This post will not be about plant science, unfortunately, but rather, a severely needed lesson about basic science. The funny thing is, the more I think about today's topic, the more I wonder about its "basic" characteristic, because it is an entirely different way of seeing the world that many people just don't use.
Look around you. Everything you see, smell, taste, touch, etc, and everything you cannot see, smell, touch, etc are made up of atoms. Atoms are the smallest unit of matter (there are smaller units that make up atoms, but for all intents and purposes we can just be concerned with atoms for now). At the core of atoms are a dense package of protons and neutrons, and in shells buzzing about the core are electrons. The number of protons determines the type of atom: one proton in Hydrogen, six protons in carbon. Typically the number of electrons is equal to the number of protons, but sometimes atoms lose or gain electrons to other atoms, creating a positively charged cation or a negatively charged anion respectively. The entire periodic table is set up this way, in increasing amounts of protons as well as other characteristics (think of how the Actinides and Lanthanides are separated, or ionization energy). Okay, so everything around us is made up of atoms, and these atoms are elements found on the periodic table. Well then, these elements form compounds that function every day. You breath in O2 and exhale CO2. Most of our bodies consist of H2O, but we still need to drink it to stay healthy.
These chemical compounds exist everywhere you go. You cannot live in avoidance of chemicals, because you are made of them. With the exception of radioactive chemicals that cannot be found in nature, the chemicals made in laboratories are no different than the ones you encounter every day. Lab produced NaCl is just like the salt that people mine. NaF is in your toothpaste and in our water to keep our teeth healthy. Your body is truly amazing, because when it is healthy, it can do chemical regulations all on its own. Your conscious brain doesn't have to worry about whether you can handle all that alcohol (even though it should), because your liver will work on it, and get back to you later. If you've never seen a decomposition reaction similar to what happens in our bodies when we digest food, you would be surprised to find out how violent it seems. That doesn't mean it is dangerous for our bodies to eat food!
So when it comes to the assumed danger of vaccines, all I can say about the chemicals you fear is learn more about how they are acting inside of the vaccine. Mercury is a dangerous element, but in this chemical compound, it is not. There is a large difference between elements and molecular compounds. Consider that Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, making up about 75% of it. We have hydrogen bombs, hydrogen bonds in DNA, and water! These are three very different functions for one element! Of course, the element is utilized in different ways. In that same sense, nearly all of the elements could be dangerous or safe in different situations. It just depends on how it is being used. I mean, if I'm walking down the street and I trip, and suddenly a man with a knife appears, he could rob me, or he could cut me out of the thing that made me fall. Everything is about perspective, wouldn't you say?
You need to realize the scientific foundations of life to see the things you normally wouldn't. Physics: everything is falling and changing around us, and physics explains nearly all of it! Chemistry: I hope this little lesson showed how chemistry is everywhere around us in life! Biology: some of the more abstract lessons in science are given by the many branches of this field, including the intricacies of psychology down to our incredible circulatory system. You want to know the best part? These three sciences connect to explain all of the beauty and unusual things around us! A strong foundation in these sciences will allow you to see things for what they are.
Look around you. Everything you see, smell, taste, touch, etc, and everything you cannot see, smell, touch, etc are made up of atoms. Atoms are the smallest unit of matter (there are smaller units that make up atoms, but for all intents and purposes we can just be concerned with atoms for now). At the core of atoms are a dense package of protons and neutrons, and in shells buzzing about the core are electrons. The number of protons determines the type of atom: one proton in Hydrogen, six protons in carbon. Typically the number of electrons is equal to the number of protons, but sometimes atoms lose or gain electrons to other atoms, creating a positively charged cation or a negatively charged anion respectively. The entire periodic table is set up this way, in increasing amounts of protons as well as other characteristics (think of how the Actinides and Lanthanides are separated, or ionization energy). Okay, so everything around us is made up of atoms, and these atoms are elements found on the periodic table. Well then, these elements form compounds that function every day. You breath in O2 and exhale CO2. Most of our bodies consist of H2O, but we still need to drink it to stay healthy.
These chemical compounds exist everywhere you go. You cannot live in avoidance of chemicals, because you are made of them. With the exception of radioactive chemicals that cannot be found in nature, the chemicals made in laboratories are no different than the ones you encounter every day. Lab produced NaCl is just like the salt that people mine. NaF is in your toothpaste and in our water to keep our teeth healthy. Your body is truly amazing, because when it is healthy, it can do chemical regulations all on its own. Your conscious brain doesn't have to worry about whether you can handle all that alcohol (even though it should), because your liver will work on it, and get back to you later. If you've never seen a decomposition reaction similar to what happens in our bodies when we digest food, you would be surprised to find out how violent it seems. That doesn't mean it is dangerous for our bodies to eat food!
So when it comes to the assumed danger of vaccines, all I can say about the chemicals you fear is learn more about how they are acting inside of the vaccine. Mercury is a dangerous element, but in this chemical compound, it is not. There is a large difference between elements and molecular compounds. Consider that Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, making up about 75% of it. We have hydrogen bombs, hydrogen bonds in DNA, and water! These are three very different functions for one element! Of course, the element is utilized in different ways. In that same sense, nearly all of the elements could be dangerous or safe in different situations. It just depends on how it is being used. I mean, if I'm walking down the street and I trip, and suddenly a man with a knife appears, he could rob me, or he could cut me out of the thing that made me fall. Everything is about perspective, wouldn't you say?
You need to realize the scientific foundations of life to see the things you normally wouldn't. Physics: everything is falling and changing around us, and physics explains nearly all of it! Chemistry: I hope this little lesson showed how chemistry is everywhere around us in life! Biology: some of the more abstract lessons in science are given by the many branches of this field, including the intricacies of psychology down to our incredible circulatory system. You want to know the best part? These three sciences connect to explain all of the beauty and unusual things around us! A strong foundation in these sciences will allow you to see things for what they are.
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