Lignin

Lignin (n): an amorphous polymer related to cellulose that provides rigidity and together with cellulose provides the woody cell walls of plants and the cementing material between them.

Lignin is an organic substance that helps to form cell walls in plant cells. It also binds cells together. There is no set chemical formula for lignin; however, lignin is generally classified as a dendritic network polymer of phenyl propene basic units. There are two basic categories of lignin: sulfur-bearing and sulfur-free.

This word comes from the Latin lignus, meaning "wood."

Bibliography

1. Internation Lignin Institute. "About Lignin." ILI.com. 2013. ILI. 5 November 2013. <http://www.ili-lignin.com/aboutlignin.php>

Current Dwarf Planets and Dwarf Planet Candidates

There are currently five official dwarf planets, and four being reviewed.

Pluto is by far the most famous. "Pluto" comes from the Latin god of the underworld. It was discovered on February 18th, 1930, by Clyde Tombaugh, an assistant at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. This observatory is named for the person who predicted Pluto's existence in the early 1900's, Percival Lowell. From the orbits of Neptune and Uranus, he inferred that another celestial body, what he called "Planet X," was further out in space, slightly altering their obits. He died in 1916, but his work was carried on by the Lowell Observatory. Pluto was declared a dwarf planet in 2006, when the IAU redefined what a planet is.
Pluto is located in the Kuiper Belt, an area of ice bodies past the orbit of Neptune. Pluto's elliptical orbit takes it from 30-49 Astronomical Units (AU) from the Sun (4.4-7.4 billion km). Its diameter is 2,302 kilometers. It has five moons, Charon, discovered in 1978; Nix and Hydra, discovered in 2005; and the provisionally named S/2011 134340 and S/2012 134340, discovered in 2011 and 2012 respectively. During its summer, Pluto's icy surface, which is comprised mainly of nitrogen ice with traces of carbon monoxide and methane, melts and forms a thin atmosphere, which freezes in the winter and falls to the surface as snow.

Ceres was the first of the current dwarf planets to be discovered. It is named after the Greek goddess of agriculture. It was discovered by the Sicilian Giuseppe Piazzi on January 1st, 1801. He found it by comparing data on a new star he thought he had found, but realized that it was not a fixed star, but a wandering star, a planet. He originally announced it as a comet, but by popular belief it became a planet. However, in the next few year other objects like it were discovered, it it was reclassified as an asteroid in 1850. Then, in 2006, it was declared a dwarf planet.
Ceres is located in the asteroid belt, the area between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter where rocky leftovers from the formation of the solar system are located. It is the biggest object in the asteroid belt; the next largest is half its size. In fact, Ceres has one-third of the mass of the entire asteroid belt. Its diameter is 950 kilometers, and it is approximately 2.8 AU from the Sun (419 million km).

Eris is the other dwarf planet classified as such is 2006. It was discovered in January 2005 by Mike Brown and his team at the Palomar Observatory in California. It is named for the Greek goddess of discord and fighting. Its moon, Dysnomia, is named for the daughter of Eris, the daemon of lawlessness.
Eris is possibly larger than Pluto, with an estimated diameter of 2,326 km. However, since there is an error bar because of the Pluto and Eris' extreme distance from us, it is not certain whether Pluto or Eris is larger. Eris is currently much farther away from the Sun than Pluto, at 96.6 AU (approximately 14.4 billion km). This is almost its maximum distance (aphelion) from the Sun, as its orbit is very eccentric.

Haumea is one of two dwarf planets added to the official list in 2008. It was first observed by Mike Brown and his team in 2004. It is named after a powerful Hawaiian sorceress who, according to legend, gave birth to most of the creatures on Earth.
Haumea is one of the most unique of the dwarf planets, as it is shaped like an egg. It is likely that this odd shape was caused by a collision with another celestial body, which would also account for Haumea's rapd rotation--it rotates fully once every 3.9 hours. It is probably comprised of a solid rock with a thin coating of ice. Haumea has two moons, Hi'iaka and Namaka, named after the mythological Haumea's daughters.

