Uncategorized - Carol Potenza

I Love Graveyards…and Genealogy

September 5, 2022 by Carol Potenza

Labor Day Saturday, we drove up to my mother-in-law’s hometown in northeastern New Mexico because she wanted to lay flowers on her mother’s and her husband’s mother’s graves. Since it meant visiting graveyards, I was in, because I absolutely love to visit graveyards, even if I don’t know anyone present. Ask my kids and husband. And wait for their eye rolls. This is my husband’s side of the family, who have been in New Mexico since the Spanish first arrived and before from their Indigenous genetics. I’ve actually been able to follow their lineage back to the late 1700s. Any …

Kryptonite and the Periodic Table of Death

August 16, 2022 by Carol Potenza

Krypton (Kr) is colorless, odorless, tasteless (Hey. Like iocaine powder) exceptit is chemically inert, which means it really doesn’t react with anything (1). Itis essentially harmless. Or is it?All the noble gases can asphyxiate if you visit a small unventilated space that is full of Kr and not full of enough oxygen or have friends in low places because Kr is five times heavier than air. The only upside is that Kr has a whole-body narcotic effect, so death is relatively painless. There is a radioactive version, Kr-85, that is highly toxic (2) and can cause all kinds of cancer …

Nitrogen and the Periodic Table of DEATH

August 16, 2022 by Carol Potenza

It’s your birthday. What better way to celebrate than to go out on the town and drink until you wobble in your boots? (Shout out to the NMSU Aggies) In the bar, you see a drink billowing smoke, think it’s cool, and order two. The waiter drops your shots on the table, pours in liquid nitrogen at a temperature of −196°C (−320°F), and you quickly down them to the boisterous cheers of your friends. The contents settle in your warm gut with freezing intensity, the liquid nitrogen rapidly expands to N2 gas at 700 times its volume (1) … and …

Iridium and the Periodic Table of Death

August 16, 2022 by Carol Potenza

In the immortal words of Miss Mona Lisa Vito: Imagine you’re a dee-ah. You’re prancin’ along, you get thirsty, you spot a little brook. You put your little dee-ah lips down to the cool clear what-ah… BAM! Marisa Tomei received an Oscar for her role as Miss Vito in the movie My Cousin Vinny (1992). Click on the link (1) to watch the whole scene, ‘cause it’s hilarious and hard to write her accent but be warned. It’s NSFW (2). Now, imagine 66 million years ago, a duck-billed hadrosaur, the dee-ah of the Cretaceous, was prancin’ along, got thirsty, spotted …

Mount Vesuvius, Fluorine, and the Periodic Table of Death

August 16, 2022 by Carol Potenza

In 79 A.D., a catastrophic volcanic eruption rained ash, rocks, and death down on Roman cities in southern Italy. Pyroclastic flows, superheated gaseous clouds measuring 700°C (1300°F) swept down the sides of Mt. Vesuvius (1), vaporized everything in their paths, including the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and every living creature inhabiting them and the surrounding countryside. This area of Italy is where my people are from. In fact, right next to the region of Campania, where Mt. Vesuvius rests, is Basilicata and its capitol city, Potenza. One day, I think I’ll go there and become their queen. Paesano! This …

Carbon and the Periodic Table of DEATH

August 23, 2021 by Carol Potenza

Memento Mori. Remember you must die. Memento Mori is a reminder for the living that life is fleeting. It morphed into the practice of remembering the dead using architecture, paintings, photography, even jewelry featuring symbols of death, or locks of hair elaborately woven into brooches, bracelets, and rings—mourning art (1). The Victorians probably did it best, photographing their dead loved ones in artificial poses, standing up, playing with their favorite toys, or together with their live brothers and sisters—quite creepy (2). The symbolism and art of memento mori are still around, for example, in the Día de los Muertos—Day of …