CCL: And now something completely different!

 Sent to CCL by: "Kalju Kahn" [kalju-#-chem.ucsb.edu]
 Good point, Anatoli
 > Sent to CCL by: Anatoli Korkin [a_korkin,+,yahoo.com]
 > While the nature of science can not (and
 > should not!) be changed, a closer ties between scientists and society via
 > popular education is important. Computational chemistry in fact is very
 > close to this point with its fascinating and artistic images generated by
 > molecular design software and other jewels of virtual reality.
 Another interesting thing going for computational chemistry in this regard
 is that its tools are easily accessible to general public, compared to the
 rest of modern chemistry and physics.  Kids know computers, kids know how
 to download stuff (programs and basis sets, including), and they can
 figure out how to run these programs because of manuals or tips on the web
 if they want to.  Maybe some "academic software" developers could
 state
 clearly that everyone is welcome to download it for free for general
 home/educational use.
 No, they may not exactly grasp what it means that their calculation is not
 size consistent or suffers from a severe spin contamination, but they are
 able to get "results" and make pretty MO pictures, and show vibrating
 molecules off to their friends.  This provides the sense of instant
 satisfaction, like beating a level in a video game.  It releases the
 packet of dopamine that our brain needs to go on.  Cool!  Low cost!  Safe!
  Mom and dad would feel well about buying a pair of GTX295 for a birthday
 to help with offspring's science projects.  And who would not like to brag
 about their kick-ass home supercomputer!
 Consider any other branch of chemistry for comparison.  Well it is mainly
 experimental.  Purifying DNA from bananas, or adding different toothpastes
 to a Petri dish with colonies of own's microflora is sure a cool thing for
 seventh or eight grade science projects.  But say, you really want to do
 something that resembles a modern science.  Nope, this microwave oven will
 not work as a PCR thermocycler, and the colorimeter in high-school chem
 lab probaly will not go down to 260-280 nm.  There were times when mixing
 chemicals that I cannot name under US Patriot Act provided plenty of
 entertainment but this sort of chemistry does not fly well in modern
 times.  The bottom line is that there is little that a high-school
 students can do in terms of experimental chemistry at home or school that
 would be considered cool and exiting by friends and parents, and would
 provide a quick sense of accomplishment.
 Coming back to where it all started, I see nothing wrong with using
 oversimplified models with general audience in mind.  Ideally, one would
 have some links nearby pointing to more rigorous descriptions, and maybe
 even links to college course pages where these subjects are developed in
 detail. I would not complain if a student choose to attend, say Iowa State
 (or Moscow State, or University of Oslo) because watching a video about
 people dancing like electrons sparked their curiosity, and lead them to
 downloading a free program like GAMESS (or Firefly, or Dalton).
 Best wishes,
 Kalju
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Dr. Kalju Kahn
 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
 UC Santa Barbara, CA 93106