Anyone know the difference between a plant and an animal?
March 7, 2006 11:43 amHint for the good people charged with educating our off-spring.
This is a sheep:
A sheep is an animal. It goes baaah.
This is cotton wool:
It is a plant. It does not go baaah.
Now have a listen to the clip of a representative of the same people who bought you the rainbow sheep
Cotton is pure cellulose, a naturally occurring polymer. Cellulose is a carbohydrate, and the molecule is a long chain of glucose (sugar) molecules. If you look at the structure of a cellulose molecule you can see the OH groups that are on the outer edge. These negatively charged groups attract water molecules and make cellulose and cotton absorb water well. Cotton can absorb about 25 times its weight in water. Chemists refer to substances like cotton as hydrophilic, which means that they attract water molecules.
Wool fibre has evolved over 25,000 years to create a uniquely complex structure of interlocking protein molecules, surrounded by electrically charged lysine side chains. Through a natural process called ‘hydrogen bonding’, these side chains electrically attract water vapour molecules. The wool fibres actually pull the moisture vapour away from the skin.
Here is the origin of the rhyme. Part of it says:
The wool industry was critical to the country’s economy from the Middle Ages until the nineteenth century so it is therefore not surprising that it is celebrated in the Baa Baa Black Sheep Nursery Rhyme. An historical connection for this rhyme has been suggested - a political satire said to refer to the Plantagenet King Richard III (the Master) and the the export tax imposed in Britain in 1275 in which the English Customs Statute authorised the king to collect a tax on all exports of wool in every port in the country. But our further research indicates another possible connection of this Nursery rhyme to English history relating to King Edward II (1307-1327)
I’m sure you’d like to let Surestart know your feelings on the matter.
3 Responses to “Anyone know the difference between a plant and an animal?”
Aha! Have we perhaps found the real reason They don’t like the rhyme? Can’t have taxpayers at the taxpayer funded love-in singing songs that complain about tax! The little boy down the lane will not be pleased.
Quite, and you have the kudos of being the first commenter of this blog!
Actually, I think I need to rewrite the above a bit - it’s not entirely clear what point I’m trying to make, especially if you don’t listen to the clip.
w00t first post, etc. I think your point is quite clear. Rob’s first rule of blogging: assume your readers have at least some wit and intelligence. As they say over at Samizdata, “Oh, and this blog does not have wheelchair ramps for the ‘intellectually challenged’.”
Care to comment?