The Ultimate Scientific Dictionary

Subject: The Ultimate Scientific Dictionary Sun Oct 25, 2009 8:10 am

The Ultimate Scientific Dictionary
Activation Energy: The useful quantity of energy available in one cup of coffee.

Atomic Theory:
A mythological explanation of the nature of matter, first proposed by
the ancient Greeks, and now thoroughly discredited by modern computer
simulation. Attempts to verify the theory by modern computer simulation
have failed. Instead, it has been demonstrated repeatedly that computer
outputs depend upon the color of the programmer's eyes, or occasionally
upon
the month of his or her birth. This apparent astrological connection,
at last, vindicates the alchemist's view of astrology as the mother of
all science.

Bacon, Roger: An English friar who dabbled
in science and made experimentation fashionable. Bacon was the first
science popularizer to make it big on the banquet and talk-show
circuit, and his books even outsold the fad diets of the period.

Biological Science: A contradiction in terms.

Bunsen Burner:
A device invented by Robert Bunsen (1811-1899) for brewing coffee in
the laboratory, thereby enabling the chemist to be poisoned without
having to go all the way to the company cafeteria.

Butyl: An unpleasant-sounding word denoting an unpleasant-smelling alcohol.

CAI: Acronym
for "Computer-Aided Instruction". The modern system of training
professional scientists without ever exposing them to the hazards and
expense of laboratory work. Graduates of CAI-based programs are very
good at simulated research.

Cavendish: A variety of pipe
tobacco that is reputed to produce remarkably clear thought processes,
and thereby leads to major scientific discoveries; hence, the name of a
British research laboratory where the tobacco is smoked in abundance.

Chemical: A substance that:

1) An organic chemist turns into a foul odor;
2) an analytical chemist turns into a procedure;
3) a physical chemist turns into a straight line;
4) a biochemist turns into a helix;
5) a chemical engineer turns into a profit.

Chemical Engineering: The practice of doing for a profit what an
organic chemist only does for fun.

Chromatography:
(From Gr. chromo [color] + graphos [writing]) The practice of
submitting manuscripts for publication with the original figures drawn
in non-reproducing blue ink.

Clinical Testing: The use of humans as guinea pigs. (See also PHARMACOLOGY and TOXICOLOGY)

Compound: To make worse, as in: 1) A fracture; 2) the mutual adulteration of two or more elements.

Computer Resources:
The major item of any budget, allowing for the acquisition of any
capital equipment that is obsolete before the purchase request is
released.

Eigen Function: The use to which an eigen is put.

En:
The universal bidentate ligand used by coordination chemists. For
years, efforts were made to use ethylene-diamine for this purpose, but
chemists were unable to squeeze all the letters between the corners of
the octahedron diagram. The timely invention of en in 1947
revolutionized the science.

Evaporation Allowance: The volume of alcohol that the graduate students can drink in a year's time.

Exhaustive Methylation: A marathon event in which the participants methylate until they drop from exhaustion.

First Order Reaction: The reaction that occurs first, not always the one desired. For example, the formation of brown gunk in an organic prep.

Flame Test: Trial by fire.

Genetic Engineering: A recent attempt to formalize what engineers have been doing informally all along.

Grignard: A fictitious class of compounds often found on organic exams and never in real life.

Inorganic Chemistry: That which is left over after the organic, analytical, and physical chemists get through picking over the periodic table.

Mercury:
(From L. Mercurius, the swift messenger of the gods) Element No. 80, so
named because of the speed of which one of its compounds (calomel,
Hg2Cl2) goes through
the human digestive tract. The element is
perhaps misnamed, because the gods probably would not be pleased by the
physiological message so delivered.

Monomer: One mer. (Compare POLYMER).

Natural Product:
A substance that earns organic chemists fame and glory when they manage
to synthesize it with great difficulty, while Nature gets no credit for
making it with great ease.

Organic Chemistry: The practice of transmuting vile substances into publications.

Partition Function: The function of a partition is to protect the lab supervisor from shrapnel produced in laboratory explosions.

Pass/Fail:
An attempt by professional educators to replace the traditional
academic grading system with a binary one that can be handled by a
large digital computer.

Pharmacology: The use of rabbits and dogs as guinea pigs. (See also
CLINICAL TESTING, TOXICOLOGY).

Physical Chemistry: The pitiful attempt to apply y=mx+b to everything in the universe.

Pilot Plant: A modest facility used for confirming design errors before they are built into a costly, full-scale production facility.

Polymer: Many mers. (Compare MONOMERS).

Prelims:
(From L. pre [before] + limbo [oblivion]) An obligatory ritual
practiced by graduate students just before the granting of a Ph.D. (if
the gods are appeased) or an M.S. (if they aren't).

Publish or Perish: The imposed, involuntary choice between fame and oblivion, neither of which is handled gracefully by most faculty members.

Purple Passion: A deadly libation prepared by mixing equal volumes of grape juice and lab alcohol.

Quantum Mechanics: A crew kept on the payroll to repair quantums, which decay frequently to the ground state.

Rate Equations: (Verb
phrase) To give a grade or a ranking to a formula based on its utility
and applicability. H=E, for example, applies to everything everywhere,
and therefore rates an A. pV=nRT, on the other hand, is good only for
nonexistent gases and thus receives only a D+, but this grade can be
changed to a B- if enough empirical virial coefficients are added.

Research: (Irregular noun) That which I do for the benefit of humanity, you do for the money, and he does to hog all the glory.

Scientific Method:
The widely held philosophy that a theory can never be proved, only
disproved, and that all attempts to explain anything are therefore
futile.

SI: Acronym for "Systeme Infernelle".

Spectrophotometry: A long word used mainly to intimidate freshman nonmajors.

Spectroscope: A disgusting-looking instrument used by medical specialists to probe and examine the spectrum.

Toxicology: The wholesale slaughter of white rats bred especially for that purpose. (See also CLINICAL TESTING, PHARMACOLOGY).

X-Ray Diffraction:
An occupational disorder common among physicians, caused by reading
X-ray pictures in darkened rooms for prolonged periods. The condition
is readily cured by a greater reliance on blood chemistries; the lab
results are just as inconclusive as the X-rays, but
are easier to read.

Ytterbium:
A rare and inconsequential element, named after the village of Ytterby,
Sweden (not to be confused with Iturbi, the late pianist and film
personality, who was actually Spanish, not Swedish). Ytterbium is used
mainly to fill block 70 in the periodic table. Iturbi was used mainly
to play Jane Powell's father.