Thanks but No Thanks

Dear Society for Amateur Scientists,

I just happened to be on your site and I'm impressed.

We have a site which is looking for quality link partners. Our site provides provides about great minds who have changed our world.

If you are interested, please let me know. I will add your link within 24 hours....

I am open to any kind of suggestions you would like to give.

Sincerely,

[Name withheld]

Thank you for visiting the Society for Amateur Scientists (SAS) web site. SAS is dedicated to promoting amateur and citizen science. Because your site covers topics unrelated to science, including conspiracy theories, and because it links to a range of pseudoscience sites, we'll have to pass on your offer. Editor.

Shawn Carlson Transforms Silver into Gold

The following is an example of how Shawn Carlson replies to polite inquiries from LABRats. This reply is so interesting that SAS members might want to try what Shawn describes. See below for how he replies to others. Editor.

Dear [deleted] 

You said that you were interested in studying the effects of juices on the tarnish that appears on pennies. 

We'll, in principle this is a pretty simple experiment to do. You'd just soak tarnished pennies in a variety of different juices and see which, if any, seem to have affected to color. I would recommend using an alligator clip (available at Radio Shack) to old the pennies half-way in the solution so the effect on the tarnish can be clearly seen. Make sure to soak all pennies for the same amount of time, say 12 hours. That way it will be easy to be sure which juices work better, that is, remove the tarnish faster, than others. 

You need to use some very different types of juices. I would make use to include pure lemon juice and vinegar, as these represent the most acidic solutions most folks have on hand. You might also want to try a solution of baking soda. Backing soda is chemically a "base." Acids and bases complement each other in chemistry, the acids being hydrogen ion donors and bases being hydrogen ion acceptors. Don't forget tomato juice and at least one type of cola. 

If you find that some juices do affect the tarnish, you'll want to try figure out why. One thing to check is the acidity of the solution. For that you'll want to either create or buy litmus paper. You can purchase this through the LABRats Supply Bureau at www.scifair.org . Or you can create your own by boiling purple cabbage into a pot for 30 minutes evaporating most of the water away under gentle heat, and then! soaking paper strips in concentrated blue solution you end up with. The paper strips will turn red in the presence of an acid. 

BTW: Here's another really cool thing to try. Get a silver coin, like a silver half dollar. But make sure it's real silver or this won't work. Then hard boil an egg and rub the cooked egg white (not the yellow yoke) all over the coin for about ten minutes. You'll be astonished by the change you see in the coin. Counterfeiters once used this technique to fool people into thinking they were buying gold coins. (Back when I made my living as a magician I used this trick to create some gold-colored silver coins. I would show a silver coin, switch it with a gold-colored duplicate, and then, together with some very entertaining patter, tell people that I had changed the silver coin into gold. It was a great affect, and one that I've never seen any other magician do, probably because only a handful of folks know this little secret about egg yokes. Now, you do too!) (Here's another experiment. First try soaking the coin in uncooked egg white. Does it change color? If not, can you guess why not?) 

You see, there is sulphur in some of the amino acids inside the egg. (Every wonder why rotten eggs smell like, well..., rotten eggs? As the sulphur-laden amino acids get consumed by bacteria, the bacteria use what sulphur they need and then give off the rest as sulphur dioxide. Phew!) In the presence of oxygen, the sulphur in the egg white combines with the silver to produce a compound that looks a great deal like gold! Try it. The results are quite astonishing. 

All you've done is great a tarnish, a chemical compound that covers and discolors the silver surface. But this chemical happens to look like gold. 

I hope this helps! 

Dr. Shawn 

Behind the Scenes at LABRats

Have you personally observed some of the attitude and behavior patterns of troubled or undisciplined youth? Shawn Carlson certainly has. The following letters were selected as worse case examples of e-mails he has received. While these letters are certainly not typical, they illustrate some important issues involved in establishing an organization designed to help young people to become in science. They also illustrate Shawn's patience. Fortunately, the following e-mails are not representative of LABRats. Editor.

Leave Me Alone

LEAVE ME ALONE!!!! u r a nerd if you make a web site all about science fairs...leave me alone and dont send me any more emails besides the reply to this message.

[Name withheld]

Shawn Carlson's Reply to "Leave Me Alone"

Dear ---,

You are free to opt-off the list at any moment. Simply click the link at the bottom of any message you receive from the LABRats program and you will be instantly and permanently removed.

By the way...

Do you know what jocks call nerds five years after high school? Boss!

The richest man in the world is Bill Gates, a nerd!

In fact, I don't know many nerds who are unemployed or who don't live full and dynamic lives. But I know plenty of people who tossed about the "nerd" insult in school and who wound up working behind drugstore counters for the rest of their lives.

