bond: (in chemistry) A semi-permanent attachment between atoms — or groups of atoms — in a molecule. It’s formed by an attractive force between the participating atoms. Once bonded, the atoms will work as a unit. To separate the component atoms, energy must be supplied to the molecule as heat or some other type of radiation.
engineer: A person who uses science and math to solve problems. As a verb, to engineer means to design a device, material or process that will solve some problem or unmet need.
freshwater: A noun or adjective that describes bodies of water with very low concentrations of salt. It’s the type of water used for drinking and making up most inland lakes, ponds, rivers and streams, as well as groundwater.
hydrogel: A “smart” polymer-based material that can change its structure in response to its environment, such as the local temperature, pH, salt or water concentration. The polymers that make up a hydrogel have water-attracting ends sticking out. Those ends help hydrogels latch onto molecules of water. Some hydrogels are used in baby diapers to hold urine. Others are added to potting soils to hold water near to plants until they need it. Still others may be part of wound dressings to prevent a sore from drying out.
hypothesis: (v. hypothesize) A proposed explanation for a phenomenon. In science, a hypothesis is an idea that must be rigorously tested before it is accepted or rejected.
liquid: A material that flows freely but keeps a constant volume, like water or oil.
mechanical engineer: Someone trained in a research field that uses physics to study motion and the properties of materials to design, build and/or test devices.
molecule: An electrically neutral group of atoms that represents the smallest possible amount of a chemical compound. Molecules can be made of single types of atoms or of different types. For example, the oxygen in the air is made of two oxygen atoms (O2), but water is made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom (H2O).
particle: A minute amount of something.
phenomenon: Something that is surprising or unusual.
photon: A particle representing the smallest possible amount of light or other type of electromagnetic radiation.
polymer: A substance made from long chains of repeating groups of atoms. Manufactured polymers include nylon, polyvinyl chloride (better known as PVC) and many types of plastics. Natural polymers include rubber, silk and cellulose (found in plants and used to make paper, for example).
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: A prestigious journal publishing original scientific research, begun in 1914. The journal’s content spans the biological, physical and social sciences. Each of the more than 3,000 papers it publishes each year, now, are not only peer reviewed but also approved by a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
sea: An ocean (or region that is part of an ocean). Unlike lakes and streams, seawater — or ocean water — is salty.
technology: The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry — or the devices, processes and systems that result from those efforts.
visible light: A type of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths that range between 380 nanometers (violet) and 740 nanometers (red). Visible light has wavelengths that are shorter than infrared light, microwaves, and radio waves but longer than ultraviolet light, X-rays and gamma rays.
water vapor: Water in its gaseous state, capable of being suspended in the air.
wavelength: The distance between one peak and the next in a series of waves, or the distance between one trough and the next. It’s also one of the “yardsticks” used to measure radiation. Visible light — which, like all electromagnetic radiation, travels in waves — includes wavelengths between about 380 nanometers (violet) and about 740 nanometers (red). Radiation with wavelengths shorter than visible light includes gamma rays, X-rays and ultraviolet light. Longer-wavelength radiation includes infrared light, microwaves and radio waves.