Monday, September 30, 2013

Chemistry in the News: "Breaking Bad."


Probably the biggest thing to hit TV ended last night and many are still trying to face that reality. "Breaking Bad" has become a very popular TV show centered on organic chemistry, some other illegal activities. The article I chose talks about the scientific accuracy that comes from the show. Dr. Donna Nelson, a professor at Oklahoma University, is the organic consultant for the TV show and was tasked with keeping it as accurate as possible.

I had never seen any of the episodes, before about a week ago and decided to watch a few. So I jumped onto Netflix and jumped right in. Within the first episode what little bit I had learned in class was already being recognized on the screen; diagrams of Alkenes on the chalkboard, a discussion on chirality, the acidity of fluoric acid. In the article Dr. Nelson mentioned that scientific inaccuracies, even small ones, affect the believability and stops someone with any chemistry background to really believe and stick with the show.

Now, some may say it's just a TV show. Who cares? There is always the topic of a decline in children being interested in sciences, and something like this might be the spark out generation needs. I found myself getting more involved and paying more attention when something I learned in class was mentioned on the show, or vice versa.

 

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-breaking-bad-science-20130927,0,5990191.story

 

1 comment:

  1. Anything with breaking bad captures my eye. My whole family has been obsessed with this show. It really does make chemistry exciting. We all view our science teachers as boring, but this show, lets us know that chemistry can be fun, well and also illegal

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