Catholic Central High School - Banner Yearbook (Fort Madison, IA)

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IMPORTANCE OF CHEMISTRY IN THE HIGH SCHOOL The question, Of what value is Chemistry to the high-school boy or girl is frequently asked and can be readily answered by naming and explaining its four objects: namely, a better appreciation of the student's environment, the securing of new knowledge which can be applied to various fields of human en- deavor, a training in scientific thinking, and the opening of a wealth of unsolv- ed problems of vast importance to human comfort and happiness. , pn As chemistry is a science which deals with changes in the composition of matter, the laboratory work itself is interesting. Then, too, the opportunity giv- en to the student to perform his own laboratory work, will develop his ability to question, will give accuracy to his observations and power to generalize the results of his experiments. He soon realizes that chemistry is fundamental to almost everything that composes his environment. His food, clothing, shelter, the warming of his home, the different implements used in his every-day life, are all based more or less upon chemical principles. - All the industries which transform raw materials into a finished product for human use, are essentially chemical industries. Perhaps the most important change taking place is within our bodies. Here we are scarcely conscious of the changes of food, of fats, starches, sugars, and proteins into living tissues and heat energyg yet it occurs. As all plants require nitrogen, the development of processes for making from the air nitrogen compounds. has been a chemical triumph of great bene- fit to the farmers who are now no longer dependent upon the nitrates of Chile and the potash deposits of Germany. Again, Cottrell has become the nation's benefactor by his work in connection with the Fixed Nitrogen Laboratory in Washington of which he is director, an important position both in peace and war. Dyes of the highest quality are now made in such quantity that we export to other countries after supplying our own needs. Again, it is the chemist who devised methods for preparing the various substances that are used for combat- ing disease, it is the chemist who has prepared the liquid motor fuels that have made possible the airplane, the motor boat and the automobile. The student must, in the study of chemistry, master certain fundamental laws and theories which will give him an appreciation and understanding of the ways by which true science develops. A new world is opened in the study and writing of the chemical symbols, formulae and equations. The modern theories of ionization and atomic structure, are essential for an adequate understanding of modern chemistery. Chemistry touches our lives in so many ways through its applications to industry, agriculture, home activities, medicine, warfare, and the enrichment of life in general, that to omit it from the curriculum would be to deprive the student of one of the most interesting and useful fields of human knowledge. -HELEN CAPWELL, '28. NINETY-THREE

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THE VALUE OF PHYSICS IN THE HIGH SCHOOL Physics, which has been thought dry and uninteresting, is now attracting universal interest due to its rapid growth and striking recent achievements. The student in the High School is presented with subject-matter which touches closely upon his every-day life. Although he has dreamed almost unconscious- ly that stones sink in water, whereas wood floats, he is now stimulated to do some thinking on his own account about the how's and why's of the physi- cal world in which hc lives. As the achievements in Physics have been so varied, the interest of the aver- age student is held by illustration of the principles in industrial appliances, and stimulation is given by the study of the Heroes of Physics whose work has made these possible. Probably the airplane is the most significant and far- reaching of the advances of the twentieth century. After centuries of failure, man has conquered the air and has developed a commercial plane designed for safety, high speed, large load, comfort, and economy. Com. Byrd in his flight across the Atlantic, has contributed to science by his observations of tempera- ture, air pressure ,Wind, fog, sleet, and snow at the different altitudes. Another very interesting feature in physics is the study of electricity and electric appliances. The Hydro-Electric Plant at Keokuk may be visited and an exploration of the working of the Government Locks obtained at the same time. By means of moving pictures these principles are developed and illustrat- ed. Pictures like The Early Life of Edison, with events which led to the for- mation of the first firm of electrical engineersg scenes showing the development of the Mazda lamp, the turbine-generatorsg the transformers, the revelations by X-Ray, wizards of wireless, and other fascinating and illuminating subjects are studied in the High School course of Physics. ' The value of receiving this foundation is well expressed by Millikan in an address before the California Institute of Technology, when speaking of Newton's famous equation of moment, f-ma, he says: Not a single dynamical machine in existence today can be designed with- out its aid, not a steam engine, not an automobile, not a dynamo, not a motor, not an airplane-not a machine or device of any sort for the transformation of work or for utilizing power. Substract merely the result f--ma from modern civilization and that civilization collapses like a house of cards. In view of what physics has done, is doing, and yet can do for the progress of the world, can anyone be insensible either to its value or its fascination? -RAYMOND POHLMEYER '29. N INETY-TWO

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B OLOGY WHY BIOLOGY SHOULD BE STUDIED IN THE HIGH SCHOOL One may wonder of what value the study of Biology is to the high-school boy or girl. Since Biology is a study of all living things, it treats of the structure of plants and animals and gives special attention to their relation to man's com- fort and happiness. There are thousands of varieties of plants, from the gi- gantic trees of the forests to the tiny mass of plants we call mold. All these have a very delicate and a highly specialized structure. Green plants furnish us with clothing, trees can be made into lumber. Of course, there are also many harmful plants such as the weeds of the garden which check the growth of the vegetables, the brush in the pasture lands, and the dense thickets which prevent sunlight from reaching young trees and other plants in the woodlands. These harmful plants might be destroyed if everyone would join in the battle against them, by mowing them down before the seeds become ripe, by preventing the killing of useful birds, that eat weed-seeds, and by clearing brush from the woodlands. Now let us consider the animals. Of all the animals, the insects are the greatest in number of species. Pollination in many flowers and fruit trees could not be carried on without the aid of insects, especially the bee. This in- sect also makes honey which we use as food, and bees-wax which finds many uses. There are harmful insects too. The corn borer and the codling moth de- stroy hundreds of crops yearly, and the woolly aphis is a deadly pest to sheep growers. Insects are also spreaders of disease. The house-fly is a common NINETY-FOUR