Silviamar - Category: Science for everybody    
 Lactose intolerance9 comments
picture 4 Feb 2006 @ 14:42
Some people suffer nausea or diarrhea after drinking milk or milk derivatives. The origin of this problem can be the difficulty to digest lactose.

Lactose is the main complex sugar found in the milk. It's a pretty big compound formed by two smaller components: glucose and galactose. Such a big compound cannot get through the intestinal wall and into the bloodstream, so we need "something" to break it into smaller pieces. This "something" is a protein named lactase. The more milk and milk products we consume, the more lactase we need.  Read More

 Why do onions make you cry?36 comments
picture 20 Nov 2005 @ 11:29
Who has never cried while cutting an onion? (well, apart from those who have never cut one hehehe). This is a little explanation in easy terms.  Read More

 Vegetables, chemistry and colour15 comments
picture 16 Oct 2005 @ 17:02
An object is coloured because of the light that it reflects. White light from the sun contains all the wavelengths, but when it impacts on an object some of its wavelenghts are absorbed and some reflected. When we see an object of a certain colour, it's because it's reflecting more of that particular wavelength. For example red objects reflect 'red' light, which is light with a long wavelength.

Many vegetables and fruits are strongly coloured because they contain an especial kind of chemical compounds named carotenoids. These compounds have an area called choromophore, which absorbs and gives off particular wavelengths of light, generating the colour that we then perceive.  Read More

 How does soap clean?35 comments
picture 17 Jul 2005 @ 09:27
Soap is a part of our daily life, it has different shapes and perfumes, it can be solid or liquid... But have you ever thought about how this common substance works? Here is a little explanation. I've used a minimum number of scientific terms, so I hope that everybody can understand it.  Read More