Makemake is the other of the two dwarf planets officially classified as such in 2008. It was discovered around Eastertime in 2005 by Mike Brown's team, and was therefore unofficially called "Easterbunny" until it was officially named after the Rapanui people Easter Island's god of fertility who supposedly created humans.
Makemake's temperature is astoundingly low; on Makemake, -406 degrees Fahrenheit (-243 degrees Celsius) is warm. While Earth takes 365 Earth days to orbit the Sun, Makemake takes 310 Earth years. As of 2009, Makemake is at a distance of 52 AU (4 billion miles) from the Sun.

There are also four other Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) that are possible candidates for dwarf planets. These are Sedna, Orcus, 2007OR10, and Quaoar (KWA-o-war). They are not yet officially dwarf planets because the IAU has not, or has not finished, reviewing them.

Sedna was discovered in 2004 by Mike Brown and his team, the same team that discovered Eris and Makemake, and is named after the Inuit goddess of the sea. It is located 90 Astronomical Units (AU) away from the Sun, and is currently moving through the Kuiper Belt farther away, possibly to reach 900 AU away, or 83,700,000,000 miles. It takes even longer than Makemake to orbit the Sun; its orbit length is 10,500 Earth years.

Orcus is another of the KBOs that might be a dwarf planet. It is about the same size as Sedna, and is named for Orcus, also known as Pluto, god of the underworld. It was discovered in 2004, a month before Sedna was also discovered, and has the same orbital period as Pluto.

Quaoar, named after a Tongva Indian creation force, is about the size of Charon, one of Pluto’s moons, and orbits 43 AU from the Sun. It was discovered in 2002, and was one of the first of these possible dwarf planets to be discovered. 

2007 OR10 has not been given an official name yet. It was discovered in 2007, which is what its name comes from. It is the third-farthest object from the Sun, after Sedna and Eris.

Dwarf planets are a fascinating topic, and there will almost certainly be more discovered in years to come.

Bibliography

   1.    Aguilar, David A. 13 Planets: The Latest View of the Solar System. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2011.

   2.    Brown, Mike. How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming. New York: Spiegel and Grau, 2010.

   3.    Brown, Richard. “Orcus: The Other God of the Underworld.” Astrology.richardbrown.com. 2013.      Brown, Richard. May 21, 2013. <http://astrology.richardbrown.com/NewPlanets/Orcus.shtml>

   4.    Chapman, Clark R. “dwarf planet (sic).” Britannica.com. 2013. Britannica. 7 May 2013. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1224420/dwarf-planet>

    5.   Daniels, Patricia. The New Solar System. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2009.

    6.   Dwarfplanets.net. “Dwarf Planets.” Dwarfplanets.net. 2013. Dwarfplanets.net. May 19, 2013. <http://dwarfplanets.net/>

    7.   Moche, Dinah L. Astronomy: A Self-Teaching Guide. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009.

    8.   NASA. “1992 QB1.” Solarsystem.nasa.gov. April 30 2011. NASA. May 21, 2013. <http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?Category=Planets&IM_ID=10688>

    9.   NASA. “Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud.” Solarsystem.nasa.gov. April 26 2013. NASA. May 23, 2013. <http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=KBOs&Display=OverviewLong>

   10. NASA. “Mysterious Sedna.” Science.nasa.gov. April 6 2011. NASA. May 21, 2013. <http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2004/16mar_sedna/>

   11.  National Geographic. “Dwarf Planets.” National Geographic. 2013. National Geographic. 7 May 2013. <http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system/dwarf-planet/>

   12.   Rosenberg, Jennifer. “Pluto Discovered.” About.com. 2013. About.com. May 19, 2013. <http://history1900s.about.com/od/1930s/qt/Pluto.htm>

   13.   Scott, Elaine. When Is a Planet Not a Planet? New York: Clarion Books, 2007.

Hydrocarbons

Here's a definition that will blow your mind.

