Guided Reading Question #4:}

Summarize the story of William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain in a paragraph. Which of the three was least deserving of the Nobel Prize?
 
    William Shockley, a electrical engineer and physicist, began by building a small silicon amplifier to replace vacuum tubes in computers. Shockley couldn't get the amplifier to work properly so he gave the task to John Bardeen and Walter Brattain. Bardeen and Brattain were very close. Bardeen was the brains and Brattain put it all together. They both had ended up concluding that silicon was to brittle to work with. They then turned to germanium, knowing that the qualities were a lot more fitted to work. Bardeen and Brattain then built the first amplifier in 1947. Shockley was not able to get the credit that he would have wanted because he was away in Paris during the time. He then began seeking to steal the credit from Bardeen and Brattain. He eventually was able to get himself into the picture for the credit of the transistor. I think that William Shockley was least deserving of the noble prize. Especially for the way he gained the credit for it. Yes, he did technically did come up with a silicon amplifier, but Bardeen and Brattain came up with the idea for a geranium amplifier.

Reflection:

      What I liked most about this chapter is that it spoke a lot about how carbon is one of the many bases of life forms, but that there can also be an alternative. Silicon. Though, of course silicon wouldn't be very useful to living organisms in a non-materialistic way. I learned that Kilby ended the tyranny of numbers and that his invention has helped to this day. Learning how germanium was used in many electrical products before silicon was also very interesting.