Andrew Jackson Critique Essays - Second Party System, Andrew Jackson

Without prior knowledge of American History or politics, James C. Curtis biography, Andrew Jackson and the Search for Vindication may be a difficult read for some audiences. While the basis of the book is to inform of the events leading up to the birth, followed by childhood, adult life and career of Andrew Jackson; one may also be surprised to have a better understanding of the emotional man who was the United States seventh president. Below are both a negative and positive critique of the Curtis biography of Jackson. One primary reason the book may be a challenging read is due to Curtis choice of the how he chose to outline the book. A better read for many would have been to write out the details of Jacksons life year by year while including significant historical issues. Instead, Curtis chose to break the book down as a combination of political movements and the major events of Andrew Jacksons career. In doing so, the reader may find it rather problematic when Curtis ends a chapter in a certain time period then starts the next chapter in a different time period. This is when knowledge of American History plays a key role when reading this book, otherwise the reader may become lost. While the book may not be the most favorite among certain readers, there is no doubt one can appreciate Curtis attempt to make the reader recognize the emotional-driven man behind the nickname Old Hickory. One key theme throughout the book is how Curtis allows the readers to understand just how pivotal Andrew Jacksons early years played in all of his adult life. For example, on page 82 Curtis writes: Since his [Jackson] adolescent encounter with death, he had felt vulnerable to attack. When threatened, he responded by flying into destructive rage. Decisions, whether good or bad, that Jackson made as a governor, general, and president all stemmed from negative experiences from his past. Through each decision Jackson makes, Curtis takes the reader back to the younger Jackson which allows the reader to identify with the reasoning behind those decisions. What is very apparent throughout the book is how Curtis is able to illustrate the frustrating yet sympathetic emotions that a reader ma y feel towards some of those decisions made by Jackson. In conclusion, this book should be an enjoyable read for an expert or enthusiast in American History. For the amateur, this book is probably best read amongst a book club with a historian present to decipher all the history and political jargon found in the book which is ironic due to how far Andrew Jackson went in his career despite his lack of formal education. How the author was successful in keeping the readers attention through the psychological aspect of Andrew Jackson, is completely overshadowed by the amount of knowledge one needs to know in reading this material. As the saying goes, knowledge is power. James C. Curtis biography, Andrew Jackson and the Search for Vindication will definitely ignite a desire for learning what is not known prior to reading this book. At least, one hopes right?

No Two Snowflakes Alike - True or False

No Two Snowflakes Alike - True or False Youve likely been told no two snowflakes are alike that each is as individual as a human fingerprint. Yet, if youve had the chance to closely examine snowflakes, some snow crystals do look like others. Whats the truth? It depends how closely you look. To understand why theres dispute about snowflake similarity, start by understanding how snowflakes work. How Snowflakes Form Snowflakes are crystals of water, which has the chemical formula H2O. There are multiple ways water molecules can bond and stack with each other, depending on the temperature, air pressure, and concentration of water in the atmosphere (humidity). Generally the chemical bonds in the water molecule dictate the traditional 6-sided snowflake shape. One a crystal starts forming, it uses the initial structure as the basis to form branches. The branches may continue to grow or they can melt and reform depending on conditions. Why Two Snowflakes Can Look the Same Since a group of snowflakes falling at the same time form under similar conditions, theres a decent chance if you look at enough snowflakes, two or more will look the same to the naked eye or under a light microscope. If you compare snow crystals at the early stages or formation, before they have had a chance to branch out much, the odds that two of them might look alike is high. Snow scientist  Jon Nelson at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan, says snowflakes kept between  8.6 ºF and 12.2 ºF (-13 ºC and -11 ºC) maintain these simple structures for a long time and can fall to Earth, where it would be hard to tell them apart just looking at them. Although many snowflakes are six-sided branched structures (dendrites) or hexagonal plates, other snow crystals form needles, which basically look much like each other. Needles form between 21 °F and 25 °F and sometimes reach the ground intact. If you consider snow needles and columns to be snow flakes, you have examples of crystals that look alike. Why No Two Snowflakes Are Alike While snowflakes might appear the same, at a molecular level, its very nearly impossible for two to be the same. There are multiple reasons for this: Water is made from a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen isotopes. These isotopes have slightly different properties from each other, altering the crystal structure formed using them. While the three natural isotopes of oxygen dont significantly affect crystal structure, the three isotopes of hydrogen are distinctly different. About 1 in 3,000 water molecules contains the hydrogen isotope deuterium. Even if one snowflake contains the same number of deuterium atoms as another snowflake, they wont occur in the exact same places in the crystals.Snowflakes are made up of so many molecules, its unlikely any two snowflakes are exactly the same size. Snow scientist  Charles Knight with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado estimates each snow crystal contains around 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 water molecules. The number of ways these molecules can arrange themselves is nearly infinite. Each snowflake is exposed to slightly different conditions, so even if you starte d with two identical crystals, they wouldnt be the same as each by the time they reached the surface. Its like comparing identical twins. They might share the same DNA, but they are different from each other, especially as time passes and they have unique experiences. Each snowflake forms around a tiny particle, like a dust mote or pollen particle. Since the shape and size of the starting material isnt the same, snowflakes dont even start out alike. To summarize, its fair to say sometimes two snowflakes look alike, especially if they are simple shapes, but if you examine any two snowflakes closely enough, each will be unique.