Hydrocarbons (n.): methane and other organic compounds composed only of carbon and hydrogen.

Bibliography

1. Reece, J. B., Taylor, M. R., Simon, E. J., & Dickey, J. L. Biology: Concepts and Connections. San Francisco: Benjamin Cummings, 2009.

Giant Pink Slugs

This one doesn't exactly classify as a vocabulary word, but I thought it was interesting.

Recently, on Mount Kaputar in New South Wales, Australia, scientists have confirmed that this species of hot pink land slugs are exclusive to the mountaintop. It is not the first time the slug, officially named Tribionphorus aff. graefei, has been spotted--natives have been seeing the slugs come out after rainfall for a while. The slug--which can grow to 8 inches long--is confined to a 10 by 10 kilometer area. The reason for this is because their habitat is the rain forest. The eruption of Mount Kaputar 17 million years ago created this small patch of rainforest that the slugs require. The slug's unique coloration is thought by scientists to be a form of camouflage, because the fallen leaves of the eucalyptus tree are red.

Bibliography

1. Cubby, Ben. "One will really amaze you, the other just eats his mates." The Sydney Morning Herald. May 29, 2013. The Sydney Morning Herald. June 5, 2013. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/one-will-really-amaze-you-the-other-just-eats-his-mates-20130528-2n9ik.html

2. Davis, Shoshana. "Giant pink slugs only found in remote area of Australia." CBSNews. June 3, 2013. CBS. June 5, 2013. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57587347/giant-pink-slugs-only-found-in-remote-area-of-australia/

Planets and Dwarf Planets

As defined by the International Astronomical Union in 2006:

Planet (noun): a celestial body that orbits the Sun, has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium and to clear its orbital path of debris, and is not a moon.

Dwarf planet (noun): a celestial body that orbits the Sun, is not a moon, has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium but not to clear its orbital path of debris.

A dwarf planet, thus, has almost exactly the same definition as a planet, except that it does not have enough gravity to clear its orbit. Because gravity is dependent on mass, the essential difference between a planet and a dwarf planet is mass.

"Planet" comes from the Greek planetoi, "wanderers." This is because the stargazing Greeks saw the planets and noted that they did not follow the same path in the sky as the stars; they wandered through the skies. Thus the name meaning "wanderer."

Bibliography

1. Moche, Dinah L. Astronomy: A Self-Teaching Guide. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009.

2. Wikipedia. "IAU definition of planet." Wikipedia. 16 May 2013. Wikipedia. May 21, 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAU_definition_of_planet>

Syzygy

Syzygy (noun): the nearly straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies (as the Sun, Moon and Earth during a solar or lunar eclipse) in a gravitational system.

Syzygy is when three of the bodies in the solar system line up in a row. This term is most often used to refer to a Sun-Moon-Earth lineup. During one of these, the gravitational stress on the moon can cause a Moonquake, the Moon's equivalent of an earthquake. However, it is highly unlikely that a Sun-Moon-Earth syzygy can cause an earthquake, since the Earth is 82 times more massive than the Moon.

This word comes from the Latin syzygia, "conjunction," and the Greek syzygos, "yolked together."

Bibliography

1. Moche, Dinah L. Astronomy: A Self-Teaching Guide. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009.

2. Wikipedia. "Syzygy (astronomy)." Wikipedia. 31 March 2013. Wikipedia. 21 May 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syzygy_(astronomy)>

Clausius-Clapeyron Equation

The Clausius-Clapeyron Equation shows the relationship between temperature and saturation vapor pressure, which determines when water substance changes phase. It allows the calculation of the vapor pressure at another temperature. The Clausius-Clapeyron Equation works because the vaporization curves of most liquids have similar shapes. The Clausius-Clapeyron Equation is dP/dT=L/T(delta times v), where dP/dT is the slope of tangent to the coexistence curve at any point, L is the latent heat, T is the temperature, and delta times v is is the volume change of the phase transition (see below). The equation has different forms depending on what it is applied to (see below). The Clausius-Clapeyron Equation is named after Rudolf Clausius (1822-1888) and Benoit Paul Emile Clapeyron (1799-1864).