I'm sorry that you don't want to learn how the world works or find out if you have what it takes to solve real-world problems and discover nature's great secrets. And I am sorry that you don't want to take advantage of this FREE opportunity to get a leg up on your future. I truly am. Because my knowledge of science allows me to make a good income, to take good care of my family, to avoid being duped by the media and pitch artists, and to live a very rich and rewarding life. It also allows me to grasp the wonders of nature, and that gives me a deep sense of appreciation of the Universe that enriches the enjoyment of my life in ways that you could not possibly understand, at least not until you learned a little science yourself!

Simply put, an education in science and technology is, without a doubt, the surest possible way to get to live a wonderful life.

Don't take my word for it. Just ask anybody over the age of 30!

You need to remember something. I didn't sign you up for LABRats. Someone who cares about you did!

PLEASE NOTE: If you respond to this message with additional insults I shall forward your correspondence directly to the administrators of AOL with my personal recommendation that they cancel your service and send a frank message to your parents explaining why. Email is a privilege and if you can't use it without sending harassing or insulting messages you don't deserve to use it at all.

Best of luck in your future pursuits,

Dr. Shawn

"Answer Soon"

From: [deleted]@aol.com
Date: Wed Nov 2, 2005 8:19:25 PM US/Eastern
To: DrShawn@sas.org
Subject: science fair

hi my name is [deleted] and im in 8th grade what should i do for my science fair project? it has to be easy and quick because the proposal is due tomorrow so please give me some ideas answer soon because my mom needs the phone

Fifteen Minutes Later: "NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

On Wednesday, November 2, 2005, at 08:35 PM, [deleted]@aol.com wrote:

you didnt even read my e-mail i sent you. It said i needed ideas for the science fair projects NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BECAUSE ITS DUE TOMORROW so please give me an idea or i`ll never visit your website sorry but im not trying to be mean thank you

[Name withheld]

Shawn Carlson's Reply to NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow,

You really need to learn how to address people politely and how to take responsibility for your own actions.

I run two major organizations, take care of a family of five, and answer about 50 email messages every day from young people who are looking for help with their projects. I answer as many as I can as quickly as I can but there are only so many hours in the day. I am a hard-working 45 year old accomplished and professional man with tremendous responsibilities and tight time pressures.

So why did you wait until the last day to ask me for help?

There's an old saying that you need to take to heart. "Your lack of planning is not my emergency." You can not demand other people to drop what they are doing and help you simply because you didn't take care of business. If you learn this lesson, and I mean really learn it well, you are going to live a much happier and successful life. If you don't, you'll be blaming other people for your failures for the rest of your life.

So I have therefore made the conscious decision NOT to help you at this time. I want you to have to go to your teacher tomorrow and explain that you waited until the last minute to seek help, and you came to me using a demanding tone and I refused to help you because you were rude. Show you teacher this message, and see what your teacher says to you.

I'm not trying to be mean either. Trust me. I'm trying to teach you THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON that I possibly can. This is one lesson you really need to learn.

If you don't take advantage of the information on my web site you'll only be hurting yourself. Ignoring great information that could help you would be a darn foolish thing to do, don't you think?

Come back next week and ask me for help again politely and I WILL PUT YOU ON THE PATH TO SCIENCE FAIR SUCCESS! But if you answer my reply with another rude message, I shall expel you from LABRats and forward your messages to the administrators at aol.com with my personal recommendation that they cancel your service and send your parents a frank message as to why. Email and membership in LABRats are privileges, and anyone who can't communicate within the normal bounds of decorum does not deserve either of them.

As I hope you discovered in my introductory note, I hold ALL members of LABRats members to a higher standard. Polite and respectful discourse and taking care of personal business is a big part of that standard.

I sincerely hope to hear from you next week and wish you all the best success.

Dr. Shawn (Shawn Carlson)
MacArthur Fellow
Founder and Executive Director
Society for Amateur Scientists
Creator-LABRats

Shawn Carlson Replies to a Series of Demands

Hi there,

I received messages from you at the following times:

8:48 PM Requesting help on a science fair project
8:54 PM Demanding to know why I haven't responded
8:56 PM Demanding to know why I still haven't responded
9:01 PM Demanding again to know why I haven't responded

Please remember that you are using email, NOT a chat room. I don't hover over my computer screen every minute of the day and night waiting for the next message to come in. Nobody does. In fact, I'm normally getting ready for bed right now.

You need to understand that I am a professional adult. So you need to approach me in the same manner that you should approach any adult; and that is politely. That means that you have to give me a reasonable chance to respond to your questions. In the world of adult work and adult responsibilities, that usually means at least two days.

Remember that. Two days. Not six minutes.

I will try to answer your question tomorrow. In the mean time, you please try to re-adjust your expectations. If you want my help, you need to let me give it to you in a time and manner that is convenient for me.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shawn

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