ANCIENTS DID NOT UNDERSTAND SCIENCE
Elated to finally start Dr. Jay Wiles’ General Science, my son jumped into the first module reviewing the history of science.
Ancient cultures, like Egypt, effectively embalmed the dead, even though they didn’t understand the science behind the process.
The early Greeks started to get a foothold in scientific discovery, just to be overshadowed by the Dark Ages.
ALCHEMY OF THE DARK AGES
During the Dark Ages, alchemists enjoyed playing with various chemicals that created strange effects (chemical reactions), but they had no idea why.
Last year my kids read a great literature book, The Trumpeter of Krakow, while learning about the Dark Ages.
This wonderful 1929 Newberry Award book set in Poland poignantly illustrates an actual historical event in Krakow, causing the trumpet’s broken note.
Reenacted even today every single hour at Saint Mary’s Basilica in Krakow, Poland, the trumpet faithfully plays the historic notes.
Humorously, one alchemist scared the bad guys with his eerie concoctions (chemical reactions).
Recently I read aloud GA Henty’s A March on London: Being a Story of Wat Tyler’s Insurrection, where the hero fights the insurrection.
Worried about leaving his father defenseless against the impassioned mobs threatening their home, his alchemist father assured his son of victory.
My kids anxiously awaited this scene, which finally occured at the end of the book.
When the hero returned home, victorious from taming the insurrections, he discovered home sweet home.
Gleefully we giggled at the father’s tale of terrifying the attackers with a glowing, gibbering skull and flashes of light emanating from the property.
The book explained in detail how nothing supernatural occured.
The alchemist merely knew that certain substances produced glowing effects (chemical reactions), although did not know why.
CHEMICAL REACTIONS LAB
With his Wiles’ well-written text, my son’s lab detailed the process of chemical reactions through a simple experiment.
After boiling cabbage leaves in water, my son poured some cabbage liquid and vinegar into an empty soda pop bottle.
Adding baking soda in a balloon, my son attached the balloon onto the neck of the bottle.
When he dumped the baking soda from the balloon into the bottle he observed all kinds of reactions.
The fizzing (chemical reaction) produced gas which inflated the balloon.
Initially pink, the cabbage water eventually turned blue, because of yet another chemical reaction.
My son was able to write a great lab report on the chemical reactions in the experiment and the connections he learned between real science and alchemy.
EPILOGUE 2011
While creating our Becoming History presentation for the Middle Ages, my son recalled this science lesson and many others, so he performed “magic” acts…which were really chemical reactions.
It was a hit!