The Clausius-Clapeyron Equation

The Clausius-Clapeyron Equation Applied to Meteorology

The Clausius-Clapeyron Equation Applied to Chemistry

Datum and Data

Datum (n.): something given or admitted especially as a basis for reasoning or inference; something used as a basis for calculating or measuring.

Data (n.): factual information used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or calculation; information output by a sensing device or organ that includes both useful and irrelevant or redundant information and must be processed to be meaningful; information in numerical form that can be digitally transmitted or processed.

Datum comes from the neuter form of the Latin word datus, "given." A datum is a given piece of information. Since the neuter plural ends in -a, the plural of datum is data. However, in today's society we most often use data as a singular word. It is still grammatically correct to say, "These data are," although it sounds strange. But we usually say, "This data is."

Parameterize

Parameterize (v.): to express in terms of parameters; to rewrite as a template into which parameters can be inserted.

To parameterize, according to Robert G. Fovell, is "to make things up." Parameterize comes from the Greek words para,"around," and metron, "to measure." Thus, to parameterize is to measure around. In meteorology, parameterization occurs when something is too small to fit into a forecasting model, so data has to be made up for it. Parameterization is measuring around that small something.

Synesthesia

Synesthesia (n.): a concomitant sensation, especially a subjective sensation or image of a sense (as of color) other than the one (as of sound) being stimulated; the condition marked by the experience of such sensations.

Synesthesia comes from the Greek words syn, meaning "with, together," and aisthesis, meaning "sensation." Synesthesia is the medical condition of someone experiencing two sensations when most others experience one. Some synesthetes (a synesthete is someone with synesthesia) hear as well as feel a texture, or taste as well as see a color. Also, some synesthetes see color when they hear a certain consonant sound, or always see a letter in a certain color. Synesthesia is likely hereditary, but is not transmitted all of the time.

Synesthesia occurs when sensory regions in the brain have increased communications. When two areas of the brain that deal with the senses, e.g. hearing and seeing, have increased communications, if one of those areas is stimulated, then  it stimulates the other area. For example, if the area that deals with hearing is stimulated by say music, the area that deals with sight will also be stimulated and the synesthete will perceive a color going along with the music. As well as being hereditary, synesthesia can also be caused by drugs, sensory depredation  and/or brain damage.

Bibliography

Brang, David. "Survival of the Synesthesia Gene: Why Do People Hear Colors and Taste Words?" PLOS Biology. 22 November 2011. PLOS. 26 March 2013. <http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001205>

Day, Sean A. "Synesthesia." Daysyn.com. 20 March 2013. Day, Sean A. 26 March 2013. <http://www.daysyn.com/index.html>

Imagine. "Hearing in Color." Imagine March/April 2013: 4-5.

The Four Elements and the Four Humours

The Greek philosopher/scientist Empedocles (490-430 B.C.) was the person who first thought up the theory of the four elements. Empedocles said that the whole world was made up of four elements, or roots: earth, air, fire, and water. They were governed by two forces: love, which brought them together, and strife, which drove them apart. Later on, the elements aquired four qualities: moist, hot, dry, and cold. Water was moist and cold; air was most and hot; earth was dry and cold; fire was dry and hot.

Empedocles also applied the four elements to medicine. He said that normally, the body had a balance of the elements; disease was brought on by an unbalance of the elements. This was later expanded to be the four liquids, or humours: phlegm, blood, black bile, and yellow bile. Water was associated with phlegm, air with yellow bile, earth with black bile, and fire with blood.

The four humours were so widely accepted that we have many words derived from them today. Humour, in the sense of a disposition, comes from the humours. Phlegmatic means stolid and unemotional; sanguine (from the Latin word for blood) means cheerful and optimistic; melancholic (from black bile) means depressed; and choleric (from yellow bile) means angry. These words come from the supposed affects of the humours on someone's attitude.

