I Think It Was a Good Game

Yesterday was Super Bowl XLV (45). The Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25. My whole family are Packer fans except for one. We had a party at my grandparents home. My Grandma had a gigantic Steelers cookie that she forgot to give to her friend. She gave it to us. Earlier today we put a Packers helmet o a toy figure and took a picture of him "eating" the Steelers cookie. My Mom said that when we eat it, we will be crushing the Steelers (that disappointed my brother because he was the one that was a Steeler fan).

Now for the game summary.

After a few punts, the Packers got on top with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Nelson on 3rd and one. But that was not before "Donald the Driver" got injured, he's out. Pack 7, Steels 0. On the next play from scrimmage, the number 37 guy gets a forty yard pick-six. Then, out of the blue, a really questionable excess of celebration call on the Pack. That penalty is enforced on the ensuing kickoff so that's still fourteen push-ups for me (I did as many push-ups as they scored). Pittsburgh makes a short FG after that. A shocking touchdown follows on a 21-yard pass to Jennings. 21-3! Man, this is just going for the Pack. But then, a demoralizing (injuring Charles Woodson - out for the game), 7-play, 77-yard drive brings us to 21-10 at the close of the half.

The halftime show stunk but we had a good meal.

Back to the action an eight-yard Steeler touchdown brings us close. The Pack get stuck in a 3rd quarter pickle, despite a missed FG, on behalf of Pittsburgh. In the early 4th quarter, however, a touchdown pass to Jennings gives me more push-ups to do. 28-17. But then Rothesburger passes a killer 25-yard touchdown. The Steelers went for two. On the conversion, Rothesburger lateraled it off and they converted. Green Bay got a Field Goal, but I saw a possible Pittsburgh touchdown. On 1st down they made 5 yards. Rothesburger then threw it out of bounds to kill the clock. On 3rd down their pass fell incomplete. Then it was a nail-biting fourth down (my Grandma, all decorated with Packer helmet earrings and necklaces left the scene in a nervous state). Rothesburger looked ahead, dodged Clay Matthews, and threw. It floated back and it was INTERCEPTED! Final score, 31-25, Packers!!!!!!

Cast of Characters:
"Donald the Driver"..............Packer's record for best receiver
Charles Woodson.....................Best defensive back on the Packers (and former Michigan star)
Ben Rothesburger..................Steeler 6' 7" 250lb quarterback
Clay Matthews..........................Packer's best linebacker (with long, long girly hair)

I think it was a good game and it will go down in memory as the first FULL (every play) NFL game I have ever watched.  And about that cookie, it is going to taste great all smashed up in my mouth.

Gadolinium

This week's element is gadolinium.

Gadolinium is a lanathide. Its atomic number is 64 and its atomic weight is 157.3. Its melting point is 1312 degrees Celsius (that's 2394 degrees Fahrenheit or 1585 kelvins), and its boiling point is 3273 degrees Celsius (that's 5923 degrees Fahrenheits or 3546 kelvins). 

Above is a picture of the electron configuration. Gadolinium, like all lanathides, goofs around with its electrons and hides them. The electron configuration should be like  2, 8, 18, 18, 18  with an element that has 64 electrons, but gadolinium has it like, 2, 8, 18, 25, 9, 2. The lanathides all goof it with their electrons but it at least has 64 electrons to neutralize the positive protons.

About 440 tons of gadolinium is dug up in a year, but all that gets used for just one thing. Gadolinium is really good at absorbing neutrons, so gadolinium is used when neutrons are used. If a neutron was to hit you then, you would be radioactive, with a half-life of 15 hours (a half-life is how long it takes for half the atoms to decompose, in the case of humans you'd mostly likely die). Gadolinium absorbs the neutrons so you don't get hit by a neutron in the lab.  Don't worry there were no nuclear reactors before the discovery of Gadolinium.

Good thing it is found naturally occurring in Scandinavia and Sri Lanka - because now we can study neutrons.