Sally Smart sees a poor cat being pelted with rotten eggs and the characteristic odor reminds her in part of the atomic basis for her crown of ringlets. What is the relationship?

redsoxfan325

Sulfur crowns? (Sulfur smells like rotten eggs.) http://www.ibchem.com/faq/what-is-the-molecular-formula-of-sulphur/ Oct 04 08, 11:04 PM

queproblema

I was going to say that it's hardly necessary to document the fact that rotten eggs smell like sulphur. "Hydrogen sulfide has the characteristic smell of rotten eggs." But this on disulphide bonds will be new to most of us. "Disulphide bonds (S-S bonds) formed between cysteine residues in peptide chains are very important in protein assembly and structure. These strong covalent bonds between peptide chains give proteins a great deal of extra toughness and resiliency. For example, the high strength of feathers and hair is in part due to their high content of S-S bonds and their high content of cysteine and sulfur (eggs are high in sulfur because large amounts of the element are necessary for feather formation). The high disulfide content of hair and feathers contributes to their indigestibility, and also their odor when burned." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur Oct 04 08, 11:13 PM

looney_tunes

"Permanents" use the adjustment of disulfide bonds to introduce curls. Put the hair in tight curlers, treat with a reducing agent such as ammonium thioglycolate to break the alpha-helical bonds and allow them to reform between molecules in the curled arrangement, add an oxidising agent such as hydrogen peroxide to reform the disulfide bonds, and hey presto! permanent curls are formed. http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/vchembook/568hairwave.html Oct 05 08, 12:53 AM

edmund80

Yes! Sally was reminded of the sulfur atom, which when bound together as members of thiol groups to form a disulfide bond, accounts in part for the natural curliness of hair. This can also be reproduced by way of a perm, as outlined in Anne's response. Also, while hydrogen sulfide has the smell of rotten eggs, sulfur itself is odorless (that's why Sally was only reminded "in part";she was only thinking of the sulfur atom, not of hydrogen sulfide). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disulfide_bond http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1590/is_/ai_16723928 http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem99/chem99328.htm Oct 05 08, 11:34 AM