Bibliography

Youngson, Robert. Scientific Blunders. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, Inc., 1998.

SV40

SV40 stands for Simian Virus 40, named because it was the 40th virus to be discovered in a simian (monkey) family of viruses. What makes it special is that it can transform regular cells into cancer cells. The official name for these kinds of viruses is an oncovirus. "Onco" is Greek for "a lump," which refers to a tumor. SV40 uses the perturbation of the retinoblastoma (pRB) and p53 tumor suppresent proteins to transform cells.

SV40 has been involved in a couple medical blunders. The first was when a polio vaccine produced between 1955 and 1961 by American Home Products was found to be contaminated with SV40, after having contaminated millions. The second was in 1971. Paul Berg, a Nobel Prizewinner, decided that if he cut up some of SV40's DNA and inserted some of the fragments into some E. coli bacteria DNA, he would be able to isolate the genes that caused cancer. His assistant, Janet Mertz, mentioned this experiment at a genetic engineering conference. Her colleagues were horrified. They told her that if the E. coli from the experiment escaped, the SV40 would be replicating with the E. coli. Paul Berg immediately called off the experiment.

An SV40 Virus

Bibliography

Wikipedia. "SV40." Wikipedia. 23 March 2013. Wikipedia. 23 March 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SV40>

Youngson, Robert. Scientific Blunders. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, Inc., 1998.

Piezolytes

Note: I cannot find an official definition for "piezolyte" so I will use my own.

Piezolyte (n.): an organic molecule, found in organisms in shallow and deep water where it encounters hydrostatic pressure and osmotic pressure, that helps deep sea organisms to cope with the pressure.

In addition, I also need to define osmosis.
Osmosis (n.): a process by which molecules of a solvent tend to pass through a semipermeable membrane from a less concentrated solution to into a more concentrated one, thus equalizing the concentrations on each side of the membrane.

Piezolyte comes from the Greek piezo or piezein, "to press, squeeze," and the Greek lytos, "soluble." Osmosis comes from the Greek osmos, "a push." A piezolyte is a specialized form of osmolyte. An osmolyte, in intracellular liquid, regulates cell properties like cell volume in response to osmotic pressure. Piezolytes do the same thing but in response to both osmotic pressure, which is the pressure that would have to be applied to a pure solvent to prevent it from passing into a given solution by osmosis, and hydrostatic pressure, which is the pressure exerted by liquid at rest.  Piezolytes have been found in both deep sea microbes and deep sea crustaceans. It is still unknown exactly how piezolytes help deep sea organisms to live in habitats with crushing pressure.

Bibliography

Axel. "A term in phsyiology: piezolyte for an osmolyte whose cellular levels respond to hydrostatic and osmotic pressure." Latintos. 13 May 2012. Axel. 21 March 2013. <http://golatintos.blogspot.com/2012/05/term-in-physiology-piezolyte-for.html>

Days of the Week

The names of our current days of the week come from Anglo-Saxon and Norse mythology.

Monday is Monandaeg, or Moon's Day.
Tuesday is Tiwesdaeg, or Tiw's Day (also Tiu or Tig). Tiw was the Norse sky god.
Wednesday is Wodnesdaeg, or Woden's Day.
Thursday is Dunresdaeg, or Thor's Day. In this case the name of the day comes from Thor's Day, not Dunresdaeg.
Friday is Frigedaeg, or Frigg's Day. Frigg was Woden's wife.
Saturday is Saeternesdaeg, or Saturn's Day.
Sunday is Sunnandaeg, or Sun's Day.

Bibliography

Youngson, Robert. Scientific Blunders. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, Inc., 1998.

Monsoon

Monsoon (n.): a periodic wind especially in the Indian Ocean and southern Asia; the season of the southwest  monsoon in India and adjacent areas that is characterized by very heavy rainfall; rainfall that is associated with the monsoon.

