Liz Lee Heinecke - The Kitchen Pantry Scientist Chemistry for Kids: Science Experiments and Activities Inspired by Awesome Chemists, Past and Present; with 25 Illustrated Biographies of Amazing Scientists from Around

THE
KITCHEN PANTRY
SCIENTIST

Homemade Science Experiments and Activities Inspired by Awesome Chemists, Past and Present

LIZ LEE HEINECKE

P eople have been tinkering with chemistry for thousands of years. We have always loved to play with fire, stirring things together, and boiling crazy concoctions. Its fun to imagine what interesting, beautiful, and useful chemical mixtures were created back when Homo sapiens (humans) first arrived on the scene.

We know that early humans ground up natural pigments such as ochre and used them to tint animal blood, creating durable paint that we can still see on cave walls today. Archeologists speculate that certain ancient mixtures may have been used for protection against sun and insects or for preserving animal hides. Its funny to think that even cave people needed bug spray.

Over the next 70,000 years or so, as civilizations took hold around the globe, a large portion of humanity found themselves settling down. After countless generations of life on the road, they now had crops, animals, and villages to protect. People still didnt have a word for chemistry, but they learned to make better medicines and discovered how to extract and mix metals that could be molded into cooking vessels, weapons, and jewelry. Early chemists such as Tapputi-Belatikallim and Galen fermented wine, distilled perfume and alcohol, made soap, and perfected natural inks and dyes. Eventually the invention of gunpowder changed the course of history forever.

Modern chemistry was born around 250 years ago, when measurement, mathematics, and the scientific method were officially applied to experiments that lots of people were doing in laboratories and kitchen sinks. In 1896 after the first draft of the periodic table was published by a man named Mendeleev, scientists rushed to fill in the blanks.

The elemental discoveries that followed gave scientists, for the first time in history, the tools to visualize atoms, the building blocks of matter. They worked to understand this fascinating new phenomenon and soon had a model for it that featured negatively charged particles called electrons whizzing, like Saturns rings, around a dense nucleus. Since then, discovery has accelerated at breakneck speed. At times, the products of modern chemistry have caused heartbreaking, unthinkable harm, but more often than not, chemistry makes our lives better.

The Kitchen Pantry Scientist: Chemistry for Kids is a series of snapshots of twenty-five chemists, from ancient history through today. Each lab tells the story of a phenomenal scientist, along with some background about their work and where you can still find it used or reflected in todays world. A step-by-step illustrated experiment is paired with each story to offer readers a chance to get their hands on the concepts pursued by each scientist. Readers can distill perfume using a method created in ancient Mesopotamia by a woman named Tapputi-Belatikallim or replicate a chemical reaction similar to one Marie Curie used to purify radioactive elements. Curious minds will discover an inspiring group of role models and many memorable experiments in the pages of this book.

FRAGRANCE DISTILLATION

ROYAL PERFUMER

Over 3200 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, a pen made from a reed inscribed the name Tapputi-Belatikallim in a soft clay tablet. Today the cuneiform notches and figures remain, and scholars who can read the ancient script tell us that she held an important post as the manager of the royal household. Thanks to the scratches in baked clay, which held its form as the centuries rolled by, we understand that Tapputi, whose second name means overseer, prepared fragrances for the king and his family. The royals used some of the scents she prepared as perfume and saved others to offer to the gods during religious rituals.

MESOPOTAMIA

Ancient Mesopotamia lay between two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, in a land known as the Fertile Crescent where Iraq and parts of Iran, Syria, and Turkey are found today. The fertile land gave birth to the first known cities: agriculture arose on the land, people began to domesticate animals, and written language developed. Mesopotamia was a center for culture and language and gave rise to the wheel, the chariot, and the writings of a high priestess named Enheduanna, the worlds first author known by name.

TRANSCENDENT SCENTS

When Tapputi made her mark as the worlds first recorded chemist around 1200 BCE, tendrils of fragrance were intertwined in social order, religion, and medicine. Tapputi and her contemporaries believed that the invisible, beautiful scents they offered could transcend the physical world to reach their gods, who would be pleased by their sacrifice. Kings were self-proclaimed conduits to the gods, anointed with the most valuable perfumes, while fragrant ointments and salves were used by healers as well.

ROYAL RECIPE

Tapputis recipe for a perfume included preparing a mixture of oil, flowers, and a lemon-grass-type herb called calamus and then steeping the mixture with other fragrant substances before filtering and distilling it again and again. The distillates and oils she created served as salves and perfumes for the king. Her complicated, multi-step extraction method was recorded around 1200 BCE. An ancient copy of her recipe includes the first description of a distillation apparatus ever recorded and a number of her methods are still used today in modern perfume production.

MODERN FRAGRANCE

Chemical engineers today use several of the same techniques that Tapputi used, but on a much larger scale, to create todays fragrances.

* approximate date

FRAGRANCE DISTILLATION

Distill essential oils from citrus, flowers, and herbs using expression and distillation methods similar to those used by Tapputi-Belatikallim over 3000 years ago.

MATERIALS

Slow cooker or pot with a domed lid and heatproof handle

Steaming basket or small colander

Small, heatproof bowl

Fresh or dried lemon, herbs, or flowers

Cheesecloth

Rolling pin, mallet, or meat-tenderizing tool

Small bottle and eyedropper (optional)

Water

SAFETY TIPS AND HINTS

Adult supervision is required for use of the stove or slow cooker.

Lemon peel, rosemary, peppermint, and lavender work very nicely for this experiment. Fresh flowers work as well. Youll need large numbers of blossoms.

PROTOCOL