The science of macaroni salad: What's in a molecule? - Josh Kurz
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0:07 - 0:10We already know that the world is made of things,
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0:10 - 0:11things like cats
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0:11 - 0:12and macaroni salad,
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0:12 - 0:14and macaroni salad is made of things
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0:14 - 0:15like mayo
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0:15 - 0:16and mustard
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0:16 - 0:17and celery,
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0:17 - 0:19which are all made of molecules.
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0:19 - 0:20As we'll see, these molecules
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0:20 - 0:22are made of the same stuff,
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0:22 - 0:24just mixed together in different ways.
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0:24 - 0:25Let's go back to our macaroni salad.
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0:25 - 0:27We've already unmixed things physically
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0:27 - 0:28as much as we can.
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0:28 - 0:31Now, we'll go further and unmix things chemically
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0:31 - 0:32by breaking some bonds.
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0:32 - 0:34Many larger, complex molecules
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0:34 - 0:36are just a bunch of smaller molecules bonded together
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0:36 - 0:37like building blocks.
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0:37 - 0:40Here, again, macaroni salad provides a nice example.
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0:40 - 0:41If you look at the pasta,
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0:41 - 0:44you'll notice it's made of a lot of this stuff,
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0:44 - 0:44starch,
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0:44 - 0:46which is this molecule,
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0:46 - 0:47otherwise known as amylose.
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0:47 - 0:49Turns out, if you break some bonds,
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0:49 - 0:51amylose is made up of smaller molecules
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0:51 - 0:54of glucose, a simple sugar.
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0:54 - 0:56If you take a bunch of these same glucose molecules
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0:56 - 0:58and rearrange them in a different way,
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0:58 - 0:59you get cellulose,
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0:59 - 1:01which is what plants are made of.
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1:01 - 1:04So, while this piece of pasta made of amylose
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1:04 - 1:07and this wooden spoon made of cellulose
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1:07 - 1:08look vastly different,
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1:08 - 1:10they're both essentially made of the same molecules,
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1:10 - 1:12just stuck together differently.
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1:12 - 1:14This type of breaking apart and recombining
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1:14 - 1:16is what goes on when you digest food.
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1:16 - 1:18The complex proteins found in the foods we eat,
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1:18 - 1:19like carrots and eggs,
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1:19 - 1:21can't be used by our bodies
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1:21 - 1:23because we are not carrots or chickens.
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1:23 - 1:25What we can use are the smaller molecules
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1:25 - 1:27that make up these proteins,
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1:27 - 1:28the amino acids.
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1:28 - 1:31During digestion, our bodies break these proteins up
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1:31 - 1:32into their amino acids
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1:32 - 1:34so they can be rearranged and put back together
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1:34 - 1:36to make human proteins.
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1:36 - 1:38But let's keep breaking bonds.
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1:38 - 1:41All molecules are made up of atoms bonded together.
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1:41 - 1:43If some molecules are building blocks,
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1:43 - 1:44atoms are the building blocks
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1:44 - 1:46of the building blocks.
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1:46 - 1:48And you'll notice that with the molecules
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1:48 - 1:49from macaroni salad,
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1:49 - 1:52the same six types of atoms keep showing up:
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1:52 - 1:53carbon,
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1:53 - 1:53hydrogen,
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1:53 - 1:54oxygen,
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1:54 - 1:55nitrogen,
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1:55 - 1:55phosphorus,
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1:55 - 1:56and sulfur,
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1:56 - 1:58or CHONPS.
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1:58 - 1:59There's a few others,
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1:59 - 2:03but the big six is what macaroni salad is made of.
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2:03 - 2:04If we went a step further,
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2:04 - 2:06we could use these same atoms,
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2:06 - 2:07recombine them,
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2:07 - 2:08and make other stuff
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2:08 - 2:09like gasoline
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2:09 - 2:10or sulfuric acid,
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2:10 - 2:11methane,
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2:11 - 2:13and nylon.
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2:13 - 2:14It's all made from the same elements
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2:14 - 2:16that make up macaroni salad.
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2:16 - 2:17So, to recap,
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2:17 - 2:19everything is made of atoms.
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2:19 - 2:22They are the stuff that things are made of.
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2:22 - 2:24Atoms are grouped together in different ways
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2:24 - 2:25to form molecules.
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2:25 - 2:28These molecules are constantly being combined,
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2:28 - 2:28broken apart,
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2:28 - 2:29and recombined.
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2:29 - 2:31They get thrown into mixtures,
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2:31 - 2:32separated,
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2:32 - 2:32remixed
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2:32 - 2:34over and over and over again.
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2:34 - 2:36Stuff that things are made of
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2:36 - 2:38is always in flux,
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2:38 - 2:39it's always changing.
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2:39 - 2:42Macaroni salad is only macaroni salad for a short time.
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2:42 - 2:43You eat it,
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2:43 - 2:45some of it becomes part of you,
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2:45 - 2:47the rest eventually goes into the ocean
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2:47 - 2:49and gets eaten by other animals that die,
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2:49 - 2:51and after millions of years, they turn into oil,
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2:51 - 2:53which is where gasoline comes from.
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2:53 - 2:55And that's why gasoline and macaroni salad
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2:55 - 2:56are not that different -
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2:56 - 2:58they're both made of the same stuff,
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2:58 - 2:59just one tastes better.
- Title:
- The science of macaroni salad: What's in a molecule? - Josh Kurz
- Description:
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View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-science-of-macaroni-salad-what-s-in-a-molecule-josh-kurz
What do macaroni salad and gasoline have in common? They are made of exactly the same stuff -- specifically, the same atoms, just rearranged. So, while we put the former in our mouths and the latter in our cars, they are really just variations on the same atomic theme. Josh Kurz breaks macaroni salad down to its smallest chemical components.
Lesson and animation by Josh Kurz.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
closed TED
- Project:
- TED-Ed
- Duration:
- 03:15
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Jessica Ruby edited English subtitles for The science of macaroni salad: What's in a molecule? - Josh Kurz | |
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Andrea McDonough edited English subtitles for The science of macaroni salad: What's in a molecule? - Josh Kurz | |
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Andrea McDonough edited English subtitles for The science of macaroni salad: What's in a molecule? - Josh Kurz |