Monsoons are generally thought of as Asia's version of the hurricane. Technically, however, they are a seasonal reversal of the wind, especially in Asia. In fact, "monsoon" is Arabic for "season." Before I cover why this seasonal reversal occurs, I need to tell you a few things about the wind.
The main driving force of the wind is the pressure gradient force, or PGF. This is the pressure area over a distance. Wind wants to blow towards low pressure, but is sometimes prevented by doing that by the Coriolis force and other forces. In this case, the Coriolis force does not hinder the wind that much.
During the winter, the air over Asia is cooler. That means not very much rising, which in turn means high pressure. Thus, the wind blows away from the continent, toward the Indian Ocean and low pressure. However, in summer the air rises more. This lowers the pressure over Asia, making the wind switch from blowing towards the ocean to blowing towards the land. That seasonal switching is the monsoon.
The other definition of a monsoon, very heavy rainfall, is caused by this seasonal switching. The ocean as well as the land is a lot warmer in the summer. This means that more water will evaporate, making the air more humid. This humid air is carried inland and rises, which creates clouds. These clouds form what we generally think of as the monsoon.

Novas and Supernovas

Supernova (n.): the explosion of a star in which the star may reach a maximum intrinsic luminosity one billion times that of the sun.

An exploding star is called a nova (or, if it is a very large explosion, a supernova), which means "new" in Latin. This is because of the first person to notice a nova. In November 1572 the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe noticed a new star in the constellation Cassiopeia, where no star had previously been observed. The star was brighter than Venus but faded away after 17 months. Tycho did some calculating and found out that the star was incredibly far away. In 1573 Tycho published an account of his finds called De nova stella, translated from Latin as "On the New Star" or "About the New Star." Since then, such exploding stars have been called 'novas.'

Bibliography

Youngson, Robert. Scientific Blunders. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, Inc., 1998.

Eucharist

Eucharist (n.): a spiritual communion with God; the Catholic Sacrament in which bread and wine are changed  into the Body and Blood of Christ.

Eucharist comes from the Greek eucharistein, meaning "to give thanks." This is because the Eucharist is one of the greatest ways of giving thanks to God.

Bibliography

       Rev. Socias, James. Introduction to Catholicism: A Complete Course. Woodridge, Illinois: Midwest Theological Forum, 2011.

Orthodox

Orthodox (adjective): conforming to established doctrine, especially in religion.

Orthodox comes from the Greek orthos, "straight," and the Latin doceo, "to teach." Orthodox is "straight teaching," the accepted opinion. This term is also used in "Eastern Orthodox" and "Orthodox Judaism," denoting a specific religion.

Bibliography

Rev. Socias, James. Introduction to Catholicism: A Complete Course. Woodridge, Illinois: Midwest Theological Forum, 2011.

Flamingo

Flamingo: any of several large aquatic birds (family Phoenicopteridae) with long legs and neck, a broad lamellate bill resembling that of a duck but abruptly bent downwards, and usually rosy-white plumage with scarlet wing coverts and black wing quills.

Flamingo comes from the Latin word flamma, which means "fire," and the obsolete Spanish word flamengo meaning "German." Germans were generally thought to be ruddy-complexioned. Both of these words are used in "flamingo" because of the flamingo's coloring.

Orangutan

Orangutan: a largely herbivorous anthropoid ape (Pongo pygmaeus) of Borneo and Sumatra that is about 2/3 the size of a gorilla and has brown skin, long, sparse, reddish-brown hair, and very long arms.

Orangutan comes from the Malay words orang, meaning "person," and utan, "forest." Orangutan then means "person of the forest." The Malay people named orangutans this because they thought that orangutans were people. They do look remarkably similar to us.

Welcome!

Welcome to The Origin of Words, my newest blog! My name is Marty. On this blog, I will be posting interesting vocabulary words with their origins (some just for the origins!). Have fun! Note: the dictionary I use is Merriam-Webster Online.